February 1G. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
377 
difference in the mode of protection; in fact, they are 
managed as ordinary Coleworts. 
Now, after such report, into which I have been 
almost imperatively led by the bearing such remarks 
may have on the vegetable question in winters to come, 
lot me advert to a few features in vegetable culture pe¬ 
culiar to the season, for I must soon back to the Fruits 
again. 
And, first of all, about a rotation scheme adapted to 
the succeeding spring, summer, autumn, and winter. 
This, in a garden of any consequence,is something more 
than a mere whim or fancy. It unfortunately happens, 
that science has done but little for us as yet in this 
respect; the best light by which we are guided at present 
being that of sound experience, which, however em¬ 
pirical, when taken without reference to principles, is of 
much value. It must be borne in mind, too, that the 
man of experience, or practice, is not the same dog¬ 
matical animal that would have been his character half a 
century ago. The public will not receive this kind of 
pompous ignorance, although backed by grey hairs and 
a stiff demeanour. The deductions, or inferences, there¬ 
fore, of men of experience and good standing, in any 
profession, in these times, carry, necessarily, much 
weight, and this is just as it should be. 
In adverting to rotation schemes, I have before 
offered my views, and I may be allowed to repeat some 
of them, as bearing on cultivation matters in hard- 
worked vegetable gardens, for such, I doubt, constitute 
the majority. The first great feature that has ever met 
my view, in a consideration of the rotation question, is 
the frequent recurrence, and the immense breadth of 
laud required, for what are termed Cabbageworts, a 
term, the modern acceptation of which includes every¬ 
thing, from a Ragged Jack up to a first-rate cockney 
Cauliflower. 
It does appear to me, that in spite of all that 
chemistry might do for the rotation question, here would 
at all times be a point of such over-bearing influence as 
to throw many impediments in the way of the most 
scientific procedures. I would here, once more, draw 
attention to deep digging or trenching, that is to say, if 
you can get labour enough, for not every one who can 
preach such doctrines can carry them out, and if any 
one should honour me with a call, and not see so much 
of this deep digging going on as he would be led to 
expect, I shall be tempted to use the language which I 
have, years ago, heard imputed to some irreverend 
lecturer, who, when accused of the difference between 
the precepts he gave out and his own example, replied 
—“ You must follow the light, not the lanthorn.” 
When I urge trenching, however, I am not supposing 
it either expedient or possible for every one who 
possesses an old kitchen-garden to deep dig every pole 
of land annually. I name it for the sake of directing 
attention to a class of vegetables, &c., for which I have 
been in the habit of using the term “ Preparers.” Of 
such are the following:—Asparagus, Celery, Rhubarb, 
Leeks, Winter Spinach, Sea-kale, Horseradish, Rasp¬ 
berries, Strawberries, &c. 
Now, these are not all preparers in the same sense 
precisely, some accomplish this by merely deepening 
the soil, others by the long period during which the plot 
is occupied by them, and most by the extra manuring, 
&c., requisite when the crop is “ laid down.” 
I do think that all modern rotation schemers will do 
well to look this view of the question full in the face, 
and if their Sea-kale has, hitherto, been produced under 
blanching-pots, their Celery grown simply by the old 
and pitiful single row system, their Asparagus left 
merely existing, for several years, their Raspberries in a 
: similar position, to reconsider the matter, and see 
j whether a different mode of culture leading to better 
j rotations may not more conduce to the end in view. I 
have so often adverted to this part of the question, and 
in these pages, too, that some may, doubtless, grow 
tired of it; but I may just remind such, that the back¬ 
wardness of vegetable culture and hardy fruits has been 
urged in the most pointed way, during the last year or 
two, by parties of such weight, as that their remarks 
may, by no means, be slighted. R. Errington. 
CUTTINGS. 
According to a good authority, who has been resting 
awhile, at Bath, from the toils and scenes of a busy 
country life, “this is a season when such operations 
(making cuttings) interest all connected with in-door 
and out-door gardening.” Now, it is quite true that 
spring is the best time to make cuttings for in-door 
propagation, and no one can begin too early in the 
spring with soft-wooded cuttings if the means are at 
hand; but the spring is, certainly, not the best time to 
make cuttings for outside propagation; nevertheless, 
we are all of us but too glad to receive such hints as 
will enable us to make The Cottage Gardener more 
useful, and “augment the sale of it;” therefore this is 
the first of “a series of articles on Striking Cuttings, 
first, of all soft-wooded plants, as Geraniums; and, 
secondly, all hard-wooded plants, as Roses, &c; ” on the 
recommendation of J. S. M. while residing at Bath. 
In my busy days, I received more useful hints on 
gardening from Bath, than from all England, Ireland, 
and Scotland put together. When people go to Brighton 
they seem to forget gardening altogether; but when 
they go to Bath, it often seemed to me that it was on 
purpose to tell of all the very secrets of gardening to 
one another; and by way of proving how far any one 
was up to the mark, to get things sent from home to 
Bath to tell the tale. Poultry shows are nothing to the 
private exhibitions at Bath, at the end of the winter, to 
my own knowledge; the worst of it was, and perhaps 
is now, that the exhibition is not always a private one ; 
your last cucumber to Bath may have been presented to 
a second party, and to gratify the presentee, it is now 
ticketed for all Bath to see, as from your garden in the 
happy land, if not from the cradle of the very science, 
bearing on its length and juiciness. At all events, 
Editors must know every thing, else they would never 
send me this letter from Bath, to remind me of reminis¬ 
cences of “ Auld Lang Syne.” 
The top part of a shoot is the best part for a cutting 
in all plants, and more so in all the soft-wooded plants; 
the top of a young weak side-shoot is better for a cutting 
than the top of the strongest shoot, for this reason, that 
it is not so liablo to damp at the bottom as a large 
succulent shoot would be; but if you can get it to strike 
roots, the strongest makes the best plant of the two. 
Then, on the principle of never venture, never win, 
most gardeners make cuttings in the spring of as many 
tops as they can put their hands on ; but writers do not 
advise young beginners to be so bold—rather to feel 
their way by taking the more sure and easy tops for 
their first cuttings. But I shall mention a great many 
plants by name, and say under each of them how the 
the thing is to be done, and in different ways. 
Long cuttings are not so easy to manage as short 
ones, and they are more extravagant; the reason is this, 
the long ones will not hold up their heads nearly so 
well as short ones, and when the head of a cutting 
droops it is a bad sign, and if it is not able to prick up 
its ears and stand erect after two days, it is a worse 
sign, and, instead of “ being all up with it,” the chances 
are that it will not root at all, but damp off at last. I 
shall tell of a remedy for such a case by-and-by. 
Secondly, the extravagance of making long cuttings 
will never be more felt than when you have only one 
