FAMILIAR LESSONS ON PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
421 
twenty square feet. The seeds keep two 
years. 
Lettuce. — A quarter of an ounce for a seed- 
bed of forty square feet. The seeds keep 
three years. 
Onion. — One ounce for a bed of eighty 
square feet. The seeds keep two years. 
Parsley. — Half-an -ounce for a row twenty- 
five feet long. The seeds keep six years. 
Parsnip. — Half-an-ounce for a row of 150 
feet, the plants to be well thinned. The seeds 
keep one year. 
Peas. — Early crops : one pint for a row of 
sixty feet. Principal crops : one pint for a 
row of a hundred feet. The seeds keep good 
one year. 
Potatoes. — Sets (small whole tubers) planted 
at a foot distant, in rows two or three feet 
apart. 
Radish. — One ounce for a bed thirty feet 
square. The seeds keep two years. 
Spinach. — One ounce for a row of 120 feet. 
The seeds keep four years. 
Turnip. — Half-an-ounce for a bed of one 
hundred square feet. The seeds keep about 
four years. 
The duration of the vital principle of seeds 
depends in great measure on the manner in 
which they are preserved ; they should be 
well ripened, always kept dry, and not ex- 
posed to a high or fluctuating temperature. 
New seeds always have the preference. 
In all cases, the young seedling plants 
should be thinned early, — the earlier, the 
better ; the plants ought never to stand so 
much crowded as to become drawn or lanky ; 
such plants are delicate, and never thrive like 
sturdy plants which have had free exposure 
on all sides. Those plants which have to 
be transplanted are generally the better if 
"pricked out" into nursery-beds when quite 
young, and finally transplanted from these 
when of sufficient size. 
PRESERVATION OF CROPS. 
To realize the fullest advantage from a 
garden, it is necessary to understand what is 
meant by the "preservation of crops;" and this 
applies not only to such things as are grown 
in summer for winter use, and are conse- 
quently stored by for the latter season, but 
also to many articles which are quickly perish- 
able, but in which decay may be arrested and 
postponed by a course of judicious treatment, 
which it is desirable to understand. The 
subject is naturally divided into what concerns 
vegetables and fruits. 
Vegetables. — Here we have to deal with 
green vegetables and mature root-crops, the 
former of which may be preserved for a time, 
but scarcely without deterioration ; while the 
latter admit of being kept without sustaining 
any injury. 
The preservation of green vegetable crops 
is a consideration only when the supply is 
temporarily greater than the demand, and 
when the farther advance of the particular 
article would involve a deterioration in its 
quality, or when any part or all of any crop 
attains a useable state at a season when it is 
liable to sustain injury if left exposed. The 
situation in which this class of vegetables may 
be best preserved is a dark, cool, shady room, 
not damp and stagnant enough to encourage 
decomposition, nor dry and airy enough to 
cause exhaustion, but simply having a calm, 
almost unvarying, cool atmosphere, in which 
vegetables undergo change very slowly. It is 
essential that no decaying vegetable matter be 
suffered to accumulate; for this would soon 
ferment and produce a contaminated atmo- 
sphere, in which it would be impossible to 
preserve for any length of time fresh vege- 
table bodies in a sweet and wholesome condi- 
tion. Cleanliness then is a first consideration. 
The vegetables themselves should not be 
crowded nor heaped up together ; this would 
induce fermentation, and consequently decay. 
They should be placed separately as far as 
practicable ; and all decaying parts should 
from time to time be carefully removed. A 
cold floor, such as one formed of brick or 
stone, is proper to lay them on. The vege- 
tables themselves should not be made damp 
by the application of water. The crops should 
be collected when dry, and when in a perfect 
state. Three or four hours, or more, before 
they are wanted for use they may be fresh- 
ened up, by having such trimming as may be 
necessary, and being then either immersed in 
fresh clean water, or sprinkled therewith, as 
may be most suitable. Peas, beans, and 
French beans should be spread out thinly 
over the floor, and may simply be sprinkled 
just before being used. Brocoli, cauliflower, 
and indeed any of the cabbage tribe, should 
be either pulled or cut with a good portion of 
the main stem, some of the larger matured or 
decaying leaves pulled off, and the rest re- 
moved from time to time as they begin to 
decay, the heads being trimmed in the usual 
way when required for use, and immersed in 
water. Cauliflowers and brocoli require a 
great amount of this attention, these crops 
being liable to attain maturity very rapidly, 
and as it were by a great influx, which 
requires to be stored. "When the flower- 
heads of either of these crops begin to form, 
one or two of the leaves of the plants should 
be broken down over each, which serves as a 
protection, and becomes a means of blanching 
the head, thus improving both its flavour and 
appearance. In the winter season these crops 
