August 27, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
173 
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COMING EVENTS 
27 
Th 
Reading and Ludlow Shows. 
29 
s 
30 
SUN 
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. 
i 
TU 
2 
w 
Glasgow Autumn Show. 
WINTER GREENS. 
N consequence of the protracted drought that has 
prevailed over the greater part of the kingdom a 
scarcity of green vegetables in winter and spring 
will in all probability be experienced in many 
gardens. Cultivators who did not take prompt 
advantage of the intermittent showers that fell 
early in the season in putting out plants are in 
a much less favourable position than others who 
felt it safer to plant even if their Cabbages, 
Borecoles, Brussels Sprouts, and Broccolis were small instead 
of waiting for them to get larger. The loss of a chance for 
planting has proved a serious loss, and plants have spoiled 
in the seedbeds while their owners have been waiting hope¬ 
lessly for rain. 
Possibly by the time these lines are printed the long-looked- 
for rain will have fallen in sufficient quantity to moisten 
the parched ground. There is unfortunately no certainty about 
this, but already welcome showers have fallen in some places, 
and barometers have been steadily falling in most, also the tem¬ 
perature. These are indications of a change, and a general 
downpour would be welcomed in thousands of gardens. The 
Americans also have warned us that a “depression” is 
crossing and will cause “ local disturbance ” on our coast. 
Very “local” indeed have been the effects of previous de¬ 
pressions of which we have been advised, and a good “ general 
disturbance ” is overdue. 
Let no one imagine that their plants are too small or too 
much drawn for planting when the ground becomes fit for 
their reception—that is, those individuals who failed to 
plant early in the season. Mr. Iggulden some little time 
ago advised the insertion of even tall piants that have been 
languishing in seed beds, placing them slantingly in rifts 
formed with a spade. That was good advice to those who 
failed to plant earlier, and the advice holds good even yet. It 
is astonishing how miserable hard-stemmed leafless plants 
improve under the influence of autumn rains after a season 
like the present, when the earth has been made unusually 
warm by weeks of hot sun. The plants cannot attain a large 
size, but if three, four, or more are inserted in the space that 
is usually occupied by one a great quantity of acceptable 
produce may be had from the land, and especially if a long 
mild autumn is in store, which is not at all unlikely. At 
any rate those who foresee a scarcity of winter greens will act 
wisely in expecting a long autumn, and inserting accord¬ 
ingly such plants as they have or can obtain. Cabbages, 
Savoys, Broccoli in variety will all afford useful produce, 
especially Cabbages or Coleworts. 
Fortunate are those individuals who have sufficient of 
these for planting large breadths of ground. In every garden 
where a supply of green vegetables must be maintained, seed 
of Coleworts, with any varieties of small Cabbages, should be 
sown freely about the middle of May. It costs little, and 
some hundreds or thousands of plants can be raised on a 
comparatively small plot of ground. It is best either to sow 
thinly or thin quickly to prevent violent crowding, and let 
No. 270.—Vol. XI., Third Series. 
the plants remain in the seed beds till ground vacated by 
early Potatoes or other crops is ready for them, or the weather 
is favourable for planting. Put out now the plants need 
not be more than a foot apart, but if planted some weeks 
earlier a little more space may be accorded them with advan¬ 
tage. 
From October right through the winter, and far into 
spring, the plants wili yield produce of the first quality, and 
far superior to any of the Kales or Savoys, and quite as 
tender and delicate in flavour as Brussels Sprouts. These 
must be grown, but even in their absence there will not be 
very serious complaints of the quality of winter greens if 
there is an abundant supply of Coleworts and young Cabbages, 
with hearts not much larger than good-sized Lemons. These 
also endure more frost than many persons imagine, and as 
to the Hardy Green Colewort, it is seldom killed during very 
severe winters. It is as hardy as any other winter green, 
and its dwarfness gives it an advantage over most, inasmuch 
as it is often snugly protected with snow when its taller con¬ 
geners are exposed to the rigours of a protracted frost. More 
than once all has been lo3t but the Coleworts, and in that 
case the supply of winter greens invariably gave complete 
satisfaction. 
Market gardeners are more fully alive to the importance 
of this crop than private growers, as a rule, though some of 
them need no enlightenment on the subject. Thousands of 
these plants will be inserted in fields immediately the land 
is moist enough, and large breadths are now growing in 
gardens where their value is known and occasional showers 
enabled their being planted some weeks ago. They should 
still be inserted wherever they are provided or can be 
obtained, and they will do much to mitigate what appears to 
be almost a certainty of the future—a very inconvenient 
scarcity of green vegetables in winter and early spring. 
Old Cabbage stumps are commonly cleared off the ground 
in large quantities at this period of the year, but persons 
should think twice before destroying them this season. In 
many, and probably the great majority of cases, it will be 
far more profitable to leave them, cutting off all the heads or 
hearts that are in any way firm—that is, if they can be 
spared, and clearing off all dead and decayed leaves. The 
appearance of the quarter will not be particularly inviting for 
a time ; but the neatness will be an improvement on the 
mass of withering insect-infested leaves removed, and by- 
and-by, after the rains fall, the stumps will bristle with clean 
fresh growths, and eventually the old Cabbage plot will 
be the most admired in the garden. The forest of spring¬ 
like growths will be refreshing, and the owner or gardener 
will have the enjoyable privilege known as “ cut and come 
again” for weeks or months, while the produce can scarcely 
be grumbled at by the most cantankerous of cooks. Do not, 
then, destroy old Cabbages during a summer like the present, 
but give them a chance of becoming young again, and proving 
their value and your forethought when the pinch comes— 
with other people. 
Failing a supply of the plants above referred to—and it is 
certain they are very scarce in many places—the usefulness 
of Turnip tops should not be overlooked. Tons of these are 
sold in the markets in winter, or rather the early days of 
spring, and most acceptable they are. The slightly bitter 
taste of the growths of the common white Turnip may not 
find favour with all, but to many palates it is particularly 
agreeable, and ten times more of this variety are grown and 
sold for the purpose in question than of the Swedish Turnip, 
the growths of which are not bitter at all. Both may use¬ 
fully occupy plots that in ordinary seasons would be filled 
with other vegetables, and a choice will then be afforded. 
For years past, when the ordinary kinds of garden vegetables 
have been plentiful I have had to send into the fields for 
Turnip tops as a change from Brussels Sprouts, Cabbages, 
and Kale. But it is not in all districts where this can be 
done ; yet what cannot be gathered in fields may be produced 
No. 192G. —Vol. LXXIII , Old Series. 
