38 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 8, 1885. 
crops than if turned in to that depth at first. In trenching, digging, or 
ridging in winter, leave the surface soil rough and loose, so that frost may 
penetrate it. 
“ In soils of close texture make use of what in Kent is called a “ spud ”—a 
wrought-iron tool with three prongs ; if not, a digging fork rather than a 
spade, which is apt to close the soil instead of breaking it up in an open 
manner. The principal object in trenching is to afford scope for the roots 
of vegetables to penetrate in search of nourishment, as well as to prevent 
the soil being clogged with water, to facilitate the admission of air, whereby 
the temperature of the soil is increased, and to increase fertility. 
“ It will be well to mention other means of improving soils without the 
free use of manures, as these are not always obtainable, especially pig, horse, 
and cow dung. One is the application of chalk, which should be put on the 
ground in autumn, and allowed to become pulverised before being dug-in. 
Lime rubbish, wood ashes, or if a clayey soil, coal ashes sifted fine, will also 
do good. The next is well-decayed vegetable or leaf mould. It is well to 
have a reserve heap of each of the above in some corner of the garden, when 
a little can be applied at every digging. Take care not to gorge the soil 
with too much of any one kind. In any case, whenever manure is applied 
to the ground, it is better to dig it in at once ; for if some vegetable manures 
are allowed to lie on the ground too long, much of their nutriment is lost by 
evaporation. 
“ Laying-out and Cropping. —About the first I shall not say much, because, 
as a rule, the position and shape of the spot are the best guides to the most 
convenient and economical mode of dividing the ground. That usually 
adopted is to cut the ground into plots or quarters by walks of convenient 
size for all purposes, and to arrange the fruit trees by the sides of these. If 
the area is bounded by a hedge, as is often the casein cottagers’ gardens, the 
walk should be made next to the hedge, as for a certain distance from its 
base the soil would be occupied by roots, and be therefore less productive 
than any other part of the garden. Undoubtedly the most economical plan 
for the amateur or cottager to adopt is to so arrange the ground as to leave 
the whole of the best soil for cropping. Let ornamental appearance be a 
secondary consideration, though that may be studied in some degree 
ccording to circumstances. 
“ Cropping. —In connection with this there are some acknowledged facts 
which even many professional gardeners do not make a study of, but those 
who will take the pains to do so will soon discover to their satisfaction that 
the production of first-class vegetables is not only the best point to aim at, 
but is one of the most important branches of gardening, and their success 
soon inspires them with the confidence that a regular system of cropping 
and the rotation of crops is sound in principle and according to the laws of 
Nature. By a judicious system of cropping and change of crops the soil is 
much relieved, and manure is made the most of. Sir Humphrey Davy 
states that each sort of plant draws a nourishment from the ground peculiar 
to itself, and that after a piece of ground has nourished one crop, another of 
a different description may succeed it. Nothing can be a better guide than 
this, and, except in some cases where a succession of crops is required from 
a very limited piece of ground, no rule can be easier to carry out. Perhaps 
it will be better to reduce this to practice ; and we shall suppose that a piece 
of ground has been manured, dug or trenched, and otherwise prepared for a 
crop of Strawberries, Asparagus, or any other perennial plant. In a few 
years the plants will have exhausted the soil of their own particular food, 
and in consequence will fail to produce a satisfactory crop. Now, instead 
of recropping the ground with young plants of the same kind, let the old be 
destroyed, and the ground dug, and it will carry a crop of Peas, Beans, or 
anything with roots which do not penetrate too deeply into the soil; on the 
other hand, let the new plantation of Asparagus, Seakale, Strawberries, and 
the like be made on ground that has grown any light annual and shallow- 
rooted crop. Unless circumstances compel a departure from the rule, I 
would advise what I find in practice to be a good plan—that is, never to let 
one deep-rooting crop succeed another, but always, if possible, to plant a 
shallow-rooting crop on ground previously occupied by a deep-rooted one 
and vice versd. If a perennial crop, such as Strawberries or Asparagus, has 
occupied a piece of ground for any length of time, let it be succeeded by 
one of annual duration. By carrying out this system, one crop to some 
extent prepares the ground for the succeeding one. The Onion, Shallot, and 
Garlic are the only crops which will yield fairly by occupying the same 
ground year after year; but even in these cases I am certain a change of 
crop would prove more beneficial. 
“ Next comes the classification of crops, which in my opinion in an import¬ 
ant matter, in so far that it is a saving of time and labour, and allows of a 
good system of rotation being carried out. The arrangement for this can 
be best made in the spring when the principal cropping takes place. 
