3 1 8 Cottage- Gardening 



short. This may be made useful in various ways ; it will be very convenient 

 for bleaching the household linen, and can be used also as a place of recrea- 

 tion. Perhaps you will find fault with it as a bleaching-green ; but, in the 

 present state of society, and with all the vigilance of the rural police, the 

 cottager's wife has often to carry back less linen at night than what she laid 

 out in the morning. To prevent such an occurrence from taking place as 

 much as possible, I have recommended the green in the garden. For the 

 edgings of the walks of small gardens, strawberry plants are commonly re- 

 commended. This plan I cannot agree with altogether. Edgings ought to 

 undergo a rotation of cropping, like other parts of the garden. When they 

 are all planted with strawberry plants, there will be an abundant supply for a 

 time ; but, if no other plantation is made, there will soon be but a scanty 

 gathering. Now, if part of the edging consisted of chamomile or hyssop, the 

 sale of which, in a dried state, to the apothecary, or other dealers in herbs, 

 would also yield a profit, the cottager would, by shifting the crops every 

 other year, be enabled to keep up a constant supply of fruit-bearing plants, 

 and to introduce new kinds as they appear in the market. The bottoms of 

 the walks can be filled with the small stones turned up in trenching. Fine 

 gravel is thought by many to be the best for the top ; but, where that cannot 

 be had, engine ashes form a very good substitute : those twice burnt are the 

 best. 



If the garden be walled, it is not likely that the walls will be the height 

 recommended for a gentleman's garden, and, probably, many of them will be 

 built without mortar ; but, even against such walls, much good fruit may be 

 grown, by training the trees upon wooden trellises : espaliers may also be 

 trained along the sides of the walks facing the south. Raspberries, goose- 

 berries, and currants may be planted in breaks, or in lines parallel with the 

 walks, 2i ft. from the edging, and 5 or 6 feet distant from each other. I find 

 that they will bear good crops either way. In the vegetable department, the 

 kale, cabbage, onions, leeks, and potatoes, are reckoned the mainstay of the 

 cottager ; but, where horticultural societies exist, the introduction of finer 

 vegetables is taking place, such as peas, cauliflowers, kidneybeans, turnips, 

 carrots, lettuce, parsley, &c. 



I do not know whether it belongs to the gardener or the architect to fix 

 where the site of the dunghill ought to be, but I should recommend two 

 places, one for the solid manure, and the other for the liquid ; and it would 

 be an essential point gained in cottage economy, if the cottager could be made 

 to understand the full value of liquid manure. Many a cottage garden suffers 

 from its possessor not knowing the benefit that would result from the appli- 

 cation of such manure. It is a common practice, with a great number of the 

 rural population of Scotland, to have their crop of late potatoes planted on 

 the ground of some neighbouring farmer, and it is their endeavour to have as 

 much dung as possible to cart away at the planting season, in consequence of 

 which the garden is often in part neglected ; but, by preserving the drainings 

 from the house, the pigsty, and the cow-house, in a pit properly prepared for 

 the purpose, as much manure might be had as would supply the demand of 

 the garden. It is a difficult matter to make them believe in this doctrine, and 

 more difficult still to get them to practise it ; but the period will soon come 

 when they will wonder at their unbelief, and endeavour to redeem the time 

 they had lost in the days of their ignorance. 



I shall not frighten the cottager with a long list of fruit trees, small fruit, 

 and vegetables, that might be planted by him, but select a few of those that 

 have been long known to deserve a place in every garden. There is one 

 apple tree that would do well in a cottager's garden, or any other where fruit 

 is grown ; that is, the Stirling Castle apple. It was raised from seed by a 

 gentleman belonging to Stirling. Its properties are : very early bearing ; 

 vigorous healthy growth of plant ; fruitfulness, seldom missing a crop ; fruit 

 large and finely shaped, fit either for dessert or baking ; it produces fruit the 



