1054 



STATISTICS OF GARDENING. 



Part IV. 



7462. A good deal of the profit of market-gardening depends on studying tlie state of the market ; in 

 gathering crops sparinglj^ when things are'low, and in sending liberal supplies at times, where, from 

 weather or other causes, they are, or are likely to be high. This requires boih judgment and capital, for 

 the needy grower must sell at any price. 



7463. Orchard-gardens. These are distinguished from the parterre or field orchards, 

 in being cultivated with the spade, and cropped like a market-garden ; indeed, they are 

 so much allied to market-gardens, as hardly to require any separate discussion. In 

 general, several kinds of fruit-trees are cultivated together, as tree-fruits, shrub-fruits, 

 and herbaceous fruits ; but some spots, from the soil, and probably superior culture, are 

 noted for particular kinds of fruit, as Twickenliam and Roslin, for strawberries ; Maid- 

 stone, for filberts and cherries ; Pershore for currants, &c. An account of the Isleworth 

 mode of growing strawberries has been given in the Horticultural Tra}isactio7iS by Keens, 

 an eminent grower of fruits and culinary- vegetables. The filberts are planted in rows 

 alternately with rows of chen-y-trees ; and, as temporaiy crops, a row of gooseberries, 

 currants, or raspberries, are planted in each interval. Currants are grown extensively 

 round Pershore, and the fruit sold to the manufacturers of British wines. They are also 

 grown in Kent and Essex in rows eight feet asunder, and four feet from tree to tree. 

 Early in spring the ground is dug, and sown v.ith spinage ; to that succeed potatoes, 

 and to those cabbages, which last are gathered as coleworts before winter : four crops, 

 including the fruit, are obtained in one season. 



7464. Herb and phi/sic gardens. Tliese are of limited number and extent, and gene- 

 rally occupied along with market or seed gardens. There are one or two for peppermint 

 and a few other herbs, near Edinburgh, and the rest are in the vicinity of the metropolis, 

 and chiefly at JNIitcham in Surrey. Peppennint is a principal crop, which requires a 

 moist soft soil, and to be taken up and replanted every three or four years. Lavender is 

 grown to a considerable extent on lean soil, as is chamomile, wormwood, rosemarj', 

 thyme, &c. Licorice and rhubarb require a deep free soil ; roses, ^vhich are grown in 

 large quantities for their flowers, require a rich soil ; white lilies and colchicum, grown 

 for their bulbs, require a new soil. In one or two gardens near the metropolis, many 

 species of herbs are gro%vn to gratify the demand of certain classes of medical men, of 

 self-doctors, and of quacks and irregular practitioners. Formerly there were many gar- 

 dens of this sort ; apothecaries generally grew a great part of their own herbs, and col- 

 lected the rest in the fields ; and hence the reason why so many of them formerly were 

 eminent as botanists ; but at present the only remarkable herb-garden is that of Messrs. 

 Dicksons and Anderson at Croydon. These herbalists and seedsmen have constantly 

 on sale, at their long established and respectable shop in Covent-garden, upwards of 500 

 species, including all the varieties mentioned by Culpepper and other herbalists of the 1 7th 

 century. There are still one or two herb-shops wliich collect their simples in a wild 

 state ; but land is now so generally cultivated, that even if tliere were a demand for 

 native herbs, this mode would not be very successful. It may be mentioned as a curious 

 fact, that in Weston's time, (say about 1750,) winter savory, chamomile, pennyroyal, 

 peppermint, &c. were grown in the common fields near London, where cattle were 

 turned out all the winter ; the scent of these herbs being so disagreeable to these animals 

 as to cause them to avoid them, (jrestons Tracts, Sec. 71.) All herbs should be 

 gathered dry, and in sunshine after dry weather ; they should be diied in the shade, and 

 when perfectly di-ied, pressed close by a press or weights, and enclosed in paper. The 

 packets should then be deposited in a dry place, and when opened for use always carefully 

 shut afterwards. The practice of hanging up herbs in loose bundles, tends to dry them 

 too much and dissipate their flavor. 



7465. Market Jloiver-gardens. Tliese are devoted to tlie culture of flowers for sale 

 when in blossom ; either cut as nosegays, or in pots. They ai-e chiefly to be found in 

 the neighborhood of the metropolis, where a sort of division of objects exists among 

 them. Some gai'dens are noted for their roses ; others, as that of D. Carter at Fulham, 

 for growing the narcissus tribe ; Colville in the King's Road, for geraniums ; Henderson 

 at Paddington, for cheap heaths ; tlie Bedford nursery for mignonette ; and Smith, at 

 Dalston, for forced flowers of all sorts. These gardens are not large ; generally from 

 one to a dozen of acres, and they ai-e occupied by gardeners who have been brought up to 

 this department of their profession. The standard articles of cultivation ai-e roses, espe- 

 cially the moss-rose for nosegays ; the montlilyrose is also much grown in pots for spring 

 and autumn sale. The sweetbriar is in demand for its odor ; honeysuckles, lilacs, 

 mezereons, rhododendrons, azaleas, spiraeas, double and scarlet- blossomed jasmines, 

 laburnums, rose-acacias, aie in great repute, especially when forced. All sorts , 

 of evergreens, as pines, firs, laurels, c\-presses, arbor-vitees, hollies, yews, and above all, 

 laurustinus and box, are much in demand for decorating balconies, flat roofs, areas, 

 courts, lobbies, &c. Potted fruit-trees in bearing have generally a ready sale, and espe- 

 cially the grape and peach. 



