March 



mild weather from frames as soon as the plants are fit and well 

 hardened. 



Brussels Sprouts. Look after the bed sown last month, and 

 sow again for the main crop. The best possible seed-bed is wanted 

 and a rich well-tilled soil for the plants when put out. 



Cabbage of two or three kinds should be sown now to supply 

 plants for filling up as crops are taken off, and also to patch and 

 mend where failures happen. Where the owner of a garden has 

 opportunities of helping his poorer neighbours, he may confer a real 

 benefit by supplying them with Cabbage and Winter Greens for 

 planting in their garden plots. Cottagers too often begin with bad 

 stocks very much to their discouragement in gardening, and to the 

 loss of wholesome food the garden should supply. Much good may 

 be accomplished at trifling cost by the annual sowing of a few breadths 

 of useful Brassicas, to supply railway men and factory operatives with 

 plants of a far better kind than they could raise or purchase in their 

 own way. The rankest manure may be employed in preparing 

 ground for Cabbage, reserving the well-rotted manure for seed-beds 

 and other purposes for which it will be required. A sowing of Red 

 Cabbage now will insure heads for pickling in autumn. 



Carrot. Sow Early Horn at the first opportunity, but wait for 

 signs of settled spring weather to sow the main crops of large sorts, 

 and then put them on deeply-dug ground without manure. 



Cauliflower. Plant out as weather permits from hand-lights 

 and frames, choosing the best ground you have. In preparing a plot 

 for Cauliflower, use plenty of manure ; and if it is only half-rotten, it 

 will be better than if it were old and mellow. 



Celeriac. So far as seed sowing is concerned, Celeriac may be 

 treated in the same way as Celery. 



Celery. For the earliest supply, sow on the first of the month 

 a pinch of seed of one or more of the srRaller red or white sorts on 

 a mild hot-bed, or in an early vinery. As soon as the plants are 

 large enough to handle, prick them out three inches apart on a nice 

 mellow bed of rich soil on a half-spent hot-bed ; give them plenty of 

 light, with free ventilation as weather allows, and constant supplies 

 of water. About the middle of the month sow again and prick out 

 as before ; but if no hot-bed is available, a well-prepared bed in a 

 frame in a sunny position will answer ; or, if the season is somewhat 

 advanced, a bed of rotten manure, two or three inches deep, on a 

 piece of hard ground, will suffice, if the plants are kept regularly 



161 M 



