ROTATION OF CROPS. 



435 



and scorzonera. Lettuce, endive, radish, cress, mustard, chervil, parsley, 

 and other summer salading, garnishings or herbs, may in general be grown 

 among other crops, or in the front margin of wall-borders. 



915. In determining the extent of each crop, the nature of the produce 

 must be taken as a guide. It would be of little use to have a less quantity 

 of any crop than would not at a single gathering produce a dish sufficient for 

 a family of several persons. This for such articles as asparagus and peas 

 requires considerable breadth of ground ; but this breadth once planted and 

 in bearing, will afford several or perhaps many gatherings during the time 

 it is in season. On the other hand, where a succession of crops of turnips or 

 carrots is w^anted, if only two or three square yards were sown each time, 

 that space would afford one or two dishes. For such articles as salsafy and 

 scorzonera, which in most English families may perhaps not be asked for 

 above two or three times in a season, a very small surface will be sufficient. 

 When a gardener enters on a new place, before he determines on the extent 

 of particular crops, he ought to consult the cook or housekeeper as to the 

 style of cookery, the ordinary amount of company, and the seasons when 

 extraordinary supplies are wanted, with the periods when vegetables and 

 fruits require to be sent to a distance, with other particulars bearing upon the 

 kind of crops to be grown. Having formed general ideas on the extent of 

 each crop, he will next be able to determine on a system of succession, or, as 

 it is called, rotation. 



916. The quantity of seed for crops, proportioned as above described for a 

 garden of an acre and a quarter, may be as follows : — Peas, thirty quarts : 

 white cabbage of different kinds, six oz. ; savoys, one and a half oz, ; Brussels 

 sprouts, two oz. ; cauliflowers, three oz. ; broccoli, seven oz. ; borecoles, 

 two oz. ; red cabbage, one oz. ; kohl rabi, one oz. ; turnips, white, eight oz. ; 

 yellow, two oz. ; early potatoes, one bushel ; carrots, seven oz. ; onions, 

 eight oz. ; beans, broad, six qts., narrow, three qts. ; kidney beans, three 

 qts. ; scarlet runners, two qts. ; celery, three oz, ; Flanders spmach, one qt. ; 

 summer spinach, two qts.; Jerusalem artichoke, one peck; red beet, 

 four oz. ; parsneps, four oz. ; leeks, two oz. ; garlic, half lb. ; shallots, 

 three lbs. ; salsify, half oz. ; scorzonera, half oz. ; lettuce, Cos, five oz., 

 cabbage, three oz. ; endive, two oz. ; radish, three pts. ; cress, one pt. ; 

 mustard, one qt. ; parsley, two oz. 



Sect. II. Rotation of Crops. 



91 7. Crops m horticulture are made to follow each other according to two 

 distinct plans or systems, which may be termed successional cropping and 

 simultaneous cropping ; the former is generally followed in private gardens, 

 and the latter in market gardens. 



918. Successional cropping is that in which the ground is wholly occupied 

 with one crop at one time, to be succeeded by another crop, also wholly of 

 one kind. For example, onions to be followed by winter turnips, or potatoes 

 to be followed by borecole. Simultaneous cropping is that in which several 

 crops are all coming forward on the gi'ound at the same time. For 

 example, onions, lettuce, and radishes, sown broadcast ; or peas, potatoes, 

 broccoli, and spinach, sown or planted in rows. 



919. The object to be attained by a system of cropping is that of procuring 

 the greatest quantity and the best quality of the desired kind of produce, at 

 the least possible expense of labour, time, and manure ; and in order that 



