WHAT TO DO WITH A CITY , YARD, 49 



plant is allowed to mature its fruit and perfect its 

 seeds, it iscontent and will make no special exertion 

 to bear more fruit that season. If its flowers or half- 

 ripe fruits are removed it endeavors to produce more. 

 If those in turn are taken away it will again flower, 

 and seek to produce fruit and seeds. This is very- 

 marked in the case of annuals, like the cucumber and 

 sweet pea. If the flowers are constantly cut, the 

 vine will bear a great many flowers and keep in 

 bloom for several weeks. If the first flowers mature, 

 and pods and seeds are allowed to ripen, the crop 

 of pea-blooms will be very small and the time of 

 blooming short. The more cucumbers you cut, the 

 more you will have. Better cut your cucumbers 

 every day and give them away, for the more you give 

 the more you will have to keep. Selfishness never 

 pays as a regular crop. 



For the east or most shady border the best things 

 to grow are lettuce and celery. Two crops of lettuce 

 (see Chapter VII.) can be taken off the border before 

 the celery is put in. Buy the dwarf kinds of celery 

 plants of your seedsman, and set out the plants in a 

 single row, about ten inches apart, placing the row in 

 the middle of the border. The culture is very easy 

 when the one idea on which it is based is understood. 

 The celery is a plant that is greatly improved by 

 growing in the dark. The tough, green stems become 

 crisp and brittle in the shade, and any method by 

 which the stalks are protected from the light will 

 give good celery. A bunch of plants growing thickly 

 together in a mass, will so shade each other that 

 those in the center will be blanched naturally. The 

 most simple way to secure the blanched stems is to 

 cover them with earth. This is called "earthing" or 

 " bunching up," and it is nothing more then piling 

 the soil against the plants as they grow. 



