424 EXTRACTS FROM A CATECHISM OF COTTAGE GARDENING. 
General Advice on the Subject .—Notwithstanding the business of 
gardening is governed by a set of axioms adduced from experience, 
which regulate the operations as to the times and manner of perform¬ 
ance—and though by attending to them the cottager cannot do much 
amiss—yet it should be understood that a good gardener is never bound 
exactly by rules; discretion must often be exercised: there are many 
particulars which, if known and attended to, augment considerably the 
annual produce of any given spot of ground. This 'is accomplished by 
studying well the nature of the crops, how they succeed each other, 
and by taking care that no ground be suffered to remain unnecessarily 
vacant in the growing season. Soon as one crop is nearly fit for use. 
another should be in readiness to take its place. All vegetables that 
may be used at any stage of their growth, as cabbage, lettuce, onions, 
&c., may be sown or planted in drills, on ground intended for other 
crops; for, soon as the first begins encroach injuriously on the second, 
it may be drawn for use. For instance, the ground intended for peas 
or beans in the spring, may be digged in the autumn, and intermediately 
planted with coleworts, in double rows, at such distances as will admit 
beans to be dibbed, or peas drilled between in January and February. 
So also, before bean or pea haulm is cleared away in summer, the spaces 
between the rows may be digged and planted with cabbage, broccoli, 
or any other winter crop. By such management, together with the 
facilities afforded by the row-culture of putting in immediate crops, 
much more may be made of a limited piece of ground, than can pos¬ 
sibly be raised where broad-casting seed prevails. It is true that 
onion, radish, and lettuce, are broad-casted together: and if attention 
be paid to draw away the radish and lettuce in time, the onions suffer 
no injury. This, though allowable in cottage gardening, is suitable 
but for few kinds of vegetables, and is not to be generally recommended, 
except when confined for want of room. 
" Although the cottager may amuse himself by cultivating a variety 
of esculent vegetables, he must not neglect the more useful kinds, for 
they require unceasing attention. He may, to be sure, grow cucum¬ 
bers and pumpkins—he may have a row or two of Grainge’s Cape 
broccoli, which he may use himself, or exchange with his master for 
something better—he may even have a small border for flowers—but 
the potato, cabbage, savoy, onion, carrot, parsnep, broad beans, and 
scarlet runner, demand his chief care. Peas require more space than 
the produce is worth; one row only, and that of Knight’s Marrowfat, 
may be sown; but even this fine productive pea is inferior to the 
runner for family use. Next to stocking his garden with the most 
useful kinds of vegetables, the cottager must use his best endeavours 
