PLANTING, SOWING, AND CULTIVATING. 413 



cauliflowers are both used. Winter cabbages again constantly succeed 

 onions, and onions celery. Strawberries are dug down as soon as the 

 fruit is gathered, and then a crop of winter broccoli taken. Then 

 potatoes, followed by, or intermixed with, peas, and so on. All the 

 secondary crops become catch crops on this hard system of cropping ; 

 but deep tilths will bear it for years with plenty of feeding. 



Planting, Sowing, Cultivating, and Managing. 



In general all crops should be planted or sown in rows from south 

 to north, in order, as already observed, that the sun may shine on 

 every part of the soil between the rows, and equally on every side of 

 the plants in the row. Beds, also, such as those of asparagus, should 

 be made in the same direction and for the same reasons. When 

 asparagus, sea-kale, and rhubarb are to be forced in the open garden 

 by hot dung, the alleys or paths between the beds should be of double 

 the usual width, and all the beds intended to be subjected to a course 

 of forcing should be placed together. The secondary perennial crops, 

 such as mint, thyme, sage, savory, perennial marjoram, rue, &c., 

 should always be planted together, and in an open airy situation, 

 forming a garden of herbs. This saves much time, and gives the 

 charm of order in small matters. 



Management of the Dwarf or Pyramid Fruit-tree Borders. The 

 wall-borders in which the espaliers are planted, and the ground among 

 plantations of fruit shrubs or fruit trees, should on no account be 

 cropped or even deeply dug, for reasons which we need not repeat. 

 The soil may be loosened on the surface in spring with a three-pronged 

 fork, and in autumn a top-dressing of well rotted manure may be 

 given and slightly turned in with the spade, or left on the surface till the 

 spring -stirring. If the border is narrow, and the trees, after having 

 filled it with their roots, appear to require additional nourishment, a 

 trench may be cut along the front of the wall -border next the walk, 

 three feet or four feet in width, and of such a depth as to cut through 

 all the roots, not, however, deeper than eighteen inches. A part of 

 the soil taken out of the trench may be removed altogether, and 

 a rich compost of rotten dung and leaf- mould mixed with the 

 remainder and filled in ; or, better still, with good turfy maiden 

 loam, used in a rough fresh state. This is in imitation of a plan 

 long followed with success by the Lancashire growers of prize 

 gooseberries ; all the difference being that they use an excessively 

 rich compost, which would not be suitable for fruit trees generally. 

 It might be advisable to do this work by degrees rather than all at 

 once, by taking out every third yard, in the case of wall and espalier 

 borders, and the third part of a circle in the case of dwarfs and stan- 

 dards. The second yard might be taken out in two years, the third 

 in two years more, and at the end of the sixth year the operation 

 might be recommenced, because the rich soil would very soon be 

 filled with fibrous roots. In this operation, as in every other of the 

 kind, the gardener or the amateur must exercise his own judgment, 



