334 



The Varetahle Garden. — Tlie Pi-cscnt Winter. 



Vol. V. 



feet apart; care being taken that the subsoil 

 of the beds when they are planted is dry and 

 healtliy; or if it be cold and clayey, throw 

 out the surface and bury old mortar rubbish, 

 to prevent tlieir roots from penetratinir into 

 t!ie poisonous subsoil, and upon this throw up 

 ridges a tixit at least in height. As soon as 

 the plants are up, look out for the striped 

 bugs, and give tiiem neither rest nor quarter. 



Ciirrot.s require a deep, ricli soil ; sow in 

 drills, 18 inches apart, and prepare the seed 

 by steeping it in warm water and mixing it 

 with rich light mould ; turning and watering 

 tiie heap occasionally, until the seeds are 

 sprouted; then sow on fresh dug land. 



ParsncjKs. The same management in plant- 

 ing, but not so much necessity for sprouting 

 the seed. 



Beets. For early crops, sow early ; for 

 winter crops, .Tune is supposed to be early 

 enough ; in drills 20 inches apart, one or two 

 inches deep, and three inches apart in the 

 drills, to be thiimed to about eight inches; 

 keep clean, and take up the crop before in- 

 jury by frost. 



Sahafy, or Vegetalde Oyster. The same 

 culture as the carrot. 



Onions. May be sown in April, in drills 

 ten or twelve inches apart. 



Paisley. Sown early, in drills; some may 

 be sown in large pots tor winter use, remov- 

 ing under shelter for that purpose when frost 

 and snow fall. 



Ei^^- Plant. Sow in a hot-bed, and set 

 out the plants in the end of May, two feet 

 apart, in good garden mould. 



Celery. Sow the seed early, and plant out 

 from the seed-bed, crops in succession in an 

 open situation and in proper trendies, with 

 plenty of rotten manure dug into the bottom, 

 leaving largo space for earthing up in blanch- 

 ing. 



Sea-Kale is a delicious vegetable; re- 

 quires a deep, rich, sandy loam, as the roots 

 penetrate to a great depth. Sow the seed 

 early in a bed of fine mould, and when tiie 

 plants are a year old, transplant about 14 

 inches apart; blanch by covering deep with 

 clean gravel, or, which is better, inverted 

 pots: three or tour weeks are required for 

 blanching, but the crop can be brought for- 

 ward and blanched at the same time by co- 

 vering the pots with hot stable dung, remov- 

 ing and renewing it occasionally. 



To?natoes. Sow in hot-beds, and transplant 

 under fences or in open ground, 3 feet apart. 



Potatoes. Cut one eye to each piece, and 

 plant in rows 20 inches apart: cover with 

 dung and keep clean by hoeing, but do not 

 mould up the rows. — Selected. 



Tlip coldest hour in the 24, is five in the morning ; the 

 hottest, from two to three in the afternoon. 



The present Winter. 



The memory of the oldest former docs not, 

 perliaps, embrace a winter so long and so se- 

 vere in its ctiiicts on domestic animals, as the 

 one which has even yet — 21st April — not 

 gone by. It may be said to have set in the 

 first week in November, and will have con- 

 tinued six montlis, or half the year! Pro- 

 vender of every sort — even wheat-straw — 

 has been used up; the weather is still cold 

 enough for mid-winter, and the little grass 

 that has sprung up has not strength enough 

 in it U) sustain the starving beasts that pick 

 it ! Wiiat will be thought of it in \ew Emf- 

 land, when we state, that the number of cat- 

 tle that have and probably will die in Mary- 

 land, from the length of the winter, frequent 

 rains, exposure, and actual starvatio7i, will 

 probably not fall short of 2000 head, and dou- 

 ble that number of sheep and lambs! What 

 is the remedy for this disastrous, if not dis- 

 graceful state of things for the future'! Let 

 every farmer provide more roots and more 

 hay, and let him not make liis calculation on 

 regular feeding, less than six months in the 

 year. In a ride of 50 miles, you will scarcely 

 meet with a single horned animal that is not 

 literally mere skin and bone, and the most 

 favourable summer that can happen, will 

 barely restore them to tolerable order, to en- 

 able them to encounter the next winter. So 

 unexpected has been the prolongation of the 

 feeding season, that some who sold hay in 

 the early part of it, in the confidence of hav- 

 ing reserved a suthciency for any emergency, 

 are now losing tiieir cattle with a disorder 

 called "on the lift" — a di.^ease which we be- 

 lieve is unknown to the liirmer and pharma- 

 coepist in the Eastern states. — Am. Farmer. 



We woiilii take occasion to urge upon our agricul- 

 tural friends, to treble the amount of land which they 

 had set ai)art last autunin for the cultivation of the 

 root crops, not confining themselves to llic growth of 

 one or two kinds in particular : if they have a prejudice 

 against any, lot thorn sow others — but by all means 

 cultivate a large breadth of either one or the other, and 

 not lose th(^ season by " woiuiering" which crop would, 

 suit them best. The sugar-beet may be sown on land 

 after carrying the first crop of clover ; or be drilled be- 

 tween the rows of corn at its last cleaning— poudrette, 

 bone-dust, or street dirt accompanying — with the ex- 

 pectation of gathering full crops in the autumn ; but 

 if this be not done, and all dependence be placed on 

 hay alone for the next winter, what will be the result, 

 if another such season befals us, is easy to foresee. A 

 portion of thi! hay of the coming summer ought, by all 

 means, to be reserved over the next winter as a stock 

 for the future, for there can be none now left on hand ; 

 and this consideration should constrain us to use the 

 utmost diligence in cultivating root crops the present 

 season, to the very greatest possible extent. Many of 

 our friends intend cultivating the potato as food for 

 milch cows the next winter, boiling and mashing them 

 ; with meal for ihe purpose of slop-feeding.— Ed. 



