January 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
t 
the production of beet are as wide as the poles apart. All 
good gardeners know full well, that to have fine beet for 
salad purposes a poor sandy soil is requisite; the same may 
bo said of the silver-skinned onions for pickling. Our 
newly-enlisted member of The Cottage Gardener’s staff, 
Mr. ltobson, will, we feel assured, bear us out in this matter; 
for there is something in his excellent papers which tells of 
sound experience and a well matured judgment. ’W ell, it 
so happens that the kitchen-gardens of the nobility and 
gentry are, in general, highly manured; indeed, having no 
“ rest ” for, it may be, a century, everything, therefore, is 
carried “ by force of arms.” Thinking, then, in those days, 
that by trenching unusually deep, ami bringing up much of 
the subsoil—a material intermediate between light loam 
and red sand—we should make the soil very hungry, we did 
so. On this plot we sowed our fancy beets, our silver-skins, 
and our scorzonera and salsaffy—the two latter being root 
crops, apt to “ bolt ” through with too early sowing, or too 
high a stimulus. But, alas! our deep digging made the 
beet coarse, the onions monstrosities, and as for the scor¬ 
zonera, Ac., they were in full bloom in August—a most 
undesirable affair. We can never, therefore, forget this use¬ 
ful lesson, which throws much light on the necessity for 
inorganic, as well as organic, materials as the food of plants. 
Preparers. —first amongst these ranks the potato, for 
few tilings have the ground in better order for succeeding 
crops than this root. We do not mean that it enriches the 
soil; whatever it does in the way of manures depends, of 
course, on the quantity applied to the soil at planting time. 
Under proper culture it leaves the soil almost equal to a 
summer’s fallow. In this class may be placed most of those 
things which neither belong to the deepeners nor the 
exhausters, such as artichokes, onions, peas, beaus, Ac. 
Certainly, in the strict sense of the word, some of them are 
not more Preparers than an occasional article in the other 
classes ; but we prefer this arrangement on account of keep¬ 
ing all these things unmixed with the brassica family ; that 
is to say, the various cabbages, greens, kales, broccoiis, Ac., 
which are at once corrupters and exhausters, and if long 
cropped on the same land are almost sure to club. 
Exhaustors. —We thus give them their place in the order 
of the subject, although hut just alluded to. These, as 
before observed, should not follow twice in succession on 
the same plot, if possible. 
“ Stolen ” CRors.'—We have borrowed this phrase from 
the farmers, who use it to express departure from what used 
to he considered system in rotation. Thus, a gardener 
may have a plot of land from whicli he has removed a lot of 
onions in September, intending it for a main crop of carrots 
in the next year; this he may crop immediately witli cole- 
worts or spinach, which may he got off by the middle of 
April, in time for the carrots : this we should call a “stolen” 
crop. However, the term is used here in order well to 
separate objects, and to lead the cottager to appreciate 
system, which he can only do by keeping his subjects well 
classified, so as to see at a glimpse how to combine when he 
attempts mixed cropping. To recapitulate them, we have,first, 
the deepeners or tap-rooted things, the ground well trenched 
for them, manure for many of them turned in rather deep. 
These succeeded by the preparers, what manure is used dug 
in near the surface. These, again, succeeded by the ex¬ 
hausters, for which the preceding crops have made capital 
preparation, inasmuch as the ground is deep, well-manured, 
and fresh to them. There might be added a class of 
miscellaneous character, such as kidney beans, lettuces, 
spinach, and many other little things; but as such will 
begin to destroy the simplicity of a scheme, we leave them 
to the cultivator's own fancy, for they are quite subordinate 
to the general plan, and must be kept so, being generally 
i more crops of accommodation than of profit. 
We meant to have discussed the subject of mixed cropping, 
but find it will carry us beyond our space. This must he 
reserved for the next letter, when we will endeavour to 
show how far it is practicable and commendable. In the 
meantime, let our readers take well into consideration the 
character of their crops, their habits, Ac., and this study, we 
trust, will he facilitated by the present advice. 
Business of the Month. —-The end of the month is a 
very good time to introduce some beds of the early horn 
carrot, but those who do so, should make up their mind to 
use some covering, after the manner of early radishes. 
