FOREIGN NOTICES. 



85 



sands, to eat the fruits and vegetables of country 

 gardens. Tliat was not the case a few years 

 back. However hard it may be for those near 

 London who are high rented and most severely 

 taxed, yet it is a great and decided change for the 

 general benefit of mankind. Railroads have given 

 one great advantage in the early spring to the 

 London growers. Having the climate in their 

 favor, they send a great deal of their vegeta- 

 bles northwards — as early potatoes, peas, French 

 beans, cauliflowers, rhubarb, melons, cucumbers, 

 and other finer sorts of fruits and vegetables. 

 The foreign articles do not hurt our markets in 

 the vegetable line, because being grown in a 

 warmer climate, they come in long before we do, 

 and bv the time our early potatoes, cauliflowers, 

 peas, French beans, &c., are in, the foreigners' 

 early crop is over, or at least it would not pay 

 them to contend against us, unless in cucumbers, 

 and they are bad. As for Dutch melons, no one 

 of refined taste will eat them. The foreign grow- 

 ers have hurt our fruit trade to an immense de- 

 gree — such as apples, pears, plums, cherries, 

 apricots, &c. As for Dutch grapes, they look 

 beautiful, but are tough, and tliree seasons out of 

 four tasteless. The middle classes in and round 

 London cannot afford themselves strawberries 

 more than a few timeS; and that only vvlicn a 

 great crop is in full bearing. When a (jottie is 

 sold by the cultivators at Gd., the weight of which 

 is three-qnarlers of a pound, tlie grower gels 

 only 3d., and after paying 4d. for the potlle, and 

 101. an acre, with all other expenses, the straw- 

 berry grower is but poorly paid. Much more 

 could be said about the market gardening of Lon- 

 don ; but the conclusion wo must come to is, that 

 it consists in continual dunging, trenching, dig- 

 ging, sowing, hoeing, planting, taking the pro- 

 duce to market, bringing home money and dung, 

 paying for labor, taxes, and breakage. I shall 

 not disregard skill altogether, but dung is the 

 very founlaiu-licad — it is the gold in a half-formed 

 state; and from the immense profits returned, it 

 stimulates to the use of still more manure, till at 

 last the ground is almost a hot-bed. The crops 

 are no sooner planted than they find their food at 

 once, and their growth is rapid and fine. This 

 will explain why a London gardener can get up 

 acres of turnips where farmers fail. Rotation, 

 no doubt, is good in all crops where the land 

 is poor, but as I have grown potatoes these 

 ten years upon the same ground, and every year 

 the crop increases, I for one care little about ro- 

 tation. 



The market gardeners of London could bring 

 the early produce in mucli sooner by forming beds, 

 the perpendicular part facing the north, the bed 

 sloping to the south, as I have practiced myself 

 years ago in a stiff" soil, and light, too; and with 

 the protection of glass over these beds, as recom- 

 mended in the Gardeners' Chronicle for peaches, 

 apricots, and nectarines, they might almost bid 



defiance to the foreign grower. With the assis- 

 tance of glass and the slopes together, they would 

 certainly be equal to the gardens round Paris. 

 Without protection of glass we can prolong fruits 

 and vegetables out of doors without any loss, but 

 what is most wanted is early fruits and vegeta- 

 bles at a cheap rate, which can only be effected 

 by some cheap process such as has been recom- 

 mended above. I am about to publish a pamphlet 

 on twelve of the leading and most useful plants 

 and vegetables. I have proposed an entirely new- 

 plan of growing asparagus and sea-kale, and if 

 carried out properly, the million will partake of 

 those most delicious vegetables which at present 

 they never taste. Jlbrid^ed from the Maidstone 

 Journal for the Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Brewing at Home. — Though an admirer of 

 teetotallers, and always recommending, when 

 practicable, the habit of drinking cold water, still, 

 as there are some people who cannot work with- 

 out the assistance of a glass of beer, and many 

 others Vf ho fancy they cannot do so, I, therefore, 

 think neither time nor space will be wasted if I 

 make a few remarks on " brewing at home." 



I dare say such a sentence will frighten many, 

 and they will immediately exclaim, " Brew at 

 home, impossible ! I have neither coppers, cool- 

 ers, mash-tubs, nor any of the hundred-and-one 

 articles necessary for such an operation." Never 

 mind, do not throw obstacles in our path, but read, 

 learn, and practice ! I must, however, tell yau at 

 starting, that it will cause extra trouble to the 

 wife; but I am very sure there are few, if anv, 

 amongst the " wives and daughters of old Eng- 

 land" who will grudge a little exertion when once 

 they feel that by so exerting themselves they will 

 benefit their husbands, children, and, consequently, 

 themselves. And now let us see wherein the be- 

 nefit of brewing at home lies. 



In the first place it increases your comforts, 

 in the second place it saves time, and thiidly it 

 saves money — three very material points; but 

 still, more than this, it removes many tempta- 

 tions out of a man's path. The habit of going to 

 a public house, if only for one glass of beer, has 

 been the occasion of many an after pang, many a 

 heavy heart. That constant habit of even fetch- 

 ing your beer from the public house must waste 

 much time, even if not tempted to drink it in the 

 house instead of at home. Very often a child is 

 sent to fetch it, and thus the young mind becomes 

 early habituated to the sound of oaths and jests 

 which every parent ought so carefully to screen 

 their children from hearing; for who can tell the 

 misery which arises from early acquaintance with 

 vice? Early impressions take deep root, whether 

 good or evil, and our hearts being so prone to sin, 

 the evil habit which is imbibed with our early 

 youth is more difficult to eradicate than the 

 good ; therefore, how studiously should each pa- 

 rent watch over the soul's welfare of his child, 



