ON VEGETABLE GARDENING. 205 



and applied. From these circumstances, it may be 

 readily supposed that the Dutch are possessed of 

 every fruit and esculent vegetable that their climate is 

 capable of maturing. 



In France, although gardens are not nearly so 

 universal as in Holland, they are still very generally 

 met with, their characteristic quality being that of 

 neatness. This statement refers, however, more 

 correctly to the northern than to the southern division 

 of the kingdom, where the cottagers' gardens resemble 

 much those of the Italian peasants, as well in their 

 careless mode of culture as in the paucity of their 

 contents. Nothing can be objected against the sys- 

 tem pursued by the market gardeners who supply the 

 French metropolis, and by whose skill and industry 

 many vegetables are brought to a very luxuriant 

 growth. * 



In the north of Europe gardening is in general a 

 favourite pursuit, and the cottages of the peasants are 

 for the most part provided with a spot of ground suf- 

 ficient in extent to answer the demands of their 

 inmates. This is not so much the case, however, in 

 the Prussian dominions. Cabbages and potatoes 

 form the greater part of the produce there obtained 

 by the cottagers. The gardens of the higher classes 

 are very differently managed, so as to produce vege- 

 tables in great variety and abundance. 



The art of gardening in Russia, in common with 

 many other useful pursuits, owes its origin to Peter 

 the Great. Previous to the reign of this monarch, there 

 was scarcely such a thing known throughout the empire 

 as a garden, and the only culinary vegetables grown 

 in the country were a few species of stunted kale. 

 Even now the use of gardens in that country is con- 

 fined to the great and wealthy of the land, and their 

 choice of culinary vegetables is but small. A con- 

 siderable improvement in this respect is, however, 



VOL. xv. 18 



