Book 1. 



PUBLIC GARDENS. 



1057 



culty occurs in beginning almost every business, and is only to be ovei-come by experience. 

 The different periods to which different seeds retain their vegetative powders require to be 

 known by seedsmen, as well that they may not furnish lifeless seeds to their customers, 

 as that they may not throw away as useless such as are possessed of the vital principle* 

 Though few seeds are kept by respectable seedsmen above a year, yet in cases where a 

 partial failure has taken place in the seed crop, most sorts will grow the second year after 

 that in which they have ripened. Some, however, will keep from two to five or ten or 

 more years ; and others for an unknown length of time. 



7485. The latest periods at which the seeds most generally in demand may he expected to 

 grow freely are the following : — 



Cabbage tribe. Four years. 



Leguminous culinary vegetables. One year. 



Esculent roots. Beet, ten years. Turnip, four years. Carrot, 

 one year. Parsnep, one year. Radish, two years. Salsify, 

 two years. Skirret, four years. Scorzonera, two years. 



Spinnceous plants. Spinage, four years. White beet, ten 

 years. Orache, one year. Purslane, two years. Herb- 



' patience, one year. 



Alliaceous plants. Two years. 



Asparaginous plants. Asparagus, four years. Sea-kale, three 

 years. Artichoke, three years. Cardoon, ^two years. Ram- 



' pion, two years. Alisanders, and the thistles, two years. 



Acetarious plants, in general two years. Lettuce, three 

 years. Endive, four years. Burnet, six years. Mustard, 

 four years. Tarragon, four years. Sorrel, seven years. Celery, 

 ten years. 



Pot-herbs and garnishing plants, in general two years; but 



Parsley will grow at six years. Dill and Fennel, five years. 

 Chervil, six years. Marigold, three years. Borage, four 

 years. 



Sweet herbs, generally two years; but Rue and Rosemarj-, 

 three years ; and Hys 

 •its used in tarts, 



ily one year ; and Gourd, Pompion, itc. ten years. 

 Herbaceous fruits. The Cucumber and Melon, ten or more 

 years. Love-apple, Capsicum tribe, and Egg-plant, two years. 

 Annual and biennial Jtorver-seeds, generally two years ; but 

 some grow with difficulty the second year : they are sel- 

 dom kept by seedsmen longer than one year. 

 Perennial Jlorver-seeds, the same. 



Tree-seeds. Stones, two years ; and some, as the Haw, three ; 

 but they are in general of very doubtful success the second 

 year. Acoms will scarcely grow the second year; Elm, 

 Poplar, and Willow seeds, not at all. 



7486. ^11 seeds ought to be kept dry, and the air as much as possible excluded ; but those 

 liable to be attacked by insects, as the pea, bean, turnip, radish, &:c. should be occasionally 

 exposed to air and friction, by being passed through a winnowing machine. (Jig. 283. ) The 

 more rare seeds should be kept in their pods till the season for using. Seeds received 

 from foreign countries should, in general, be sown as soon as possible after their arrival. 

 In packing seeds for the home demand, no particular process is requisite ; but in sending 

 seeds to America or the East Indies, the sorts which soon lose their vitality should be 

 enveloped in clay, tallow, or wax, or put up in bottles rendered air and water tight. (23 11.) 



7487. Bulbous roots, with the exception of the anemone and ranunculus, can only be 

 kept out of ground a few months with propriety, though some are often found in the 

 seed-shops as late as May. When thoroughly dry they may be kept in bags or boxes, 

 and the more delicate sorts wrapt up in papers separately. Ranunculus and anemone 

 roots retain their vegetative powers two, and sometimes three years. 



7488. The English seed-growers and seed-collectors furnish the greater part of culinary, 

 flower, and indigenous tree-seeds sold in the shops, but a part also are obtained from 

 other countries ; as of onion-seed from Genoa ; anise, basil, &c. from the south of 

 France ; carrot, onion, and a variety of seeds, when the English crop fails, from Holland. 

 The hardier bulbs, as crocus, daffodil, &c, are for the most part grown in England : the 

 other hardy sorts are obtained from Guernsey, as the Guernsey lily ; the Cape of Good 

 Hope, as ixia, gladiolus, &c. ; from South America, as the tuberose ; or China, as the 

 Japan lily, &:c. The seeds of tender exotic trees and shrubs are obtained from the seed- 

 collectors at the Cape, New Holland, and other foreign settlements j and of others from 

 North America. 



7489. The recommendation of head gardeners forms an important part of a nurseryman's 

 duty and care, and one in which he may render essential services to horticulture. He 

 ought to select such as are well qualified for what they undertake, and consider himself 

 as in some degree responsible for the conduct of the person recommended. In addition 

 to this, the nurseryman, in the yearly tour he generally makes among his country cus- 

 tomers to receive payments and take orders, should observe whether the person i-ecom- 

 mended has acted according to his expectations, and should exhort, reprove, or approve, 

 accordingly. The nurseryman, while on this tour, by seeing a number of gardens and 

 gardeners, must, by comparison, be well able to judge of their merits ; and by judiciously 

 dealing out approbation or blame, might do much good. The good gardener, who had 

 become slovenly, from not seeing other gardens, or from the indifference of his employer, 

 might thus be recalled to his duty, and the art not suffered to be disgraced by his prac- 

 tice. This is also the time for gentlemen to state to nurserymen the faults they have to 

 find with their gardeners, so that they, by their advice, may endeavor to correct them. 

 The nurseryman who has recommended a gardener, is the only person who can act as a 

 mediator between this gardener and his employer ; and we repeat, that by the judicious 

 interference of well informed and experienced nurserymen, much good might be done ; 

 gardens kept in better order, and gardeners improved and retained, instead of being 

 removed from their situations without being properly informed of their errors, and a 

 proper opportunity afforded them of amendment. 



Sect. III. Public Gardens. 



7490. There are very few public gardens in Britain ; and we can only refer to the 

 enclosed areas of the public squares and parks of the metropolis and principal cities, to 



3 Y 



