142 
GARDENING AND FARMING 
cyder makers could supply bushels of pips, 
not one in ten thousand of which would bring 
a sort better than the wild ones. 
The foregoing may be taken out in the 
form of seeds, the following as sets or roots. 
Potatoes. — You might attempt to take 
out enough of the few best true sorts to begin 
your stock from. , The Ash-leaf Kidney, 
Rilott's Flour-ball, Thurston's Conqueror, 
Looker's Oxonian, Soden's Early Oxford, and 
Burgess's Prolific, are all worth trying a few 
of; they must be dried under cover for some 
time before they are packed, and then they 
should be put in barrels the last thing before 
starting ; they will be a prize when you arrive 
out. Plant whole tubers about the size of a 
walnut, six inches deep, nine inches apart in 
the rows, and the rows three feet from each 
other ; when they are above ground three or 
four inches, draw a bank of earth up to the 
stems, so that there may be three or four 
inches of soil on the uppermost tubers pro- 
duced ; large sorts of potato will bear a longer 
distance from each other. Take up when the 
haulm is decayed, and store them cool and dry. 
Artichokes, Jerusalem. — The tubers, 
which should be about the size of a good 
walnut, are to be planted whole at six inches 
deep, a foot from each other in the row, and 
the rows four feet apart ; when up four inches, 
the stems should be earthed up nearly to their 
tops ; when the plant dies down, the roots 
should be taken up, the largest selected for 
eating, the middling down to the size of a 
walnut for seed, the smallest for the pigs. 
The plant grows very tall, and will form a 
blind to any place eight or ten feet high. 
In all the sowings, hoeings, and the like, 
previously directed, it must be borne in mind 
that clearing away the weeds is indispensable ; 
and in the case of ground just cleared, or that 
has been for centuries bearing only wild plants 
of all kinds, there is very little chance of its 
being other than foul. We have said very 
little about weeding or the ordinary duties of 
the gardener. "Watering in dry weather, 
when it can be done, is desirable. Our chief 
reason for recommending seeds to be sown 
where the plants are to remain, is that the 
plants may have to go a considerable depth 
after moisture, and removing invariably breaks 
off the lower spongiolets, and many of the 
side ones ; but if the plant be sown where it 
is to remain, it has a treble chance of getting 
a supply over one that has been transplanted 
though only from one wet place to another. 
We have said very little about earthing up 
crops, and many other subjects that come as 
matter of course ; nor can we say anything 
about the seasons for sowing, because such 
instructions would not suit two places of dif- 
ferent climates ; any common observer of 
crops and of seasons will know the spring 
from the autumn, and if it be a tropical 
climate, the crops may be sown at all times, 
but advantage should be taken of the rainy 
seasons, and the seeds sown when the ground 
is in the best order. If, on the other hand, 
it is a cold climate, and the earth is frozen 
half the year, any one would know when the 
frost breaks up that it is the time to set all 
things growing ; and be it remembered, that 
in cold countries there is no snatching, hot 
and cold, frost and wet, mild and bitter 
weather, succeeding each other in the same 
day. In such countries it is cold while the 
cold lasts, and it lasts perhaps a long time ; 
but wdien that breaks, warmer weather suc- 
ceeds, and sometimes even burning hot, but 
there are no relapses, so that when once the 
frost is broken, plants go on well. 
Farm Crops. 
Wheat has to be sown, as well as you can, 
broadcast, that is, thinly all over the ground ; 
the surface should then be harrowed, and 
rolled. Many an acre of wheat has been 
sown and only trodden into the ground. The 
harrowing is more easily managed, because 
you have only to carry out the spikes for a 
harrow, and it is hard indeed if you cannot 
make a frame to hold them. 
Barley and Oats in England are sown at 
a different time to the wheat ; but Australia, 
New Zealand, and many of the colonie? in the 
south, defy all seasons of sowing ; sometimes 
one thing, sometimes another, but in many 
places they wait for sowing a crop only till 
the previous crop comes off, be it at what 
time it may ; the ground is never idle. 
Indian Corn. — This is a valuable crop, be- 
cause it will, in its dry state, keep its quality 
for many years. In a warm country it only 
requires to be dropped into the ground, 
eighteen inches apart every way, or twelve 
inches apart in rows two feet asunder, so that 
it may be possible to get between the rows to 
give the necessary attention. If the country 
be cold, or the summers short, raise the seeds 
in a hot-bed, to grow until the weather breaks 
up, and plant them out at those distances ; 
when the ear is very young, it may be eaten 
green as a vegetable, boiled in salt and water, 
and dished up like asparagus, to be eaten with 
melted butter ; but its chief value is as grain. 
It is the most nourishing food for cattle, and 
the meal will make very acceptable, but, by 
comparison, very ordinary bread ; when ripe, 
the ears are cut and brought away in baskets. 
The plant makes a sort of fodder, but the 
stems are too strong to be eaten without being 
chopped small, and they are not worth the 
trouble when anything else can be had. 
