“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.  If you were Italian girls and boys you would have parsley if you had nothing else; for the Italians always use it in their soups.  There is a European variety, not as pretty as the common variety, which grows taller and ranker.  It has a stronger smell.  An Italian boy who was living in America had a garden in which he grew both kinds of parsley.  He was asked which he liked the better.  Straightening up, he pointed to the European saying, ‘Smells stronger.’

’’I believe none of us have raised parsnips.  It takes 1/4 of an ounce of seed to plant 100 feet of drill.  Any deep, rich, moist garden soil will do.  Just as early as the ground is workable, the seed should be sown.  Sow in drills of 1/2 inch depth and 6 inches apart.  The plants should finally stand about eight inches apart.  They may be dug before or after frost.  Some people think that the early frosts improve the flavour of parsnips.

“I suppose there is no vegetable so well liked as peas.  Who would wish a Fourth of July dinner without peas?  The early varieties of peas go into the ground just as early as possible.  I like best to dig trenches six inches deep and about eighteen inches apart.  As the peas are dropped into the trench, cover over with about two inches of soil.  As the plants grow, fill soil into the trench.  Of course, peas have to be brushed.  So as soon as the little runners form put brush behind the plant and start the twiners about the brush stalks.  A variety of pea called Gradus is very excellent in flavour.

“As for potatoes—­well, now, just see Peter grin!  He has covered that subject.  Of course, I can add nothing to an expert’s advice.

“Peppers are worth trying.  If you do not care for them in your home gardens, add them to the school garden.  They work in with the courses in cooking.  Just as egg plants are started inside, so ought peppers to be.  Whenever the soil is warm and the weather settled, the pepper plants may go out.  The best soil for them is a rich, sandy one.  The little plants should have about one and a half foot of space on all sides.  At first they look pretty lonesome so far apart but soon they will grow to large, bushy plants.  A little hen manure mixed with soil and put on top of the ground about the little peppers gives them a good start in their new quarters.  There are many interesting kinds of peppers to grow.  If a pepper with a little sting is wished try such varieties as Bird’s Eye, Red Cluster, and Tobasco.  Suppose the peppers are to be used for stuffing.  Then large, rather more mild-flavoured kinds are needed.  Ruby King pepper is a bouncing beauty.  The Red Etna, Improved Bull Nose and Golden King are other good ones.