954 



Gardening for Amateurs 



the surface. Sowing may take place in March 

 or April. At the end of twelve months plant 

 out the year-old plants 1 foot apart each way 

 on deeply dug and well-manured land. All 

 the attention required for two years will 

 be to keep down weeds and support the 

 growths with sticks if grown in an exposed 

 position. A good time to commence forcing 

 Asparagus is early in February ; a bed of 

 manure capable of generating and continu- 

 ing a fair amount of heat for 6 or 8 weeks 

 is needed. This can be made up as advised 

 on page 949. On this place a couple of 

 inches of soil, and again on this pack the 

 Asparagus roots closely together. Over and 

 amongst the roots place about 3 inches 

 of soil. When it is seen that the young 

 shoots are developing another 2 or 3 

 inches of soil can be put on. As the shoots 

 progress they should be cut from day to day 

 and made up into bundles of from twenty 

 to twenty-five, and will usually be found to 

 command a ready sale. This crop is very 

 easily produced in a pit or frame heated with 

 hot water. 



Cabbage. This crop only applies to 

 French gardening in so far that cloches may 

 be used for covering and forwarding some of 

 the earliest plants ; the crop is also useful in 

 another way, as a change for land that has 

 for some time been under the routine of 

 French cultivation. In September or Oc- 

 tober it may be possible to plant out on the 

 positions which have been carrying frame 

 crops, and from which the frames and their 

 contents have been cleared. No manure 

 is required before planting, as the position 

 after successive seasons of manuring for 

 frame culture will be exceedingly rich and 

 will usually grow a tremendous crop of early 

 Cabbages. Choose an early sort, such as 

 Early Offenham or Flower of Spring, plant 

 out stout young plants from seeds sown in 

 the middle to end of July. The subsequent 

 treatment consists of hoeing in spring, with 

 perhaps a slight dressing of nitrate of soda 

 about February to induce the plants to start 

 into rapid growth. With regard to the 

 application of this latter manure the grower 

 must be guided to some extent by weather 

 conditions ; it is best applied in showery 

 weather. 



Carrot. This crop is usually sown in 



the frames at the same time as the Radishes, 

 very thinly broadcast as a rule, though 

 from a long experience I prefer to sow in 

 shallow drills about 4 inches apart right 

 through the frames. Where the soil is light 

 and rich, as it always becomes in French 

 gardens, it is an easy matter to make shallow 

 depressions across the frame with a piece of 

 deal that fits the light. After the seeds are 

 sown a little fine soil can be used for covering. 

 Carrots usually germinate very freely, so 

 that if there is any approach to thick seed- 

 ing, the seedlings must be thinned as soon as 

 they can be handled. Carrots are also sown 

 around and among cloches which contain 

 Lettuces and make a good successional crop 

 after the cloches and Lettuces have been 

 cleared away. Seeds sown in July provide 

 pullings from September right through the 

 winter until roots from the January and 

 February sowings are ready. Frames may 

 have to be placed over a portion of these 

 late sowings. Only short-rooted varieties 

 of Carrots should be used for this method 

 of culture. Early Forcing or Early Xantes 

 may be grown for first crops, preferably the 

 former. 



Cauliflower. For very early cutting 

 these should be sown in the open in Septem- 

 ber and October. Choose a piece of ground 

 which has been well manured with some of 

 the old manure from the frames. These 

 plants must be pricked off into frames, or 

 if only a few are needed two or three cloches 

 can be utilised, each containing 20 to 25 of 

 the young plants. Some growers put a row 

 at the top and bottom of their frames after 

 the Lettuces are planted, but this seems to 

 me to overcrowd the frames, and I should 

 prefer to use handlights or cloches for this 

 crop. Many hundreds of Cauliflowers are 

 potted singly in 3-inch pots in autumn, and 

 kept in frames through the winter until 

 about February, when they are ready for 

 planting out in frames or, as previously 

 advised, in cloches or handlights. Early 

 French Frame is the variety usually chosen 

 for the earnest crops ; these plants are 

 put out on the beds of manure and soil, 

 and the gentle heat quickly makes them 

 ready for cutting. They command a good 

 price on the markets, making from 2s. 6d. 

 to 4s. per dozen, and at the latter price are, 



