108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



supply a small family, and if the ground is deeply trenched, well 

 manured, and cared for, it is good for twenty years. Palmetto, 

 Columbian White, and Giant Argenteuil are all splendid varieties. 

 A bed 12 by 35, containing 150 plants, is sufficient for a small 

 family. The plants should be in rows, three to three and a half 

 feet apart, and eighteen inches between the plants. In planting, 

 care must be taken to set the roots deeply, and cover only lightly 

 at first, covering in gradually as the plants grow. For the aspara- 

 gus beetle, spraying with arsenate of lead or paris green is effective, 

 one application generally being sufficient. 



Egg plants must have rich soil and cannot be planted out with 

 safety before June; each plant is benefited by having a shovel or 

 two of manure below it. Reliable sorts are New York Improved 

 and Black Beauty. Peppers should not be planted in as rich soil 

 as egg plants. Large Bell or Bull Nose, Golden Dawn, and Squash 

 are popular varieties; Ruby King is fine for pickles. Chinese 

 Giant is a huge variety of mild flavor, but too large. The little 

 Cayenne is excellent also for pickles, and very ornamental. 



Spinach of the round-leaved type is of course indispensable, and 

 for summer use nothing beats the New Zealand variety. This 

 must not be planted before May 10, however. With this latter 

 vegetable and a small row of Swiss chard it is possible for a large 

 family to secure a constant cut of greens for at least four months 

 in the year. 



I have not mentioned salad plants; of these, lettuce is the most 

 valuable, and by starting seed in the home or cold-frame, and mak- 

 ing successional sowings outdoors from the end of March until 

 the middle of August, heads may be cut from the early part of 

 May until November. For the earliest sowing, White Seeded 

 Tennis Ball and Big Boston are leaders; for later sowings, May 

 King, Deacon, Black Seeded Tennis Ball, and Sutton's Standwell 

 are reliable. The Romaine or Cos Lettuce is popular with many; 

 Trianon is a good self-bleaching sort. Endive is an excellent and 

 handsome salad plant when well bleached; the plants want more 

 severe thinning than lettuce, and to bleach them, the outer leaves 

 should be gathered to a point and tied with raffia. Endive can be 

 kept in a cellar, packed in dry sand through a good part of the 

 winter. Green Curled and Batavian are splendid sorts. 



