MARCH. 



620 



MARCH. 



inches apart, and about inch deep when 

 covered in. The White Spanish, Dept- 

 ford, and James' Keeping are accounted 

 good sorts. 



Parsley. Full crops of parsley should 

 now be sown in drills along the edges 

 of one of the borders. The quantity 

 sown must be regulated by the require- 

 ments of the household ; in the summer 

 months it is frequently in request for 

 garnishing cold meats, &c. 



Parsnips. The main crop should be 

 sown this month. For culinary purposes 

 the roots will be large enough if the seed 

 is sown in drills 15 inches apart, and 

 the young plants thinned out to 10 or 

 12 inches apart. The Hollow Crowned 

 variety of this root is the best, but by 

 many the Guernsey is accounted equal 

 to it, if not superior. 



Peas. Fresh sowings should be made 

 this month, as formerly directed, and coal 

 ashes scattered at the roots of those coming 

 up, to prevent their destruction by slugs, 

 sowing a row of many-leaved spinach 

 between the rows. 



Potatoes. About the beginning of this 

 month is the time to get in early potatoes. 

 Some recommend planting them in October, 

 placing them deep enough to be out of the 

 reach of frost. In porous, well-drained 

 soils this answers admirably ; but the 

 advantage is not so great as to recom- 

 mend it for general practice. To insure 

 a good crop, the ground should be 

 bastard trenched in October or Novem- 

 ber, and left in ridges ; in February 

 levelled, and some thoroughly decom- 

 posed manure forked in. In March the 

 frosts will have left it well pulverised, 

 and ready to receive the sets. Some 

 prefer middling-sized potatoes for setting, 

 planting them whole, scooping out all 

 the shoots except one or two ; others 

 prefer large ones, cut in two or more, 

 assuming that a large potato makes 



stronger shoots, capable of standing 

 erect in full light of day. When plant- 

 ing later in the season, it is enough 

 to cut the potato into pieces, having 

 an eye to each piece. The writer 

 treated a pound of Early Rose potatoes 

 in this manner, and found that the haulm 

 was strong and vigorous, and that there 

 was plenty of it. The produce of the 

 single pound cut up in this manner, 

 when taken out of the ground, weighed 

 48 Ib. 



Radishes. Make sowings of these thinly 

 between the rows of the more enduring 

 crops, such as onions. 



Rhubarb. If fresh plantations of 

 rhubarb are required, and have not yet 

 been made, it is desirable to form them 

 without delay. 



Salading, Small. Mustard and cress 

 should be sown in small quantities every 

 week, to keep up a proper succession 

 of small salading. 



Seakale. This still requires some cover- 

 ing, but less than last month, blanching 

 being the main object of it ; and sand, 

 ashes, or leaves will effect the object. 

 When the kale is past blanching, its 

 use does not end here : the leaves may 

 be eaten all through the summer and 

 autumn while they are green, merely 

 dressing them in the same way as winter 

 greens. Thus it will be found a very 

 profitable crop for cottagers ; it grows 

 well in shady places, and is not particu- 

 lar as to soil, and will stand a cold, bleak 

 climate. A top dressing of very rotten 

 dung, of any kind, is suitable for this 

 plant, but it is rendered more efficacious 

 by the addition of a little salt, about a 

 pound to the barrowful of manure ; wood 

 ashes are also beneficial, and may be 

 added in any quantity. 



Spinach. A crop of summer spinach 

 should be sown in drills on open ground^ 

 or between growing crops suitable for the 



