ON HEARING COMMON FRUITS. 



91 



situatiou is exposed. As lias been said of peas, it is much 

 better that tlie rows should run from north to south, 

 that they may be duly exposed to light. 



In the south, few cottages are without scarlet ruuners, 

 trained in one or other of the above ways. On the Con- 

 tinent, they mix the red with the white, which has a very 

 pretty appearance. The crop is very profitable, and, if 

 sown in May or June, will continue to bear till killed by 

 the frost. Abundance of seed may usually be obtained 

 for a small garden, from those which chance to be left till 

 too old for boiling ; but leaving pods to ripen, diminishes 

 the after- crops of young pods. On the Continent, they 

 cook the ripe beans without the pods, but these are not 

 commonly used in Britain. Snails and slugs must be 

 carefully guarded against when the plants are young. The 

 best way is to search for them very early in the morning, 

 and likewise to scatter quick-lime over the ground. 



II.— ON REARING COMMON FRUITS. 



All fruits, in such quantities at least as they can be 

 produced in small gardens, may be considered more as 

 luxuries than as affordiug much nutrimental food ; but 

 most of them, when ripe, and still more when cooked in 

 pies, puddings, tarts, jams, jellies, and other preserves, 

 are wholesome, and form a pleasant variety at the tables 

 even of the humblest cottager. 



It will not be profitable in a small garden to have many 

 fruit trees, even of the smaller kinds, as they tend so 

 much to injure the more important crops by shading them 

 from the light. We shall therefore give only such direc- 

 tions here as appear to be suitable for cottage gardens, 

 beginniug with the smaller sorts. 



1. — Strawlerries, 



Strawberries contain a little sugar, a good deal of pulpy 

 fibre, and a mild agreeable acid, and are exceedingly 

 wholesome, being one of the few" fruits which almost any 

 one may eat with impunity, and ripening at a healthy 

 season of the year. 



