94 



JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ February 3, 1863. 



throw the presumed blame upon Mr. Beaton : far from it. The 

 name may be inelegant, and that is the only objection to it. 

 To say that " Good Gracious " is a profane expression is simply 

 absurd; and who that was not morbidly sensitive would ever 

 dream of attributing blasphemy to it ? We entertain the highest 

 veneration for sacred subjects, and for their professed exponents, 

 and we must say that in our humble opinion both have been, to 

 say the least, unnecessarily brought forward in this matter by 

 your correspondent. — James Caetee & Co., 237, 238, High 

 Sollorn, London. 



[Having now published the objeotion that some of our readers 

 take to the name of "Good-Gracious" applied to a flower, and 

 having also published what Mr. Beaton and Messrs. Carter have 

 to say in its defence, we will close the controversy, so far as our 

 columns are concerned by observing, that though we do not 

 consider the name profane, yet it approaches too near to the 

 vulgar to be a desirable name for a flower. There is but a shade 

 of superiority in " Good Gracious " over " Oh, my eye !" which 

 would not sound pleasantly though applied to a very wondrous 

 Rose. — Eds. J. oe H.] 



EOTAL HOETTCITLTTJEAL SOCIETY. 



His Boyal Highness the Prince of "Wales, feeling "that he is 

 contributing towards carrying out the wishes of a beloved parent, 

 that the memorial of the Great Exhibition of 1851 should be 

 inaugurated with every circumstance of honour," has consented 

 to inaugurate the memorial on the 5th of June next, being the 

 anniversary of the opening of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 Gardens in which it stands. 



At the anniversary Meeting on February 10th we understand 

 that Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., the Rev. Joshua Dix, and J. Kelk, 

 Esq., will be proposed as new members of the Council ; William 

 Wilson Saunders, Esq , as Secretary in the place of Dr. Lindley, 

 resigned, and who, we believe, will be proposed as a Vice-Presi- 

 dent in place of the Bishop of Winchester, who retires ; and 

 John Clutton, Esq., as Treasurer. 



ABUNDANCE EEOM A SMALL SPACE— 

 BEOCCOLI CULTTJEE. 



It is a very popular notion, that one requires a consider- 

 able degree of insight into the mysteries of the art of cookery 

 to be able to boil a Potato well, and jet no vegetable is more 

 generally and extensively cooked than the Potato. It is profit- 

 able as a crop, easy to cultivate, and generally liked, so that 

 almost everybody makes use of it. Thousands cook and eat it, 

 and yet it is only a good cook who can boil a Potato well. 



Again : Who being in possession of a plot of ground does not 

 try to cultivate one or more of the numerous tribe of Cabbage- 

 worts ? Yet for all that, it requires a very skilful cultivator to 

 grow any of the Cabbage tribe well under the numerous diffi- 

 culties which many gardeners find in the way. I do not mean 

 to imply those who have space, for then the principal difficulty 

 is removed. Provided there is sufficient labour and space, the 

 difficulty of keeping up a supply of vegetables is not great ; 

 the ground can lie fallow for a short time, provided one crop is 

 off before it is time to put another in, and all may go on com- 

 fortably. This is not the case with regard to small plots which 

 are sometimes devoted to kitchen crops, and which are often made 

 to produce as much as gardens of much larger dimensions. 



1 do not intend to speak in any way disparagingly of those 

 who cultivate vegetables on four or five acres of ground, that 

 being the size of the kitchen garden ; but I do mean to assert, 

 that more credit iB due to him who manages to supply a family 

 with vegetables all the year round from a quarter of an acre of 

 ground. In fact, I have known this done when the same extent 

 of ground has been thickly planted with fruit trees and bushes. 

 How it is done it would be difficult to describe ; but it can only 

 be by careful watching and untiring industry, managing so that 

 one crop shall be half grown before another is done with ; that 

 what is lost during the growth of one crop shall be replaced ; 

 and that the ground shall be kept exceedingly rich and fertile 

 while its resources are severely drawn upon : and, perhaps, here 

 is the main secret, for it is a fact that the handling of stimulants 

 is a very delicate matter. 



When soil becomeB thoroughly exhausted it appears to become 

 filled with minute organic forms, which seem injurious to the 

 growth of garden crops. The endeavour to enrich it often 



increases the evil and sours it instead. Many swarm of grubs 

 may be traced to the manure applied, and plants may be easily 

 destroyed by manure given in a liquid state ; and it requires some 

 considerable practice to be able to know to a nicety just what 

 plants require, and to give no more. 



