HOME GARDENS FOR SMOKY TOWN'S. 287 



ing or resisting the passage of the obscure rays from the heated soil, 

 produces, during sunshine, a tropical climate here in our latitudes. 

 We may therefore at ones set aside any expectation of rearing exotic 

 plants of any kind ; even our native and acclimatized plants, which re- 

 quire the maximum heat of English sunshine, are not likely to flourish. 



On the other hand, all those which demand moderate protection 

 from sudden frosts, especially from spring frosts, and which flourish 

 when we have a long mild spring and summer, are likely to be reared 

 with especial success. 



This includes nearly all our table vegetables, our salads, kitchen 

 herbs, and British fruits, all our British and many exotic ferns, and, 

 I believe, most of our out-of-door plants, both wild and cultivated. 



As the subject of ornamental flowers is a very large one, and one 

 with the cultivation of which I have very little practical acquaint- 

 ance, I will pass it over ; but must simply indicate that, in respect to 

 ferns, the canvas inclosure offers a combination of most desirable 

 conditions. The slight shade, the comparatively uniform tempera- 

 ture, and the moderated exhalation are just those of a luxuriant fern 

 dingle. 



Respecting the useful or economic products I can speak with more 

 confidence, that being my special department in our family or home 

 gardening, which, as physical discipline, I have always conducted 

 myself, with a minimum of professional aid. 



My experience of a small garden leads me to give first place to 

 salads. A yard square of rich soil, well managed, will yield a hand- 

 some and delicious weekly dish of salad nearly all the year round ; 

 and, at the same rate, seven or eight square yards will supply a daily 

 dish including lettuces, endives, radishes, spring onions, mustard, 

 and various kinds of cress, and fancy salads, ail in a state of fresh- 

 ness otherwise unattainable by the Londoner. My only difficulty has 

 arisen from irregularity of supply. From the small area allowed for 

 salads, I have been over-supplied in July, August and September, 

 and reduced to in-door or frame-grown mustard and cress during the 

 winter. With the equable insular climate obtainable under the can- 

 vas, this difficulty will be greatly diminished ; and besides this, most 

 of the salads are improved by partial shade, lettuces and endives 

 more blanched and delicate than when exposed to scorching sun, 

 radishes less fibrous, mustard, cress, etc. milder in flavor and more 

 succulent. 



The multitude of savory kitchen herbs that are so sadly neglected 

 in English cookery (especially in the food of the town artisan and 

 clerk), all, with scarcely an exception, demand an equable climate 

 and protection from our destructive spring frosts. These occupy 

 very little space, less even than salads, and are wanted in such small 

 quantities at a time, and so frequently, that the hard-worked house- 

 wife commonly neglects them altogether, rather than fetch them from 

 the green-grocer's in their exorbitantly small pennyworths. If she 

 could step into the back yard, and gather her parsley, sage, thyme, 

 winter savory, mint, marjoram, bay leaf, rosemary, etc., the dinner 

 would become far more savory,* and the demand for the alcoholic 

 substitutes for relishing food proportionably diminished. 



My strongest anticipations, however, lie in the direction of com- 

 mon fruits apples, pears, cherries, plums of all kinds, peaches, 

 nectarines, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, etc. 



