May 24, 1888. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
419 
surface-rooting shrubs as is the practice in most places, but instead 
advise more surface lioeing and manure dressing, especially where the 
subsoil is not good. My employer is a great advocate of this treatment 
for most trees and shrubs, and the appearance of them and the growth 
they make amply prove the value of the practice.— Thomas Kecoed, 
2'olkin(jton Manoi'. 
CROPS THAT PAY. 
Broccoli.— The ground from which late Broccoli has been 
cleared, previously produced a crop of second early Potatoes. 
These were planted 3 feet apart, the same as all the early and second 
early Potatoes that we grow, except those planted closely together 
on warm borders. The rows of Broccoli are, therefore, 3 feet 
apart, and being naturally hardy in consequence pass the majority 
of winters safely. The ground occupied by late Broccoli is gene¬ 
rally reserved for French Beans, the variety jbeing Canadian Wonder. 
The ground between the rows of Broccoli is liberally manured 
during January. By digging only in the centre of the rows no 
injury to the crop occupying the ground results, but on the con¬ 
trary, when the plants begin growing the roots quickly take possession 
of the manure that lays near the surface, and which is only just 
4X)vered during the process of digging. We have found by this 
ti-eatment that the heads of the Broccoli are larger than would be 
the case if the ground was left unmanured until the crop had been 
cleared away. This is no small advantage in rendering the crop a 
profitable one when the produce is solely required for market pur- 
’poses. But there are other advantages that attend this mode of 
culture that cannot be overlooked. To get the succeeding crop in 
at the proper time is one of the first steps towards success. To 
iave the ground to dig and manure at the busy season of the year 
when planting should be done and work presses heavily is bad and 
thoughtless practice, yet it is too Often followed, and failure is the 
result. By preparing the ground at the time stated the Beans can 
be sown before the Broccoli are removed from the ground, which 
leaves the rows 3 feet from each other. 
Those who have been in the habit of planting Beans close 
together may think that distance from row to row is a waste of 
ground. Experience has proved that a plat of Beans closely 
planted will not yield more than two-thirds of the crop that will 
be obtained if they are given ample room for each plant to branch 
freely and fully develope itself. If the ground is in good heart 
and has been well manured the variety advised will meet in the 
rows before the season is over. We strive, however, to snatch a 
crop of Cos Lettuces from between them. As the Broccoli are 
romoved the space where they have been growing is turned over 
and broken up with a fork, and the Lettuces planted at once 
9 inches apart ia the row. To insure their doing well and being 
ofi; the ground before the Beans crowd them, the plants must be 
strong and ready for placing out directly the Broccoli are removed. 
If the plants are small and weak the prospects of success are by no 
means certain. If, however, the Beans display the least signs of 
crowding the Lettuces, this can be prevented without injury to the 
Beans by placing a few stakes along the row and running a cord 
from end to end on each side. The Lettuces, if they do well, may 
be estimated at one-third of what the ground would produce if 
entirely planted with them. In depending upon these the Beans 
are a profitable crop, for they seldom realise less than twopence a 
pound. While on the subject of Beans it may be stated that 
Scarlet Runners are a profitable crop in some localities, not if they 
are staked on the orthodox fashion. The stakes, and the labour of 
staking combined, the extra distance they must be planted apart, 
renders the crop next to a profitless one. If staked, to do them 
well they should be 6 feet from row to row, unstaked 3 feet, or 
another 6 inches at the most. Directly they show signs of running 
the points are clipped ofE with a pair of shears. If this practice is 
followed two, three, or more times during the season they will fruit 
abundantly and not exceed the height and width of Canadian 
Wonder. In spite of this the returns from a given portion of 
ground will not equal in most localities that obtained for French 
Beans grown on the same space. Generally a halfpenny or penny 
per pound less is paid for them. 
Our object in growing early and second early varieties of 
Potatoes only, and planting them 3 feet from row to row, is not 
altogether for the purpose of securing a second crop, although 
this is a matter of no small moment in rendering ground remune¬ 
rative that has to be worked with the spade. The main object, 
however, is to get the crop off the ground and into the market 
before those under field culture are ready for digging. The lowest 
price by this system may be said to be 5s. a cwt. instead of Is. 6d. 
less. The price falls quickly after farmers once commence supply¬ 
ing the market in quantity. It is only natural to suppose that the 
system of closer planting which they follow, even if the price is 
lower, pays better than the method of planting 3 feet apart. This, 
however, is not the case, for the tubers can be planted closer in the 
row than they practise, and the greater space allowed for develop¬ 
ment results in a heavier crop of tubers than they generally obtain. 
