46 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



I February, 



injury is clone by tlie knife than by the neglect 

 to use it. Goosberries, for instance, are usually 

 ruined by pruning. In Europe it is customary 

 to thin out the centre well to " let in the sun and 

 air." Here it is the sun and air that ruin them, 

 by inviting mildew ; and so the more shoots the 

 better. Our country farmers are the best goose- 

 berry growers, where weeds run riot, and grass 

 and gooseberries effect a close companionship. 

 Wherever, in fact, the gooseberry can find a cool 

 corner well shaded from the sun, and with a soil, 

 which is never wet nor yet by any means dry, 

 there will gooseberries be produced unto you. 

 The English kinds mildew so universally as to 

 be almost gone out of cultivation south of the 

 St. Lawrence. Nor, indeed, is it to be so much 

 regretted, since the improved seedlings of large 

 size and fine quality, raised from the hardier 

 American species, are becoming known, and 

 their merits appreciated by growers. 



The rule in pruning grape-vines, is to shorten 

 the shoots in proportion to their strength ; but 

 if the advice we have given in former Summer 

 hints has been attended to, there will be little 

 disproportion in this matter, as Summer pinch- 

 ing of the strong shoots has equalized the strength 

 of the vine. Those who are following any par- 

 ticular system will, of course prune according to 

 the rules comprising such system. As a general 

 rule we can only say, excellent grapes can be 

 had by any system of pruning ; for the only ob- 

 ject of pruning in any case is to get strong shoots 

 to push where they may be desired, or to in- 

 crease with the increased vigor of the shoot, 

 which pruning supposes will follow the act, in- 

 creased size in the fruit it bears. 



In managing the vegetable garden the highest 

 excellence should be aimed at. This is the chief 

 source of pleasure in a garden. If one can take 

 no pleasure in his garden, — if the watching of the 

 beautiful processes of nature in furnishing him 

 food — and the many lessons they teach him, 

 which he in a thousand ways can so pleasurably 

 and profitably apply, have no charms and attrac- 

 tions for him, he had better give up gardening; 

 for assuredly, in most cases, — even to 99 in a 100 

 instances, — the market gardener will bring the 

 vegetables to his own door cheaper than he can 

 grow them. Amateur gardening should prima- 

 rily be pursued for the lessons it teaches, and 

 the pleasure it affords ; when it ceases to do this 

 it should be abandoned. Of course mere farm 

 gardening, or gardening as a branch of market 

 business must be pursued ver}' differently, and 



what would be perfectly right and proper in 

 the amateurs' gai'den, will be utterly out of place 

 here. But there are some general hints that will 

 be applicable to both classes of growers, which 

 we may give here. 



In the Middle States the work for February 

 will, for the most part, consist of preparations 

 for future operations, and particularly for deal- 

 ing with the manure question. All those kinds 

 that are grown for their leaves or stems require 

 an abundance of nitrogenous manures; and it 

 is useless to attempt vegetable gardening with- 

 out it. To this class belong cabbage, lettuce, 

 spinach, etc. The other class, which is grown 

 principally for its seeds or pods, as beans, peas, 

 etc., does not require much manui'e of this char- 

 acter; in fact they are injured by it. It causes 

 too great a growth of stem and leaf, and the 

 earliness — a great aim in vegetable growing — is 

 injuriously affected. Mineral manures, as wood 

 ashes, bone-dust, etc., are much better for them. 

 For vegetables i-equiring rich stable manure, it 

 is better that they have it well rotted and de- 

 cayed. Nothing has yet been found so well 

 fitted for the purpose as old hot-bed dung : 

 though to the smell no trace of " ammonia " re- 

 mains in it. 



One of our most interesting parts of a vege- 

 table garden is a hot-bed for starting seeds early. 

 The end of the month will be time enough for 

 those who have not command of a large supply 

 of stable manure, as the very low temperature 

 we often get at the end of the month soon ab- 

 sorbs all the heat the hot-bed possessed. It is in 

 any event best to put up the beds in the warmest 

 and most sheltered spots we can find, and to 

 keep cold winds from the manure, by covering 

 it with branches of trees or mats; and the glass 

 should always be covered with mats at night. 

 Tomatoes, egg-plants, peppers and cucumbers, 

 are the first seeds to be sown this way. Cooler 

 frames can be got ready for cauliflower, lettuce, 

 beets, celery and Early York Cabbage, a little 

 of which may be sown about the end of the 

 month for the earliest crop. The cauliflower is 

 a particularly valued vegetable, and no expense 

 spared to get them in perfection will be regretted 

 when one's eftbrts are successful. 



In the open air, should the weather prove 

 favorable, as it often is about the end of the 

 month, peas and potatoes may be planted. 

 Frost seldom gets deep enough in new dug 

 ground to injure them after this date. 



In the more southern States, the gardener will 



