68 Richard Frotscher's Almanac and Garden Manual 



Sow Yellow and White Summer Radish, sow Endive for salad ; this 

 is raised more easily than the Lettuce. 



Lettuce can be sown, but it requires more care than most people are 

 willing to bestow. Soak the seeds for half an hour in water, take 

 them out and put them in a piece of cloth and place in a cool spot, 

 under the cistern or if convenient in an ice-box. Keep the cloth moist 

 and in two or three days the seeds will sprout. Then sow them ; best 

 to do so in the evening and give a watering. 



If the seed is sown without being sprouted, ants will be likely to 

 carry it away before it can germinate, and the seedsman be blamed for 

 selling seed that did not grow. This sprouting has to be done from 

 May to September, depending upon the weather. Should the weather 

 be moist and cool in the fall it can be dispensed with. Some sow late 

 Cabbage for winter crop in this month, saying that the plants are easier 

 raised during this than the two following months. I consider this 

 month too soon ; plants will become too hard and long legged before 

 they can be planted out. 



This is the last month to sow the Late Italian Cauliflower ; towards 

 the end the Early Italian Giant Cauliflower can be sown. Some culti- 

 vators transplant them, when large enough, at once into the open 

 ground ; others plant them first into flower pots and transplant them 

 into the ground later. If transplanted at this time, they will require to 

 be shaded for a few days, till they commence to grow. 



Sow Tomatoes for late crop during the latter part of this month. 



JULY. 



Plant Pole Beans ; also Bush Beans towards the end of the month. 

 Sow Tomatoes in the early part for the last crop. Some Corn for roast- 

 ing ears may still be planted. Cucumbers can be planted for pickling. 

 Early Giant Cauliflower can be sown. Sow Endive, Lettuce, Yellow 

 and White Summer Radish. Where the ground is new some Turnips 

 and Ruta Bagas can be sown. Cabbage should be commenced with 

 after the fifteenth of this month ; Superior Flat Dutch, Improved Drum- 

 head, St. Denis or Bonneuil and Brunswick are the leading kinds. It 

 is hard to say which is the best time to sow ; as our seasons differ so much, 

 some seasons we get frost early, other seasons not before January. 

 Cabbage is most easily hurt by frost when it is half grown, when the 

 plants are small, or when they are headed up, frost does not hurt 

 much. It is always good to make two or three sowings ; as a general 

 thing plants raised from July and August sown seed give the most 

 •satisfaction; they are almost certain to head. September, in my 

 experience is the most ticklish month ; as the seed sown in that month, 

 is generally onh* half grown when we have some frosts, and therefore 

 more liable to be hurt. But there are exceptions ; four years ago the 

 seed sown in September turned out best. Seed sown at the end of 

 October and during November generally give good results, but if planted 

 for market, will not bring as much as Cabbage sown in July and August, 

 Brunswick is the earliest of the large growing kinds, it should be sown 

 in July and August, so that it may be headed up when the cold comes, 

 as it is more tender than the Flat Dutch and Drumhead. The same 



