PLANNING THE GARDEN 



until it is perfectly ripe, when it drops of its own 

 accord, and thus furnishes a sure guide for its 

 harvest. Moreover, melons and cucumbers grown 

 on netting are far more attractive in appearance 

 than when grown on the ground, as they are not 

 soiled, stained, discoloured, or rotted by contact 

 with the earth. The difference in appearance be- 

 tween pickles grown on netting and those grown 

 on the ground is marked indeed, the former being 

 beautifully green and bright, and if they were 

 grown in sufficient quantities to be marketed, there 

 would nothing sell against them. I do not think 

 they bear quite as freely as when grown on 

 the ground, but then I have never given them the 

 extra culture that would produce the highest re- 

 sults. If well cultivated throughout the season, and 

 watered and supplied with weekly doses of liquid 

 manure, the returns would doubtless be highly sat- 

 isfactory, and this extra labour would be far less 

 than that involved in gathering the fruit from the 

 ground. 



The back-yard fence of an ordinary lot will fur- 

 nish sufficient room for the growing of all the 

 vegetables of this sort needed by a small family, 



and a strip about three feet wide should be spaded 



[25] 



