24 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



drawn attention to the importance of 

 physiology combined with chemistry. 

 " He has exposed the fallacy of many of 

 the theories which had been formed to 

 explain them, and has established " (as Mr 

 Solly remarks) "on good evidence the 

 simple chemical rules which regulate the 

 growth of plants. Although much has 

 been done, and although chemists have 

 laboured to remove the perplexities which 

 encompassed the subject, there is still a 

 very great deal that requires investiga- 

 tion ; many important points are as yet 

 imperfectly, or even not at all, explained ; 

 and many questions must be satisfac- 

 torily settled before a complete system of 

 agricultural chemistry can be established. 

 Till these difficulties are removed, it is 

 premature to expect that chemistry can 

 be of more than partial assistance to 

 agriculture ; for whilst many of the funda- 

 mental laws of this section of chemistry 

 are still scarcely understood, all attempts 

 to apply them to practice must be incom- 

 plete and liable to error." 



The rotation of crops in gardens is an 

 important element in good management. 

 They are, or ought to be, carried out upon 

 two different systems — namely, the succes- 

 sional and simultaneous modes of crop- 

 ping. The first has its chief feature in 

 covering each piece of ground with only 

 one species of crop at the same time, while 

 simultaneous cropping is founded upon 

 the practice of having several. The first 

 presents the greatest appearance of order 

 and system, and hence is that most gene- 

 rally followed in private gardens; while 

 the latter, although less apparently syste- 

 matic, is, to a certain extent, so in reality, 

 and affords the largest return of produce, 

 and is therefore often followed by com- 

 mercial growers, who will, for example, 

 sow with a crop of onions a thin crop of 

 radish, lettuce, and sometimes a few car- 

 rots. The two former are removed early 

 for use, leaving the onions to ripen off 

 afterwards, and thus affording them more 

 room as they increase in size. In the 

 latter case, the carrots, sending down their 

 roots to a greater depth, appropriate to 

 themselves their own peculiar species 

 of food, leaving the onions to extract 

 theirs from nearer the surface ; and, in 

 some cases, carrots so grown are found 

 to escape the grub. Simultaneous crop- 

 ping is also carried on where the drill 



system is followed ; and hence a piece of 

 ground may be thus stocked : — tall grow- 

 ing pease, Jerusalem artichokes, scarlet 

 runners, &c, which attain a height of 

 from 6 to 10 feet, may be planted at 

 distances of 20 or 30 feet apart ; garden 

 beans, or low-growing pease, may be sown 

 between these at a proper distance ; and 

 between these, cabbage, spinach, &c, may 

 be planted or sown, thus affording to all 

 a full share of light and air. Another ad- 

 vantage arising from simultaneous crop- 

 ping is, that crops will be progressing in 

 different stages of growth, so that, as the 

 most advanced is cleared off, the next in 

 order will supply its place ; or, when one 

 crop is removed, another of a dissimilar 

 kind may be immediately planted. 



Successi onal cropping is best calculated 

 for poor soils, and for gardens where the 

 supply of manure is limited, as well as 

 where the garden is small. The other 

 cannot be so well carried out, unless the 

 soil is in the highest possible state of cul- 

 tivation ; and also in that order of things 

 where the whole crop is removed almost 

 at once, as in the case of sending it direct 

 to the market ; whereas in a smaller pri- 

 vate garden it is only removed in small 

 quantities at a time, according to the 

 consumption, and therefore hangs longer 

 upon the soil than is in accordance with 

 this mode of cropping. 



§ 5. TRANSPLANTING CULINARY ESCU- 

 LENTS. 



There are, for the most part, only three 

 objects in transplanting these (some of 

 which, however, do not admit of the opera- 

 tion at all), as the common turnip, whether 

 for crop or seed; while the Swedish turnip, 

 radish, parsnip, beet, scorzonera, salsify, 

 skirret, &c, if not improved by the 

 operation, suffer no injury by it if pro- 

 perly performed. Advantage is taken of 

 this, and failures in portions of such crops 

 are made up by thinning where they 

 are too thick, and thus filling up defi- 

 ciencies. In sowing for seed, transplant- 

 ing has its advantages in this, — the roots 

 can be selected, and misshapen ones re- 

 jected. All the Brassicse — comprising the 

 cabbage, sprouts, savoys, greens, cauli- 

 flower — are amazingly improved by trans- 

 planting from the seed-bed once or twice 



