ached, do not remove these until it is time for
marketing.

=Peas.= The English pea is about the first vegetable of the season to be
planted. It may be planted as soon as the ground is in workable
condition. Peas are planted in rows, and it is a good plan to stretch
wire netting for them to climb on. However, where peas are extensively
cultivated they are allowed to fall on the ground.

There are many sorts of peas, differing both in quality and in time of
production. The first to be planted are the extra-early varieties. These
are not so fine as the later, wrinkled sorts, but the seeds are less apt
to rot in cold ground. Following these, some of the fine, wrinkled sorts
are to be planted in regular succession. Peas do not need much manure
and do best in a light, warm soil.

=Tomatoes.= There is no vegetable grown that is more widely used than
the tomato. Whether fresh or canned it is a staple article of food that
can be served in many ways.

By careful selection and breeding, the fruit of the tomato has in recent
years been much improved. There are now many varieties that produce
perfectly smooth and solid fruit, and the grower can hardly go amiss in
his selection of seeds if he bears his climate and his particular needs
in mind.

Early tomatoes are started in the greenhouse or in the hotbed about ten
weeks before the time for setting the plants in the open ground. They
are transplanted to cold-frames as soon as they are large enough to
handle. This is done to harden the plants and to give them room to grow
strong before the final transplanting.

In kitchen gardens tomatoes are planted in rows four feet apart with the
plants two feet apart in the rows. They are generally trained to stakes
with but one stalk to a stake. When there is plenty of space, however,
the plants are allowed to grow at will and to tumble on the ground. In
this way they bear large crops. During the winter the markets are
supplied with tomatoes either from tropical sections or from hothouses.
As those grown in the hothouses are superior in flavor to those shipped
from Florida and from the West Indies, and as they command good prices,
great quantities are grown in this way.

In the South the bacterial blight which attacks the plants of this
family is a serious drawback to tomato culture. The only way to escape
this disease is to avoid planting tomatoes on land in which eggplants,
tomatoes, or potatoes have been blighted. Lime spread around t