IRRIGATION OF THE) GARDEN. 265 



best. All vines that belong to the Cucurbita family 

 must not be irrigated much while the plants are small, 

 or serious damage may be done to the crop. The 

 ground should be laid off by running shallow furrows 

 about five feet apart. It is best to irrigate the ground 

 before the seed is planted if there seems to be a 

 deficiency of moisture rather than to apply water after 

 the seed is sown, and unless the soil is naturally a 

 dry one it will not require any more water until the 

 second or rough leaf is formed, when another light 

 watering will be necessary. This will push the plants 

 along a great deal faster than if the ground is kept 

 very wet. When the plants begin to run and set fruit 

 an irrigation should be given every ten days or two 

 weeks. While fruit is forming the irrigating can 

 hardly be overdone. The water must never run so as 

 to come in diredl contadt with the plants, or the ground 

 will bake around the stems, and may possibly injure 

 the plants by stopping up the pores and excluding the 

 air. Cultivation is not in good form after the vines 

 begin to interlock. 



The following plan for growing cucumbers for the 

 f adlory is given by a grower near Denver : * * We plant 

 in rows about eight feet apart. We first prepare the 

 ground making it as fine as possible. Then it is laid 

 off in rows, and furrows about eight inches deep are 

 plowed and filled half full of well-rotted manure. The 

 soil is then raked back and fined again. Then we 

 draw a line and drop the seed about two inches apart, 

 pressing them into the earth about an inch. If it 

 rains before the seed comes up we go over the rows 

 with a rake to prevent a crust from forming. After 



