Gardening for Amateurs 



953 



meant the production and marketing of 

 early salads and two or three early sorts of 

 vegetables. But it may be made, and with 

 care profitably made, of much wider scope 

 than this implies. I have upon several 

 occasions advised the planting out of Straw- 

 berries in convenient-sized beds for covering 

 with frames in spring, and this has been 

 found to answer very well. Where there is 

 a good demand a few lights of gently forced 

 Mint will be found profitable. Rhubarb also 

 has been found useful by some growers. 

 The forcing of Seakale in warm, darkened 

 frames should not prove difficult, and the 

 production of early Asparagus is another line 

 that could be taken up. A few frames of 

 Violets might also be very well planted in 

 September for winter bloom. It must, 

 however, be remembered that all these 

 things presuppose that the grower is the 

 possessor or holder of some small amount of 

 land in addition to that which he uses solely 

 for his frames and cloches. The crops that 

 turn in quickly, such as Radishes, Carrots, 

 Lettuces, Cauliflowers, Turnips, and so on, 

 will be found in nearly all French gardens, 

 and are grown in greater or lesser degree in 

 addition to the usual summer crops of Cucum- 

 bers and Melons. I quite fail to see why a 

 grower should not plant a few frames of 

 early Potatoes ; he would be able to take a 

 crop of Radishes from 

 the frames before the 

 Potatoes came through 

 the soil, or at least 

 before they had made 

 very much growth. I 

 have done this for 

 many years. A short - 

 topped variety, such 

 as Sharpe's Victor or 

 Sharpe's Eclipse, is 

 suitable for this pur- 

 pose, planting the sets 

 of Potatoes about 1 

 foot apart or even only 

 9 inches apart, about 

 3 inches deep all over 

 the frames. The 

 Radishes are sown 

 immediately this is 

 done and lightly raked ,,,.. F Cer 

 in, or covered half an '"' Special Teed' mat 



inch deep with finely sifted soil. There is no 

 reason also why the warm frames should 

 not be used for the production of early 

 Marrow plants or Tomatoes and even numer- 

 ous flowering plants in spring, for which in 

 some localities there is a brisk demand. 

 Much depends on the enterprise and 

 business capacity of each individual grower 

 as well as upon lus general cultural knowledge. 

 The successful man will not always slavishly 

 follow the set routine of his fellow growers, 

 but will find out what the chief demand 

 may be in his immediate locality or in the 

 markets to which he must send, and will 

 endeavour to meet this demand with his 

 products. 



Asparagus. The growing of this crop for 

 French garden work is a matter for careful 

 consideration. The plants need three years' 

 growth in the open before they can be made 

 use of for forcing purposes. After forcing 

 they are valueless. The first need, then, is 

 for a piece of ground upon which to grow 

 the plants. It will be found necessary to 

 keep three separate lots of plants going, and 

 in consequence a plot must be sown each 

 year to replace the plants taken up and 

 forced. A very small piece of ground will 

 hold a large number of seedlings the first year. 

 For the sake of ease in cleaning they are 

 better sown in drills than broadcast over 





used for protecting frames in severe weather. 



