Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-05-01
0heDACKYARD
ST. FARNIfR9
. PROF, Jk1LLAIO DOEIE
cuCURBiTACEAE.

Inc name rs nara one To spell and
harder one to pronounce. but it
means melons and cucumbers and
squash and pumpkins and Il lot OF
other interesting vegetables that we
all like.
Some of this iaw-breaking stomach
aching family are natives of almost
every cline in almost every country
on the globe and nearly all of them
are edible, either raw or cooked.
II is an easy matter TO see the fam.
lily resemblance between these cous-
ins-much easier than with most of
the botanical species. Who, for In
stance, would guess that the potato
and tomato are related? With the
cucurbits, which is short for the sci
entitlc name. We find many points of
resemblance. All of them are vine
like plants, loving a rich, warm, rather
light soil. The flowers and leaves are
quite similar, although differing in
size and color. the fruit is borne in
similar manner and the edible fruits
have the same general characteristics.
viz, tough outer skin, with the edi
Bile flesh adhering to it. the interior
of the fruit being divided into several
more or less distinct sections in which
the fiat, hard, pointed seeds are borne.
Cucumbers and melons are the va
rieties which are edible without cook
ing, while pumpkins and squashes re-
quire cooking to make them palat-
able.
Inasmuch as these vegetables have
the same general characteristics, the
same general rules cover their sue
cessful cultivation.
The soil should be light. well
drained warm and in a sunny loca-
ton = The original home of this val.
liable family was in the tropical des-
erts, and sunshine Is more important
than water Plant them about corn
planting time, depending upon your
latitude, or if you wish to get an early
crop you can plant in pots in a cold
warm weather is assured A muslin
or glass covered box frame about the
hills will permit OF early planting
right in the garden.
The soil must not be heavy or
lumpy If your soil is of a gumbo or
clay type, your best plan will be to
excavate to depth Of eighteen inches
under each hill, fill in with six inches
of rotted manure and cover that with
a foot of good rich sandy loan. The
surface of the hill should be four
inches above the surrounding soil for
drainage and warmth.
Plant eight or ten seeds in each hill.
the hills being eight feet apart in each
direction and the seeds one inch deep.
Keep them we'll watered and when the
seedlings appear, protect them from
bugs by means Of boxes, powdered
hellebore or some similar plan. If
you forget this the first year. you will
remember it the next, as you will have
no plants in a few days after the
striped beetles start to work
The vines are safe after they begin
to send out runners, and each hill
should then be thinned down to four
vines, as these four will produce more
and better fruit than ten would in the
same hill.
The first cucumbers will be ready
to pick about ninety days from date
OF planting, and the vines will bear
until frost kills them. Melons are
slower and more tender, and the only
sure way to get crop in the latitude
of the Great Lakes is to start early
varieties in cold frames about April
18th, and transplant the last Of May.