118 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
as its next neighbour, while the plant which had the 
good fortune to be allotted a few square inches to itself 
presents a robust decumbent habit, as much as to say—I 
will obtain a good foundation on terra firma before I 
ascend further. If the crop be still left undisturbed or 
unassisted, the chances are that this plant soon comes 
in contact with the struggling family, or, it may be, 
with another plant as formidable as itself; then comes 
the conflict. A strong tenacity to life enables more than 
the proper number to compete for existence, until the 
powers of the plant aud those of the soil are so far 
i exhausted as no longer to be able to assimilate the food 
calculated to form a good useful root, and the crop, to 
all intents, is ruined. Now, though we do not often see 
this carried out to such an extent in a garden, yet we 
often enough see it partially so, and wo need hardly say 
that the evil is in proportion to the extent of neglect, 
i If, in addition to what we have said about the top taking 
| harm from the over-crowding, we add that the root is 
I equally hurt, we are only affirming another of those 
immutable laws of nature which we should do well to 
copy. A superfluity of plants withdraw from the ground 
those juices which are the most important to be re¬ 
tained there to support the legitimate objects; and to 
allow a number of useless plants to occupy the ground 
around one intended to remain, is to rob that space of 
the nutritious qualities of most consequence to the one 
left; rather, therefore, select single or outside plants, 
where such can be had, and destroy those patches 
entirely. Of course much depends on circumstances, 
the nature of the ground, &c., but in Turnips the above 
directions are never wrong. 
Onions require a somewhat different treatment; it is 
then advisable to select the largest and best plants, and 
the crop, when thinned, standing much thicker than 
turnips, single plants cannot always he had to give the 
crop that uniform regularity so conducive to its beauty, 
if not also to its well-being, because we presume in the 
sowing of that and other crops, the trite saying of that 
celebrated personage, who sent his gardening protege 
into the world with the advice, “ to sow thick, thin in 
time, and keep on good terms with the cook,” has been 
fully acted on in the first of these duties. Now, before 
these pages roach the reader, many a bed of onions will 
have been thinned in early districts; still, much remains 
to be done; and as some difference of opinion exists as 
to the distance the crop ought to stand apart when 
finally thinned out, some have gone to great extremes 
in trying to prove that if left at wide distances a much 
greater weight of useful produce is the result. In this 
opinion we by no means coincide, because so many 
external circumstances influence the crop, that mere 
distance alone will not atone for other disadvantages. 
In a general way, we sow our onions in continuous 
rows, one foot apart, and in thinning allow about six or 
seven inches, oftener less than more. Those who have 
ground more than usually rich, deep, and moist, without 
being wet and sour, may allow a larger space between 
with advantage; but those to whom a fortnight’s dry 
weather advances their onion crop some three weeks 
i towards maturity, will do well to consider whether they 
| can afford space that will perhaps never be occupied; 
| not but that a thin standing crop will withstand a 
| drought longer than a crowded one; but a medium one 
is the most likely to he the most productive. To attain 
1 that happy medium, the cultivator must exercise a con- 
! siderable share of his own discretion. If his ground be 
dry and gravelly, and a hot dry season follows, his crop 
] can scarcely, under any circumstances, be good; if a 
wet season occurs, then he may thin a little wider, aud 
he will have size as well as numbers. One great error 
in thinning onions, is the habit of leaving so many to 
draw for after use; we have seen this would-be-act-of- 
carefulness carried to a hurtful extent. The season 
May 20. j 
when onions are thinned is the one in which their pro l 
gress is most rapid, and when left very thick they soon 
suffer. We therefore recommend but few to be left for 
the purpose above, and do not let economy defeat its 
own purpose. 
