THE VEGETABLE GARDEN I39 



200 pounds to the acre Is made in the centers of the 

 rows and cultivated in at once, or cultivating may 

 be omitted if a shower is on when applying. This 

 dissolves the soda and carries it to the roots quickly. 



" One year when my Early Jersey Wakefield 

 cabbage was the finest I ever grew no manure was 

 used, but a light coating w^as given the previous 

 season for a melon crop, and before planting the 

 cabbage a sowing of guano was made and the soil 

 harrowed several times to mix or pulverize thor- 

 oughly. The plants were put in rows 3 feet apart 

 and 2 feet in the row. Nitrate of soda was sown 

 in the rows and cultivated, and in ten days another 

 sowing was made during a light shower. These 

 last-mentioned sowings would amount to about 150 

 pounds an acre at each sowing. 



" Cucumbers and muskmelons are started under 

 glass, the seed being sown in flats, and when in the 

 third leaf are moved into other flats or pots as de- 

 sired. The soil for these pots is composed of good 

 garden soil, with the addition of about one-third its 

 bulk of well-rotted horse droppings well mixed. Care- 

 ful watering is required to keep up a steady and 

 imiform growth. At planting time the pots are 

 full of roots and ready to grow without interrup- 

 tion, weather conditions being favorable. I plant 

 in the field about June 10. The soil should have 

 had a good coating of well-rotted manure, or a 

 clover crop turned under and well harrowed down. 

 Growth can be forced by the application of i ounce 

 of soda well worked into the soil around, but not 

 close to the plant." 



A MIDSUMMER GARDEN 



" My summer garden," writes Dr. M. R. Sharpe 

 of Maine,. " was started more as an experiment than 



