Gardening for Amateurs 



1099 



stifle these pests and clean the land ; want 

 of drainage may make a soil wet and cold 

 and therefore quite unsuitable for many a 

 crop, while the actual tenancy is often pre- 

 carious enough to place the gardener in the 

 unfortunate position of not knowing when 

 he may have to go or what he really ought 

 to do. 



Principles of the Subject. While we 

 have made it perfectly clear that no hard- 

 and-fast rule can be laid down in this matter, 

 there are certain principles which ought to 

 be mastered by the tyro who desires to per- 

 form his gardening work according to a 

 rational system. Continuously growing a 

 similar crop on the same land is highly dele- 

 terious to the fertility of the soil, and very 

 soon the ground becomes " sick " of that 

 particular plant, i.e. it will not give profit- 

 able or even satisfactory returns so far as 

 that one kind is concerned. Experience 

 proves, too, that crops of the same botanical 

 order are more or less alike in their demands, 

 and so a change to another plant of the same 

 order does not mean rotation at all, e.g. 

 Cabbages, Cauliflowers, and Brussels Sprouts 

 are all alike from the point of view of rota- 

 tion, but they differ from Peas, Beans, or 

 Sweet Peas, and also from Beetroot, Lettuce, 

 or Potatoes. The use of manure may put 

 off the need for rotation from year to year, 

 but even this will not stay the advance of 

 depreciation, and no manure yet on the 

 market is able to retain the fertility of soil 

 unimpaired under continuous cropping with 

 one kind of plant. Some crops bestow 

 benefits on the border that are not to be 

 despised, and advantage should be taken of 

 that power ; a few open up the soil and 

 help to render it friable ; leafy plants keep 

 down weeds, and one or two for instance, 

 those of the Pea family even go the length 

 of adding to the store of foods already 

 present. 



Short rotations are scarcely of any ad- 

 vantage, and most of the systems in general 

 practice are founded on a four-course rota- 

 tion varied in one or other of the ways we 

 have already mentioned. Longer rotations 

 are occasionally carried out, but in small 

 gardens the four-course rotation is found 

 to be the best. Shallow rooting plants 

 should follow those that root deeply ; loose 



growing or fine-leaved crops succeed those 

 that completely hide the ground with their 

 foliage ; plants of which the seeds or leaves 

 are of value should come after those grown 

 for the sake of their roots or tubers, and so 

 on these are points to remember. 



A Model Rotation. A good rotation of 

 cropping may be worked out on the lines 

 suggested in the following notes. It is 

 assumed that the garden possesses four dif- 

 ferent plots or borders. Trench plot one 

 in autumn and add a liberal supply of fresh 

 farmyard manure to the top spit. Fork it 

 over in spring, and grow during the year 

 Peas, the various kinds of Beans, Sweet 

 Peas, and also establish the Celery trench 

 here. The second year will find the soil dug 

 over to one spit deep, and crops of Beetroot, 

 Parsnips, and Carrots grown there. These 

 plants dislike fresh manure of any kind, yet 

 revel in a soil which is in " good heart," 

 hence the liberal dressing with fresh dung 

 the first year with benefits to be derived 

 now. For the third season dig the soil in 

 autumn and manure it rather heavily ; in 

 the succeeding summer Celery may be grown 

 here, and also the gross-feeding Cabbages, 

 Lettuce, Turnips, Cauliflowers, Onions, 

 Leeks, and Parsley. Unless the ground is 

 very light and porous, the manuring should 

 be carried out as a combination of organic 

 and inorganic fertilisers, the former being 

 added in autumn and the rest in spring ; 

 basic slag may well be employed in the 

 autumn, or the addition of lime to the soil 

 will be found to give increased benefits. 

 Potatoes are to be grown here in the fourth 

 year, and in preparation for the crops a 

 little farmyard manure may be added in 

 autumn and a good supply of artificial 

 fertiliser a few weeks before the actual 

 planting season commences. The fifth year 

 should be a reversion to the practice of the 

 first year. 



The second plot ought to begin with the 

 Carrots, Beetroot, and Parsnips of the above 

 scheme and to continue a year in advance of 

 the first plot. Border number three will 

 start with Lettuce, Cabbages, and the like 

 as directed above, and be, therefore, at all 

 times a year in advance of the second plot. 

 The first year will find plot number four in 

 Potatoes, and hence a year behind the first. 