“ The following system will convey an idea of how I would classify them 
together -.—Brussels SproutB, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Savoys ; Carrots, Beet, 
Parsnips, Salsafy, &c. ; Onions, Shallots, Leeks ; early Potatoes and Turnips ; 
Scarlet Runners and Peas ; late Potatoes and Turnips ; Celery generally by 
itself. After this are the salads, such as Endive and Lettuce of sorts, 
Radishes, &c. The smallness of a garden and the great number of crops to 
be grown will preclude the above from being carried out to the full extent ; 
nevertheless, a great advantage will be derived from the practice even to a 
small extent, and the ground will be found to fall vacant in regular order. 
Broccoli, or any of the Cabbage tribe, may be succeeded by Beans or Peas, 
or even Celery, with Peas between the trenches. After any of the root 
crops, such as Carrots, &c., the ground should be well manured, and will 
come in for Brussels Sprouts and similar things ; and where early Potatoes 
and early Turnips have grown, Cauliflowers may succeed them. Late 
Potato and Turnip ground will carry a crop of Scotch Kale or any other 
sort of Greens for spring cutting. Celery ground is suitable for either 
Asparagus or Carrots, Beet, and the like, and Parsnips on such a preparation 
grow remarkably ; Scarlet Runners or Dwarf Kidney Beans will also do 
wall on such ground. 
“ The above description and arrangement are confined to the principal 
sorts of vegetables, the most of which, whether by gardeners, amateurs, or 
cottagers, must be grown to a large or small extent; but other vegetables, 
such as Spinach, which grows into aase quickly, may be arranged by the 
side of those of similar duration, so as to come off at about the same time. 
“ The above system I have always endeavoured to carry out more or less, 
and I find crops succeed with greater certainty, regularity, and perfection 
than if they were put into the ground in an indiscriminate manner.”] 
RIBES ALBIDUM. 
This plant is a variety of the red-flowered Currant, Ribes sanguineum, 
a shrub now found, in every garden of the smallest pretensions, and was 
raised from seed in the gardens of Admiral Sir David Milne, Inveresk, 
near Musselburgh. 
From the perfectly hardy character of the parent species and all it s 
varieties, the ease with which they are propagated, and the beauty of their 
pendant flowers, which enliven the garden at a period when but few 
shrubs are in blossom, they are well deserving the place they occupy in 
the public esteem. The variety albidum, as well as sanguineum, varies 
in the colour of its flowers according to the soil in which it is grown, 
being palest in sandy soils ; but it is probable that much of the differences 
observable in distinct specimens may arise from the natural tendency 
of the plant to variation when raised from seed. The best varieties are 
slender-stemmed and quite deciduous, but we have seen a specimen with 
a coarse arborescent stem, dense foliage, almost evergreen, and flowers 
of a far less ornamental character, followed by prodigious crops of 
insipid black berries. 
They will thrive in almost any soil, but succeed best in such as is 
moderately rich and moist, and the natural habitat of the species san¬ 
guineum being often in the neighbourhood of the Californian streasm 
Cuttings of the ripened year’s wood taken off in autumn and treated 
as those of the common Gooseberry, will root readily in a sheltered 
border. 
With the exception of the equally interesting Ribes aureum, or 
Golden-flowered Gooseberry, the plant now figured, with its sister 
varieties, are the only members of the Ribes family commonly found in 
cultivation, which, considering the beauty of many of the remaining 
species, is a matter of surprise. Among those le3S known we may mention 
Ribes speciosum, with red flowers and long projecting stamens ; the R 
cereum, or Wax-leaved Currant, with roundish glandular leaves, covered 
with a thin layer of a wax-like substance ; the R. punctatum from Chili, 
with dotted leaves and greenish yellow flowers, borne in erect racemes ; 
and handsomer still, the Snowy-(lowered Gooseberry, R. niveum, with 
flowers of the purest white, and berries of a deep rich purple colour, which t 
unlike those of the other flowering species, are of an agreeable flavour, 
and, according to Dr. Lindley, “ when ripe make delicious tarts, and would 
probably form an excellent means of improving the common Gooseberry 
by hybridising.” 
All who have ever gathered a Gooseberry—and who has not ?—have 
we do not doubt, heartily wished the bushes thornless ; but they would 
scarcely prefer the habit of another of the family, Ribes Menziesii, pub 
lished by Sir James Smith under the appropriate name of R. ferox, which 
he describes as “ a very remarkable species, whose branches are thickly 
covered with tawny setaceous prickles, about a quarter of an inch in 
length, and armed under each bud with three very strong and pungent 
ones an inch long, having somet'mes lesser reflexed prickles at their 