The soil should he in exceeding fine tilth, and some mellow 
and dark-looking material, such as very old leaf soil, old 
tan, very old manure, Ac., he given as dressing; in fact, 
anything which has once been living, vegetables, weeds, Ac., 
and which, ..through age, lias assumed the appearance of 
mere soil. This may he incorporated thoroughly with the 
soil to the depth of six or eight inches. They are by far { 
the best for early work in beds of forty-two inches in width, 
for they require a good deal of weeding, Ac.; and, as they 
are a delicate plant when young, they will neither bear the 
pressure of the foot nor the hand,—no mauling or messing 
may he allowed. We grow them on beds, elevated nine j 
inches above the ordinary surface, and cover the surface of 
the beds entirely with a mixture composed of strong loam 
and charcoal grit; the loam in a powdery state. Such a 
mixture is valuable kept “ cut and dry” in an outhouse, in 
some useless corner. It is a slug or snail repellant; and 
latterly we have taken to mix a fine material with it, ex¬ 
tracted from the cinder-heap, riddled like raddish seeds. 
These materials together, after a shower of rain, leave a 
regular Macadamised surface, over which the slugs forbear 
to travel, notwithstanding the provocative character of a 
delicate young carrot for supper. Let us once more advise 
such allotment men, or cottagers, as possess a warm soil, 
take a pride in cultural matters, and are situate near a good 
market, to try their hand at the horn carrot as a specula¬ 
tion, bunched and forced into market in April, when all the 
world is gaping for spring produce; they are exceedingly 
profitable, and have the merit of throwing their ground at 
liberty for a whole summer cropping. 
The end of the month is a very safe time to get in what 
may he termed the cottager’s main crops of peas and 
beans, especially the latter. In broad beans, the old Wind¬ 
sor is, after all, the most substantial bean for a strong- 
stomached family; nevertheless, some of the long-pod 
section will sometimes succeed where the broad bean will 
not; tlie broad requires a stronger soil. As for peas, we 
must still suggest the green imperials for the class wo would 
desire to serve ; next to them, the old blue Prussian. And 
now for the reason. In the first place, our patrons in tlio 
allotment way are generally badly off for pea-sticks; in 
the second, they profess to like what they call a good 
mouthful, such as the imperial ; and in the third, as peas 
with men of narrow means are a kind of luxury, and may 
not be expected every day, why it becomes necessary to 
seize upon a kind which produces a glut and off again, 
rather than one long succession. Thus, imperials sown in 
the end of January, will rejoice the hearts of the cottager’s 
bairns by finding them shelling-practice from the early 
part of July until the beginning of August,—a dish or two 
a-week, and this is a first-rate luxury. lie can then crop 
the plot with winter greens, and very likely may have 
already provided successors by planting greens long before 
the peas are picked. Our maxim is this — As much of 
what are called domestic indulgences as you please, so long 
as there is no sacrifice in point of profit at the year’s end. 
Garbage Plants wintered in their bed should he got out 
in the second week, if possible ; but, in all these things, the \ 
state of the soil as to working must be considered of high j 
importance. Better wait a week or so, than sow or plant 
on puddled soil. 
Cabbage Seed. —A sprinkling should, by all means, he 
sown in the second week; and henceforth, let every man 
sow once a-monfh until the month of September, when ho 
may put the hag away until the following February. A 
pinch of lettuce —the Ady’s Cos—may, by all means, he 
thrown in with a bed of raddish seed, in a warm nook. And 
now for the potatoes. Our space is already exhausted, hut 
we must, in conclusion, give three good hearty cheers for 
early planting. No late planting for us, in the old sense 
of it. Jjet, therefore, all who would be as secure as circum¬ 
stances permit, look well to February and March as to 
winding-up their potato planting. R. Errington. 
APIARIAN’S CALENDAR.— February. 
By J. H. Payne, Esq., A lit her of “ The Bee-keeper's Guide.'' 
Messrs. Neighbour and Sons’ Improved Cottage Hive. 
—In fulfilling my promise of giving a description of this 
