Part 5

Sow seeds in rows sixteen to eighteen inches apart. Sow thickly, and use the surplus plants as greens while young and tender, making use of both top and root. Thin to three or four inches apart.

Cabbage

Unless the garden is of considerable size I would not advise planting this vegetable, because it takes up so much room that might better be given to other kinds which the housewife will find more useful. The plants should stand at least two feet apart. Seed can be put into the ground about the first of May, or plants can be started in the hotbed if wanted for very early use. Seedlings can be transplanted as soon as they have made their second leaf.

For a very early variety I would advise Jersey Wakefield. For late use Late Drumhead or Stone Mason Marblehead--both excellent in all respects, and fine for winter use.

Care must be taken to prevent insects from injuring the plants during the various stages of their development. Spray with an infusion of the tobacco extract known as Nicoticide. This will effectually prevent the pests from doing harm if applied thoroughly and frequently.

If cabbage is to be wintered in the cellar, it must be kept cool and dry. Some prefer to bury the heads in trenches, in dry locations in the garden. The trench should be about two feet deep. Spread straw in the bottom of it, and place the cabbage on it, head down, with the large leaves folded well together. Then cover with three or four inches of hay, and bank up with soil. Put a board over this to shed rain. The cabbage will freeze, but if left in the ground until the frost is gradually extracted from it it will be found crisp and brittle, and much more satisfactory for table use than that which is wintered in the cellar. Care must be taken to exclude rain. If water gets to it it will be ruined. It is a good plan to cover the trench with oilcloth or tarred paper, both being waterproof.

Cauliflower

This is a favorite vegetable when well grown and properly cared for. It requires a rich soil, a location well exposed to the sun, and frequent applications of water if the season happens to be a dry one. Cultivate as you would cabbage. For early use the plants should be started in the hotbed, and transplanted to the cold-frame as soon as they have made their third leaves. Put into the open ground as soon as the soil is in good working condition. Set the plants about two feet apart. When heads have formed they should be bleached by drawing the large leaves together and tying them with strips of soft cloth.

For a late crop, to mature during the pickling season, start plants in open ground in May.

The best early variety is Dwarf Erfurt. Autumn Giant is an excellent late variety.

Carrot

This plant likes a deep, warm, sandy soil. Early Short Horn matures by midsummer. It is rich and sweet in flavor. Red Intermediate is a later variety, excellent for fall and winter use. Comparatively few persons give this plant a place in their gardens, but it richly deserves a place there because of its value as an article of food, as well as because of its health-giving qualities. It adds greatly to the variety of the bill of fare, and where it appears frequently on the table a liking for it is soon developed, and thereafter it becomes a standard vegetable in the housewife's list of "must-haves." It adds a delightful flavor to vegetable soups.

Celery

The seed of early celery should be sown in the hotbed. Transplant the seedlings to the cold-frame and allow them to remain there until May. Then set in the richest soil at your disposal, six inches apart in the row. Blanch by setting up boards a foot or more in width each side the row, allowing an opening about three inches wide at the top through which the plants can get a little light. For late and winter use, sow the seeds in open ground in May. Bleach by earthing up gradually, as the stalks develop, until you have the plants buried to within a few inches of the tip of their leaves. Use clean, dry soil in banking the plants. Sawdust is good, but care must be taken to make use of a kind that does not have a strong odor. Pine-dust will give the plants a disagreeable flavor.

For winter use, take up plants, root and all, and pack close together in boxes and store in a cool, dark cellar.

White Plume is the best early variety. Giant Pascal is probably the most satisfactory winter variety, but Winter Queen is a favorite with many. Both are so tender and have such a rich, nutty flavor that it is not an easy matter to decide between them.

Cucumber

For very early cucumbers plant the seed in the hotbed in March or April, but do not put the plants into the garden until all danger of frost is over. This plant requires a rich and mellow soil. It should be set in hills at least four feet apart. It is a good plan to start the seed in pieces of sod placed grass-side down. This enables one to move them from the hotbed without any disturbance of their roots. The cucumber- or squash-beetle often destroys the plants when they are put in the open ground if close watch is not taken and prompt effort made to rout the enemy. Spray with Nicoticide infusion, taking pains to have it reach the under side of the leaves. Dry road-dust sifted thickly over the plants is often found quite effective, but because of the inability to apply it to the under side of the leaves the liquid insecticide will be found more effective.

Improved Early White Spine is a favorite with all who like a crisp, tender-meated, finely flavored cucumber. Ever-bearing is an excellent sort for pickling as well as for use on the table during the fall, as it continues to bear until frost kills the vines.

Corn

Sweet-corn is one of the most delicious of all garden vegetables, and every garden that is large enough to admit of its culture should give place to two or three varieties of it. Because of its tall growth and the distance required between rows it is not adapted to culture in the very small garden, though I would willingly go without some of the other vegetables generally grown there in order to give place to a few hills of it.

Golden Bantam produces ears only four or five inches in length, but what they lack in size they make up for in tenderness and sweetness.

Country Gentleman is a medium variety, very tender, sweet, and juicy.

But the ideal sweet-corn is Stowell's Evergreen. No other variety equals it in tenderness, sugary sweetness, and rich flavor. It does not come to maturity until quite late in the season, but it remains in excellent eating-condition until the plant is killed by frost.

Do not plant until the weather and the ground are warm--generally about May 10th at the extreme North. Sweet-corn seed often decays if put into the ground as early as field-corn. Have the soil rich and mellow, and cultivate frequently and thoroughly. If a dry spell comes along make use of the cultivator daily until the drought is broken.

Endive

This plant ought to be grown far more extensively than it is because it is one of the best salad plants we have for fall and winter use. Some should be sown in April for use during the summer, and some in July, for late use. When the plants are two or three inches high transplant to rich soil, setting them about ten inches apart. When nearly full-grown, gather the leaves together and tie them with strips of cloth, thus excluding the light from the central part of the bunch. It must be blanched before it is fit for table use. This part of the work must be done while the plants are perfectly dry. If done when they are wet or even moist, they will be quite sure to rot.

Lettuce