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Page 57
The Indians in their succotash taught us long ago to associate
corn with beans, and they hit upon a dish not surpassed by modern
invention. This delicious vegetable is as easily raised as its
"hail-fellow well met," the bean. We have only to plant it at the
same time in hills from three to four feet apart, and cover the
seed two inches deep. I have used the powdery fertilizers and
wood-ashes in the hill to great advantage, first mingling these
ingredients well with the soil. We make it a point to have sweet-
corn for the table from July 1 until the stalks are killed by
frost in October. This is easily managed by planting different
varieties, and continuing to plant till well into June. Mr.
Gregory writes: "For a succession of corn for family use, to be
planted at the same time, I would recommend Marblehead Early,
Pratt's, Crosley's, Moore's, Stowell's Evergreen, and Egyptian
Sweet." Mr. Harris names with praise the Minnesota as the best
earliest, and Hickox Improved as an exceedingly large and late
variety. Mr. Henderson's list is Henderson Sugar, Hickox Improved,
Egyptian, and Stowell's Evergreen. Let me add Burr's Mammoth and
Squantum Sugar--a variety in great favor with the Squantum Club,
and used by them in their famous clam-bakes.
The cucumber, if grown in the home garden and used fresh, is not
in league with the undertaker. The seed may be planted early in
May, and there are many ways of forcing and hastening the yield. I
have had cucumbers very early in an ordinary hotbed. Outdoors, I
make hills in warm soil the first of May, mixing a little of my
favorite fertilizer with the soil. After leaving the hill for a
day or two to become warm in the sun, I sow the seed in a straight
line for fifteen inches, so that the hoe can approach them
closely. The seed is covered an inch deep, and the soil patted
down firmly. It is possible that a cold storm or that insects may
make partial planting over necessary; if so, this is done
promptly. I put twenty seeds in the hill, to insure against loss.
For a succession or long-continued crop, plant a few hills in rich
moist land about the last of May. The young plants always run a
gauntlet of insects, and a little striped bug is usually their
most deadly enemy. These bugs often appear to come suddenly in
swarms, and devour everything before you are aware of their
presence. With great vigilance they may be kept off by hand, for
their stay is brief. I would advise one trial of a solution of
white hellebore, a tablespoonful to a pail of water. Paris green--
in solution, of course--kills them; but unless it is very weak, it
will kill or stunt the plants also. My musk and watermelons were
watered by too strong a solution of Paris green this year, and
they never recovered from it. Perhaps the best preventive is to
plant so much seed, and to plant over so often, that although the
insects do their worst, plenty of good plants survive. This has
usually been my method. When the striped bug disappears, and the
plants are four or five inches high, I thin out to four plants in
the hill. When they come into bearing, pick off all the fruit fit
for use, whether you want it or not. If many are allowed to become
yellow and go to seed, the growth and productiveness of the vines
are checked. The Early White Spine and Extra Long White Spine are
all the varieties needed for the table. For pickling purposes
plant the Green Prolific on moist rich land. The other varieties
answer quite as well, if picked before they are too large.
The cultivation of the squash is substantially the same as that of
the cucumber, and it has nearly the same enemies to contend with.
Let the hills of the bush sorts be four feet apart each way, and
eight feet for the running varieties. The seed is cheap, so use
plenty, and plant over from the first to the twenty-fifth of May,
until you have three good strong plants to the hill. Three are
plenty, so thin out the plants, when six or seven inches high, to
this number, and keep the ground clean and mellow. I usually raise
my running squashes among the corn, giving up one hill to them
completely every seven or eight feet each way. Early bush sorts:
White Bush Scalloped, Yellow Bush Scalloped. The Perfect Gem is
good for both summer and winter, and should be planted on rich
soil, six feet apart each way. The Boston Marrow is one of the
best fall sorts; the Hubbard and Marblehead are the best winter
varieties.
When we come to plant musk-melons we must keep them well away from
the two above-named vegetables, or else their pollen will mix,
producing very disagreeable hybrids. A squash is very good in its
way, and a melon is much better; but if you grow them so near each
other that they become "'alf and 'alf," you may perhaps find pigs
that will eat them. The more completely the melon-patch is by
itself, the better, and the nearer the house the better; for while
it is liable to all the insects and diseases which attack the
cucumber, it encounters, when the fruit is mature, a more fatal
enemy in the predatory small boy. Choose rich, warm, but not dry
ground for musk-melons, make the hills six feet apart each way,
and treat them like cucumbers, employing an abundance of seed. As
soon as the plants are ready to run, thin out so as to leave only
four to fruit. Henderson recommends Montreal Market, Hackensack,
and Netted Gem. Gregory: Netted Gem, Boston Pet, Bay View, Sill's
Hybrid, Casaba, and Ward's Nectar. He also advocates a remarkable
novelty known as the "Banana." Harris: Early Christiana and
Montreal Market.
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