MONTHLY CALENDA.R. 409' 



insipid. Muscat of Alexandria requires artificial heat to ripen, but is one of 

 the richest grapes in cultivation. West's St. Peter and the Cannon Mill 

 Grape are both favourites for house-culture. 



1203. Many expedients have been tried to expedite the ripening of the grape 

 on open walls. The bunches have been put in empty flasks, run on tiles of the 

 house roof, and trained on sloping walls : they ripen earlier in the flask, but 

 acquire an insipid flavour ; and sloping walls, while they catch more of the 

 sun's rays, catch also all heavy rains. Nettings of muslin, sufl&ciently fine to 

 keep out wasps and other insects in the ripening season, without intercepting 

 the sun's rays, are, perhaps, the safest protection, unless a few movable 

 sashes can be spared to cover the walls in cold and damp weather, and' 

 increase the radiation of heat. 



§ 4.— Kitchen-Garden. 



1204. ]\rany principal crops come in this month, and, following suddenly 

 upon a time when the supply from the kitchen-garden is somewhat scanty, 

 show the real effect of cropping too abundantly in the early part of the year. 

 Peas, beans, cauliflowers, carrots, potatoes, and many other vegetables, come 

 in all at once, that could not be produced earlier in the open ground. All' 

 show the propriety of dispersing the crops more regularly through the season. 

 The young gardener should make a note of it, and endeavour to manage 

 so that there is no flush of vegetables at one time and a dearth of them 

 at others. Particularly let it be borne in mind that we have long cold- 

 springs, in which the weather is exceedingly vai'iable and mostly ungenial, 

 when vegetation makes very slow progress indeed ; it is then that root-crops 

 and brassicte come in so useful ; then that Brussels sprouts, kale, and broccoli, 

 yield a succession of sweet wholesome sprouts, that grow almost in the coldest 

 weather, and form the principal supply from Christmas to May. It is now the 

 time to look forward to that time and be well prepared for it, so that available 

 space should have been left, in which a plentiful supply of the above-named 

 can be grown. Ground that has been lying fallow since the winter can now 

 be turned to good account; and be it remembered that fifty firm stocky plants- 

 of broccoli will yield a better supjily than a hundred plants that have been 

 drawn up between other crops, or been crowded. This month being generally 

 a dry one, the watering-pot must not remain idle ; many kitchen crops will 

 not do well if kept dry. Most kinds of salads are worthless if stinted of water ; 

 and as a rule, a judicious application of it will amply repay the time and" 

 labour ; but let it be applied copiously, for mere surface-watering only attracts 

 the roots to the surface, to be burnt up by the sun. 



1205. Asimragus. — Water newly-planted beds, and keep clear of weeds. 

 Beds in bearing will be benefitted by an application of liquid manure. Do^ 

 not cut too closely, but leave a few heads to expand and communicate with 

 the light of day. 



1206. Seahale. — Thin out the crowns where they are anyways thick. A few 



