246 



Short Directions for Planting Garden Vegetables, Vol. III. 



require a moist sril or watering, are let- 

 tuce, onions, parsnep, parsley, asparajrus, cap- 

 sicums, celery, rhubarb, salsify and epinage. 



With these preliminary remarks we now 

 proceed to give particular directions for plant- 

 ing each vegetable of the most common 

 kinds. 



Cabbage. The early kinds may be sown 

 in hot beds, in the latter part of March, and 

 in a few weeks they will be fit to transplant 

 in the open ground. Or, they may be sown 

 a little later in a warm border, under the 

 south side of a board fence. Red cabbage 

 may be sown early in May, and Savoys and 

 the large winter drumhead, almost any time 

 during the month. Cabbages should be trans- 

 planted into very rich ground, for this gen- 

 eral rule applies particularly to them, that all 

 vegetables where thegrowthof leaf and stalk 

 is the chief object, are greatly benefitted by 

 copious manuring. When transplanted, the 

 small early cabbage, as the early sugarloaf 

 and the early York, should stand about two 

 feet apart, and those larger a greater distance 

 according to their size, the large winter drum- 

 head, for instance, should be at least three feet. 

 Broccoli. The Purple Cape is the only va- 

 riety we would recommend for common cul- 

 ture ; those who wish to raise the other kinds 

 must consult books on gardening, as they re- 

 quire care and minute directions. The Pur- 

 ple Cape should be sown about the middle of 

 May, and when of suitable size should be 

 transplanted in uncommonly rich ground, and 

 they v/ill produce fine heads early in autumn. 

 Cauliflower. This requires more care than 

 the last; it commonly succeeds best when 

 sown early in fall and transplanted into beds 

 which are protected from the winter by frames, 

 and sash, and mats. It succeeds well, how- 

 ever, if sown very early in a hot bed, and af- 

 terwards transplanted, as the plants become 

 larger, into a later hot bed, and finally into 

 open ground in the latter part of April. — 

 These if well managed will produce heads in 

 June. If sown early in May, cauliflowers 

 may be treated the same way as Purple Cape 

 Broccoli, and with nearly the same success. 



Kale and Brussels Sprouts may be sown 

 about the middle of May and transplanted 

 early in July in rich ground. They are used 

 as greens, and are best after having been 

 touched with sharp autumnal frosts. 



Asparagus. The seeds should be sown 

 early in spring in the best ground in the gar- 

 den, in drills about one foot apart. They 

 may be transplanted into beds when a year 

 old. They will not, however, produce good 

 shoots for use in less than three years. An 

 asparagus bed properly prepared, will con- 

 tinue to afford crops for twenty years or more. 

 New beds are made by transplanting, thus : 

 dig the ground eigfhtcen inches or two feet 



deep in the form of a broad trench, fill this 

 trench with alternate layers of soil and ma- 

 nure, until near the top, when the whole 

 should be covered with a few inches of rich 

 mould, in which the roots should be planted, 

 with the crowns about three inches below the 

 surface, and about one foot apart. Or, the 

 bed may be sown with seed at once, and the 

 plants afterwards thinned. Old beds should 

 be cleaned off early in spring before the plants 

 start, and then covered two or three inches 

 with rotted manure, which should be dug in 

 with a fork, taking care not to injure the 

 plants. 



Globe Artichoke may be raised from seed or 

 from young suckers taken off in spring. The 

 seed should be planted in drillsabout one inch 

 deep and about one foot apart. When the 

 plants are a foot high, they are to be transplant- 

 ed into ground trenched eighteen inches deep 

 and mixed with manure, the plants standing 

 about three feet apart, or three by five feet 

 according to Bridgman. 



Peas. The early varieties should be sown 

 as early as possible in the spring. Double 

 rows are the most convenient, and these dou- 

 ble rows should be about a foot apart, and a 

 space of from four to six feet, according to 

 the height of the peas, between these double 

 rows. Peas should be sown about two inches 

 deep, and two or three inches asunder in the 

 rows. 



Beans. Engl ish beans should be planted 

 so early that they may produce their crop be- 

 fore the heat of summer ; the seed should 

 therefore be put in the ground on the earliest 

 opening of spring. A clayey loam is best, 

 but a lighter soil is good if they are well 

 rolled. The drills should be about two inches 

 deep and two or three feet apart, and the seed 

 two or three inches in the drill. The Maza- 

 gan and Lisbon are the earliest, and the Ge- 

 noa best for late crops. The Windsor, the 

 Sandwich, and the broad Spanish are excel- 

 lent. 



The kidney or common bush and pole beans, 

 require a light rich soil, and may be planted 

 in hills, three or four seeds to a hill, or in 

 drills two or three feet apart, and two or three 

 inches in the drill. As kidney beans are ten- 

 der and easily injured by frost, the plant- 

 ing should be delayed until settled warm wea- 

 ther, which brings them forward rapidly. — 

 Pole beans require the same treatment as bush 

 beans, except the addition of poles. 



Cucumbers, melons, and squashes, should 

 be planted about the first of May, in highly 

 manured ground, or in copiously manured 

 hills, alwut four feet apart. In clayey ground 

 it is indispensable to success to plant them on 

 ridges of manure, cfivcred several inches with 

 earth ; these ridgos should he at lenst a foot 

 high, ".nd they will produce twenty tinirs the 



