Book I. 



WATERING. 



493 



Sect. VI. Weeding, Stirring the Soil, Protecting, Supporting, and Shading. 



2590. Eradication of loeeds. The means of removal, are hoeing and weeding ; and 

 of destruction, exposing them, when hoed or pulled up, to the sun and air ; or, what is 

 in all cases better, taking them at once to the dunghill or compost-yard, to be destroyed 

 by fermentation. These operations require to be performed almost every month in the 

 year ; but more especially in the beginning of summer, when the earth is teeming with 

 vegetable life. Weeding in time, Marshall observes, is a material thing in culture, and 

 the hand is generally more certain than the hoe. 



2591. Stirring the ground among cro])s is nearly as essential as weeding, and is in some 

 degree performed by the operation of hoeing. But the most effectual mode of stirring, 

 and that now adopted by the best gardeners, is by the two-pronged fork or two- 

 pronged hoe. {Jigs. 86. 97.) "Every crop, whether planted in rows, or sown broad- 

 cast, ought to be subjected to this operation once or oftener in the course of its progress 

 to maturity. Small crops, where the distances between the plants are not wide, ought 

 to be stirred by a fork of two prongs, or even one prong. A narrow hoe is the 

 usual instrument, but this always tends to harden the ground below, and form a sort of 

 sole, which in many soils is impervious to air or rain. Besides, the operator is generally 

 obliged to tread on and harden the ground stirred. " Breaking the surface," Marshall 

 remarks, " keeps the soil in health ; for when it lies in a hard or bound state, enriching 

 shov/ers run off, and the salubrious air and solar heat cannot enter. Ground," he adds, 

 " should be frequently stirred and raked between crops, and about the borders, to give 

 all a fresh appearance. There is a pleasantness to the eye in new-broken earth, which 

 gives an air of culture, and is always agreeable." This last observation is particularly 

 meant to apply in autumn, that the garden may not become dreary too soon, and so bring 

 on winter before its time. 



2592. Earthing up ought to go hand in hand with stirring in many cases ; but rarely 

 in the case of those plants which form their bulbs above the surface, as turnips and 

 onions. This operation supports the stems of some crops, as the bean, cabbage, &c. 

 and encourages the fertility or improves the quality of others, as the potatoe, leek, celery, 

 &c. In winter also it protects them from the frost, and may then be applied to the 

 turnip as no longer in a state of growth. 



2593. Protecting, supporting, and shading. These operations are too little attended to, 

 or attempted in a slovenly manner, by many gardeners. The grand subjects of pro- 

 tection are fruit-trees; and we have already (2206, &c.) given an enumeration of the 

 various m.odes to which recourse is had.* Tiie simplest, and perhaps the best protection 

 for general purposes, is that of throwing a net, either an old fishing-net or one formed 

 on purpose of woollen yarn, over the whole tree, if a standard, or placing it against it, 

 if trained to a wall, before it begins to blossom, and letting it remain there till the fruit 

 is set. Marshall recommends this mode, justly observing, that after much expense and 

 trouble to preserve blossoms from inclement weather, the business is often done to no 

 purpose, or a bad one. Nicol's opinion is not materially different. Single plants, as 

 the raspberry, are to be supported by sticks or rods, and rows of climbers, by rods, spray, 

 or branches, as peas, kidneybeans, &c. 



2594. Shading is but little attended to, excepting in the case of transplantation ; but 

 it is of great importance in the fruiting season to certain plants which naturally grow 

 in shady situations, as the strawberry and raspberry ; and properly applied and accom- 

 panied with watering, tends to swell these fruits and others, as the gooseberry, and heads 

 and roots of certain vegetables in hot weather, as the cauliflower, turnip, onion, radish ; 

 and the whole vegetable, as in the case of lettuce and other salads. The advantages of 

 shading small fruits have been pointed out by Haynes (On the Culture of the Straivberry, 

 Baspberry, and Goctfeberry, 8vo. 1812.), and are very strikingly displayed -in the gardening 

 of the south of France and Italy. 



Sect. VII. Watering. 



2595. Watering, Marshall observes, " is a thing of some importance in cultivation, 

 though not so much as many make it. It is a moot point, whether more harm than good, 

 is not on the whole done by it. In a large garden it is a Herculean labor to v/ater 

 every thing, and so the temptation generally prevails, either wholly to neglect it, or to 

 do it irregularly or defectively. To water nothing is too much on the dry side ; but 

 watering too much spoils the flavor, and renders esculents less wholesome." It may be 

 observed, that the practice of the market-gardeners near London and Paris, and many 

 private gardeners who practise in the southern counties, is somewhat at variance with the 

 opinion of this experienced and very judicious author. The reason may probably be, 

 tliat the region of his experience, Northamptonshire, is high and moist. He adds, 

 liowever, that " strawberries and cauliflowers should generally be watered in a dry sea- 

 son ; strawberries rnbre particularly when in bloom, in order to set the fruit ; and the 



