"Melons are most interesting to experiment with. We suppose that melons originally came from Asia, and parts of Africa. Watermelons grow wild in Africa. The Negroes and wild animals feed upon them. Perhaps that is the reason why the coloured people so love them. Anyway, melons belong to these countries. Melons are a summer fruit. Over in England we find the muskmelons often grown under glass in hothouses. The vines are trained upward rather than allowed to lie prone. As the melons grow large in the hot, dry atmosphere, just the sort which is right for their growth, they become too heavy for the vine to hold up. So they are held by little bags of netting, just like a tennis net in size of mesh. The bags are supported on nails or pegs. It is a very pretty sight I can assure you. Over here usually we raise our melons outdoors. They are planted in hills. Eight seeds are placed two inches apart and an inch deep. The hills should have a four foot sweep on all sides; the watermelon hills ought to have an allowance of eight to ten feet. Make the soil for these hills very rich. As the little plants get sizeable—say about four inches in height—reduce the number of plants to two in a hill. Always in such work choose the very sturdiest plants to keep. Cut the others down close to or a little below the surface of the ground. Pulling up plants is a shocking way to get rid of them. I say shocking because the pull is likely to disturb the roots of the two remaining plants. When the melon plant has reached a length of a foot, pinch off the end of it. This pinch means this to the plant: just stop growing long, take time now to grow branches. Sand or lime sprinkled about the hills tends to keep bugs away.
"Onions are about as popular a vegetable as we have. Some people are quite scornful of onions because of their truly disagreeable odour. But I do not know what we should do without the onion for flavourings. Peter is to plant onions where he last had celery. That is very wise, because onions do especially well coming after a crop for which the land was heavily fertilized. Onions like moisture of soil, too. If the soil is not rich enough, nitrate of soda may be added. The most discouraging thing about chemical fertilizers is the fact that advertisements say to have a certain quantity for an acre of land. Few boys and girls are planting entire acres, to just one thing. Now, suppose you write down this: Add ¼ pound of nitrate of soda to 100 square feet of land then use the proper fractional amount. To buy 1/40 of a pound for example sounds absurd. Buy your quarter pound and put the approximate amount on. Sprinkle chemical fertilizer over the surface of the soil and rake it in just under the surface.
"There are two methods for the planting of onions. One way is to use seed; the other, sets. Sets mean little onion bulbs. These are placed in drills about six inches apart and so that the little bulb may be just beneath the surface of the soil. Do not set too low. These bulbs are ready before seed onions. Seeds are rather slow in development. If you make sowings pretty thick the tender tops may be used, and so the thinning process is done to advantage.
"I believe that all your gardens should have some parsley in them. It can be planted as a border, since it grows low and has a fringy, decorative effect. If you were Italian girls and boys you would have parsley if you had nothing else; for the Italians always use it in their soups. There is a European variety, not as pretty as the common variety, which grows taller and ranker. It has a stronger smell. An Italian boy who was living in America had a garden in which he grew both kinds of parsley. He was asked which he liked the better. Straightening up, he pointed to the European saying, 'Smells stronger.'
''I believe none of us have raised parsnips. It takes ¼ of an ounce of seed to plant 100 feet of drill. Any deep, rich, moist garden soil will do. Just as early as the ground is workable, the seed should be sown. Sow in drills of ½ inch depth and 6 inches apart. The plants should finally stand about eight inches apart. They may be dug before or after frost. Some people think that the early frosts improve the flavour of parsnips.
"I suppose there is no vegetable so well liked as peas. Who would wish a Fourth of July dinner without peas? The early varieties of peas go into the ground just as early as possible. I like best to dig trenches six inches deep and about eighteen inches apart. As the peas are dropped into the trench, cover over with about two inches of soil. As the plants grow, fill soil into the trench. Of course, peas have to be brushed. So as soon as the little runners form put brush behind the plant and start the twiners about the brush stalks. A variety of pea called Gradus is very excellent in flavour.
"As for potatoes—well, now, just see Peter grin! He has covered that subject. Of course, I can add nothing to an expert's advice.
"Peppers are worth trying. If you do not care for them in your home gardens, add them to the school garden. They work in with the courses in cooking. Just as egg plants are started inside, so ought peppers to be. Whenever the soil is warm and the weather settled, the pepper plants may go out. The best soil for them is a rich, sandy one. The little plants should have about one and a half foot of space on all sides. At first they look pretty lonesome so far apart but soon they will grow to large, bushy plants. A little hen manure mixed with soil and put on top of the ground about the little peppers gives them a good start in their new quarters. There are many interesting kinds of peppers to grow. If a pepper with a little sting is wished try such varieties as Bird's Eye, Red Cluster, and Tobasco. Suppose the peppers are to be used for stuffing. Then large, rather more mild-flavoured kinds are needed. Ruby King pepper is a bouncing beauty. The Red Etna, Improved Bull Nose and Golden King are other good ones.
"The word pumpkin stands for good, old-fashioned pies, for Thanksgiving, for grandmother's house. It really brings more to mind than the word squash. I suppose the squash is a bit more useful, when we think of the fine Hubbard, and the nice little crooked-necked summer squashes; but after all, I like to have more pumpkins. And as for Jack-o'-lanterns—why they positively demand pumpkins. In planting these, the same general directions hold good which were given for melons. And use these same for squash-planting, too. But do not plant the two cousins together, for they have a tendency to run together. Plant the pumpkins in between the hills of corn and let the squashes go in some other part of the garden.
"We have very nearly worn out the subject of radish. About the only cultural point I would add is this: Make radish develop quickly. If growth is slow, the radish is likely to be poor. Sometimes all the growth goes to top. Fine, green leaves result, but no good radishes. Then doctor the soil in order that fruit development may be quickened. Radishes are the quickest in maturing of all vegetables. That is why your teacher had radish beds for the lower grades in the school. The children got a result and got it quickly. Josephine might have raised radishes as well as parsley in the box garden she had. People in cities could raise these two vegetables on their roofs just as well as not. They are worth the effort it takes in trying.