VEGETABLE MARROWS 195 



when ready pot on into thirty-two-sized pots in a 

 porous soil and support each plant with a stake. For 

 the earliest cutting a few should be grown in ten-inch 

 pots in a temperature not exceeding 70 with sun heat, 

 and trained up to the lightest position in the house. 

 Very little bottom heat will be required. Stop the 

 principal growths and fertilise in the same way as for 

 Melons. 



For frame culture prepare a mild hot-bed com- 

 posed chiefly of leaves on which the frames should be 

 placed. 



As the heat is on the decline place the soil con- 

 sisting of loam, leaf soil and road scrapings in the 

 frame, and leave space for top dressing, warm the 

 soil and turn out the plants carefully. Give air freely 

 on all favourable occasions, but avoid cutting winds 

 and shut up early in the afternoon. Fertilise in the 

 middle of the day and treat in the same way as for 

 Cucumbers. As soon as it is safe to do so, the frames 

 may be removed altogether, and the plants will be 

 bearing long before those grown in the ordinary way. 

 Keep them well supplied with water and give an oc- 

 casional dose of artificial manure ; the plants will then 

 continue to bear until late in the autumn. 



For the general crop make a sowing the second 

 week in April, and where no heat is available, for the 

 later supplies, another the first week in May. It will 

 not be safe to plant out before the end of May unless 

 means are at hand for protecting them. Ordinary 

 hand-lights are most suitable, and when planting allow 



