400 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



Before planting, however, the land is heavily dunged, a two-horse load 

 being used for every thirty yards, which is dug into the ground as it is 

 trenched, the planters following the diggers. This work is carefully superin- 

 tended ; every man has his twelve feet measured out to him, and the foreman 

 walks before the workmen to see they do their duty. The lines are run along 

 the land as soon as it is ready, at distances two feet apart, trod on in one 

 direction all over the field. The lines are then shifted, and placed at right 

 angles to the other, at the same distance apart, the workmen now only treading 

 on the angles. This done, planting commences ; the plants, which are usually 

 large well-grown plants, are inserted at the angles ; consequently, the plants 

 stand two feet apart each way. Immediately after planting, the hoe is sent 

 through the field to loosen the soil ; this is frequently repeated, but no earthing 

 up. It is one remarkable peculiarity of this mode of culture, that slugs are 

 imknown in a well-managed market-garden ; the continual stirring and deep 

 trenching seems to root them out. The moment these cabbages are off the 

 ground, the land is again trenched, and prepared for a fresh crop. 



1379. Growing seakale is, perhaps, the most interesting of this manufactory 

 of garden stuffs. In March, a piece of ground, which has been prepared by 

 trenching and manuring, is planted with asparagus, by drawing a drill three 

 feet from the fence and two inches deep, and the seed is sown thinly, — that 

 is, in patches about six mches apart, which is afterwards thinned out to a foot 

 apart by drawing the weakest plants. The next row is sown in the same 

 manner, 18 inches from the first ; for the alley and side of the bed five 

 feet are allowed, so that there are alternately two rows of asparagus 18 

 inches apart, and a space of five feet left vacant. 



1380. The first year these are generally sown all over the ground ; the second 

 year a crop of lettuce is sowl, or any other Hght surface-crop. In the third 

 year the beds are formed out, and a few inches of mould dug out of the 

 alleys and placed on the crowns ; but only a few of the finest heads are cut 

 this year. In autumn, when the haum has been cut down, the ground is 

 forked over, and planted with cabbages, coleworts, or winter greens ; in 

 spring, the crowns are covered 8 or 10 inches deep with mould from the 

 alleys. When the season for cutting arrives, a fair crop of heads must be left 

 to strengthen the young buds for next year's growth, but not one head must 

 be allowed to shoot out until the cutting is over. At the end of the fourth 

 year, when the haum is ripe, it is cut down, and the mould thrown liack into 

 the alleys, thoroughly mixed and enriched with manure, and planted with 

 cabbages of the various kinds. 



1 38 1. In the case of seakale, the vegetable is always forced for market. 

 Towards spring, after the crop has been secured, new beds are made by cut- 

 ting off the thongs or leaves from the old roots, and laying them by for a few 

 days to become callous. The ground is prepared by deep trenching and 

 manuring, and the roots planted out a foot apart, and in rows 18 inches 

 from each other, and a crop of lettuces is sown between them. As soon as 

 the buds become visible, every one is cut clean out, except the oldest, and the 



