Book I. GATHERING AND PRESERVING VEGETABLES, &c. 495 



of barrenness, to cut in or shorten even the healthy wood. Wherever amputation takes 

 place, the wound will heal, if the air is excluded by prepared clay or any adhesive mix- 

 tars, provided always, that die principle of life exists in tolerable vigor in the tree. 

 Every thing, indeed, in plants as in animals, depends on the vis medkatrix naluree. 



Sect. IX. Gatliering and Preserving Vegetables and Fruits, and sending them to a 



Distance. 



2600. Gathering should commence as early and continue as late as possible with all 

 kitchen-crops. At die same time, no vegetable ought to be gathered till it has attained the 

 requisite degree of maturity, nor offered for use when it has begun to decay. What this 

 degree is, often depends on the particular tastes of families, or their domestics : thus 

 cabbages are most esteemed in Edinburgh when fully headed and blanched ; while, in 

 London, they are preferred open and green, &c. Equal differences in taste as to peas, 

 celery, lettuce, and indeed most other kitchen-crops, might be noticed. The operations 

 of gathering kitchen-crops are either cutting off die part desired, breaking or pulling it 

 off, as in the case of peas, beans, &c. or pulling or rooting up, as in the case of onions, 

 turnips, potatoes, &c. Each of these operations ought to be performed with due regard 

 to the plant, where that is to remain, as in the case of the pea ; and to the adjoining 

 plants of the same sort, as in the case of pulling turnips, onions, &c. As soon as any 

 plant has furnished its crops or produce, the root and other remains ought to be immedi- 

 ately removed to the dung or compost heap. (See 1977.) 



2601. Gathering fruits. This operation in the case of the small fruits, as the goose- 

 berry, strawberry, &c. is generally performed by the under-gardeners ; but wall and 

 espalier fruit ought to be gathered by the head gardener. Where the utmost delicacy is 

 desired, the berry-gatherer {fig. 149.) ought to be adopted for the small fruits, and also for 

 plums, apples, and other fruits on espaliers. For the finer fruits, as the peach, nectarine, 

 &c. the peach-gatherer {Jig. 148.) lined with velvet, ought always to be adopted. 



2602. Preserving esculents. The ice-house, as we have repeatedly observed, is found 

 particularly useful for preserving esculent roots, and likewise celery during winter. 

 " Where parsneps and beet-roots are left in the ground over winter," Neill observes, " they 

 must be lifted at the approach of spring, as they become tough and woody whenever there 

 is a tendency to form a flower-stalk. These roots may, therefore, at this season, be placed 

 in the ice-house, and preserved there for a considerable time in excellent order. In the 

 summer season, during hot weather, various kinds of vegetables, as peas, kidneybeans, 

 cucumbers, &c. can be kept fresh in it for several days ; fruits gathered in the morning, 

 which is the most proper time, may be here kept cool, and with all their freshness and 

 flavor, until required for the dessert in the afternoon." {Sujni. to Encyc. Brit. art. Hort.) 



2603. Packing fruit and vegetables to be sent to a distance frequently forms a part of the 

 gardener's duty. Fruits of the most delicate sorts, it is well known, are sent from Spain 

 and Italy to England, packed in jars with sawdust from woods not resinous or otherwise 

 ill tasted. One large bunch of grapes is suspended from a twig or pin laid across the 

 mouth of the jar, so as it may not touch either the bottom or sides ; sawdust or bran is 

 then strewed in, and when full, the jar is well shaken to cause it to settle : more is then 

 added, till it is quite full, when the supporting twig is taken away, and the earthen 

 cover of the jar closely fitted and sealed, generally with fine stucco. In this way grapes 

 may be sent from the most remote parts of Scotland or Ireland to the metropolis. When 

 the distance is less, they may be sent enveloped in fine paper, and packed in moss. For 

 extraordinary large bunches of grapes, the mode adopted by the Jewish spies {Numbers 

 xiii.), and afterwards by Speechly, may be followed ; that of carrying it suspended on a 

 pole or staff resting on men's shoulders. The simplest mode for short distances is to wrap 

 each bunch in fine soft paper, and lay them on a bed of moss in a broad flat basket with 

 a proper cover. 



2601. The more common fruits, cherries, and plums may be packed in thin layers, with paper and moss 

 between each. Peaches, apricots, and the finer plums, may each be wrapped separately in vine or other 

 leaves, or fine paper, and packed in abundance of cotton, flax, fine moss, or dried short grass. Moss, it 

 will be recollected, is apt to communicate its flavor to fine fruits, and so is short grass, if not thoroughly 

 dried and sweetened. Cotton best preserves the bloom on peaches and plums. 



2605. Common culinary vegetables are seldom sent to a great distance. The great art is to preserve them 

 fresh, for which purpose they ought to be laid loose in a close box, in the manner of botanic specimens ; 

 or closelv packed in hampers, so as to exclude the air. The brassica and lettuce tribes, if pulled up by the 

 roots, and as it were replanted in a box of sand with a wicker-work cover, may be sent a journey of two 

 or three weeks without injury, as practised in Russia. Celery, turnips, &c. may be packed in sand ; 

 potatoes and other roots, loose. Legumes and other summer crops generally in moss. 



Sect. X. Miscellaneous Operations of Culture and Management. 



2606. The miscellaneous operations and duties of the gardener are numerous, and in 



the foregoing general view of kitchen -garden culture many particulars are necessarily 



omitted. Among these may be mentioned propagation of various kinds for the renewal 



of crops, mulching perennials, blanching leaves and stalks, rolling walks, preparing 



