THE AMATEUIl’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
195 
and vegetable marrows are somewhat in the way when pro- 
duced extra early, because of the crowd of good things that 
are at hand to compete with them. But as the summer de- 
clines, the case is altered, and the things that were little 
valued in the time of great plenty, rise in value as the range 
of selection is contracted. To secure a supply of marrows in 
August and September is a matter of the utmost simplicity. 
You may go to a piece of rough ground that has been fairly 
dug over : if it is a mellow well manured loam, you may in , 
the last week of May or the first week of June, insert seeds of 
gourds or marrows at proper distances, without making hills 
or taking any special pains. You will soon have a plantation, 
and the fruits will appear in plenty in somewhat less than two 
months from the time of sowing. If slugs abound, they will 
destroy the young plants, and that danger must be thought of 
in time ; if drought occurs, the plants must have water. As 
for all the rest, leave it to nature, and take care alwaj^s to cut 
the fruit while they are young, if they are required for cooking 
as summer vegetables. 
During the past fifteen years we have every year grown seed 
of Hibberd's Prolific Marrow in order to supply the trade 
with a true sample ; this variety being particularly liable to 
injurious crossing, if grown for seed in the vicinity of other 
kinds of marrows and gourds. We have in this business fol- 
lowed the practice above recommended. A piece of our rough 
clay land is dug over, and the line put down. A man takes a 
barrowfull of rotten manure from an old hot-bed, and with a 
spade takes out a spadefull of the clay and throws it aside, and 
fills the hole from the barrow ; into this half-peck bed we insert 
a couple of seeds, and the work is done. We do not thin out 
the plants, but let them all fight for themselves, the holes being 
four feet apart each way. In the month of August the ground 
is literally covered with fruits, the size and shape of ostrich 
eggs, the greater part of which are left to ripen for seed. It 
is, therefore, evident that a short chapter should suffice for this 
subject, which is of none the less importance because there is 
not much to be said about it. 
Uses of Gourds, Ere. — While many that are highly coloured 
make suitable drapery for fences, trellises, and screens, the 
large edible kinds are admirably adapted for clothing rough 
banks and half-waste places, a well selected group presenting 
in the latter days of summer a remarkable appearance. And 
o 2 
