AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 7 
JwrfMtaal J^prfment. 
ROTATION OF CROPS IN THE GARDEN- 
It is the custom of many, who have small 
vegetable gardens, to plant the same crops 
in the same spots year after year. This 
may be done and good crops may be obtain¬ 
ed, if the land is deeply trenched and thor¬ 
oughly manured every year. But without 
these precautions crops will almost certainly 
degenerate. The onions very likely will be¬ 
come maggoty and rot, and the peas fail to 
-’'fill out well, and the cabbages show small 
heads. Though we manure abundantly and 
work the soil two spits deep, we find it of 
great advantage to change the locality of the 
crops every year, with few exceptions. As¬ 
paragus cannot very well be changed, and 
onions seem to do better upon the same spot 
year after year. 
It is now time to make your plans for the 
garden for the next season, and it will be 
found an advantage to change the locality of 
every other crop. Manures should be adapt¬ 
ed to the various crops you purpose to raise. 
Certain kinds of plants require a good deal 
of ammonia, such as onions, carrots, toma¬ 
toes, celery, &c. These should be treated 
to guano, night soil, or hog-dung. Let a 
certain portion of the garden be allotted to 
them, and the manure trenched in, as soon 
as the season will allow. This may be 
called plot No. 1. 
In No. 2 we would raise potatoes, peas, 
beans, beets, and corn. On this you should 
put an abundant supply of vegetable matter, 
if the soil is not already well furnished, and 
a mixture of guano and superphosphate of 
lime. If you have not these, a compost of 
cow-dung and old turf or muck will prove a 
good substitute. The pea is a lime plant, 
and a top dressing of slaked lime pays 
well. 
On No. 3 put no guano, night soil, or hog 
manure. Here you will raise turnips, cab¬ 
bages, and the brassica tribe of plants which 
are sure to be club-footed with these nitro¬ 
genous manures. We have found home-pre¬ 
pared superphosphate an excellent manure 
for these plants. For all the root crops in 
the garden, use the trenching spade, and 
make your soil at least 18 inches deep. It 
is a slow process, but pays better than any 
other. The quantity of roots that may be 
raised on a few square rods, thoroughly 
worked, is astonishing to one who has 
only plowed his garden six or eight inches 
deep. __ 
A Cheap Hot-bed may be made by pro¬ 
curing a couple of sash, say three feet by 
four, and fitting them to a box. Any rough 
boards will do. Remove the surface soil the 
size of the box, and put in horse manure a 
foot or eighteen inches deep. Cover the 
manure with six inches of soil, put over 
your box the slashes, and you have a 
cheap hot-bed, where you may sow early 
York cabbage seed, a few tomatoes, lettuce, 
peppers, &c., and in the middle“of the bed, 
where there is the most heat, a few egg 
plants. The cost is but a trifle, and it gives 
us vegetables several weeks in advance of 
their time. 
PANSIES IN POTS. 
I do not know why it should be the case, 
but certain it is, that but few of the Pansy 
growers with whom I am acquainted suc¬ 
ceed with the cultivation of that plant in 
pots. My experience is principally among 
growers in the north ; the case may be dif¬ 
ferent in the south, but in this neighborhood 
the experiment, as some still persist in call¬ 
ing it, has resulted, with very few exceptions, 
in undeniable, failure. As a proof of this 
it may be mentioned, that for the last three 
years the Caledonian Society has been in 
the habit of offering prizes for “ Pansies 
exhibited in eight-inch pots,” and in spite of 
attempts having been made by many in this 
Pansy-loving district, to produce them in 
good order at the exhibition, only one grower 
has as yet succeeded in bringing forward 
anything approaching to creditable produc¬ 
tions. The prize is omitted in schedule for 
1855, published by the Society, in conse¬ 
quence, as I understand, of the three years’ 
trial not having been followed by any satis¬ 
factory competition. 
Although from this reason nothing else 
was to be expected, still the exclusion is to 
be regretted, for, when well grown, at the 
early season of the year at which they are 
to be had in perfection, they make a valua¬ 
ble addition to an exhibition, and are found 
very useful as ornaments to the front shelf 
of a greenhouse. I am one of those who 
think that, in every case where practicable, 
the plant should be exhibited with the bloom. 
The point of habit of plant for decorative 
purposes is a very important one, and we 
know that much disappointment is frequent¬ 
ly experienced by those who attend exhibi¬ 
tions (although not themselves growers for 
exhibition) for the purpose of selecting from 
the specimens shown those varieties which 
they may be desirous of adding to their col¬ 
lection. It is superflous, perhaps, to tell the 
Pansy-grower that his favorite plant is not 
free at times from the charge of bad habit, 
and that some varieties are more suited to 
the border than others ; indeed it might al¬ 
most be added, that some varieties which 
are esteemed for exhibition purposes are not 
fit for the border at all. Exhibiting in pots 
of course brings the habit to the test as well 
as the bloom. Many have been misled in 
selecting their varieties of Pansies, and 
other flowers which might be named, from 
the bloom alone. 
