THE GROWING OF THE VEGETABLE PLANTS 459 
being varied slightly, according to location and variety. Good 
cucumbers are sometimes grown in hills surrounding a barrel 
in which manure is placed to be leached out by successive water- 
ings. 
The omnipresent enemies of all the cucurbitaceous crops are 
the little cucumber beetle and the large black ‘‘stink bug.” 
Ashes, lime, or tobacco dust occasionally seem to show some 
efficiency in preventing the ravages of these insects, but the only 
reasonably sure immunity is in the use of covers over the hills 
(Fig. 229) and in hand-picking (p. 202). Covers may also 
be made by stretching mosquito netting over arcs of barrel 
hoops or bent wires. If by some such means the plants are 
kept insect-free till they outgrow the protection, they will 
usually escape serious damage from insects thereafter. It is 
well to plant trap or decoy hills of cucumbers, squashes, or 
melons in advance of the regular planting, on which the bugs 
may be harvested. 
Leguminous crops — Peas and beans. 
Two cultural groups are included in the legumes, — the bean 
group (including all field, garden, and kidney beans, and the 
cowpea) comprising warm-weather plants; the pea group 
(including field and garden pea, the Windsor or Broad bean) 
comprising cool-weather plants. The former are quickly sus- 
ceptible to frost and should be planted only after the weather is 
settled. The latter are among the earliest vegetables to be 
planted. The leguminous crops are not transplanted, the seed 
being placed where the plants are to grow. 
Salad plants and pot-herbs (“‘greens’’). 
These plants are all grown for their tender, fresh, succulent 
leaves, and therefore every reasonable effort should be made to 
secure quick and continuous foliage growth. It is manifestly 
expedient that they be grown in warm, mellow ground, well 
cultivated and copiously watered. Such small plants as cress, 
