i 4 2 A YEAR'S WORK IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



and, this being done, every care should be taken to nurse the seed- 

 lings through the trying times that are before them. Such things as 

 tender young Radishes, Onions, small Salads, Spinach, Cabbage, and 

 Horn Carrots never come in too early ; the trouble often is that they 

 are seen in the market while as yet they are invisible in the garden. 

 Hedges of Hornbeam, Laurel, or Holly, to break the force of the 

 wind, are valuable for sheltering early borders, and walls are great 

 aids to earliness by the warmth they reflect and the dryness they 

 promote. 



The soil for these early crops should be light and rich, and the 

 position extra well drained, to prevent the slightest accumulation of 

 water during heavy rains. Supposing you have such a border, sow 

 upon it, as early as weather will permit, any of the smaller sorts of 

 Cabbage Lettuce, Silver-skin Onion, Long Scarlet Radish, Round 

 Spinach, Cabbage, and French Horn Carrot. All these crops may be 

 grown in frames with greater safety, and in many exposed places the 

 warm border is almost an impossibility. Reed hurdles and loose dry 

 litter should be always ready when early cropping is in hand ; and 

 old lights, and even old doors, and any and every kind of screen 

 may be made use of at times to protect the early seed-beds from 

 snow, severe frost, and the dry blast of an east wind. 



FORCING is one of the fine arts in the English garden. It is an 

 art easily acquired up to a certain point, but beyond that point full 

 of difficulty. Every step in this business is a conflict with Nature, 

 and in such a conflict man is never the stronger party. A golden 

 rule is to be found in the proverb, 'The more haste, the less 

 speed.' Whatever the source of heat, it should be moderate at first 

 and should be augmented slowly. The earlier the forced articles 

 are required the more careful should be the preparation for them, and 

 the more moderate the temperature in the first instance. But there 

 must be command of a constant as well as sufficient temperature, 

 for any check occurring when a forced crop has made some progress 

 will be fatal to success. The beginner should acquire experience 

 with Rhubarb and Sea Kale, then with Asparagus and Mushrooms 

 and Kidney Beans, and so on to ' higher heights ' of this branch of 

 practical gardening. 



ARTICHOKES, GLOBE, must be protected with litter, for they are 

 not quite hardy. 



ASPARAGUS beds should be heavily manured, but the beds should 

 not be dug. Be content to lay the manure on, and the rains will 

 wash the goodness down to the roots in due time. In gardens near 



