Sown in the fall, and covered with straw or hay when cold weather sets in, it will start into rapid growth when the covering is removed in March or April. Or the seed may be sown in early spring, and plants will be fit to use in six or eight weeks. One packet of seed will suffice for a small family.
Corn, sweet or sugar.—This is the characteristic American table vegetable, and one that every home-gardener expects to grow. Too often, however, only one planting of one kind is made. The ears come to edible maturity almost simultaneously, and a short season is the result.
The first planting of sweet corn should be made from May 1 to 10, planting early, intermediate, and late varieties at the same time, then at intervals of two weeks until the middle of July, when the late varieties should be planted, thus having a succession from the first crop until October.
The soil for corn should be fertile and “quick.” The coarser manure left from the preparation of the ground for small crops may be used to good advantage. Corn for the garden is better planted in drills, the drills 3 feet apart, dropping the seed from 10 to 12 inches apart in the drills. One quart of seed will plant 200 hills.
For extra early, Marblehead, Adams, Vermont, Minnesota, and Early Corey are favorites. A most excellent extra early yellow sweet corn, with kernels looking like small field corn, is Golden Bantam; the ears are small and would probably not attract the market buyer, but for home use the variety is unexcelled (Plate XXIV). For later crop, Crosby, Hickox, Shoe Peg, and Stowell Evergreen are now popular.
Cress.—Two very unlike species of plants are grown under the name of cress,—the upland-cress and the water-cress. There are still other species, but not much known in this country.
The upland cress, or the true pepper grass, may be grown on any garden soil. Sow early in the spring. It makes a rapid growth and can be cut in from four to five weeks. Succession of sowings must be made, as it runs quickly to seed. The curled variety is the one usually grown, as the leaves may be used for garnishing as well as for salads. One packet of seed will be sufficient for each sowing. Any good soil will do. Sow thickly in drills 12 to 18 inches apart. In summer it runs to seed quickly, so that it is usually grown in spring and fall.
The water-cress is more exacting in its culture, and can be successfully grown only in moist places, such as edges of shallow slow-running creeks, open drains, or beds excavated near such streams. A few plants for private use may be grown in a frame, provided a retentive soil is used and attention given to watering the bed often. Watercress may be propagated from pieces of the stem, used as cuttings. If one is fond of water-cress, it is well to colonize it in some clean creek or pool. It will take care of itself year by year. Seeds may also be used for propagating it.
Cucumber.—The custom of putting down cucumber pickles in the home kitchen is probably passing out; but both the pickling and the slicing cucumbers, especially the latter, are still an essential part of a good home garden. A stale or wilted cucumber is a very poor article of food.
For early use, the cucumber is usually started in a hotbed or coldframe by sowing the seed on pieces of sod 4 to 6 inches square, turned grass side down. Three or four seeds are placed on or pushed into each piece of sod and covered with 1 to 2 inches of fine soil. The soil should be well watered and the glass or cloth placed over the frame. The roots will run through the sod. When the plants are large enough to set out, a flat trowel or a shingle may be slipped under the sod and the plants moved to the hill without check. In place of sod, old quart berry-boxes are good; after setting in the hill the roots may force their way through the cracks in the baskets. The baskets also decay rapidly. Flower-pots may be used. These plants from the frames may be set out when danger of frost is over, usually by the 10th of May, and should make a very rapid growth, yielding good-sized fruits in two months. The hills should be made rich by forking in a quantity of well-rotted manure, and given a slight elevation above the garden—not high enough to allow the wind to dry the soil, but slightly raised so that water will not stand around the roots.