VEGETABLE GAEDENING 35 



completed the hill should be about eighteen inches 

 in diameter, and six or eight inches above the 

 level. Several days before planting, pour into 

 the depression, six to ten gallons of water to fur- 

 nish a store of moisture. When the soil is again 

 dry enough to "work," the hill is ready for plant- 

 ing. 



Select the choicest varieties and buy the best 

 seed obtainable. Plant ten seeds in a hill, and 

 cover two inches deep. Nearly a week can be 

 gained with this kind of plants by sprouting the 

 seed as described in " Quick Germination." 



For the striped bug or beetle, place two or three 

 moth balls in the hill when the plants first break 

 through the ground; or sprinkle tobacco dust, a 

 handful to the hill, on the soil before the plants 

 are up; or a lure may be planted, say two feet dis- 

 tant, in a circular furrow, using any cheap musk- 

 melon, squash or cucumber seed, but use no to- 

 bacco on these. Permit the bugs to feast on the 

 lure, which they will do to avoid the tobacco on 

 the good plants. Kerosene, or common coal oil, 

 mixed with lime or ashes and sprinkled over the 

 hills, often helps. 



For leaf blight in muskmelons, prevention is 

 easier than cure. Get a pound each of sulphur 

 and dry air-slaked lime. Mix thoroughly, and 

 sow around the hill for three or four feet, on top 

 of the ground, after the planting is done. This 

 amount will be enough for a dozen hills. This is 

 intended to destroy the spores of the fungus that 

 cause leaf blight. Eepeat after the plants are 

 up, dusting the hill thoroughly. Or spray with 

 Bordeaux Mixture, somewhat diluted with water. 



