VII. — No. 33. 



From the New Yo, k Gardener. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



261 



IMPORTANCE OF KITCHEN GARDENS. 



" As the spring will now soon open, and call us 

 to commence making provision for anotlier wiji- 

 ter, it may not be amiss to invite the attention of 

 tlie ploiigli boys esj)ecially, to a snbject of impor- 

 tance, l)otli in a nsefnl and economical sense. I 

 moan the cultivation of a kitchen garden. There 

 is no need of inviting the attention of such as cul- 

 tivate a garden, either for oruanicut or profit ; 

 their pleasure or thi;ir gain will not permit them 

 to be negligent. But the great mass of citizens 

 do certainly deprive themselves of much conven- 

 ience, saving, and perhaps health, by not |)0ssess- 

 ing a liberal supply of vegetables from their own 

 gardens. To a farmer or meriiariic in tlie coun- 

 try, the expense of cultivation is trifling ; the con- 

 venience and saving, especially during the long 

 winters of our climate, are great. 



" Many persons, sensible of the utility, are often 

 dissuaded from constant attemjits in cultivating a | 

 kitchen garden, because tliey have experienced j 

 some failures in particular plants. But there will 

 never be a failure of vegetables enough for a fam- 

 ily's use, if the following requisites be well regard- 

 ed : — Richness of soil ; due care in the selection 

 of seeds; proper cultivation ; and a sufficient va- 

 riety of vegetables, that if one kind fails, another 

 may be a substitute, 



" It is a general complaint among persons who 

 pay only little attention to their garden, that the 

 seed often fail. Tliis usually happens because 

 due care is not taken in discriminating between 

 ripe and nnri])c seed ; between blighted and sound 

 seed. Or in some cases it happens by using old 

 seed instead of fresh. Onion seed is often use- 

 less after the first year ; and parsnip seed is so 

 delicate that I believe we can ])laee no confklenoe 

 in its vegetating principle after having been kept a 

 year. Having generally purchased these more deli- 

 cate seeds annually, of professed seedsmen, I have 

 rarely failed in any planting. The expense is in- 

 deed something, but it is overbalanced by the cer- 

 tainty of a growth. 



" But our gardens do not generally present vari- 

 ety enough to be profitable and convenient to the 

 owner, throughout the whole year, even if all the 

 planting succeeds. There is frequently no provis- 

 ion for the winter, and many a long month, when 

 the vegetable kingdom is locked in frost, is passed, 

 with no variety on our tables, to excite the lan- 

 guid appetite, or satisfy that which is pleased with 

 rotation. But surely it is as easy to store our cel- 

 lars with the heet, the carrot, the onion, the pars- 

 nip, and vegetable oyster, as with the dull monotony 

 of the potato ; and however nutritious the potato 

 be, still its utility cannot be hostile to the claims 

 of other productions of the garden. 



" We do not invite the plough boy from the 

 utility of his farm, to the pleasures of a garden ; 

 ■we do not wish him to sacrifice his grain fields to 

 the culture of a tulip bed ; but we wish to call his 

 attention to the utility, convenience, and economy 

 that can bs found in the culiivation of a substan- 

 tial kitchen garden, from which his healthful fami- 

 ly can draw many of those really innocent luxu- 

 ries, which a bountiful Providence has, with so 

 iajish a hand, spread around him." 



The above remarks from the Albany Plough- 

 boy well deserve your attention. Let them be im- 

 pressed upon the tablets of your memory, and 

 form your horticultural text-book. 



Before the end pf this rrionth, yovir inclosures 

 should be completed. Have you brought home 

 the materials ? If your fence is to bo made of 

 wood, now make ready the posts; they should he 

 large, if you wish them to stand firm and durable. 

 They must be seven feet long, and jplaci'd two 

 feet into the earth. If they are set only ten (cet 

 apart, the -^^irts or rails may be an inch and a half 

 thick, and if they are well fraHied into the posts, 

 will make a strong inclosiu-e. The lowermost 

 girt must be placed sixteen inches from the sur- 

 face of the ground, and a bank should be thrown 

 up upon each side, to fill the space. Or, if yon 

 have stone upon the farin, make a wall three feet 

 high ; let the foundation be laid six inches below 

 the surface ; and in the centre of this wall put 

 small posts, into which the girts must be framed. 

 The posts for a fence of this sort, shoidd be five 

 and a half feet long, and sawed an inch and a half 

 thick, six inches wide at the foot, and fi>ur at the 

 top. About a foot and a half from the bottom, 

 make a two inch hole, which should be filled with 

 a piece of good timber, two feet long. This will 

 greatly strengthen the position of the posts, with- 

 out weakening the wall. Above the wall, two 

 girts, the one eight, and the other six inches wide, 

 will be amply sufficient. Take care that your 

 wall is laid with art, and that the timber is well 

 fitted to it, and I will insure safety to whatever 

 you may jilant in the garden. Or, if you fear 

 depredation from hens, let the girts be perforated 

 with inch holes, and place in them turned i)ickets, 

 two feet long. 



