186 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 14, 1884. 
them to be spoiled ? This is in truth not economy at all, but 
the exact reverse of it—waste. If the means are provided 
for keeping trees in order and encouraging their development, 
and the work is neglected, the fault rests with the manager. 
And it must be said that all gardeners are not so wide¬ 
awake as they ought to be to the importance of tree and shrub¬ 
tending. More is the pity. They, or some of them, pride 
themselves more on a house of Grapes, a few Orchids, or 
possibly Zonal Pelargoniums ; but whatever fame they may 
achieve in growing these will be ephemeral in comparison 
with the permanent monuments they may raise and which 
will endure for generations in the form of grandly developed 
and effectively disposed trees and shrubs. 
Instead of being spoiled, trees should be cherished; in¬ 
stead of being neglected they should be tended ; instead of 
being despised they should be admired greatly. But are they ? 
Look at the woodlands and pleasure grounds now and let 
them answer. 
Now is the time for examination with the view to im¬ 
proving what may yet be improveable. Another year, or 
even a few months, may be too late. Pruning, or at least 
marking for that, or for removing, should be done now the 
foliage is still green and the approaching ruin apparent. 
When the trees are leafless the danger is less manifest, 
but it is still there. Let it be seen in time and faced boldly, 
yet prudently, and the reproach of spoiled trees and shrubs, 
of choked plantations and overgrown pleasure grounds, will 
in time be removed. 
And now, lest it should be thought that the picture of 
tree and shrub-spoiling has been overdrawn, let the ex¬ 
perienced readers of these notes examine the parks and 
gardens that have been formed and planted in their districts 
during the past fifteen or twenty years, and judge for them¬ 
selves whether the present condition of the grounds is satis¬ 
factory, or whether there has not been neglect in the 
management of the trees and shrubs. I shall be quite con¬ 
tent for all that are perfect and all that are imperfect to be 
enumerated, and for the accuracy or otherwise of my opinions 
to be judged by that test.—A Northerm Gardener. 
CLOSE CROPPING IM KITCHEN GARDENS. 
W^HERE the space is somewhat limited and the demands 
comparativ'ely heavy, those in charge of a kitchen garden do 
not always find it an easy matter to maintain a constant supply 
of vegetables in season. More judgment is required of a gardener 
than is at first sight apparent, as not only has he crown a suffi¬ 
ciency of everything, but he in so doing has to be equally careful 
not to unduly favour one kind at the expense of the other. He 
must keep up a regular supply, and that, too, in spite of various 
liindiances, such as scarcity of manure and labour, various insect 
and animal enemies, destructive frosts, long spells of showery or 
dry weather, and other evils which he has to contend with. Some 
theie aie who profess to garden on scientific principles, paying 
pai t'.cular regard to the supposed necessity for rotation of crops, 
while others pay less heed to science, and are far less particular 
about the change of crops. Amongst the latter I must be in¬ 
cluded, being cf opinion that there are but few gardens where a 
systematic method of cropping can be adopted. Here, for 
instance, no two quarters in the garden are alike, and anything 
like proper rotation of crops is out of the question. In one 
place Onions will do well, and ten yards beyond, where the soil 
IS colder and heavier, will fail, and it is the same with other root 
crops As a consequence certain of the best working quarters 
must be devoted principally to the root crops. Celery, salading, 
and early sowings of Peas and Beans, while the heavier-working 
quditeis have to be almost continuously cropped with fruit 
bushes and the var ous Brassicas. As it happens, this plan 
lenders close cropping a simple mattei’, and failures are less 
rare, as we always know where certain kinds succeed best. 
If manure were apt lied once in three years the case would 
be A ery different, as then there would be greater necessity to 
study what food certain plants derive from the ground, and which 
class of plants would be most benefited by what is left un¬ 
touched. We crop as heavily as poss ble, and once a year at 
least return as much as we can to the ground in solid farmyard 
manure, varied with occasional dressings qf ashes, garden refuse, 
lime, soot, salt, leaf soil, or any other fresh decaying substance 
likely to be beneficial. Deep digging or trenching, for reasons 
hereafter to be given, is never resorted to, and we very rarely 
dig the ground for any summer-planted crops. Jf the latter 
were attempted all the work could not be d< ne. neither would 
the crops do so well. Summer digging is most laborious on our 
heavy land, and it would never be sufficiently broken up for 
either seed-sowing or planting. 