Much more might be said on this subject, 
but the object at the present time is not that 
of advocating the exhibition of the Pansy in 
pots, but that of giving those who are desirous 
of succeding with them in this way some 
hints, gathered from the grower to whom I 
have alluded, who has succeeded with them, 
not only as blooming plants for exhibition, 
but who also, from pots, has won a large 
number of prizes which have been offered 
for cut blooms. These hints may not be 
required for the south, but many in the north 
are readers of the Florist, who, if they will 
adhere to the mode of management to be 
mentioned, will cease to find much further 
difficulty in producing the desired result. 
First, then, as to soil. Upon this being of 
proper materials and those in right condition 
when mixed together, much of the after suc¬ 
cess depends. The soils to be leaf mold, 
sandy loam, and well-decomposed manure. 
The first mentioned is perhaps the most im¬ 
portant of the three; and when in fit 
condition to form part of the compost, will 
be found f c a very different material from 
that which is' made to serve the purpose. 
That which should be used is such as has 
been prepared somewhat after the following 
manner. (I here give the modd followed by 
the grower in question.) About the 1st of 
January of each year, a bed is made up for 
the purpose of forcing rhubarb, composed of 
leaves which have been kept moderately dry 
up to that time, and stable manure in some¬ 
what rank condition ; the quantity used is 
generally about twelve large cart-loads of the 
leaves, with which two cart-loads of the 
stable manure are thoroughly shaken in and 
mixed ; these together produce a steady and 
a lasting heat, up to the middle or the end of 
March ; and, as the rhubarb is planted wide, 
there is space enough between the rows of 
plants on which to place a single light frame, 
which is useful for many purposes during 
that period. 
When the rhubarb no longer requires it, 
the material which formed the hot-bed is re¬ 
moved to another situation; and as the 
leaves are only very partially decayed, when 
fresh placed and thoroughly shaken over, 
the mass again forms another hot-bed, which 
is used perhaps up to the middle of June. 
Should the heat be found to fail, it is of course 
easy enough to increase it by linings in the 
ordinary way ; however, this is but seldom 
necessary, and generally a sufficient amount 
remains to produce the desired blood-heat 
from the bed on which Pink pipings, and the 
earlier ones of Carnations may be rooted. 
When no longer needed or serviceable for 
this purpose, the heap is again turned over, 
which process is repeated in the autumn, 
and once or twice during the first winter and 
the following summer. By the commence¬ 
ment of the second winter the heap has be¬ 
gun to assume the character of mold in some 
degree ; and when this is the case the turn¬ 
ings over are made frequent, and, should frost 
set in, the whole mass is exposed to its in¬ 
fluence. The following spring finds this ma¬ 
terial in a condition very well suited to dig¬ 
ging in to the Pansy beds, for instance, and 
many other purposes ; but it does not form 
part of the compost which is used for the 
growing of Pansies in pots until another year, 
by which time it has the appearance of a dark- 
colored mold. 
The above mode of preparation of leaf- 
mold is to be recommended for various rea¬ 
sons, the chief of which are, the use which 
is made of the leaves so long as they will 
serve the purpose of a hot-bed, and the fre¬ 
quent turnings over which are continued, I 
ought to have said, up to the time of use, 
and which are so essential to the good con¬ 
dition of that or any other soil.—S., in Lon¬ 
don Florist. 
White Mountain Spinach. —If the advan¬ 
tages of this summer spinach were more 
generally known, I think few gardens would 
be without it. As it is, its valuable qualities 
seem known to a few gardeners only. 
The Orach, or Mountain spinach, is a na¬ 
tive of Tartary, and in this country it grows 
from three to four feet in height ; the leaves 
are broad and fleshy, of a light green color, 
and of a delicious flavor when young, in 
which state it should be gathered for use. 
The leaves simply require to be well washed, 
boiling quickly, and adding a little salt to the 
water. 
To keep up a succession in a garden, two 
sowings will be sufficient, say the end of 
February and in April or May; any good 
garden soil will suit it, although it evidently 
prefers a rich loamy soil. The seed 
vegetates in about three weeks after 
sowing, and considerable thinning will 
be required. If the flower shoots are 
stopped, a succession of fresh young leaves 
will be insured 'throughout the summer, 
when the common garden spinach has run to 
seed and is useless.—J. F., in Turner's 
Florist. 
