330 Notices. — North America. 



we used to call Beth vine ; it is here very productive, and produces large 

 roots, but not so big as in more southern climates, where it is said to grow 

 so large as a man's thigh, and so long that the Negroes sometimes sit upon 

 one end while the other is roasting ; but this I by no means vouch for, but 

 can testify that it is a most excellent vegetable. I cultivate no other plant 

 for the table with which you are unacquainted, unless it be roasting-ears of 

 an earlv variety of Indian corn, which comes in after green peas, to which it 

 is almost equal, and is prepared in much less time for the table. 



Asparagus thrives very well, and is exceedingly productive here ; it comes 

 in about the middle of April, and, except care has been taken to protect 

 the cabbage and kale from frost, is our earliest vegetable, and, were it only 

 upon that account, would be very desirable. Sea-kale would, I think, 

 do well here, but, my seed failing, I have had no opportunity of trying it. 

 Green peas do very well here ; the earliest kinds are fit to gather by the 

 second week in May, and the late sorts will stand till the end of June. 

 Potatoes grow also very good here; but in general I do not think them so 

 productive or so mealy as in England, although I have had them here quite 

 as good (the red potatoe in particular) as I ever tasted. Cabbage and kale 

 thrive well, but, if required early, must be protected during Winter. This 

 is not difficult ; the method I pursue is to place blocks at convenient dis- 

 tances, large enough to keep the rails laid on them above the heads of the 

 plants : these rails I cover with the rails of the Lima beans, with the haulm 

 upon them, and lay other rails across them to keep it from being displaced 

 by the wind ; and this is all that is requisite to protect them through the 

 Winter. In this manner brocoli, and perhaps cauliflower, might, I think, be 



Krotected, but I have not had the opportunity of trying the experiment, 

 lelons and cucumbers are raised with little trouble, and grow very large 

 and fine flavoured. I have had musk melons weigh 25lbs., and wter 28lbs. : 

 they are very delicious, but the peaches, I think, bear the bell, lor we ate 

 but few melons last year while the peaches lasted. 



I have now, you will perhaps think, given you rather a prosing account 

 of gardening operations, but must crave your patience a little longer, to 

 tell you that I cultivate onions, lettuce, parsnips, carrots, beets, radishes, &c. 

 by drilling, and find this a much better way than broad-casting ; they are 

 much easier thinned out and kept clean, and, as the ground can be almost 

 all moved with the hoe, they grow finer. I sow parsnips, and carrots, and 

 beets, eighteen inches apart, and the rest twelve. Between my peas, I sow cu- 

 cumbers and melons, which spread over the ground when the peas are off! 

 Judging from your own experience of the time and labour required to keep 

 even a small garden in tolerable order in the old country, you will naturally 

 wonder how I can find time to manage mine. To form a true estimate of the 

 matter you must take the following circumstances into consideration. In the 

 first place, you will remember that the plough is chiefly employed, and that 

 when the spade is used, it is attended with comparatively little labour, the 

 soil being like a bed of dry mud, and when once cleared and cultivated 

 might be dug with a wooden shovel. In the next, here is no couch, or any 

 other perennial root weed. It is true here are plenty of annual ones, and 

 some of enormous growth, which, if left to arrive at maturity, would reach 

 fourteen or fifteen feet high, and also of annual grasses ; but all these, if taken 

 in time, are soon eradicated, the soil and climate being so favourable for the 

 use of the hoe, that by the moderate employment of it, one person can 

 keep a large piece of ground quite clean, if he take advantage of fine wea- 

 ther during the months of May, June, and July ; — and nothing shoots up 

 much after. Thirdly, very little labour is employed on paths and borders, 

 and we have no short grass or pleasure-grounds. 



