CATALOGUE OF CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



621 



and young gardener to deal only with the most respectable seedsmen, and 

 to be guided by them in cases where he cannot profit from the information 

 contained in books. 



1868. Whether a crop which is raised from seed ought to be sown where it 

 is finally to remain, or sown in a seed-bed and transplanted, is an important 

 point for the gardener's consideration. His decision must be formed, partly 

 on the nature of the plant, and partly on the extent of garden-ground which 

 he can command. Some plants, such as the turnip, with the exception 

 of the Swedish, parsnep, radish, &c., will not produce a crop when trans- 

 planted ; and others, such as the beet and spinach, succeed but indifferently ; 

 while for the pea and bean, the labour, except in the case of the earliest 

 crops, would be disproportionately great to the advantage gained. The 

 carrot is sometimes transplanted on a prepared border for an early crop ; and 

 transplanting may be performed with tolerable success with the other sorts 

 mentioned if done when the plants are very young, and with proper care ; 

 but certainly it is only advisable to be performed except in cases of emergency. 

 All the cabbage tribe — lettuce, endive, &c. transplant freely, and there isa great 

 saving of ground by sowing them in seed-beds, instead of sowing them where 

 they are finally to remain. For example, if the lettuce or endive plants which 

 occupy a few square yards of seed-bed for a month, were at once sown 

 where they are finally to remain, they would occupy, perhaps, several rods 

 of ground one month longer than they otherwise would do. Thus a crop of 

 peas may be coming into flower, at the time when the endive or lettuce was 

 sown on the seed-bed, and when the lettuce or endive plants were ready to 

 transplant, the crop of peas will have been gathered, and the crop of endive 

 will follow it ; but had the crop of endive been sown where it w^as finally to 

 remain, an additional piece of ground, equal to that occupied by the peas, 

 would have been required. It is easy thus to see that by the transplanting 

 system half the garden ground will suffice that is requisite for the sowing 

 system ; and as a proof of the economy of this system generally, it may be 

 observed that it is the one followed by all the market-gardeners in the 

 neighbourhood of London. Another advantage attendant on the trans- 

 planting system — more especially in the case of esculents, the leaves of 

 which are the parts used — is, that the plants being deprived of part of their 

 tap-root, throw out a greater number of lateral roots, in consequence of 

 which the production of radical leaves is encouraged, and the tendency to run 

 to flower is retarded, while a more succulent growth is induced, owing to 

 the plants being placed in newly prepared soil. A corresponding effect, we 

 have already seen (p. 615), takes place when the tap-roots of trees are 

 shortened. 



1369. Soils. — Though garden plants grow naturally in soils ytvj different 

 both in their chemical constituents, and mechanical properties, yet in a state 

 of cultivation, there are few or none of them that will not thrive in the soil 

 of a garden, w^hich is neither extremely sandy, gravelly, clayey, chalky, nor 

 peaty, provided it has been well pulverised and drained, and manured with 

 stable-dung. Practically, almost the only changes that can be made in garden- 

 soil are, to render it richer by stable-dung, or other animal manure ; lighter, 

 by the addition of leaf-mould ; more compact.^ by the addition of clay in a 

 natural state ; more open by the addition of burnt clay or sand ; more cal- 

 careous, by the addition of lime ; and more sandy on the surface, for the 

 purpose of raising seedlings to transplant, by working in a top-dressing 



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