The pumpkins were planted in between the hills of corn.  This is just the place to plant pumpkin or squash because there is opportunity sufficient for the vines to run.  Remember not to plant these two together.

Soon after the pumpkins began to come up the boys noticed one morning that the leaves had been eaten.  Some were completely riddled, looking like lace work.  Digging about the ground Albert found a black and white striped beetle.  Its name is the Striped Beetle.  The boys killed these in the course of three days.  They bought five cents’ worth of white hellebore, which is a powder, and sprinkled it on the ground in a circle about the stems of the young plants.  They made the circles some six inches from the plant stalk.  Doing this at night, the evening dews prevented the scattering about of the powder.  They put this on for three nights.  Afterwards sand was sprinkled lightly over the hills and at the end of the runners.  This makes a discouraging sort of prospect for the beetle who is hunting for something good to eat, not sand to walk over.  If instead of sand they had used lime it would have been better.  For the lime is quite likely to form a sticky mass on the legs of the insect pest.  The moisture from dew or rainwater helps this along, while sand is far more likely to drop off the victim’s legs.  The Chief felt sure that besides the beetles there were slugs in the garden.  Slugs are very likely to bother.  They appear early in the season, feed chiefly at night and after rains, and lay eggs throughout the summer and autumn.  These eggs are laid in the ground and in rubbish heaps.

The treatment suggested above and started just as soon as there are signs of slugs, will work.  The boys treated their melons in the same way and had no further trouble with beetles and slugs.

The tomato plants were started inside.  They were transplanted into strawberry baskets.  These are excellent to use, because in transplanting to the ground the little strawberry baskets may be knocked apart without disturbing the plant nearly so much as if it were planted in a compact box.  Be sure to line the basket with paper before filling with earth.  When the plants began to straggle about and bend over stakes were driven into the ground and the plants tied to these.

Jay used hoops and made a sort of cage for the separate plants.  He drove four stakes into the ground at distances of eighteen inches from the stalk and in a circular form.  Then slipping hoops over the plant he nailed these hoops to the stakes.  Some plants had two hoops about them, some three; it all depends on the size and needs of the plant.  Only keep this in mind; that the object in staking tomatoes is not only to keep the plant erect, and the fruit off of the ground, but to allow plenty of light and air to get at all parts of the plant.