458 MANUAL OF GARDENING 
emulsion. It must be treated very early, before the worm 
gets far into the head (p. 200). 
The club-root or stump-root is a fungous disease for which 
there isno good remedy. Use new land if the disease is present 
(p.208). 
Solanaceous group — Tomato, egg-plant, red pepper. 
These are warm-weather plants, very impatient of frost. 
They are all natives of southern zones, and have not yet become 
so far acclimatized in the North as not to need the benefit of 
our longest seasons. 
Plants should be started early, under glass. They should be 
“‘pricked off,’ when the second leaves appear, 3 or 4 inches 
apart, into flats or boxes. These boxes should be kept in a 
coldframe, to which an abundance of light and air is admitted 
on warm, sunny days, in order to harden them off. After all 
danger of frost is past, and the garden soil is well warmed, the 
plants may be finally transplanted. 2 
If the ground is too rich, these plants are likely to grow too 
late in the northern seasons. 
Cucurbitaceous group — Cucumber, melon, squash, pumpkin. 
All the members of this group are very tender to frost, and they 
must not be planted till the season is thoroughly open and 
settled. The plants are not transplanted, unless they are trans- 
ferred from boxes or pots. 
Seeds must be planted somewhat shallow from early spring 
to midsummer. For the earliest cucumbers and melons, seeds 
are planted in frames. That is, each hill is inclosed by a port- 
able box frame about 3 feet square and usually having a 
movable sash cover. The cover is raised or removed in warm 
days, and the frame bodily taken away when all danger of frost 
is past. In field culture, seeds are planted an inch deep, four 
to six in a hill, with hills 4 by 6 feet apart, these distances 
