45^ 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



PEA, WINDSOR CASTLE MARROWFAT. 



raisers of new Peas and other vegetables 

 are invited to send seeds to the gardens 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society, where 

 facilities are given each year for testing 

 the quality of their produce, and where 

 those of undoubted merit receive awards 

 of varying value. No matter what the 

 subject may be, advance can, in almost 

 every instance, be chronicled. Beans of 

 all kinds now give results far exceed- 

 ing those attained by the older forms. 

 Broccoli and Cauliflowers are now finer than 

 ever, and the same may be said of most 

 members of the Brassica tribe, which include the invaluable Brussels Sprouts, Borecole or 

 Kale, Savoys, and Cabbage. Onions, by the modern method of culture, rival the Spanish 

 introductions, and they now embrace many excellent sorts. With wise discrimination 

 those of good keeping qualities may be grow n to a large size, and thus the ground on 

 which they are raised made to give better results. Of Leeks, our Scottish friends have 

 no longer a monopoly, our leading Southern gardens now producing this valuable vegetable 

 of equal merit to those of any part of the United Kingdom. Such varieties as Prizetaker 

 and Champion are typical of what this vegetable should be. Carrots, such as Shorthorn, 

 Intermediate, and Long Red Surrey, are represented by roots of good colour, large size 

 without coarseness, and, best of all, the new Red Intermediate may be said to embody all 

 that a good Carrot should be. There are several good new Parsnips, though these, 

 probably owing to their not being a universal favourite on the table, are fewer in number 

 than other standard vegetables. Cucumbers must, of course, be considered in such a chapter 

 as this, and few vegetables can show such improvement. Many of the best varieties are 

 quite prolific, and their individual fruits, owing to successful development, are long, well- 

 shaped, and of excellent quality. Beet, Turnips, and other less important groups have 

 each advanced, and that most juicy fruit, if fruit it can be called, the Tomato, may 

 safely claim to have increased in demand and variety. 



Celery is one of the most important and popular vegetables cultivated, and the aim 

 of every gardener should be to have a succession of well-blanched stick's from the first 

 week in September until the end of March. This may easily be accomplished by selecting 

 suitable kinds and regulating the time of sowing the seed. No crop that I am acquainted 

 with is more profitable, and nothing improves the land more, as by following out the 

 proper mode of culture every particle of ground has to be broken and moved to a good 

 depth,, thus ensuring a thoroughly sweetened soil ready to receive almost any suecessional 

 crop the following season. Potatoes have 

 vastly improved of late years, not only in 

 favour and texture, but even more in the 

 weight and size of crop which they will 

 produce and in their capacity for resisting 

 disease. In one respect they form an 

 exception to all other important vege- 

 tables, which with care can be produced 

 in any good kitchen garden. From long 

 experience I am convinced that Potatoes 

 cannot be grown successfully on stiff 

 clayey ground, and as they can now be 

 purchased of the best quality from source? 



RUNNER BEAN, MAMMOTH WHITE, 



