THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



seed may be started in the house or hotbed by cut- 

 ting sods from a meadow or other place and cutting 

 them in squares about five inches in diameter and 

 packing them closely together in a warm hotbed. 

 The grass, if long, should be sheared away and 

 the sods set grass-side down. On each of these 

 pieces of sod five or six seeds of melons or squash 

 may be planted, covered with two inches of rich, 

 fine soil or manure, and when the seeds have ger- 

 minated, all but three of the best may be removed. 

 When the weather is favourable, these pieces of 

 sod may be planted out in the open ground in hills 

 prepared as for seed. Great care must be taken in 

 handling the sods, as there is no plant grown in the 

 garden so sensitive to disturbance in transplanting 

 as the musk-melon. Cucumbers and squash are less 

 sensitive, but even these will stand little disturb- 

 ance and handling. Old strawberry baskets are 

 sometimes used for this purpose, being placed in the 

 hotbed close together and filled with rich soil well 

 pressed into them; when transplanted, basket and 

 all is removed to the field. Do not set them in the 

 open until after June 1st. 



A warm, sunny situation suits all vine plants, 

 and a light, moist, sandy soil, heavily enriched with 



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