362 
PRODUCTIVE FAMILY GARDENING. 
they should be eighteen inches apart in the 
rows, and the rows two feet asunder. When 
the best part of the cabbage is cut, other crops 
may be planted between the rows, the ground 
being first dug, and the stumps may be all 
taken up and be planted close together in 
some otherwise useless spot and yield a mass 
of greens when scarcely anything else is to be 
had. The seed is but little object ; sowing, 
therefore, to provide at all times plants to put 
out is a necessary precaution. The best sorts 
are new Early nonsuch, Wheeler's imperial, 
Sprotsborough, Nonpareil, and Early York — 
the Battersea is not to be despised, though it 
grows a large size and wants plenty of room. 
SCOTCH KALE, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, SAVOYS. 
These are only so many different mem- 
bers of the same family, and may or may not 
be used. The savoy is the most useful, the 
Scotch kale the most hardy, but it is an infe- 
rior green to either a good savoy or cabbage. 
The savoy should be sown in April for a gene- 
ral crop, and the Brussels sprout and kale at 
the same time. These may, when large 
enough, be planted, or rather pricked out, 
three inches apart, to strengthen previous to 
planting out in their final place. In doing 
this the strongest plants must be taken, and 
every few days, as others get large enough, 
they may be pricked out, so that the store- 
beds may have a succession of plants con- 
stantly coming in, large enough to plant out 
as they are wanted. They may be always 
planted out as other crops are cleared, when 
the ground is not required for a different pur- 
pose. 
RED CABBAGE. 
Few people know the worth of this, ex- 
cept for its use as a pickle, but a moment's 
consideration will convince any thinking per- 
son that the immense number brought to 
market can never be consumed for that alone. 
It is used raw as a salad, and is excellent. 
When grown well, too, and cut at the right 
time, the red cabbage will store the best part 
of the winter, merely losing two or three 
of the outer leaves. As a salad it is econo- 
mical and capable of being eaten by itself, 
and only requires to be cut into the thinnest 
possible shreds. The seed of the red cabbage 
may be sown in August, so as to get strong 
enough to stand the winter in the store-beds, 
where they are to be pricked out six inches 
apart. They may be planted out in Febru- 
ary or March to their final destination, two 
feet apart one way and eighteen inches the 
other ; spinach may be sown in drills between 
the rows, and will come off before the cab- 
bages get large enough to occupy the room 
themselves. Seed may also be sown in small 
quantities in January in a frame or among 
the radishes, to be protected with litter from 
frost, and they will succeed from sowings any 
time during the period from January to 
August. When they have established them- 
selves after final planting out and begun to 
grow, the earth should be drawn up to their 
stems, and they may remain in the ground until 
they are hard and solid, for in that state they 
will keep for months. 
SCARLET BEAN. 
This is the poor man's luxury, for besides 
growing up against palings, or in almost any 
corner of the garden, or as a blind, and the 
plant from its peculiarity forming a good 
fence or hedge to separate any two depart- 
ments of the garden, it is very prolific, and 
can hardly be said to leave off growing and 
bearing until the frost cuts it off. Again, 
the beans are allowed to grow to a size that 
renders the yield considerable, and the larger 
they are, the better they eat, until they get 
old and stringy. The seed should be sown in 
April, and the following are the different 
modes of planting them : — three in a patch, at 
a distance of three feet from patch to patch, or 
singly in rows a foot apart. In the first, poles 
or strong branches are driven into the ground 
at each patch; in the other they may be trained 
up bean sticks, placed along the row, or poles 
may be placed eight or ten feet apart and a 
line fastened along the tops, from which single 
lines may be led to each individual bean, or if 
against a north wall or paling, nails may be 
driven along the top, from which strings may 
be fastened in lengths to each plant. When 
they begin to bear, they should be frequently 
looked over, and all that are large enough, 
be picked for use, because they grow rapidly, 
and so long as they will break short in two 
pieces without being stringy, they are eatable. 
If a succession is desirable, sow again in May, 
June, and July. Another, and if the ground 
be limited, a more advantageous way of grow- 
ing them, is to sow the seed in a patch, in two 
or three barrows of dung for the sake of slight 
bottom heat, putting about six inches of 
mould for them to grow in, and when, about 
the middle of May, the weather looks settled, 
plant them out carefully without losing any of 
the fibres, and place the sticks, or poles, or 
string to them as soon as they are out. 
HARICOT BEAN. 
As a winter store, a few rows of the large 
white kidney or haricot bean may be sown at 
the end of April, and allowed to go to seed alto- 
gether, the entire crop to be used for stewing 
in winter. They require rich ground, that is 
to say, soil which has some heart in it, but 
after earthing up they require little or no 
care till they are fit to gather in. 