The question may be asked. What has all this to do witb 
close or even successful cropping ? My anticipatory reply is. 
Much in every way, as by no other means could the garden be 
kept so closely cropped. 1 f I held the notion that the ground 
for nearly every successional crop must be dug, and perhaps 
manui’ed, much space would often remain uncropped, simply 
because there were insufficient men to do the work. In our 
labour-economising fashion we contrive to keep every quarter 
closely cropped, and the produce, tco, is not always the worst in 
the neighbourhood. 
I will endeavour to give a few instances of what I consider 
profitable, if unscientific, close cropping. The warmest border I 
have never fails to yield a heavy crop of Potatoes, and soon after 
these are cleared and the ground levelled, drills are drawn 2 feet 
apart for Caulifiowers and early Broccoli. For this position I 
prefer late-sown Veitch’s Autumn Giant Cauliflower, Veitch’s 
Autumn Broccoli, and Snow’s Superb. They are moved from 
where they are pricked out and replanted witb a trowel about 
2 feet asunder. During dry weather they are watered occasion¬ 
ally till well established, and usually receive a strong dose of 
liquid manure before they are earthed up. Here, then, are 
obtained several hundreds of late Cauliflower and early Broccoli 
hearts at a time when they are most wanted, and all are cleared 
off long before the ground" is again required for Potatoes. On 
this same border Peas have failed twice in five seasons, but on a 
south-west border they do well year after year, and directly these 
are cleared off drills are drawn witb a heavy boe, next soaked witb 
liquid manure, and then planted witb Snow’s Broccoli, and very 
hardy and very serviceable the latter generally proves. In the 
same manner a south-east border suits early Cauliflowers, and 
subsequently the ground is hoed over, drills drawn, and either 
planted or sown with Endive. There are four east borders, and 
these are cropped almost as profitably as the warmer borders. 
One is closely planted with Leeks, these being followed with late 
Broccoli; another produces the earliest Turnips, these being 
succeeded by autumn Cauliflowers ; another is first occupied 
with thousands of pricked-out Broccoli and other plants, and 
these are followed with winter Spinach; and the fourth is cropped 
witb early Savoys, followed the next spring by Turnips. 
No attempt is made to plant Broccoli or Winter Greens 
among the strong-growing Champion and Magnum Bonum 
Potatoes; in fact the principal portion of our late Potatoes are 
grown on ground that for four seasons have been given solely up 
to them. All the manure this ground gets is by no means for¬ 
midable, and all the rotation consists in following the Magnum 
Bonum with the Champion, and vice verso, yet there is appai’ently 
no falling-off in the quality or weight of the crops. Widely 
planted Potatoes do not exhaust the ground half so much as we 
imagine, and the Potatoes are no more liable to disease on such 
frequently planted ground than they are in quite fresh positions. 
The second early Potatoes are planted on a quarter which is 
fairly light in texture, and between these are planted several sorts 
of successional and late Broccolis. The latter are earthed up as 
the Potatoes are cleared off, and are followed the next season by 
Celery. The Celery trenches being dug early admits of the 
sp aces between being cropped with Lettuces and early Kidney 
Beans, and the former especially are very fine in these positions. 
After the Celery we crop with Peas, and as fast as the latter are 
cleared off, providing the ground- is not very bard. Broccoli, 
Savoys, cr Kale are planted. The bed of autumn-sown Onions 
is generally follow^ed by Coleworts, and the spring-sown Onions 
are cleared off in time for the ground to be planted witb the July- 
sown Cabbage, no digging being necessary in either case. It 
maybe the latter w'ould grow to a greater size on heavily manured 
newly dug land, but we plant thickly, and prefer small beads to 
large ones. Besides, our undug land is always the driest and 
warmest during the winter. 
Directly the worn-out Strawberry beds are cleared off the 
ground is at once planted witb Broccoli of sorts, strong pi’icked- 
out plants, and which are transplanted witb a trowel, being pre¬ 
pared for the purpose. These do not generally grow to a great 
size, but they are the most hardy Broccoli we have, and produce 
good seiwiceable heads. The spaces between the newly planted 
I’ows of Strawberries arc planted with late Lettuce for early 
winter use, early or hardy Lettuce for spring use, and Tripoli 
Onions. Asparagus Kale is extremely hardy and very good, and 
this we sow between rows of late Peas and runner Beans, and 
