Page:How and what to grow in a kitchen garden of one acre (IA howwhattogrowin00darl).pdf/75

 gradually down to one and one-half to two inches at the bottom, making very little waste in preparing it for the table. It is of fine quality, while its size will render any surplus valuable for feeding to the stock.

—This is a large late variety and makes a good kind to raise for winter use; the roots grow ten to twelve inches in length and measure two to two and one-half inches in diameter at the top, tapering gradually to a point at the base. It should have deep cultivation to produce the finest roots. The color is a deep orange red and the quality is very fine. These are universal favorites, and too frequently are not grown by the kitchen gardener, who labors under the idea that they must have a sandy soil in some particularly favored section, and that they require great skill to grow them. If a variety suited to your soil is planted and given the same amount of attention and careful cultivation as the rest of the garden receives, melons may be had in abundance from the first of August till frost comes in the fall, though when the first cool nights come they lose their fine flavor. If the garden has a southern slope, that will be the place for the melons and other warmth-loving vegetables; but they will do almost as well in the level field. The rows of hills should be five feet apart and the hills at least four feet apart in the row, to allow the vines plenty of room to run. It is a good plan to make the hills break joint, as they