THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 
W HERE plenty of garden vegetables are required, 
frequent sowings or plantings should be made. 
The “ spring fever ” of vegetable gardening is generally 
of short duration, and is at its height when the attack 
first comes on. The owner of a small garden is apt to 
have it so seriously that undue haste is made in all the 
operations ; plowing or spading is not half done, the sur¬ 
face is barely stirred up enough to show that some one 
has been over the whole ground ; fertilizers are improp¬ 
erly supplied, and plantings are made with hands un¬ 
guided by experience or judgment. All the seeds are put 
in on the same day, and the work finished up as rapidly 
as • possible. The result is, in some cases, a surplus of 
vegetables for a short period, and none thereafter; in 
other cases, at no time does the garden afford vegeta¬ 
bles worthy of the name. 
For the best success a series of plantings should be 
made, commencing with radishes and lettuce; plant as 
early in the season as the weather will permit, always 
bearing in mind that it is folly to put seeds in the ground 
when it is cold and wet. A planting of radishes should 
be made every ten days until the first of June, after 
which time do not plant again until September, as in this 
climate radishes in midsummer are worthless. Peas 
should also be sown in succession until the first of June. 
Plant a few at a time, in order that the whole crop may 
be consumed when in the best possible condition ; it is 
far better to eat canned peas than half-ripened ones from 
the vines. A planting of peas can be made to advantage 
after early potatoes, if the proper kinds are selected, and 
for this purpose “ Henderson’s First of All,” or others of 
that class are best. It is folly to plant so late the large, 
wrinkled varieties, as a crop of mildew would be secured 
in September instead of a delicious vegetable.' Two 
plantings of beets in spring and one in August will keep 
up a succession of tnis vegetable, tender and sweet. 
Sweet-corn should be planted every week, say twenty 
hills at a time, from the first of May until the middle of 
July; this will afford an ample supply for nearly three 
months. Beans should be planted at intervals of three 
weeks, the last planting to be made about the middle of 
July. This crop, if not wanted for snap-beans, can be 
used to good advantage for pickling. 
A small planting of strap-leaf turnips should be made 
as early as possible in the season, and another on the 
ground where the early peas were grown. A later plant¬ 
ing can be made, as well as one of ruta-bagas, where the 
early potatoes were grown. In any vacant places, if such 
there are in the garden, a small patch of spinach should 
be cultivated, if for no other purpose than to turn under 
as a vegetable manure. It is of the greatest importance 
to make an early and late planting of tomatoes. For the 
first, put out strong, stocky plants; for the second, drop 
a seed or two in each hill of early corn, and as soon as 
the corn is done cut the stalks to the ground, and a splen¬ 
did crop of tomatoes will be secured, which will be very 
useful after«the first has ripened its best fruits. 
By this method of planting, the garden will yield more 
than double its usual crop, and the vegetables will be far 
better than the straggling, tough, indigestible things usu¬ 
ally gathered. Besides, it will add greatly to the pleasures 
of gardening to have everything look fresh and healthy 
the whole season. C. L. A. 
The Egg Plant. 
When well grown and properly cooked, the egg-plant is 
one of the most delicious of garden vegetables, although its 
cultivation is attended with more difficulty than any other. 
As it is a native of Tropical America, it at all times re¬ 
quires a high temperature, and at no season of its growth 
should it be kept in a temperature of less than 70°. Like 
all other tropical plants, it is of the greatest importance 
to secure a rapid and uninterrupted growth from the 
start, as the plants never do well if they are severely 
checked when young, and there is nothing to be gained 
by starting them very early. 
The seed should be sown rather thickly in a well 
drained pot or pan filled with light loamy soil, and 
covered to the depth of a quarter of an inch; the pot or 
pan should then be placed in a warm, moist situation, as 
close to the glass as possible, and as soon as the plants 
are well up and strong enough to handle they should be 
transplanted, some two or three inches apart each way, into 
shallow boxes filled with the compost above referred to. 
As the plants increase in size they will commence to crowd 
each other, and in this event it is well to carefully remove 
every other plant and transfer them to other boxes, or else 
place them in three or four-inch pots; if this is done they 
can be grown inside to a much larger size. 
The plants can be very gradually exposed to the open 
air about the last week in May, and planted out about the 
10th of June. It is well to give the egg-plant one of the 
warmest and most sheltered situations at command, and 
the soil in which they are grown can hardly be made too 
rich and deep. The plants should be set about two and 
a half feet apart each way. Well decayed stable manure 
is the most suitable, and clean, thorough cultivation is 
also indispensable to success. In seasons of drought a 
good mulch of coarse littery manure can be used with 
decided benefit to the crop. Of the several varieties in 
cultivation the New York Improved, with its large round 
purple fruit, is the most popular*sort. The Long Purple 
is much earlier and by some claimed to be the most 
hardy of all; it certainly is the most productive. The 
Black Pekin is one of the latest additions to the list, and is 
by some much esteemed. 
The Scarlet Chinese, White Fruited and one or two 
other varieties are grown more for curiosity and orna¬ 
ment than for use, and are generally classed among orna¬ 
mental fruit and gourd-bearing plants, where I think they 
very appropriately belong. 
Charles E. Parnell. 
