THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 235 



Pratt's, Crosley's, Moore's, Stowell's Evergreen, 

 and Egyptian Sweet." Mr. Harris names with 

 praise the Minnesota as the best earliest, and 

 Hickox Improved as an exceedingly large and 

 late variety. Mr. Henderson's list is Henderson 

 Sugar, Hickox Improved, Egyptian, and Stowell's 

 Evergreen. Let me add Burr's Mammoth and 

 Squantum Sugar, a variety in great favor with 

 the Squantum Club, and used by them in their 

 famous clam-bakes. 



The cucumber, if grown in the home garden and 

 used fresh, is not in league with the undertaker. 

 The seed may be planted early in May, and there 

 are many ways of forcing and hastening the yield. 

 I have had cucumbers very early in an ordinary 

 hot-bed. Out-doors, I make hills in warm soil the 

 first of May, mixing a little of my favorite fertilizer 

 with the soil. After leaving the hill for a day or 

 two to become warm in the sun, I sow the seed 

 in a straight line for fifteen inches, so that the hoe 

 can approach them closely. The seed is covered 

 an inch deep, and the soil patted down firmly. It 

 is possible that a cold storm or that insects may 

 make partial planting over necessary; if so, this 

 is done promptly. I put twenty seeds in the hill, 

 to insure against loss. For a succession or long- 

 continued crop, plant a few hills in rich moist land 

 about the last of May. The young plants always 



