VEGETABLE PLANTS. 63 



25th of April with us. We then continue to 

 sow at intervals of one week until the ist of 

 June, at which date our first out-doors plants 

 are ready for sale or transplanting. We have 

 dwelt sufficiently upon the importance as 

 well as the manner of keeping the young 

 plants protected from insects. To accomplish 

 this will require constant watchfulness, and no 

 one should undertake the job who has not the 

 necessary time to enable him to outgeneral his 

 small but powerful enemy. 



CULTIVATION. The soil around the young 

 plants should be frequently stirred, both for 

 the purpose of stimulating their growth and 

 destroying all weeds which make their appear- 

 ance. 



The best hoe we have ever found for this 

 purpose is easily made by taking a piece of inch- 

 wide hoop-iron, say thirteen inches in length, 

 and grinding one of its edges quite sharp. 

 Now punch a couple of holes through each 

 end, or one half inch from each end, large 

 enough to hold a shingle-nail or a three-quarter- 

 inch screw. Next find an old hoe-handle, or 

 make one out of a cast-off rake's tail, and 

 fasten the end of it securely into a hole in the 

 centre of a hardwood block five inches in 



