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 1/4 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.