MELONS MUSK. 73 



the ground can be brought into good condition, but 

 not earlier. 



My own plan in raising lettuce is, to make the land as 

 fine and mellow as possible, and drill in the seed in rows, 

 twenty-one inches apart. This is wide enough to admit 

 the use of the horse-hoe. As soon as the rows can be 

 traced, we go throngh with the cultivator, and in the 

 course of a few days go through again; the object being 

 to make the soil as loose and mellow as possible. I have 

 gone through the rows three or four times with a culti- 

 vator before the plants were large enough to be thinned 

 out with a hoe. This thinning out is the point necessary 

 for success. It seems a great waste of seeds, of plants, 

 and of land, to thin out the plants to eight or ten inches 

 apart, but it is the true plan. You must dash your hoe 

 through them boldly, cutting out the plants so that they 

 will stand the width of the hoe apart; then with the hoe 

 push out all the surplus ones. An ordinary hoe slants 

 too much forward to do the work properly; you should 

 heat the shank of the hoe, and bend it until the blade is 

 nearly at right angles with the handle. For thinning 

 out turnips, beets, mangels, etc., such a hoe will enable 

 you to do the work without often resorting to thinning 

 out the plants with the fingers. If the land is in proper 

 condition, and you have a good variety, you will get a 

 splendid crop of the largest and finest heads of lettuce, 

 from the last of June to the middle of September. 



MELONS MUSK. 



A few hills of Musk Melons can be started in the hot- 

 bed or in the house, as recommended for cucumbers, and 

 when the ground is warm, the plants can be set out in 

 the open ground and shaded for a few days, until they 

 get finally started. On a farm where land is abundant, 

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