AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
143 
it is well prepared to sustain itself when removed 
to the border ; and plants thus treated, if lifted 
with care, and planted out as directed, can be left 
in the hot-bed as long as the weather renders it 
imprudent to remove them to the open air, with 
no danger of their being too forward to move. I 
have transplanted them without injury, when in 
full bloom, eighteen inches high, while every one 
who has tried it, knows how difficult it is to make 
a tomato live even, when removed from a hot¬ 
bed to the cold soil of the garden, with only one 
poor little root to sustain it. 
If the garden is infested with cut worms wrap the 
stem before planting out with one thickness of 
newspaper extending three inches above the root. 
Eveiy plant not stopped for early fruit may be de¬ 
pended upon for from a half to one bushel of 
line well ripened fruit, not half green with a taste 
more like the soil on which it grew, than the de¬ 
licious fruit it is. 
Save seed from the largest, smoothest, and 
earliest tomatoes, ripening on vines not stopped 
for the early fruit. The fruit should be very ripe, 
and lay in the sun until nearly decayed. Wash 
the seed clean and dry in the shade. 
It may seem to careless gardeners, too much 
trouble to grow tomatoes with so much care; 
but the lover of this excellent fruit will, I feel sure, 
not regret his trouble, when he perceives the 
difference between tomatoes cultivated, and 
those allowed to grow wild. I often hear it 
said ; “ I do not see what makes your tomatoes 
taste so different from mine.” I have tried to 
give the reasons in the above details. 
E. F. Haskii.l. 
j Monroe, Mich 1859. 
-^- 
Directions for Raising Melons, Cucum¬ 
bers, etc 
Most persons relish fine ripe melons, especially 
in the hot summer months, when there is a crav¬ 
ing for something succulent and cooling. Melons 
are one of the bountiful gifts granted by Nature, 
alike to poor and rich, for the laborer who has a 
little plot around his cottage, can grow them for his 
own use, as well as can the millionaire with his 
gardens and conservatories. A few seeds, a plot 
of ground naturally free from standing water or 
made so artificially, and plenty of sunshine, are 
the essentials. A deep, friable loam, having 
more sand than clay, and enriched with decayed 
vegetable matter, is the best. 
Early starting of the vines is also very desir¬ 
able. In this latitude we have raised very good 
melons from seed planted near the close of May, 
but they came to full maturity after the season 
when they would have been most relished. May 
1st or earlier, is the better season for starting the 
seed. As there is danger of the seeds rotting in 
the ground, and also of the plants being stunted 
by cold, when put into the open ground at the 
North before about the middle of May, we advise 
starting the plants in sods or baskets as soon as 
the middle of April or first of May. Cut pieces of 
grass turf, say six inches square, more or less, in¬ 
vert them, and plant four to eight seeds in each. 
Keep the turf barely moist, but never dry, plac¬ 
ing it in a cellar, or on the south side of a house, 
board-fence, or other protection. When the 
seeds are up, the ground warm, and the weather 
suitable, transfer the sods to hills. Or : the seeds 
may be planted at first in old open baskets filled 
with earth, and the baskets afterwards be set in 
the garden or plot. ' The roots will find their 
way through the holes in the bottom and sides of 
the basket, and out into the surrounding soil. The 
baskets, of course, are to be left in the soil un¬ 
disturbed through the season. Both of these 
plans have proved very good, and a gain of two 
or three weeks time may thus be made. 
Whether the seeds be previously started, or 
planted at once in the open ground, the hills 
should be made wide apart, say 6 to 8 feet each 
way for water-melons, and 5 to 6 feet for musk- 
melons, canteloupes, encumbers, etc. There is no 
waste of ground in this. If land is scarce or val¬ 
uable, the spaces between the hills, but not very 
near them, may be used for early lettuce, ra¬ 
dishes, or other early low growing plants. Me¬ 
lon vines grow better, and yield more and better 
fruit for not being crowded. 
The finest plot of cucumbers we ever saw, was 
in this wise : They were planted in drills 6 feet 
apart, the seeds being sown quite thickly and af¬ 
terwards thinned out to about 15 inches between 
the plants. The thinning was done from time to 
time by clipping down, not pulling up, the excess 
of vines. The last plants were not cut out until 
there was an established growth of 2 or 3 feet, 
and all danger from insects was past. After 
this, by turning in the ends of the runners, and 
occasionally clipping them where there was an 
excess, they were made to cover evenly, but not 
thickly; a space of 2^ feet each side of the ori¬ 
ginal seed drill. This left them in beds 5 feet 
wide, with a clean path one foot wide between 
each bed. From this path the picker or weeder 
could reach into the center of the bed on each 
side, and the vines were uninjured by tramp¬ 
ling in weeding or gathering the cucumbers. A 
similar plan would be a good one for all sorts 
of melon vines. We shall adopt it this year. 
