THE FOOD OF VEGETABLES. 



21 



less, by lack of knowledge, others through lack of means. The 

 former it is the duty of the gardener to acquire, the latter the 

 owner of the garden should supply. 



It is an enormous advantage to a gardener when the owner 

 of the land under cultivation knows the requirements of crops, 

 and desires, as all landowners should desire, to see them well 

 produced. The means will then be supplied the more freely 

 because they will be applied wisely and profitably. A lack of 

 knowledge on this very important subject may lead to starved 

 crops on the one hand and to a waste of wealth on the other, for 

 the source of wealth is the food of crops. 



We have now more immediately under consideration garden 

 vegetables. What is their food ? A deep thinker and sedulous 

 searcher for truth goes so far as to suggest that each variety of 

 plant requires its own appropriate food. No doubt that is so, 

 but I cannot think that different vegetables require different kinds 

 of food, but only different quantities of the same kinds for their 

 sustenance, and it is the relative proportions of the ingredients 

 required by different crops that the gardener should study if he 

 desire to develop the best qualities in those crops as represented 

 by the best flavour and most nutritious properties of which they 

 are capable. 



The mere size of vegetables does not, in my opinion, represent 

 superior culture, because in the first place I suspect abnormal 

 bulk is obtained at the expense of something of inherently greater 

 value — for instance, gold. We may see Cabbages, Cauliflowers, 

 Celery, Turnips, and other vegetables of titanic proportions or 

 three or four times the size of the best produce for table, but if 

 the cost of production exceeds the value of the articles produced 

 where is the credit attaching to cultivation ? Observe, I do not 

 object to a person spending money in the preparation of a horse 

 for winning the Derby, or a bullock for securing the blue ribbon 

 .at the Smitlmeld show, because there is a special object in view, 

 the attainment of which may justify the outlay, and it is the 

 same with gigantic vegetables. They are grown for a special 

 purpose, and invested with an extra food value ; but if every- 

 body were to invest the same amount as represented by time and 

 materials in attempts to produce similar examples, not only would 

 the great majority fail in their object, but the practice, if gene- 

 rally indulged in, would lead to bankruptcy. 



