372. The critical moment in the vegetable garden— the time of drought, when vegetables get fibrous and woody. Which shall it be— weeds and baKed 

 dirt, or a wheel hoe, plenty of water, and plenty of first-class vegetables? 



Easing the Summer Work— By e. l. Fullerton us. 



TWO SIMPLE DEVICES FOR SUPPLYING WATER AND LIQUID PLANT FOOD DURING THE PERIOD OF 

 DROUGHT — HOW TO PREVENT VEGETABLES FROM BEING SMALL, TOUGH AND STRINGY IN HOT WEATHER 



TPHE hot time in the vegetable garden! 

 ■*- Who wants to work then ? Certainly 

 not the vegetables. Under a too ardent 

 sun they get tough and fibrous. Lettuce 

 turns bitter and promptly bolts to seed. 

 What shall we do this year — shirk the 

 problem and view the same old weed 

 patch, or have plenty of tender, succulent 

 high-flavored vegetables that will make our 

 guests want to come again? The problem 

 is simple. One word tells the whole story 

 — water. 



You can't have good tender vegetables 

 if they ever get a check in their growth; 

 and the hot weather is bound to check them 

 unless you give them plenty of water. There 

 are two ways of getting it: First, lay a 

 pipe to the garden or get some hose; second, 

 keep in the ground the moisture that is 

 already in it. This latter means a wheel 

 hoe to be used in the early morning or after 

 sunset. I never did like hoeing in the hot 

 sun with the thermometer at ninety, there- 

 fore the wheel hoe suits me. 



Photographs by H. B. Fullerton 



The maturing beets require plenty of 

 cultivation, and some are just ready to be 



373. In hot weather lettuce will get bitter and run 

 to seed. You can do two things: sow endive or 

 blacK-seeded varieties of lettuce, and screen them 



276 



thinned. The surface soil must be kept 

 well broken up and loosened about these 

 youngsters, or their growth will be checked. 



Beans, green pod and wax are in full 

 bearing, and it is time to make the last 

 sowing. When this batch is up, and starting 

 its second leaves, thin them out to make 

 them four inches apart, work in a little 

 nitrate of soda near the roots, but without 

 touching them, in order that the growth 

 may be so marked and vigorous that the hot 

 weather will not affect the blossoms. Work 

 the soil frequently, keep the hoe near the 

 top, so as not to disturb the surface roots, 

 and do this when there is neither rain nor 

 dew on the plant, as moisture is one of the 

 causes of rust, that much dreaded disease 

 of the bean. 



Lima beans are running well, and must be 

 topped off when they have reached the limit 

 of their supports, to throw their strength 

 into the pod and bean proper. The season 

 at best is all too short for these plants, and 

 many years and much labor have been 



