Systems of cropping Kitchen-Gardens. 4-79 



or to the natural order and tribe most nearly allied to them, 

 should not follow each other. Thus, turnips should not follow 

 any of the cabbage tribe, sea-kale, or horseradish ; nor peas, 

 beans. 



Plants which draw their nourishment chiefly from the surface 

 of the soil should not follow each other, but should alternate 

 with those which draw their nourishment in great part from the 

 subsoil. Hence, carrots and beets should not follow each other; 

 nor onions and potatoes. 



Plants which draw a greal deal of nourishment from the soil 

 should succeed, or be succeeded by, plants which draw less 

 nourishment. Hence, a crop grown for its fruit, such as the 

 pea; or for its roots or bulbs, such as the potato or the onion; 

 should be followed by such as are grown solely for their leaves, 

 such as the common borecole, the celery, the lettuce, &c. 



Plants which remain for several years on the soil, such as 

 strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, &c., should not be succeeded 

 by other plants which remain a long time on the soil, but by 

 crops of short duration ; and the soil should be continued under 

 such crops for as long a period as it remained under a permanent 

 crop. Hence, in judiciously cropped gardens, the strawberry 

 compartment is changed every three or four years, till it has 

 gone the circuit of all the compartments ; and asparagus beds, 

 sea-kale, &c., are renewed on the same principles. 



Plants, the produce of which is collected during summer, 

 should be succeeded by those of which the produce is chiefly 

 gathered in winter or spring. The object of this rule is, to 

 prevent too active and exhausting crops from following each 

 other in succession. 



Plants in gardens are sometimes allowed to ripen their seeds ; 

 in which case two seed-bearing crops should not follow each 

 other in succession. 



These rules, and others of a like kind, apply generally to the 

 three different systems for the succession of crops ; and they are 

 independent altogether of other rules or principles which may 

 be drawn from the nature of the plants themselves ; such as some 

 requiring an extraordinary proportion of air, light, shade, mois- 

 ture, &c. : or from the nature of the changes intended to be 

 made on them by cultivation, such as blanching, succulency, 

 magnitude, &c. We shall now notice the different systems 

 separately. 



Successional Cropping. — The plants best calculated for this 

 mode of cropping are such as require, during almost every 

 period of their growth, the fullest exposure to the light and air ; 

 and as remain, also, a considerable time in the soil : these are, 

 the turnip, the onion, the potato, the beet, the carrot, &c. If 

 any of these crops are raised and brought forward under the 



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