■30 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDEXIXG. 



from, their more fertilising capacity. Yery rough 

 or crude manure, in admixture with straw, &c., 

 buried at a depth therein, will cause air to be im- 

 prisoned along with it, which will prove invaluable. 



Between the two extremes of very light and heavy 

 soils, many intermediate grades exist, superior, 

 free, rich sandy loam standing midway. Each will 

 have to be treated on the above bases, in accordance 

 with its exact constituents. Certain crops have a 

 great power in correcting harsh or over-tenacious 

 soil, owing to the system of summer culture need- 

 ful in connection. Amongst these are Jerusalem 

 artichokes, potatoes, celery, «S:c., all of which may 

 be advantageouslj^ employed as correctives in con- 

 nection with new gardens. 



Wherevev new gardens have to be formed upon 

 pasture or turf land, it is highly desirable to dig the 

 surface turf into the ground, as it possesses root 

 nutriment of the very highest order. 



Referring to the highest order of kitchen garden 

 ground, which should be secured in connection with 

 all large gardens where excellence of produce of all 

 kinds has to be studied rather than outlay, the soil 

 should never be less than three or four feet in depth, 

 and when taken in and arranged, it should be 

 forthwith trenched over to its extreme limit. In 

 connection with such gardens it is a great advantage 

 to secure different soils in separate parts of the 

 garden. By these means a greater variety of superior 

 vegetables can be grown. Nor is it desirable in the 

 case of well-expressed undulating surfaces to level 

 all down, as to do so will cause too shallow soil in 

 certain places. Independently of the several aids to 

 soil amelioration previously referred to, sea-sand is 

 an excellent medium in connection with all heavy 

 soils, and may be intermixed with such in far 

 gTeater bulk than is customary. Sea- weed may also 

 be brought into inland gardens, and worked into the 

 ground with very great advantage. Burnt earths, 

 thinly but evenly intermixed in all soils, are very 

 beneficial, and incite active root-growth extensively, 

 proving a source of great help during the winter 

 months and at other seasons, when rains are in 

 excess. Occasionally a red or mineral tint appears 

 in some forms of stifE soils. Such are "fox-bent," 

 and contain an excess of iron. The only corrective 

 of such is frequent working over and exposure to 

 the air, and good dressing with fresh-slaked lime 

 triennially. This should be dug up with and 

 thoroughly intermixed in the soil, along with such- 

 additions of other foreign subjects as are recom- 

 mended above. 



Generally speaking, yellow loams are preferable 

 to dark or hazel, being more recently broken up 

 from prim£eval field or forest. Their texture, both 

 from a fertile and mechanical point of view, is far 



superior. Dark soils, such as exist in old gardens, 

 require heavier manurings than others. It is well 

 also in their regard to apply a little lime occasionally. 

 It is in this case not only a corrective of sourness, 

 but hastens also the solubility of mineral substances. 

 An excess of lime is, however, injurious to soils in 

 any case : especially where the ground has to be 

 looked to for permanent crops indefinitely. All very 

 strong, hot, and diy soils will at all times be 

 benefited by the addition of a little chalk, broken 

 finely, where readily obtainable. 



THE CULTURE OF VEGETABLES. 

 The cultivation of vegetables for cuHnary or edible 

 purposes has improved very rapidly of late years, 

 all classes showing, under a studied and assiduous 

 system of culture, a remarkable development of such 

 j)ortions as are required and are nutritious, whether 

 these consist of the root-base, the leaves, blossoms, or 

 fruit, some of each coming under this head. We 

 shall give the most improved methods now prac- 

 tised in connection with the several jDopular kinds, 

 with brief and practical lists of a few of the best 

 vaiieties for the amatem-, reserving hints as to 

 successional cropping and other details of general 

 management for later articles. 



Artichoke [Cynara ScoJynuis). German, Artl- 

 schoche ; French, Artichaut ; Spanish, AUachofa. — 

 Tliis is a perennial plant from Barbary and the South 

 of Europe, cultivated more as a luxury, certainly, 

 than for profit. The flower-heads when full-grown, 

 but still quite young, contain the only edible part. 

 This consists of that portion of the fl.eshy receptacle 

 (the base of the bloom) which adheres to the stalk and 

 the base of each scale ; in other words, the bottom of 

 each fi^ower-head when it is cut away from the stalk. 

 Cooks divide the head in their phraseology into 

 (a) the leaves, (b) the "choke," and (c) the bottom 

 (see Fig. 2), of which only c and a portion of a are 

 eatable. The plant is distinguished often by the 

 name Globe Artichoke, and is entirely different from 

 the "Jerusalem" Artichoke, the tubers of which 

 are alone edible. It delights in a deeply-cultivated 

 and enriched sandy loam soil. 



Seeds sown upon a sunny, open site during the 

 month of April will germinate and produce fine 

 heads of flower, if properly thinned out, when neces- 

 sary, the same season. Such seedling plants trans- 

 planted during the following spring months also 

 form permanent beds. 



Transplant into rows, somewhat elevated or 

 mound-shaped, three feet" apart, and two feet apart 

 •in the rows or between each plant. Such planta- 

 tions will remain in bearing three or foui- years. 



New plantations are also made during the months 



