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HIGGLE GARDEN BOOK 



from six to nine inches long. Wipe clean, sort as to 

 size, and pack in barrels, baskets or crates. 



Diseases and insects : Anthracnose (pinkish pits 

 or spots on the fruit), rot, mold, leaf-spot and stem- 

 blight are best prevented and held in check by early 

 and regular sprayings with the Bordeaux mixture. 

 Flea-beetles, potato bugs, etc., often attack the vines 

 (see remedies elsewhere). 



Peppers. — The mild, sweet varieties for slicing 

 or stuffing are mostly in demand — such as Ruby King, 

 Bull Nose, Sweet Mountain, Chinese Giant, Neapoli- 

 tan, etc. Long Red Cayenne is the hot pepper of 

 commerce ; Chili and Cranberry are pickling favor- 

 ites. Grow plants in hotbeds the same as eggplant. 

 Set outdoors late in May, in rows two and one-half 

 feet apart, plants spaced twenty inches apart in the 

 row. Marketing may begin when the peppers are 

 a little more than half grown, and may continue 

 until they are ripe. Open barrels, crates, baskets, 

 etc., are used, each variety or size of pepper being 

 kept by itself. Unlike eggplant or tomatoes, peppers 

 often endure a small degree of frost in the fall 

 (although while young the plants are very tender). 

 Pepper plants are seldom troubled with insects ; 

 anthracnose and rot are the most common diseases 

 (see Eggplant). 



Fighting Frost. — Commercial truckers some- 

 times save their tender vegetables, melons, etc., from 

 untimely late-May or early-fall frosts, by lighting 

 smudge fires here and there throughout the patch. 



