250 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



shovel of manure dropped in each hill, which is then 

 flattened down with a hoe, and covered about an 

 inch thick with fine soil. Short hog-manure, carted 

 out of the pen the preceding fall, and cut over once 

 or twice early in the spring, and made fine, is pre- 

 ferred for the hills ; but this not being in general 

 sufficiently abundant, we procure from New-York 

 in the fall the manure of cows fed on distillers' 

 slops, mixed with that of horses, so as to make it 

 sufficiently firm to handle with a fork, and mix it 

 with the hog-manure. The manure should be cool, 

 for fermentation in the hills is injurious to the plants. 

 The sooner the seed is planted after ploughing, 

 the better : the time of planting depends upon the 

 forwardness of the season, and it is generally com- 

 menced when single apricot blossoms are open, but 

 some seasons earlier. About a week is occupied in 

 putting in the first seed, and nearly the same period 

 in planting over the second and third times. The 

 casualties to which the seed and plants are subject, 

 induces us to continue putting in seed almost every 

 day for this space of time, so as to make sure work. 

 It sometimes happens, when the weather has been 

 unfavourable, that every hill in some fields is plant- 

 ed over the third, and even single hills the fourth, 

 time. I prefer spreading the first seed in the south 

 half of the hills, the second planting jn the north- 

 west, and the third in the northeast sides : if it be- 

 comes necessary to plant the fourth time, I put the 

 seed in the south half, where the first s^ed is by 

 that time rotten. If this plan is properly followed, 

 the different plantings will not interfere with each 

 other. We generally put in from thirty to forty 

 seeds each time, and cover them with fine soil from 

 three quarters to an inch deep. Sprouting the seed 

 previous to planting does not succeed well early in 

 the season, though it sometimes answers well, wheii 

 the weather is favourable, in the latter part. Cu- 

 cumber-seed is the most tender of the vine kind, 