You will need two gates, one of ten feet wide, 

 to admit the cart, and another of three feet for 

 daily use. This should turn with ease, and must 

 be effectually secured by a weight, or you will he 

 liable to much vexation and loss, from careless- 

 ness. 



Your fence finished, select a proper place for 

 the small kind of fruit shrubs, as gooseberries, cur- 

 rants, and raspberries ; for although yon admit no 

 trees within this inclosure, these useful shrubs 

 must have a place. They should not be planted 

 around the fences, nor through the centre of the 

 garden, as is too commonly the practice, hut in a 

 continued plantation, that they may have suitahle 

 attention, and yet not obstruct the plough. 



Gooseberries require a deep and rich soil. The 

 ground between the rows must be well manured, 

 and kept free from weeds, and you shonid be 

 careful to plant none but those that are of a good 

 kind. 



A good mode of propagating gooseberries, is by 

 cuttings or layers. For cuttings, take shoots of 

 the' last years growth, froin shrubs that are knowft 

 to bear choice fruit. Let them beat least ten 

 inches long; cut off all the buds, except three or 

 four at the tops, and insert the stein six or eight 

 inches into the earth ; tread the ground firmly 

 around, and keep them free from weeds. When 

 they have grown here a year or two, they should 

 be removed to the plantation as soon as the frost 

 is out of the ground in the spring, or in the au- 

 tumn, -which is, particularly for the gooseberry, 

 the best season. 



Currants may be propagated in the same way. 

 They are, however, more hardy, and do not re- 

 quire so rich a soil. They should be placed in 

 rows, six or eight feet apart, and kept free from 

 weeds. Between these rows, you may raise a 

 crop of dwarf or bush beans, (taking care that 

 there are no runners, or vines among them) with- 



out the least injury to the shrubs, for several 

 years. 



There is great choice in currants, as well as in 

 other fruit ; select only the large red and white 

 currant, for no art will change the original nature 

 of the fruit, although by skilful cultivation, tlie 

 ([uality may be improved. 



The gooseberry and the currant both claim the 

 faimer's attention, and are much wanted in every 

 family. They furnish a cheap and early sauce, 

 and the latter a wine equal to the best Lisbon or 

 Teneriffe. 



As you will doubtless wish to plant other trees, 

 and be desirous to know the best season for that 

 woili, I would, observe as a general rule, that all 

 kinds of trees or shrubs, shonid be moved or Bet 

 in the spring, as soon, at least, as the buds begin 

 to swell. The apple tree, the cherry, and plum, 

 will grow, if set with art, when the leaves begin 

 to open, but not with health and vigor. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF BEETS. 



By the Editor of the Southern Agriculturist. 

 I Concluded from page 250.) 



The remarks made above respecting the fork- 

 ing of Beets, iirincipally apply to the Long-rooted 

 varieties. The Turnip-routed (so called from its 

 resemblance to the Turnip, in shape,) sends dovvn 

 a small root in search of food, and like the Turnip 

 forms a bulb near the surface of the ground, there 

 is, therefore, very little to be feared from its form- 

 ing ill shaped roots, by an improper application of 

 manure. Although we have been successful in 

 beds, yet we ])refer planting on ridgelets, which is 

 done by making deep furrows with the spade every 

 twelve or eighteen iiaches, spreading the manure 

 in the bottom, and forming small ridges above 

 them. There are several reasons in fiivor of this 

 plan. 1st. Less manure is required, which very 

 often, among our farmers, is a matter of some con- 

 sideration. 2d. Fresh manure can be applied. — 

 3d. The forking of the roots, is, in some measure, 

 if not altogether obviated. And 4th. The roots 

 can more readily expand than when sown on the 

 level ground, where, in order that they may en- 

 large, the earth around them, must be pressed into 

 a smaller space. The principal objection against 

 this plan is, that in time of droughts, the plants 

 suffer more than when on a level surface, but, we 

 think, that the advantages are greater than the dis- 

 advantage, and therefore recommend the ridge 

 system, especially if the ground be inclined to 

 clay. I knew a gentleman, who could never raise 

 beets, until he adojUed this method, and after- 

 v/ards he had very fine roots, and found no diffi- 

 cuky. In manuring we have used salt mud alone, 

 with great success, spreading it along in the drills 

 as recommended above ; this mud is such as is 

 usually found at the head of salt water creeks, 

 having a little more of vegetable matter than that 

 of the marshes, but fully as salt, being overflowed 

 every tide. We prefer having a compost made of 

 it with stable or other manure, which we think 

 produces roots of as great size, and decidedly of a 

 much finer flavor, than they are, when raised on 

 manure alone, especially where an excess of ma- 

 nure has heeruused. 



About the middle of January, or beginning of 

 February, [March or April in the Northern States] 

 the first crop may be planted ; the ground being 

 prepared, commence by dropping two or three 

 seeds every nine inches, (to be afterwards thinned 

 down to one plant,) and cover them about one 



