April] THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 329 



you may in the last week of this month sow cucumbers, squashes, 

 water-melons, and early musk-melons in the open ground, agree- 

 ably to the directions given next month. If the weather proves 

 favourable, and they are not attacked by frost after being up, they 

 will succeed very well; but if you have hand or bell glasses for 

 their protection, there is no doubt of their success. 



It is generally observed, that cucumbers, squashes, and melons 

 of every kind, may be sown in the open ground as early as Indian 

 corn; but they are certainly somewhat more tender, and cannot be 

 sown in the middle states with great certainty of success before 

 the eighth of May. 



Kidney-Beans, 



Towards the latter end of this month you may plant a first crop 

 of kindey-beans in the open ground. Select a warm, dry, and 

 favourably situated spot, and having dug and manured it properly, 

 draw drills an inch deep, and two feet or thirty inches asunder; 

 drop the beans therein two inches apart, and draw the earth equally 

 over them; do not cover them more than an inch deep, for at this 

 early time they are liable to rot if cold or wet ensue. The kinds 

 proper to be sown now, are the early cream-coloured, speckled, 

 yellow, and white dwarfs. 



Endive. 



Those who are fond of endive as a salad, may now sow some of 

 the seed, as directed in June, and blanch it when of sufficient size 

 in the manner prescribed in August. But in the early summer 

 months, lettuce has almost generally superseded the use of it. 



Sorrel. 



Sow now a sufficient supply of the broad-leaved garden sorrel, 

 and also of the round-leaved or French sorrel; these, or either of 

 them, may be sown on narrow beds or borders and covered lightly 

 or raked in; when the plants are up keep them free from weeds, 

 and in June you may transplant them either in rows along the bor- 

 ders, or into three or four feet wide beds at the distance of nine 

 inches, plant from plant, every way. 



Garden Orache. 



The Jilriplex hortensis, or garden orache, is cultivated for culi- 

 nary purposes, being used as spinage, and is by some persons pre- 

 ferred to it. The French particularly are very partial to this plant. 

 There are three or four varieties of it differing only in colour; one 

 is of a deep green, another of a dark purple, and a third with green 

 leaves and purple borders. The green leaved variety, however, is 

 that cultivated as an esculent herb, and is sown at the same time 

 and treated in every respect like spinage. 

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