PRODUCTIVE FAMILY GARDENING, 



511 



chokes are not to be forgotten, because all 

 these are capable of being stored for months 

 after they are taken up ; then, of those 

 which last a long time on the ground, and 

 afford a constant siippl}^ scarlet beans, 

 cabbages, onions, winter spinach, and sa- 

 voys, are the most worthy of a cottager's 

 attention; and brocoli (except the sprout- 

 ing, which is a hardy useful vegetable,) 

 cauliflowers, peas, and other subjects, which 

 yield less produce on the same ground, by 

 reason of the greater quantity of room they 

 take, or the longer period of remaining on 

 the ground, must be considered as luxuries. 

 Everybody, with a garden, must consider 

 the circumstances under which he has to 

 cultivate it. If he has more ground than 

 his family require for their supply, care 

 must be taken to have the surplus of a 

 useful and marketable nature, such as are 

 always saleable, and if not bought on the 

 ground, capable of being preserved for 

 some time. All the articles mentioned in 

 the first instance are of this nature. Pota- 

 toes, carrots, parsnips, beet-root, onions, 

 and such like subjects, when ripened, will 

 keep, and are always in request ; whereas, 

 to over-grow any perishable crop is unwise, 

 because they will bring nothing, as when 

 one person is overdone, most people are in 

 the same predicament. There are some 

 seasons in which it is better to sow for main 

 crops, but in a general way it is better to 

 have different sowings, and not too large, 

 because all will frequently come in to- 

 gether, and so in a few days all be gone 

 by. How frequently do we see a whole 

 planting of cauliflowers come in and go 

 by in a single week ; they are unlike cab- 

 bages in this respect ; for a cabbage is 

 eatable from the time it has four good 

 leaves until it is hard and solid ; hence, 

 cabbage is the most useful of the green 

 crops, and should be sown at all seasons, 

 that there may be always some ready to 

 plant out. Savoys are perhaps the most 

 hardy of the good winter greens, Scotch 

 kale may be an exception, for hardly any 

 degree of frost will kill it, Brussels sprouts 

 are an excellent green ; but when the ob- 

 ject is economy of ground, it is better to 

 limit the crops to those which are most 

 serviceable as food, or most saleable as a 

 surplus. As a general rule, where ground 



is an object, double culture is desirable, 

 that is, the planting of one crop between 

 the rows of another crop ; sowing rows of 

 spinach or peas, or planting rows of French 

 beans, or lettuces or leeks, beet-root or 

 parsnips, between rows of other subjects. 

 The only good object to be attained by this 

 is the saving, perhaps, of a month or some- 

 thing more occasionally by digging between 

 the rows of a crop that may be not cleared 

 oft' for a month or six weeks, and planting 

 young stuff that will not be in its way till 

 that time arrives, although it will be get- 

 ting on pretty nearly as fast as if there was 

 nothing there. When the other crop comes 

 off, the digging of the ground on which 

 they stood will let air into the soil, and 

 greatly refresh the rising crop, whatever it 

 may be. Another mode of economising 

 the ground is to plant out some subjects at 

 half distances. Cabbages, in the fall of 

 the year, are adapted for this. If, for in- 

 stance, they would cabbage well at two feet 

 apart from row to row, and eighteen inches 

 from plant to plant, put them in rows only 

 one foot apart, and only nine inches from 

 each other in the row : all through the 

 winter, you may be pulling the alternate 

 rows for greens and cabbage plants, and 

 when you have removed the alternate rows 

 you may begin to pull up the alternate 

 plants ; meanwhile the plants intended to 

 cabbage have lost nothing, because before 

 they are too thick those that are removed 

 give ample room to the remainder to cab- 

 bage. Another mode of economising, is to 

 sow radishes, spring onions, lettuces, &c,, 

 in the same quarters as the early potatoes, 

 and they are cleared off for consumption or 

 for planting out before the potatoes are in- 

 convenienced, or grow enough to injure the 

 other crops. Experience will always teach 

 us the best mode of economising ground 

 and labor ; but some few general hints 

 may be useful to the amateur and the cot- 

 tager. There are many books in which 

 there are directions for the garden opera- 

 tions every month in the year, but even the 

 best of them are not explicit enough in re- 

 spect to the quantities or proportions of 

 ground to be sown or planted ; but so much 

 depends on the circumstances under which 

 a garden is cultivated, the wants of the 

 cultivator, and his cominand of labor, that 



