176 Cottage Gardens, live Stock of the Cottager, 



is not plentiful, let it be pointed in just below the surface. * The ground 

 having been previously well dug, sow the seeds, broad-cast, in March, 

 and edge the beds with a row of leeks, for no ground must be lost, f A 

 pinch or two of the j^ellow Florence or Bath Cos lettuce, with a few scarlet- 

 topped radish seeds, may be thrown in with the onion seed, to serve for a 

 treat during the hot weather. The seeds should be sown thick, to have 

 plenty of scallions to thin out ; and a dozen onions, planted in the autumn 

 or winter, in a warm situation, will always produce seed in abundance. Half 

 a dozen leeks may be left for the same purpose. 



Carrots do not require much manure, and are not so liable to be eaten 

 by the slugs, when sown in April, as they are when sown a month earlier. 

 The seed should be sown in drills 9 in. apart, very thick, so that they may 

 be thinned out for the pot twice or thrice a week during the summer. The 

 crop should be dug up the moment any maggots make their appearance J, 

 no matter how early, and pitted ; half a dozen roots planted in the spring 

 will always produce more than enough of seed ; but a little of the early 

 short-horn carrot seed should likewise be sown for an early supply : the cot- 

 tager would find his advantage in so doing. However, let him never try to 

 save seeds of both sorts in one season. 



Windsor Beans cannot well be planted too early ; but the best time to in- 

 sure a crop is the latter end of January or the beginning of February ; and 

 if well managed, and carefully looked after, that is, if they are manured, 

 hacked, earthed up, and the insects destroyed as they appear, a rod of 

 ground, planted with broad beans, will, with a bit of bacon, afford many an 

 excellent meal to a hungry labourer ; but, if he live in a coal country, let 

 him beware of using too freely the coal ashes § about his beans or scarlet 

 runners, for they are poisonous to both as well as to peas ; indeed, they are 

 not of much value as a manure, except on grass land : but they do the least 

 harm to onions and potatoes in the garden. Windsor beans are generally 

 dear at the seed time, so, as a matter of course, a cottager will save his own. 



Parsneps should be sown in March, in drills 18 in. apart, and left from 6 

 to 9 in. apart in the row. This is an excellent vegetable, and will be found 

 useful all the winter : indeed, some people think them better for having had 



generally hurt by frosty winds ; and, if this should happen when they are 

 from 4 to 6 in. long, they seldom turn out well. Perhaps the grub in onions 

 is often brought on by injuries of this kind. I have myself observed, that, 

 when onions were protected by pea stakes or bushes from being injured by 

 frosty winds in the spring, they escaped disease in the summer ; while others 

 in the same bed, that were damaged, were entirely lost ; which has made me, 

 when I sow early, to stick pea stakes on the north side of the beds, and I 

 have always found such practice successful. — B. R. 



* A quantity of hen's dung should have been saved, and it may be 

 sown moderately thick on the beds, either before or after the seeds are 

 sown ; or after covering the beds out of the alleys. Pigeon's dung, and the 

 dung of poultry, should be collected with great care : in some places, more 

 is thrown away than would manure a large garden. — Shibboleth. 



j- It would be desirable to sow a small plot of onions early in August, 

 to draw green in the spring ; and such as do not run to seed will make fine 

 heading onions in June and July. — J. A. 



% The best method I have found of destroying the worm in carrots is, by 

 watering between the rows, in June, with sea-water ; a large garden panful 

 to about 9 to 10 yards a row ; after which, a watering of common water, 

 from the rose of a pan, will be useful to wash the tops : this to be done in 

 the evening in a dull day. — B. R. In all probability, lime water would 

 have the same effect. — Cond. 



§ Collect wood ashes, but by no means coal ashes. — A Countryman. 