Crops by this method on our rich land are enormous, and profitable 
at the price that can be obtained for them, without taking into 
consideration the second crop. 
Cauliflowers. —One of the second crops from amongst 
Potatoes, and generally one that pays, never better perhaps than 
last year, that is where the crop proved a success, is Veitch’s 
Autumn Giant Cauliflowers. To grow these well they must be 
planted on rich fertile land, or the heads are too small to find 
a ready sale in the market. The seed should be sown in a cold 
frame about the middle of March, so that sturdy well-hardened 
plants are ready for putting out at once. A shallow drill between 
the Potatoes should be drawn and the plants placed 18 inches apart. 
They then become established, and are growing frtely before 
drought sets in to prevent them from making good stuff. Once 
they are well established and growing freely dry weather does not 
appear to do them much harm. As the Potatoes are dug, if they 
can be given a soaking, if the weather is dry, of liquid diluted with 
water from the drainings of the manure heap, and the soil in 
digging turned over the moistened portion of ground to prevent 
evaporation, a rapid growth will follow. Fine heads which will 
prove profitable wiU result. —Marketer. 
PREMATURE FLOWERING. 
Why vegetables “bolt,” to use a technical phrase—in other words 
flower before they are expected—why ornamental plants are made to 
flower in profusion by one man, whilst by another they are termed 
difficult; why some trees fruit, and others apparently under similar con¬ 
ditions are barren ; and, to close, why some shrubs flower and others do 
not. These are questions which may not be disposed of in a flippant 
w,ay. Such is the position of this question ; and hero I must confess to 
the recklessness or bewilderment of that honest and free-hearted Hiber¬ 
nian, who, when asked where he was going, said he did not know until 
he got there. 
Vegetables. —I need not run over the whole range of our culin.ary 
vegetables. I, therefore, must typify them by such crops as Celery, 
Lettuce, Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Spinach. A discussion concerning 
these will at once throw light on the rest. 1 take them in order. Celery 
sometimes “ bolts.” What is the predisposing cause 2 If anyone was 
to ask me what would be the readiest mode of compelling the young 
Celery plants to “run”—that is, to blossom, I should answer, “ Sow 
them early, transplant them in very rich soil, and let them stand thus 
before being finally planted, until they am 9 inches in heightsuch 
will be sure to “run” betimes in the autumn or winter. Lettuces that 
endure the winter, commonly called early spring Lettuces, are notorious 
for being a long time in use without advancing to the blossom state, and 
why 2 Simply through the comparative absence of those exciting 
causes which cause plants to assume the blossoming condition. But 
Lettuces sown in May on rich soil, and transplanted when stout pl.auts, 
will in general “ run ” before they make good hearts. The only way 
to obtain good hearted Lettuce in the heat of summer is to sow them 
in drills on the richest soil in the garden, if loamy so much the better. 
There they may be thinned out to the proper distance, and with waterings 
when necessary they will produce heads as fine as in spring. The 
Lettuces are a short-lived race, and any check after rapid growth during 
the exciting heats of summer will be sure to induce this blossoming 
habit. In the cool of autumn and early spring they bear transplanting 
well, for that kind of elaboration which tends gradually to the protluc- 
tion of blossoms goes on very slowly, the exciting causes of heat and 
light being at a low point. 
And now we come to the Cabbage. These are not so notorious for 
Iwlting as some other vegetables, and their tendency to run to blossom 
is at all times increased by any spurious mixture in their blood. How 
this occurs is not particularly plain, but certain it is that they are more 
excitable when such is the case. But the true Cabbages, sown at par¬ 
ticular p riods, are unsafe in this respect. Let anyone sow his test kind 
in the first week of July, and the probability is that they will all, or 
many of them, bolt in the succeeding April. The fact is, that they grow 
with too much rapidity in the month of September ;—too fast to form a 
heart in that young state and, being transplanted, which they must 
be, at the end of that month, they receive a sudden check on the heels 
of grossness, and this check at once lays the foundation for the blossoming 
principle. But how different the result if the Cabbage seed be sown 
in the middle of August. By the period the young plants are ui>—say, 
the early part of September—the summer heat has declined ; conse¬ 
quently, the plants grow more steadily and are shorter jointed ; and 
the over-exciting causes being reduced to a fair equilibrium, the whole 
tendency of the plant is to produce what is termed heart, and a good 
Cabbage is the result. 
In passing on to Cauliflowers, I may observe, that these are liable to 
“ button,” a technical phrase ; and, I beg it to be understood that I am 
by no means the inventor of this term. It has been used by our great 
grandsires, and, still being accepted by practical persons, 1 do not feel 