It is in consequence of this knowledge that many gardeners, 

 who are otherwise unknown, are able to achieve muoh with very 

 limited means — a talent for making the most of everything so 

 that there is no waste. 



It may appear like stretching the matter to say, that two or 

 three dishes of vegetables and salads every day m the year — all 

 kinds of fruits, as Apples, Pears, Plums, &e. — all kinds of wall 

 fruits, bush fruits, and Strawberries— can be supplied from a 

 kitchen garden of little more than a quarter of an acre. It is never- 

 theless a fact, and probably the details would be worth knowing 

 if they could be made intelligible. It is not, however, my in- 

 tention now to enter into details even if I could, but to make a. 

 few remarks on the culture of Broccoli — one. of the most useful 

 classes of vegetables that can be grown, especially for winter and 

 early spring use. Yet Broccoli is a most exhausting crop, and 

 does more towards impoverishing the ground than any other,, 

 and where it is continually grown requires some management to 

 make it sufficiently productive. The question is, therefore, not 

 so much how to grow it, as how to grow it profitably on the same 

 spot year after year, and at the same time to obtain other crops 

 from the same ground every year also. 



If ground is to produce so much more than the average it 

 will be necessary to make good the loss sustained ; for this is 

 not usually done in the ordinary method of wheeling manure on 

 to the ground and trenching it in as the crop comes off. 



Everybody who writes about kitchen-gardening makes it ft- 

 point to urge trenching as a matter of the greatest necessity. 

 The fact is, I think, this is too often overdone. It is not always 

 good for plants to root deeply into the soil. If a tree forms a. 

 tap root and goes deep into the soil, it is generally an unfruitful 

 one ; and if a Cabbage or Broccoli roots deeply, it runs to leaf 

 and stalk, but makes a very poor head. 



What is wanted in a plant or a tree is a mass of cloBe fibres near 

 the surface, and it is then sure to be productive. I have trenched 

 the ground preparatory to planting Broccoli on many occasions,, 

 sometimes deeply — as much as 4 feet — at other times not more 

 than a foot, adding plenty of manure at the same time, but 

 never did I find any satisfactory results proceed from it. A 

 friend of mine, an ingenious and industrious gardener, once told: 

 me that he used to trench the ground deeply for Broccoli, but 

 never found it do well. At last he left off trenching and it 

 answered better. He even planted it in hard ground where he had 

 to use a crowbar to make the holes, and then it grew much better 

 than when planted on trenched ground. " I will never," said 

 he, "plant Broccoli again on newly-trenched ground." Of 

 course, some allowance must be made for the quality and texture 

 of the ground. I very much doubt if light ground is ever im- 

 proved by trenching. 



However, to return to causes. The principal one is in making, 

 good the loss of matter drawn from the ground by the previous 

 crop, and in supplying the succeeding one with a proper quantity 

 of suitable food. This, of course, is given in the form of manure. 

 The usual method is to have a load or two of rich-looking, 

 highly-coloured stuff drawn in at the moment it is required. I 

 doubt if half the good is ever done in this way that is supposed. 

 There are colour and sometimes smell, but are these the neces- 

 sary qualities required by plants ? I venture to say not. On the 

 other hand I think a plant looks for something rather different 

 as its natural food, and takes manure only when it is in such a. 

 condition that its constituents are ready to decompose or part 

 asunder without being under the influence of putrescent fer- 

 mentation, and that is when it is neither disagreeable to the 

 sense of smell, sight, or feeling — not that plants are supposed to 

 be possessed of these senses, for it is not known that they are ; 

 but then they do absorb nutritive matter, and it must be in a 

 condition that is not unpalatable to them. 



Erom this I deduce that manure ought to be perfectly rotten, 

 and, to make it still more sweet and natural, it should be mixed 

 with a like quantity of soil (good turfy loam I prefer) ; that two 

 years is a very good time for it to lie together, after being well 

 mixed, before applying it to the ground ; and that every year 

 when a part of the heap is used a like quantity ought to be added 

 to lie together the same length of time. 



Here is presented the chief difficulty. Very few people care to 

 devote a portion of their ground to a store of manure, and still- 



