496 
Maiich 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
million. The seed should now he sown in drills fifteen 
inches apart, and, when tit to thin, to be left sis inches from 
plant to plant until the autumn, when they may be finally 
planted in rows two-feet-and-a-half square, in good, rich 
ground, trenched eighteen inches deep. By placing over them 
deep, large pots or boxes, hampers, or hoops of hazel sticks 
to support a mat, or, in short, anything that will allow space 
for them to grow, and to exclude the light and frost with 
leaves, dung, or any other litter at hand, they will produce a 
good crop of blanched footstalks earlier than in the open 
ground. A few old roots cut up into pieces, with an eye to 
each, and planted the early part of the month, will be fit for 
blanching twelvemonths before the seedling plants. 
SEA-KALE. 
This is another vegetable possessing many wholesome 
properties, hut seldom or never seen in the allotments or 
cottager’s gardens. Why it should be excluded from such 
places is connected with an idea that it is only suitable for 
the tables of the rich, and that it requires particular care 
and attention to bring it to a high style of perfection, and 
then to be served up in a proper manner with suitable sauce, 
and all the other good things that are seen and enjoyed at 
a rent-day dinner. No man is supposed to relish a dish of 
turtle-soup with such exquisite delight as an Alderman ; why 
it should be so is natural; we are all the creatures of habit— 
a taste is acquired, and luxuries are enjoyed. Although we 
would not encourage expensive luxuries, we would commend 
to our allotment friends the cultivation of a little Sea-kale. 
If the seed is sown early in the month in drills about two 
inches deep, and one foot from row to row, thinned out to 
six inches apart in the row, they will be lit next spring to be 
permanently planted in patches, three together in triangle 
form, each being six inches apart, and two feet from each 
other in the row, where they can be blanched any time during 
the following winter, or early spring, in the same manner as 
recommended for Rhubarb. 
CELERY. 
A little seed should now be sown thinly in any warm 
situation, and slightly covered with soil; when the plants are 
two or three inches high, they should be transplanted six 
inches apart into a bed composed of well-rotted dung, six or 
seven inches in depth, on a hard bottom, in a sunny situation, 
where they form a mass of fibrous roots. AVhen they 
are six or eight inches high, they can be safely and 
finally transplanted into trenches or beds. Seymour's Red 
and White are good sorts. 
BROCOLI. 
Although with some kinds twelvemonths are to pass 
away before the produce is fit for the table, nevertheless, 
there are others that require only four or five to bring them 
to maturity, by which a succession of this useful and delicate 
vegetable is continued for eight months, from September to 
May. A sowing to be made about the middle of the month 
of the Purple Cape and Grange’s Early White, and another 
about the middle of May; the first sowing to be transplanted 
the early part of June, and the plants of .the second sowing 
to be transplanted the latter part of the same month, will 
give a successful produce from September to Christmas. 
The. Early White, treated in the same manner, is fit for 
use from November to February. Early White Cape sown 
this month is fit for the table the first week of March ; and 
from a June sowing, a successional supply is continued to 
the beginning of April. 
New Edinburgh Early White, treated like the others, 
with its cream-coloured heads beautifully garnished by its 
surrounding green leaves, are in maturity during the month 
of April. 
Tire Impregnated Early White, sown and transplanted 
at the same time as the others, comes into use in March 
and April; the colour pure white. 
Somer's New Hardy Dwarf, a fine white, sown as detailed 
above, produces a succession to the Impregnated Early 
White, and continues it to the end of May. But the 
Walchercn is the best of all. For a successional supply 
of this invaluable Cauliflower-like Brocoli, it is necessary 
to make sowings the latter end of this month, the middle 
and end of May, the middle and end of June, and the middle 
and end of July, which will give a regular supply to the end 
of the year. 
Radishes, Lettuces, Peas, and Leans. Successional sowings 
should be made to keep tip a regular supply. 
Savoys, Borecole, and a few Cabbage seeds should be sown 
about the end of the month in any warm corner of the 
allotment or garden. These useful and hardy vegetables 
are so well known and appreciated for their good qualities, 
that any further particulars on their cultivation are un¬ 
necessary. 
Slips of Lavender, Sage, Thyme, and all such things, 
may now be put in, in any shady place, when they will soon 
strike root. 
CULTURAL PRINCIPLES. 
As agriculture is now receiving the best attention of all 
classes, from the prince to the peasant, it is a subject worthy 
of enquiry to know how far the principles of gardening 
could be extended to the farm. The improved cultivation 
now being adopted, is to be ascribed to the practices 
suggested by the superior management of gardens. That 
many farmers have failed in their laudable endeavours to 
adopt improved practices is nothing wonderful, when we con¬ 
sider how ill-prepared the soil generally is to do justice to 
any improved method recommended by such men as Mechi, 
Davis, and others, who have extended the principles of 
gardening to farming operations, by deep draining, deep 
ploughing, manuring, and minutely commingling of the soil. 
Without attending to the proper preparation of the soil, it is 
unreasonable and unfair to decry a system because it does 
not adapt itself to all soils, like quack medicines,—a panacea 
for all the ills that land is heir to. 
Let us see how the gardener cultivates his ground ; deep 
diggings, and sometimes trenchings eighteen inches to two 
feet deep, are given before a crop is planted. Gardeners 
stand the good effects produced by stirring soil to a 
good depth. The spaces between plants on the sur¬ 
face are left for the atmosphere to surround them with 
its invigorating influence, and the roots have depth of 
soil to range more freely for the supply of food. 
At the spring-time of sowing, when I first paid attention 
to the system of farming adopted in one of the first agricul¬ 
tural counties in England, it really astonished me to see the 
large, rough clods of earth shining forth from the plough¬ 
share, and as hard as brickbats; in a few days more it 
was sown with com, and over went the harrow, tearing some 
up and reducing others to a medium size. Wishing to 
know what became of the seed in such a rough bed, I 
found some on the surface, and others very near the surface, 
and quite close to that could be picked up a handful three 
or four inches deep, that lodged in the openings between 
the clods of earth. I then saw the reason why farmers 
sowed five or six bushels of corn to the acre. What was 
left scattered on the top was picked up by birds; the seed 
covered over by heavy clods may sprout, but would be too 
weak to break through its sepulchre, and the quantity buried 
in the large clods, and then covered over, would never see the 
light. It is only the small portion that may have been 
favoured with a good bed, and properly,-or nearly properly, 
covered up that vegetated, and then began the struggle 
for life in such a soil. No wonder that only three-and-a-half 
quarters is the average produce for every acre in that fine 
county. 
TRANSPLANTING CORN. 
In some of my trials of farming experiments, I have 
transplanted Oats, Barley, and Wheat, from the seed-beds, 
about the end of this month, or the beginning of May, in 
showery weather, with the best results. Wheat transplanted, 
one foot square, produced six quarters per acre, weight Gllbs. 
per bushel. By their sowing or transplanting crops in the 
allotments, the plants have free access of sun and air to 
throw out tillers, or side-shoots, the straw will be more firm 
and mature to resist high winds and heavy rains, and the 
quantity and quality of the grain much increased and 
improved. Upon investigating the subject on the principles 
