TlIK KITCHEN GAUDEN. 



made. Tho amateur who is not familiar with the best varieties of vegetables, should 

 consult some reliable treatise on tlie subject, or go to an honest, well informed seeds- 

 man, and select such an assortment as will be sutlicient fur an uninterrupted succession 

 during the entire season. No one should be satisfied with a poor assortment of sus- 

 picious seeds, merely because they are at hand. Conveyances now offer such facilities 

 that a package can be ti-ansmitted one thousand miles in as short a penod as it could 

 twenty a few years ago. Therefore send a thousand miles, if need be, to secure 

 good reliable seeds of the very best articles. You may depend upon it this will be 

 economy in the end. The practice of running to the nearest seed vender to-day, for 

 an ounce of this, and next week for an ounce or a paper of that, can result only in 

 loss of time, and labor, and land. 



About selecting varieties we must say a word or two more. This point in kitchen 

 gardening does not seem to be appreciated. A thousand people will inquire the best 

 varieties of apples, and pears, and peaches, before one will ask the best kind of radish, 

 of lettuce, or pea ; and yet the question has an equally mportant bearing on success 

 in the one case as in the other. The varieties of garden vegetables are participating 

 to some extent in the general improvement of all branches of horticulture. A very 

 small number of those who have gardens look into these matters. They are not aware 

 of the introduction of new and improved varieties ; they imagine that the seedsman 

 will be able to meet their wants : but the seedsman provides such seeds as he can sell, 

 and he seldom lays in a stock of new or rare things until the taste of his customers 

 demands it. "We are not to be understood as recommending people who aim at sure 

 and abundant crops, to dabble in novelties merely because they are such, but simply 

 that they should secure the very best that can be had, availing themselves of every 

 improvement that has been made, as people do in other pursuits. 



Another matter that requires special consideration in the selection of seeds, is their 

 adaptation to certain seasons of the year, and to other circumstances. For the early 

 spring crops we want such as accomplish their growth in the shortest possible period 

 of time. One variety of pea will be fit for use a fortnight before another sowed at 

 the same time and on the same bed. So it is with radishes, lettuce, cabbage, cauli- 

 flower, and indeed all the leading articles. Many people say a few days, or a week, 

 is of so little importance that their very early varieties are not worth the trouble — that 

 they are generally not very productive, and it is better to wait the maturity of the 

 more prolific sorts. This spirit deprives many people of much of the gratification 

 which the garden might afi^'ord. 



The next most important thing is to arrange the dift'erent sowings, in regard to 

 quantity and time, in such a way that there will be continually a full supply in a 

 proper condition for the table. This is a point in regard to which we know from ex- 

 perience, neither gardeners nor amateurs give sufficient attention. For instance, in 

 the case of radishes. These are very seldom seen in a fit state for the table ; they 

 are allowed to attain their full size, when they are so tough and pungent as to be 

 wholly uneatable. They are only good when very young and tender ; and if those 

 who go to the markets, knew what a radish ought to be, they would not choose the 



