312 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



known as a bulb. These plants thrive in a cool, moist, 

 well tilled soil, rich in available pliant food. 



Those vegetables, which are grown for their edible 

 leaves, such as the cabbage, lettuce, spinach and others, 

 are all cool season crops. 



233. Warm Season Crops. — Almost all of the vege- 

 tables which are raised for their seed or fridts grow best 

 in the warm part of the season. 



This rule has an important exception in the case of the 

 pea. The smooth pea is among the first vegetables to be 

 sown in the open ground. Wrinkled peas demand a 

 slightly warmer soil, though they may still be regarded 

 as cool season plants. 



Beans, on the other hand, are very sensitive to cold 

 and can not be safely planted until the soil is warm and 

 " the oaks are in leaf." 



Sweet corn, like field com, must not be planted until 

 the ground is warm and the danger of frost is past. 



The tomato, egg plant and peppers, all related by the 

 way, are warm, or even hot, season plants, and are easily 

 cut down by the frosts of either spring or fall. 



The vine crops, such as the muskmelon, cucumber, 

 pumpkin, squash and water-melon, are all sensitive to 

 frost and require therefore a warm season and sunny 

 weather. 



The sweet potato, which is a true root, succeeds best in 

 a loose, warm, sandy soil and in a warm, sunny climate. 



234. Getting ahead of the Season. — Since many of 

 the garden crops can not be planted in the open ground 

 until late spring, — ■ often not until nearly June in the 

 northern part of the United States — it is highly desir- 

 able to start the plants in some favorable and protected 

 place, from which they may be transplanted later to the 



