OF ONE ACRE. 
143 
manure and good early plants, to be set out as soon 
as the weather will permit in the spring. The seed 
is sown in hotbeds, from the middle of March to the 
middle of April; if possible, they should be trans¬ 
planted, when about two inches high, to another sash, 
where they may stand three or four inches apart. 
When there is not room for this, the seed should be 
sown thinly in drills four inches apart, and when 
well started, should be thinned out to two inches 
apart in the row. The hotbeds should be given 
plenty of air on warm days that the plants may be 
stocky and thrifty when planting-time comes. They 
should not be set out until the temperature is over 
60° at night, or until the oak trees are well out in 
leaf. They should have plenty of room, at least 
three feet in the row and four feet between the rows, 
and for an ordinary family at least four rows should 
be planted. Two rows should be of the earliest and 
two with plants sown a month later, for in some 
varieties there is a tendency to die off after raising 
one crop, though constant picking as fast as they 
ripen, and not allowing surplus ones to remain on 
the vines, will greatly prolong the bearing period; 
so much so, that in most years I make but one plant¬ 
ing. The earliest hotbed plants will begin to ripen 
fruit the last week in July or the first in August, 
while, if you make a hill, as for corn, about May 10th, 
and put in a dozen or so seed where you want the 
plant to stand, pulling all out but the strongest one 
when they get a good start, you can have this second 
lot in bearing about the last of August, without the 
use of glass or the labor of transplanting. 
