Gourds, Cranberries, and Hater Cresses. 151 



considers that their large leaves do good, to the asparagus 

 roots by protecting them from the sun, while the tall 

 stems of the asparagus afford a shelter to the leaves of 

 the gourds. Last summer's extraordinary drought, had 

 burned up, on his gravelly soil, the cabbages, peas, tur- 

 nips, &c. by the beginning of August, and had he not been 

 provided with gourds as a substitute, the family must have 

 had recourse to market. The servants disliked them at first, 

 but soon came to like them better than summer cabbage. 

 He therefore recommends, especially where the soil is liable 

 to be burnt up in summer, planting the vegetable marrow 

 and other Cucurbitacese as a reserve crop. 



Note. — To the above we may add, that the tender tops of all 

 the edible species of cucurbitacese, boiled as greens or spinage, 

 are a fully more delicate vegetable than the fruit. It must be 

 worth something to gardeners and cooks to know that either, 

 or both, may be used for this purpose, when scarcely any 

 thing else can be got. 



2. On the Cultivation of the English and American Cranberry 

 and the Water-cress, at Bretton Hall. By Mr. Christie 

 Duff, late Gardener there. Dated December 20th, 

 1825. 



The beds are made across a bank which slopes to the 

 south, and the plants, instead of being shaded, as is gener- 

 ally recommended for those planted in gardens, are fully ex- 

 posed to the summer's sun. The advantages to the fruit 

 are obvious. The beds are six feet wide with two-feet trenches 

 between them, through which passes a stream of running 

 water. The sloping situation renders it necessary to run a 

 small line of puddle along the lower edges of each bed, as 

 high as the surface of the peat, to prevent the escape of the 

 water. By this, and other obvious arrangements, the water 

 circulates from trench to trench, entering at the top and passing 

 off at the bottom of the declivity. Very sandy peat is used. 

 In winter the water is kept low, but in summer it is raised as 

 high as the surface of the beds, and so as occasionally to 

 flood them. Abundance of water Mr. Duff considers as 

 essentially necessary to the success of this plan. 



The cresses, it will be easily conceived, are grown in the 

 trenches among the running water ; a little sand being laid 

 along them to promote their rooting. The sub-soil of the 

 whole bank devoted to this mode of culture is a retentive 

 clay. 



M2 



