30 PIGTOBIAL PBAGTIGAL VEGETABLE GEOWING, 



pulverised, as in the latter case it is apt to settle too close round the 

 stem, and lead to canker. Give a top-dressing of the same mixture 

 when the roots show at the surface of the mound, and the plants 

 will fruit abundantly if the general culture is right. The latter is 

 a theme on which I hope to discourse soon. 



Leeks. — I need not repeat the remarks made under Celery. 

 They apply, substantially. 



Onions. — The Onion is a plant which loves to send its roots far 

 below the surface. ^Yhen it gets its toes well braced into sound 

 British soil it is a happy plant, and the man who owns the ground is 

 happy too when he sees a forest of huge leaves spreading before his 

 ej'es, and plump bulbs swelling beneath them. If he makes the plant 

 its deep bed in autumn or winter, it matters little what sort of 

 manure he puts into it, or if he stands with his hands in his pockets 

 all the following summer. Whatever happens, those Onions are 

 going to grow ! I have just said that I never in my life exhibited 

 Celery. On reflection, I believe I am wrong, but it was long ago, 

 and not for competition anyway. I have exhibited Onions — two 

 pounders, two-and-a-half pounders, yes, and bigger even than these. 

 On the same deep bed Onions on dung and Onions on artificials 

 came about of a size— an ounce lost here, an ounce gained there, is 

 about the measure of it. I give here my favourite Onion mixture, 

 with a regret that it is a little complicated : \\ part of superphos- 

 phate of lime, 1 part of saltpetre (nitrate of potash), h a part each of 

 steamed bone flour, nitrate of soda, and gypsum (sulphate of lime), the 

 whole mixed and applied at the rate of 7 lb. per square rod, under 

 the top spit, at trenching time. 



Parsnips, — The remarks made under Beet have a good general 

 application. The unwholesome - looking brown blotches on the 

 shoulders of Parsnips, known as canker, are always the worst in 

 freshly dunged ground. Moreover, forking of the roots, expressively 

 termed " spronkiness" by our cottagers, is directly due to dung. 



Peas.— I cannot believe that the general system of manuring 

 Peas is based on true principles of garden economy. I believe 

 three parts of the manure used to be unnecessary, and therefore 

 wasteful. The fact that fine crops of Peas may be, and are, grown 

 with the use of dung, proves nothing at all. The thick and-thin sup- 

 porters of the manure cart erroneously think that it proves every- 

 thing. In common, doubtless, with many others, I am constantly 

 hearing or reading of Pea growers who have trenched or double trenched 

 for their Peas, and have worked in a heavy dressing of dung. As a result, 

 they are able to point to some very fine pods, and they do so, often 

 with triumph. There is nothing whatever strange in this, nor does it 

 influence me in the slightest degree. If it comes to that, 1 have 

 done the same thing myself in the past. I do not question the 

 merits of the gentlemen in question as Pea growers, but as garden 

 economists. E iually as fine Peas may be grown without the dung 

 as with it, and equally as many may be grown. In short, it is not 

 the dung that does the work. It may be argued by some : " If we 



