488 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. PART III. 



Also, by the renewal of artichoke and asparagus plantations, which should be done every 

 seven or eight years. In managing all the above-named articles on a large scale, new 

 plantations should be made every year, to a certain extent, which would throw a certain 

 proportion of ground regularly into the rotation. 



2.560. Esculents might be cultivated in classes, and thus a sort of rotation, though not 

 very complete, might be produced ; and the brassica tribe, the leguminous family, 

 the tuberous or carrot-rooted kinds, the bulbous or onion kinds ; and the lighter 

 crops, as salads and herbs, might succeed each other. 



2561. Close crops, as onions, leeks, carrots, &c. are conveniently and neatly cultivated in 

 beds of from four to five feet widths, with alleys of a foot to eighteen inches between them. 



2562. Resting garden -ground. Market- gardeners, Nicol observes, who are generally 

 good managers, and must of necessity make the most of their ground, in order to main- 

 tain their families, and be able to pay high rents, have found out the utility of resting 

 their land, and of following a regular rotation in cropping it, at least in the culture of 

 the principal articles, and as far as the nature of the thing will admit. The best man- 

 agers sow out a portion of their ground every season in grass, clover, or barley, which 

 is used as green food for their horses and cows. Very generally the barley is sown along 

 with the clover, merely to nurse and shade it, being cut down and not allowed to ripen. 

 The clover is sometimes dug up after the first season, if land for market-crops be scarce, 

 but more generally it is allowed to lie a second year. By good managers, the ground is 

 never sown down in a hungry state. Land that has been under esculent crops for many 

 years together, and is, perhaps, glutted with manure, may be cleansed, as it is termed, 

 by a scouring crop of oats, wheat, or rye, which, if thought necessary, may be repeated. 

 If trenched to its full depth afterwards, it will again be fit for the production of culinary 

 crops in great perfection. 



2563. The seasons proper for furnishing the ground with every particular vegetable should 

 be well attended to, that each may be obtained as early as its nature will permit ; and of 

 the seeds and plants we use, care must be taken to procure the best of the kind, lest after 

 all the trouble of cultivation, disappointment as to vegetation or quality should ensue. 

 The principal time for sowing and planting the articles raised in the kitchen-garden falls 

 in the spring months. It is necessary to lodge some sorts in the ground as early as Ja- 

 nuary ; but February, March, and April are the months in which the principal supplies 

 from summer crops are provided for. From April till September, and even October, 

 many sorts are sown and planted, in smaller portions, for successive crops. Particular 

 hardy esculents are also sown or transplanted principally in autumn, for a supply as 

 well in winter as in spring and early in summer. Other kinds are inserted occasionally 

 as late as November and December, to stand wholly over the winter, in rising growth, 

 for early crops and for main crops the following summer ; such as peas, beans, cabbages, 

 and cauliflowers. To obtain early crops of favorite esculents which are more tender, 

 several kinds are sown and planted in hot-beds in winter and spring. 



2564. The quantity sown and planted is to be determined jointly by the demands of the 

 family and the portion of ground that can be spared : but it should be always a rule, to sow 

 and plant more than probably enough for the family, as more may happen to be wanted 

 than expected, and a cross season or other accident may occasion a failure. As exact 

 rules cannot be laid down, the exercise of a little judgment will be necessary, in order to 

 proportion crops alike ; for to have too much of one thing, and too little of another, is 

 disagreeable and discreditable. Respect should be paid to the natural duration of crops, 

 some going off soon, and others being lasting, and that too according to the season they 

 are propagated in. The pea requires the greasiest breadth of surface ; and next to this the 

 cabbage tribe. The spaces for asparagus, artichokes, strawberries, sea-kale, &c. are in 

 some degree fixed from the comparative permanency of these crops. Pot and sweet 

 herbs require the least space, and ascending from these to breadths necessary for the pea 

 and cabbage tribe, the proportions are as various as the kinds to be grown ; and these 

 can only be acquired properly by experience, and observation of what takes place in dif- 

 ferent gardens. 



2565. Seeds and plants should be adapted as much as possible to the soil and situation which 

 best suits them ; for in the same garden some difference will be found, not only as to sun 

 and shelter, but the earth ; as some will be richer, some poorer, some deeper, some 

 shallower, and some perhaps heavier, some lighter, in due attention to which, advantage 

 is to reaped. (Marshall.') 



2566. The ordering of seeds from the seedsman is generally a matter of some difficulty 

 to the young gardener, and Abercrombie is almost the only author who has endeavored 

 to remove it. The information afforded by his work, entitled The Seed Estimate, 

 will be found in the Horticultural Catalogue ; where under every culinary vegetable 

 raised from seed, will be found the quantity, either stated in weight or measure, requisite 

 for a certain space of ground; and this space generally that which is deemed sufiicieui 

 for a considerable garden. 