For fertilizers, well rotted barn-yard manure, 
or chip manure, rotten leaves (leaf-mold), sand 
on clay soils, bone sawings, etc., are good. Let a 
free supply be added to each hill, or along each 
drill, digging the ground thoroughly for a foot 
each way from where a plant is to stand, and 
at least a foot deep, mixing in the manure to 
that depth and width. Deep digging is import¬ 
ant. The vines require much moisture, and they 
should have a chance to send down roots be¬ 
low the drying effects of the severest drouth, 
that they may always obtain a full supply of sap. 
Insects are the greatest obstacle to success 
in raising melons or cucumbers. They may be 
kept off with frames, hoops, or bottomless boxes, 
placed over the hills. Soot, ashes, air-slaked 
lime, red pepper, tobacco water, etc., sprinkled 
over the young plants, are sometimes partial 
preventives, but not always. The best plan we 
have found in practice is to raise enough plants 
extra to feed the insects. This may be done 
in two or three modes. Our plan is to put in 
twenty, thiity, or even fifty seeds for each per¬ 
fect plant finally wanted. Out of this number 
we have never failed to get some perfect plants. 
This is only practicable when seed is abundant, 
but it is better usually to buy two or three 
five-penny papers of seed extra, in order to se¬ 
cure a certain supply of plants. A second plan 
is, to put in two or three circles or rows of 
seeds, each row being planted three-fourths of 
an inch deeper than the one within it. By this 
means a fresh supply of tender plants will ap¬ 
pear in succession, and the insects will feed 
upon the youngest, and before these are con¬ 
sumed, the first starting plants will have grown 
out of the way of harm, as the insects do not 
eat the leaves after they are somewhat matur¬ 
ed and hardened. The third plan is similar, 
and we have found it perfectly effectual. We 
make the hills or drills, and plant a few seeds 
say 2 or 3 inches deep, then put on three-fourths 
of an inch of fine earth, and add another layer 
of seeds. Then add more earth and more seeds, 
the last seeds being covered but f to 1 inch 
with fine soil, slightly patted down to prevent 
drying. We have also varied this plan by scat¬ 
tering the seeds on the surface of the prepared 
hill, and dibbling, digging, or raking them in to 
different depths. They then continue coming 
up for three or four weeks, and the insects in¬ 
variably leave us some strong plants among 
those first starting. This takes more seeds, and 
may seem a lazy method, but for busy men who 
have not lime to stand by and watch the ene¬ 
my, and pinch them off with the fingers, or 
“ shoot them with bow and arrow,” we think 
the plan will in the end prove the cheapest. 
Twenty-five cents worth of extra seed will sa¬ 
tisfy the insect tax-gatherers, and we usually 
prefer to pay the tax rather than expend a 
dozen “ quarters’ ” worth of time in protecting 
and defending our “ reserved rights.” 
-■*—— --- 
Sweet Potatoes. 
These, to be dry and mealy, require a warm, 
sandy, and tolerably rich soil. The sets are now 
easily obtained, even by mail, of those who make 
a business of growing them for sale. They may 
be easily produced, however, by planting the 
small potatoes horizontally in a hot-bed, the lat¬ 
ter part of April or first of May. A good supply 
of these sets or sprouts may be obtained in this 
manner, for planting out from the 15th to the 20th 
of May, and the potatoes if left in the ground 
will yield more sprouts for still later planting. 
To remove these sets, water the bed thorough¬ 
ly, and follow down by the side of the sprout with 
the finger, separating it from the potato at its 
junction. A moist day is best for transplanting. 
Having enriched and deeply plowed the ground, 
harrow it down, and with a light plow’ mark off 
the rows four feet each way. Make the hills at 
the intersections of the furrows, by drawing up 
the earth with a large hoe, so as to form a 
broad surface about one foot higher than the sur¬ 
rounding ground. Plant two sets about six inches 
apart upon the top of each hill, and there is 
very little more to be done, except removing 
weeds. At the first hoeing a plow may be used, 
turning the earth towards the hills, which will 
materially lessen the labor, and assist in hilling. 
Draw the earth about the plants with the hoe. 
After this the vines will begin to cover the 
ground, precluding the use of anything but the 
hoe, which should be used to keep down weeds. 
We have seen very fair sweet potatoes grown 
in northern Ohio, and known of their being 
raised with moderate success in northern cen¬ 
tral New-York. 
Club-footed Cabbages 
Cabbages sometimes show a disposition to grow 
with very large, semi-bulbous roots, instead of 
heading well; this difficulty called the ‘club-foot’ 
often occasions serious loss to the cultivator. It 
has been attributed to several causes, among 
which are cold wet soils, and the use of manure 
from hog-pens. We suspect the trouble may come 
from seed raised contiguous to or in the same 
patch with turnips cultivated for seed. Both the 
cabbage and turnip belong to the brassica tribe, 
and when in flower, they may be mixed or hy¬ 
bridized, by pollen from one flower falling upon or 
being carried to another. It would be well to. 
prevent this cause of difficulty by raising supplies 
of these seeds in alternate years. The different 
varieties of cabbages, or of any plant, should be 
kept at a distance if pure seed is desired. 
