February 5. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 293 
be rather sickly, I must give it a smaller quantity till 
it recovers its health. 
The watering, training, &c., having been rightly 
attended to, the next preparation is selecting the trusses 
of bloom. These should be borne upon the strongest 
shoots, and every one as nearly equal in size, number of 
pips, and in the proper position, as possible. Should 
there be in any case more pips to a truss than can possibly 
expand, let them be carefully thinned out with a pair 
of sharp-pointed scissors. This should be done at an 
early stage, to throw more strength into those intended 
to bloom. This point of thinning is of more impor¬ 
tance than many think of:—they are afraid, or too care¬ 
less to do it. 
Giving Air. —No flowers will thrive well, and bring 
their colours to high perfection, without abundant sup¬ 
plies of element, therefore give plenty on all favour¬ 
able occasions. On mild, cloudy days, it will be ad¬ 
visable to draw off the lights of the frame or the pit 
entirely, and let the plants revel in the mild atmosphere. 
All these points having been duly attended to, we 
may fairly suppose the blooms will be in fine order the 
day before the exhibition. It will then be necessary to 
consider how they are to travel. Happy is the man who 
happens to have his garden near the place, and can 
convey his plants on a covered handbarrow, and place 
them upon the stage, uninjured, at once, an hour or two 
before the judges enter to decide upon their merits. He 
is relieved of a world of care. But he who dwells at a 
distance, need not despair, if his flowers are up to the 
mark of excellence. He will certainly have to bestow 
a little more trouble in tying his flowers close and firmly 
to sticks, encircling the stems with a little cotton wool, 
to preserve them from being injured. Then place the 
plants in a spring van, first covering the bottom with a 
few inches of coal-ashes or sand. This will keep the 
j pots from sliding about, and causing the branches of 
! the plants to rub against each other. Having arrived 
| safely at the place, the plants must be carefully lifted 
out, the sticks removed, and also the cotton wool and 
every other unnecessary appendage, used as protectives 
during the journey. Then dress over the flowers, clip 
off any that have been injured, and bring others into 
view in their place. If a little green moss be laid over 
the soil, it will both look neat and tidy, and keep the 
soil moist in the pots. They are now fairly before the 
judges, and may be left to their arbitration with the 
consoling thought, that whether they win, or no, every¬ 
thing has been done to the best of your judgment. 
T. Appleby. 
ROTATION OF CROPS. 
Tms significant term, in its more extended sense, 
involves a very important part in the covenant be¬ 
tween “landlord and tenant,” as regulating that due 
variation of crops, whereby the land may not be deterio¬ 
rated in value to the one—nor the other denied that 
proper amount of produce due to his industry: this 
important subject which in that case has engaged the 
attention of the most eminent agriculturists of the day, 
and not unfrequently given rise to vexatious disputes 
and litigation, is also of the greatest consequence to the 
horticulturist, whose operations, though less extensive 
than those of the other great section of “ cultivators' of 
the soil,” is yet one demanding our most serious attention; 
and the spring crops being shortly to be committed to 
the earth, we make a few remarks in the way of assist¬ 
ing the inexperienced in the course most prudent to 
pursue. 
We believe the writers of most works on cultural 
affairs agree, that a crop ripening its seeds is tire one most 
deteriorating to the ground producing it; and, acting on 
that principle, many landlords forbid two corn crops 
in succession, unless the second one receive that gene- 
j rous assistance which is supposed to support it, without 
calling forth more than the energies of the land can pro 
perly spare. Now, though this can hardly be met by any 
analagous case in ordinary gardening, yet from it we 
may draw a useful lesson, for here we see it hinted, that 
two crops alike, impoverish the land to a much greater 
amount than two crops of different kinds, other things 
being equal in both cases. Now, though we do not scruple, 
now and then, at taking a leaf out of the farmer’s book, 
we are far from certain whether in this case, it is he, or 
the gardener, that has copied the other’s practice. But, 
leaving that question, let us direct ourselves to the result 
it has on the well-being of the crops influenced by it, and 
though we do not pretend to name the various salts, 
alkalies, &c., which learned men tell us a crop of cabbages 
withdraws from the earth, neither would the uncouth 
titles such substances are known by tend much to en¬ 
lighten the paths of ordinary cultivation, yet it requires 
no great amount of chemical lore, to prove that two 
crops must abstract a much greater amount of such sub¬ 
stances than one. This axiom we may lay down as a 
“ fixed law,” and as such let us now consider its bearings, 
beginning first with that important section the Cabbage- 
worts, or Brassica tribe, which, as our readers well 
know, includes a large portion of the kitchen-garden 
produce; and commencing with Cabbages, let us see 
how that crop fares. It is common to plant the prin¬ 
cipal supply in the autumn or early spring, and per¬ 
haps a few, from spring-sown plants, are planted out 
early in summer; these crops, after being cut, are gene¬ 
rally allowed to grow or sprout again, and a crop of 
sprouts, varying in size from medium-sized hard cab¬ 
bages, to small shoots of only a few green leaves, are 
usually produced in such abundance as to carry on the 
supply until the middle of winter, or early spring of the 
year following. This successional, and often useful crop, 
is sometimes dispensed with, when the means and wishes 
of the proprietor enable him to keep up a succession of 
cabbages from young plants, which we have sometimes 
done; but as we never could see any particular benefit 
in the plan, commensurate with the extra expense, &c., 
we have abandoned it in cases where not particularly 
wanted, and regard the duties of the Cabbage as only 
half performed when it has yielded us the first “ firm 
head;” and the [crop of sprouts which follow, form 
dishes of “ greens ” for common use all through the 
latter part of summer, autumn, and early winter, and 
being young and tender, form no bad accompaniment to 
other good things. 
While treating on this subject, we may give the inex¬ 
perienced a hint worth noting down, and it is this:—in 
cutting the first crop of cabbages, be sure not to cut 
any more leaves off’ than are wanted with the cabbage ; 
inattention to this simple matter will deprive you of 
the use of more than half the second crop. We have 
often been grieved to see the cottager strip his cabbage 
stalks of, what we may call, “ their very heart’s blood; ” 
the term, doubtless, is not a polite one, but it is not far 
from the truth, and we have witnessed it literally become 
so; and in a plant less tenacious of life than the cab¬ 
bage it would often er prove so. 
However, as this is a digression, we must return to 
our text, and consider ourselves as looking over a plot 
of cabbages, or rather what once was such ; a moment¬ 
ary glance will tell us that, in catering for the kitchen, 
the demand had been greater than the supply, or, what 
is nearer the mark, the thoughtful “ kitchen server ” had 
kept cutting from them, saving greens in another place 
for future use; all, therefore, that we have before us is a 
mass of naked stalks, forked and branched like minia¬ 
ture fruit-trees headed down for grafting; this crop we 
shall suppose to have performed its duty, and a verdict 
for its removal is given accordingly, and the sooner the 
