No. 11. 



DidloLCue between a Father and Son. 



345 



witli directions when to sow and plant, iiow 

 to manajTc the crop wliile ^rrowinir, when to 

 take it iij), and how to preserve it, A:c.] Tli 

 course rniijlit vary as on a farm, and niii^dit 

 thus he ina'Je doubly productive ; I Iiave often 

 .seen two or three ditl'ercnt crops e^rowin;,' on 

 the same spot in your ijarden, especially on 

 the southern border, now this mu^t be very 

 advantageous. 



Father. As I have otlcn witnes.-ed the in- 

 convenience and loss of labor attendin;^ upon 

 a large ii'arden on a f.irin, niv ohjoct is, to have 

 no more land devoted to this purpose than is 

 sufficient for the supply of tlie family; my plan 

 is, therefore, to make the most of v/hat [ have, 

 and I can thus easily keep every pirt of it 

 clean, and there is no pleasure in a jjarden 

 that is not so. But as in farmino', so in jjar- 

 denintj: much depends on soil, situation and 

 circumstances; these must be understood be- 

 fore a judicious plan can be adopted, after 

 which, however, the thing is easy and pleas- 

 ant. I sow, at the same time, on the southern 

 border, a mixture of radish, spinach, and let- 

 tuce; the radishes come lit to draw early, and 

 this leaves room for the spinach to spread, 

 which, as it becomes fit to cut, is cleared in 

 wide intervals, in which dwarf French beans 

 are planted ; and when all the spinach is re- 

 moved, cauliflower plants are set between the 

 rows of beans, which, in their turn, give place 

 to a crop of celery, which is planted in deep 

 trenches with plenty of dimo-: this trenching 

 and dunging is peculiarly favorable to such 

 another rotation of crops the next spring. 



I plant English beans wide enough to ad- 

 mit rows of late cabbages between them; 

 these are planted after the beans have attained 

 their full growth; theyare thus shaded by them, 

 during the hot weather, and yet are not in- 

 jured by being overgrown, for by the tim-j the 

 cabbages require more room, the beans are 

 removed, and the land where they grew beintr 

 dunged and dug deep, the cabbages strike 

 fresh root and flourish amazingly. I plant in 

 the summer, alternately, a row of broccoli and 

 a row of savoy cabbages, after the crops of 

 peas are removed ; the savoys are cut during 

 winter, and the space well dug and dunged, 

 which gives a start to the broccoli in the spring 

 and insures large heads ; and when this crop 

 is removed, I plant the land with potatoes, 

 upon the surface of which I sow radishes, 

 which comoolFby the time the potatoes want 

 booing: and at the distance of about three 

 foet I plant English beans, these do not injure 

 in the least the crop of potatoes, and furnish 

 me with plenty of the finest seed for next 

 year's planting. 



Frntik. Our neighbors say you are always 

 fortunate with your early cabbages; few of 

 them ffo to seed in the spring, nor are they so 

 liable to be bli'zhtod as theirs, even v/hen they 



plant from the same seed bed as yourself — 

 how is this to bo accounted for] 



Father. Very easily: I plant in the au- 

 tumn, as they do, but never encourage the 

 growth of the plants by moulding them np 

 through tlic winter: to be sure they do not 

 look so thrivingly as theirs do at this season, 

 but they are able to bear frosts and snows bet- 

 ter than theirs, and in the spring, when their 

 crops arc giving promises which are never 

 performed, mine are advancing surely; and 

 amongst many hinidreds, I have seldom any 

 that go to seed. By earthing up their planta 

 they render them more liable to the bliirht, 

 which is caused by cold winds and frosts in the 

 spring, fi)r they have been drawn up more ten- 

 derly — ^just as little boys now-a-days are more 

 subject to take cold than formerly, when great 

 coats wore not so much in fashion. 



Frank. But now I think of it, you never 

 mould up any of your crops, not even the 

 potatoes. 



Father. No, and to this circumstance I 

 attribute my success in gardening, and did you 

 never remark that I do not water the crops, 

 even in the driest weather, while our neigh- 

 bors are using the watering pot continually? 



Frank. I have often wondered how it was 

 that our crops throve so well in very hot and 

 dry weather without watering, but could not 

 account for it. 



Father. You have often heard the remark, 

 " if you begin to water your crops, you must 

 continue to do so." Now I conceive, by wa- 

 tering the surface of the earth, the fibres of 

 the roots are induced to turn upward in search 

 of moisture, and are thus in danger of per- 

 ishing for want of it, unless the watering is 

 continued ; but if none is to be obtained from 

 above, they strike downwards, and find suffi- 

 cient to support them, during the hottest sea- 

 son, provided the intervals are kept well pul- 

 verized by deep digging. And the practice 

 of earthing up is, 1 conceive, improper on 

 somewhat the same principle: the light earth 

 which is drawn up around the stalk of the 

 plant, induces the fibres of the roots tostrike 

 into it for nourishment, but when the weather 

 becomes hot and dry, this soon dries up and 

 they perish for want of moisture. And again, 

 in drawing this light earth from the intervals 

 between the rows, many of the lateral roots 

 are uncovered and destroyed, and others are 

 left to perish, just at the time when the plant 

 requires the most nutriment to enable it to 

 perfect its growth. By diL'^iring the inter- 

 vals, instead of hoeing them, I render unne- 

 cessary the watering as well as th« earthing 

 of the crops, and obtain advantages over those 

 who use both, at much loss trouble and labor. 



The young .are slaves to novelty ; the old 

 to custom. 



