Nymphenburg Kitchen-Garden. ' 407 



temperature by stoves. One of the vegetables forced during 

 the winter is kohl-rabi ; it is sown in October, transplanted 

 in November, and begun to be gathered at Christmas, con- 

 tinuing from that time to March, when the bulbosities are 

 about the size of turnip radishes. Kidneybeans and mush- 

 rooms are produced here during the whole winter, and also 

 alpine strawberries. The latter are grown in pots in a house, 

 the glass of which, in front, is nearly perpendicular. The 

 pots are placed on shelves, close to the glass, those having 

 the fruit ripe being always on the upper shelves, where the 

 air is necessarily warmest ; and those last brought in being 

 placed on the lower shelves, where the air is colder. As the 

 fruit on the upper shelves is ripened off, and the pots re- 

 moved, those on the lower shelves are brought up to supply 

 their places, and pots from the frames in the open garden are 

 substituted in their stead. This succession is carried on 

 from October to June, when strawberries ripen in pits in the 

 garden, and, in the first week in July, in the open ground. 

 It thus appears that the horticultural luxuries of the kings of 

 Bavaria are greater than those of the kings of either France 

 or Britain. It is proper here to observe, that no human art 

 can ever effect in Britain what it can in Bavaria in the forcing 

 of fruits during winter, on account of the steady, clear, and 

 cloudless atmosphere of the latter country at that season. 

 Its extreme cold may be overcome by art; but this can 

 never be the case with the fogs of Britain ; or, at all events, 

 art has not yet been carried so far as to lead even to a hope 

 of such a result. 



The kitchen-garden at Nymphenburg contains a number 

 of hot-houses in which pines are kept in the winter-time, and 

 pits in which they are fruited during the summer season. 

 In one pit they are grown in a bed of earth in the natural 

 manner, and there they remain for four or five years, pro- 

 ducing numerous suckers from the stems, and a perpetual 

 succession of fruit, which, though small, is high-flavoured. 

 (See Vol. V. p. 427.) In October, 1828, we found ripe 

 alpine strawberries in pits ; and were informed that this fruit 

 was produced, either in the open air or under glass, every 

 day in the year. Mushrooms are also produced throughout 

 the year, and abundance of salading of every description, 

 including succory, grown from the old roots in cellars, and 

 mustard and cress from the seeds in stoves. Cabbages, 

 celery, leeks, parsley, and a number of similar vegetables, 

 are planted in autumn in pits or beds, surrounded by frames 

 or walls, and covered every night by wooden shutters over 

 which are placed straw mats. In the most severe weather, 



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