THE OPENING YEAR 



it up to Cabbages, if very small, I would devote it to Jan. 

 choice early Potatoes, Asparagus, Seakale, Kidney Beans, 16-31 

 and Marrowfat Peas, buying my Cabbages from a cot- 

 tager or allotment holder who had a surplus. I can 

 understand an allottee of the working classes growing 

 Cabbages, but I cannot imagine an amateur giving up 

 the precious space of a small garden to them when he 

 can buy them for a penny each. 



Well, when the Cabbage patch which is to grow no 

 Cabbages is being planned, I think it is an excellent idea 

 to arrange for running a wire framework round it (leaving 

 openings at the corners to permit of free access to the 

 vegetable part) whereon to grow fruit trees. They will 

 not interfere with the vegetables, and their crop will be 

 quite as much enjoyed. 



Ironmongers supply metal supports suitable for 

 straining the wires on, but those who are merely tenants 

 on short leases may hardly think it worth while to go to 

 more expense than is entailed by putting in a few stout 

 poles. It is also possible to economise in wire without 

 anything very serious happening. In the ordinary way 

 the wires would be fixed about a foot apart, and when 

 one glances at a typical fruit framework illustrated in an 

 ironmonger's catalogue, one sees that ten or twelve 

 lengths of wire are shown as close as eight inches apart. 

 Can it be that the ironmonger wants to sell as much wire 

 as possible that he does this thing ? One does not want 

 the wires so close even with trees trained horizontally, as 

 a foot will do ; and when it comes to cordon Apples and 

 Pears there is no advantage whatever in having more 

 than three wires, say one a yard from the ground, a 

 second eighteen inches above it, and a third eighteen 

 inches above the second. This gives a total height of 

 six feet, but by planting the trees at an angle of 45° they 

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