32G 

 YEQETABLE EOECING. 



BY WILLIAM COLE, 



Head Gardener, Ealing Park, Middlesex. 



[A.NT people, more especially young gardeners, are apt to 

 think that the production of a good house of grapes or- 

 peaclies, or the cultivation of a few good specimen plants, 

 to be the test of a gardener's abilities. I do not agree 

 with this prevalent idea, for however fine any of the above- 

 mentioned productions may be, if the kitchen garden is neglected, 

 matters will not go on smoothly long. I am not going to say any- 

 thing about the kitchen garden in this communication, but I propose 

 saying a few words about forcing vegetables, with the idea that a 

 few observations on the subject may be useful. The most important 

 subjects for forcing at- this season, and through the winter, are 

 Erench beans, seakale, and rhubarb. Though not coming within the 

 category of vegetables, mushrooms are particularly valuable for the 

 winter, where several dishes from the garden have to be sent to table 

 daily. I shall leave the last three subjects for another occasion, and 

 will confine myself to the first, namely — 



Eeei^ch Beaks. It is not a difficult matter to have this vegetable 

 all the year round, if there is room indoors for growing them, between 

 the beginning of October and the end of May. AYhere this vegetable 

 is forced extensively, and a constant succession required, a house, or 

 a couple of houses, ought to be devoted exclusively to them. I have 

 grown very good crops in the pine stoves, and early vineries, but I 

 shall not advise my readers to grow them in the vineries, if they are 

 at all anxious about their grapes. The vines, naturally, soon get 

 infested with red spider, if close attention is not paid to keeping 

 them in subjection, and the beans are ten times worse. It is next to 

 an impossibility to keep them free from red spider, and when they 

 are once established, they spread with amazing rapidity over the 

 foliage of the vines. The red spider difficulty is of no consequence in 

 the pinery, for there is no danger of their attacking the pines. I 

 will just say, with reference to growing them in either of the above- 

 mentioned structures, that the beans must be as close to the glass, 

 and have as much exposure to the light, as circumstances will permit. 

 I have not only to think about making preparations for the 

 winter supply, before the outdoor crops are destroyed by frost, but 

 have to do it. I have three small span-roofed houses in which I 

 grow my beans ; by the aid of these I have not much trouble in keep- 

 ing up a regular supply, which would be impossible were I to mix 

 them up with the vines, and I am too anxious to keep the spider out 

 of the vineries to bring in anything to encourage it. I sow the first 

 lot out of doors some time towards the end of September, and after 

 they are nicely up, but before frost sets in, they are brought indoors 

 and treated to a little warmth, and a moderate supply of air during 

 the warmest part of the day, proportioning the quantity admitted 

 according to the state of the weather. All the successionai crops 

 are sown indoors, and as the same treatment will be required for all. 