'The above remarks relate with equal propriety to i 
other crops, as well as turnips and onions. Carrots and 
other root crops ought to be thinned before their tops ! 
intermix in such a way as to draw each other, or, in 
other words, they ought to be thinned as soon as it 
appears that the plants are in a manner safe from those 
enemies which prey on them so much while in a young 
state. Lettuces sown where they have to remain may also 
be similarly treated. Even Peas, when sown too thick, 
may be advantageously thinned ; and it is very common ! 
to pull up every alternate French Bean, when standing 
less than six inches apart, if on good ground. Broad 
Beans the same, even Spinach is also benefited by a 
more liberal allowance of room, while many things are 
improved in quality in being so treated, and of the latter 
class is Parsley. 
In making the above observations on thinning the 
crops of small seedlings to such a distance as to obtain 
the most remuneration for the space occupied, we are 
reminded that a like evil arises from planting certain 
crops too thickly. Scarlet Runner Kidney Beans will 
remain longer in bearing if only half the number of 
plants be employed that are often seen. Cauliflowers 
will also get larger if, on good ground, they have more 
than four square feet to each plant, instead of less. 
Potatoes, too, are well known to produce most when 
planted tolerably wide ; still there is a limit with them ; 
aud such crops as Sea-Kale, Asparagus, &c., which 
require more room still, are subject to some special i 
treatment; therefore we exempt them from the present 
“ weeding,” unless it be in those cases where they are 
sown to remain, in which case the war of extermination 
to all useless numbers must be carried out here as else- 1 
where. J. Robson. I 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Rookery. — “ In answer to your correspondent’s query—I know of at 
least a dozen rookeries in this part of the country (Trowbridge), where j 
they always shoot the young ones, and the number of nests do not ■ 
decrease ; it is a well-known fact, that if the young ones are not killed for ! 
several years, the number of nests is less every year. The cause I have j 
never seen explained. I saw a singular instance of rooks entirely desert¬ 
ing a rookeFy, this spring, after building their nests, and the female , 
sitting on the eggs in most of the nests. A pair of crows had been ob¬ 
served to be about the trees for several days ; in a day or two after every . 
rook had left, and the colony was entirely deserted, and not a rook has 
been observed to settle on the trees since, although there was at least from 
40 to 50 nests there. I suppose the crows must have beaten out the 
rooks and destroyed the eggs, as their leaving cannot be accounted for 
in any other way.—J. K. T.” 
Another correspondent (H. IK, iV.) says—“ In answer to your corres- ; 
pondent about his rooks, he may shoot one-third of the young ones, as in : 
the following year the number of nests will not be diminished.” 
Morels.— “ J. K. T. is evidently no naturalist, or he would know ( 
that no morels vegetate in a long continued drought, and a north-east | 
wind such as we have so long experienced ; but, on the contrary, they , 
grow when the weather is moist , and the air from 65° to G0°. The 
weather has just changed, and in a week I have little doubt but morels 
will be brought into the house by those whose business it is to frequent ( 
the old woods and plantations. If J. K. T. wishes to satisfy his in¬ 
credulity, he may send three postage stamps, and I will cither return 
them or send the weight in morels, when they are brought in. Jews- 
ears. —These fungi grow in the same places as morels , arc three, four, 
and six inches diameter, and are higher-flavoured for culinary purposes 
than morels , but are so brittle till dried as not to bear carriage.”—W. M. 
Various Queries (Leguleian).—Always glad to oblige, but request 
our correspondents would notask too much at a time. Clematis azurea, 
—This is not generally struck, but grafted or inarched on any hardy 
variety. Epiphyllum crenatum .—Upper part of leaves have got sickly, and 
crumbling like dry tinder, after being kept dry in winter, and previously 
grown in summer, aud hardened off in autumn. It has very likely been 
too dry, and also too cold, it wants rather more heat than others you 
mention, and from growing strong is not very well fitted for a window. 
Your only chance now, is to give the shoots coming from the bottom 
every encouragement in your power, watering with warm water, by-and- 
by with manure-water, keeping it as much in the light as possible. If 
grown pretty well, turn it out against a fence right in the sun, in August, 
and house again by the end of September. It is supposed there arc two 
varieties of it, one much freer in blooming than the other; we suppose 
