A STROLL THROUGH THE GARDEN MARCH. 
103 
plants in flower have been brought from the 
pits, hot-house, greenhouse, and other covered 
phices ; for the conservatory is, in fact, a show- 
house furnished by the other contrivances for 
preserving or getting plants forward. This 
next house is the principal means of producing 
things out of their season. Observe, in an- 
other week these hardy azaleas and kalmias 
will be forward enough to be removed to the 
conservatory. Some are not so forward, and 
there are others not yet moving ; these last are 
only just put in. It is by a succession of 
plants that we continue a bloom : when these 
are all out of flower, those in the natural 
ground will be in bloom. 
Now these forced plants are not managed 
according to the common practice among com- 
mon gardeners, but they are fairly brouglit 
out of their usual season by several years' 
forcing. As soon as they decline in flower- 
ing, they are taken as much pains with as 
they have been to get them into bloom ; they 
have plenty of light, plenty of water, plenty of 
attention, until they have properly completed 
their grovrth, which will be two months before 
those in the open air ; they are then plunged 
in the open ground in a shady situation, and 
remain at rest until the time arrives to put 
them again under glass. The consequence is, 
that they flower strong and early without so 
much heat as would be necessary were they 
merely selected from plants never forced be- 
fore. The plan of throwing away plants that 
have been forced, or cutting them about and 
planting them out to recover, is very bad. A 
vine never forces so well the first or second 
year as it does the third, by which time it is 
reconciled to its new season, and it is the same 
with flowers if they are carefully managed. 
We must now return to the house, and the 
next ramble shall be in the kitchen-garden 
and forcing-ground, but first on our way see 
what the man has in that frame. It is the 
Neapolitan violet and the tree violet, both in 
full flower. Now these plants are not in 
pots, but simply planted in three inches of 
good loam on a very moderate heat of dung. 
Pie has been supplying the drawing-room and 
house generally all through the winter from 
this frame, and even now there is abundance, 
and tliey will last till those in the open beds 
and borders supply their place. There is not 
a sweeter perfume in the world than that 
afforded by the violet ; no, not even that of the 
rose. You see they have nearly mowed all 
the lawn, and how much better it looks than 
it did when the dark green tufts spotted it all 
over. Now what notes have you made ? Ah ! 
that will do ; you have noticed the two prin- 
cipal subjects — first, the necessity of keeping 
up the succession of forced flowers, by intro- 
ducing plants at different seasons ; and next, 
the necessity of keeping the same plants for 
succeeding years, instead of following the 
notion so generally prevalent, that those plants 
force best that have not been forced before. 
Yesterday we disposed pretty well of the 
flower parts of the establishment ; now let us 
look to the kitchen and fruit^garden. The 
men are at work in all directions. One is 
earthing up peas and beans that have come 
above ground, and the one that follows him is 
putting sticks to the peas ; he sticks some on 
each side that cross one another at top, by 
sloping both inwards — this forms a great pro- 
tection against the spring frosts. Another is 
removing all the hand-glasses from the cauli- 
flowers, because on fine warm days like this 
they cannot have too much air ; if the wind 
was cold, they would only be tilted a little on 
the side away from the wind, and if it were 
frosty, they would not be raised at all. At 
the further end, the man is taking one plant 
out of every hand-glass, and planting them out 
in threes, to be covered by other glasses ; this 
is to give those that remain more room, for as 
they grow they soon require more than they 
have at planting out ; some put five under a 
handglass, and at different times reduce them 
to three, which can be grown under the full- 
sized glasses. Where, however, they are 
grown very fine, they only leave two. Those 
which are removed frequently come in before 
those which remain, although not so fine, the 
check they receive throwing them into flower. 
Some more peas and beans are being sown in 
that quarter, and on the warm border near it 
they are planting out lettuces of sorts. Here 
they are picking out celery plants to grow a 
little strong : the gi-ound has been well ma- 
nured, and the bed is just the size to be 
covered with that frame with its three lights. 
They will cover the young plants from frost, 
but that is all ; the seeds were raised in heat, 
and they have got a foot thick of hot dung 
under the three inches of soih It will be 
necessary to cover with mats every night. It 
often happens that those plants raised early 
run to seed instead of growing well, but it is 
always useful for soups whether it grows well 
or ill. The seed now sowing is more likely 
to make fine plants than those planted out. 
The man yonder is pulling up two plants out 
of every three on that piece of cabbage plants. 
They are excellent now to eat, and those 
which are left are just the right distance to 
cabbage well and pretty soon too. The seed 
they are sowing to the right is summer or 
round-leaved spinach ; this will be ready to 
eat by the time the winter kind, which is by 
the side of it, is over. In the forcing ground 
they have sea-kale covered with dung, and in 
the*^ frames there is aspai-agus fit to cut; these 
