i8o A YEARNS WORK IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



CHARDS take quite six weeks to blanch by means of straw, covered 

 with earth. 



CUCUMBERS for the winter need careful management and suitable 

 appliances. See the remarks on this subject under August. 



ENDIVE to be planted out as directed last month. Plant a few on 

 the border of an orchard-house, or in a ground vinery, or in old 

 frames for which some sort of lights, however crazy, can be found. 



LETTUCES should be coming in from the garden now in good 

 condition, but the supply will necessarily be running short. Sowings 

 of two or three sorts should be made partly in frames and partly 

 on a dry open plot from which a crop has been taken. The ground 

 should be well dug, but no manure put on. Sow thinly, so that there 

 will not be much need for thinning, and confine the selection to sorts 

 known to be hardy. The Bath Cos is one of the best of these. 

 The Hammersmith is of poor quality, but valuable for its hardiness. 

 The August sowings will soon be forward enough for planting out, 

 and it will be advisable to get the work done as early as possible to 

 insure their being well established before winter. 



PARSLEY. The latest sowing will require thinning, but for the 

 present this must not be too strictly carried out ; between this and 

 spring there will be many opportunities. Thin the plot by drawing 

 out complete plants as Parsley is demanded for the kitchen. If no 

 late sowing was made, or having been made has failed, cut down to 

 the ground the strongest plants, that a new growth may be secured 

 quickly. A few plants potted now may prove exceedingly valuable 

 in winter. 



POTATOES that are ready should be taken up with reasonable 

 care. It is not wise to wait for the dying down of the shaws, because, 

 when the tubers are fully grown, they ripen as well in the store, out of 

 harm's way, as in the ground, where they are exposed to influences 

 that are simply destructive. 



SORREL to be removed to final position, allowing a distance of 

 eighteen inches between the plants each way. When growth ceases 

 for the season, give a liberal dressing of rich decayed manure. 



SPINACH. In favourable seasons and forward localities Winter 

 Spinach sown in the first half of this month will make a good plant 

 before winter. Thin the plants that are already up to six inches 

 apart. 



TOMATOES are in request the year through. Seed sown now will 

 produce plants that should afford fine fruit in March, and it will 

 need care and judgment to carry them safely through the winter. 



