190 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[June 20. 
The writer here adds, “ I think of taking more land into 
spade culture, so as to grow wheat for my own bread, and 
the horses’ oats, straw, &c.” 
Now, with regard to the poliey of growing bread-corn, we 
do think it had policy ; it will lead our correspondent too 
wide of his main point, viz., to secure good keep for his 
cows and horse, to which, we presume, may be added, pigs. 
With a free-trade in corn, persons thus situated will always 
purchase wheat both cheaper and better than they can grow 
it, inasmuch as small plots of wheat generally pay a heavy 
toll to the birds, and a bad harvest compels the owner either 
to use bad bread or to sell his wheat ruinously low. If such 
small holders, who keep a horse, can manage to produce 
their oats, it is a far more advisable course; for, in the first 
place, the oat-straw will prove much more useful than 
wheat-straw, as the cows may be principally kept on it when 
they are dry, and during the winter. Oats, moreover, are a 
capital preparer for root crops, and leave the land in a better 
state than wheat. Again, oats are generally an earlier 
harvest, and, if necessary, their stubble can be immediately 
broken up, and a good crop of vetches got in, or even a crop 
of cabbage. 
The difficulty of observing a good rotation will vanish like 
smoke before good culture. From the point where we sit 
to write, we can see a plot which lias had mangold wurtzel 
on it for nearly twenty year's, with only one or two trilling 
intermissions, and, really, the last year’s crop was fully 
equal to any of its predecessors ; not that we advise such a 
course, for there is nothing like a judicious rotation; and, 
doubtless, the recurrent mode alluded to involves a waste of 
manurial matters; the crops have, indeed, to be “ hired ” to 
it, as our honest Cheshire farmers say. With such an 
array of eligibles as the Swede, mangold, potatoes, carrots, 
parsnips, and cabbage, where is the difficulty, especially 
with the addition of an acre or two in pasture, which, if 
properly contrived, might have a portion broken up every 
year, and, after a three or four years’ course, laid down with 
“ seed ’’ again. Abovo* all the crops which possess a claim 
to fresh soil, where snch a course as this is pursued, the 
potato stands first; no person who has been used to potatoes 
from unmanured sward will eat them from old soils if he 
can avoid it. With such a rotation, therefore, we would 
always grow the potatoes on the new ground, without 
manure ; these will prove an excellent preparer for any of 
the valuable root crops. If stiff soil, the Swede, globe 
mangold, or parsnips; and if sandy, carrots, or the long, 
red mangold ; finishing the course with oats, and “ seeding 
down” with them. 
Persons situated like this correspondent, whose letter we 
select, thinking its answer will suit several cases, should, in 
seeking advice in such matters, always state the exact 
amount of land they hold, and the precise amount in pas¬ 
turage ; without such data, and the character of the soil and 
subsoil, it is impossible to give a complete answer. But 
enough for the present ; we must now turn our attention 
to the small allotment holder and the cottager. 
Weeds. —It has been so unusually rainy for weeks, that 
it is much to be feared many crops will get into a very foul 
state, and it is almost n’eedless to add, that extra efforts 
must be made to restore cleanliness; without which, crops 
can never be satisfactory. We have often before observed, 
that Avhen continued rain, or a damp atmosphere, renders 
it extremely difficult to destroy weeds by ordinary means, 
the very best way, as to drill crops, is to dig them in, at 
least, where the drills are a foot apart; with respect to 
such as ate much narrower, a clean hand-weeding must be 
practised, following with the small hoe as soon as the soil 
gets dry. Above all, let every one who desires to have 
comfort, and a prospective confidence in his plot, take 
special care that no weeds be allowed to run to seed; the 
immense benefits accruing from this persevering (tourse will 
be manifest before the year is out, and will tell with tenfold 
force in future years, more especially if the plan be persisted 
in. We have little doubt that the day will arrive when pur 
farming lands will be kept as clean as our pleasure gardens 
now are, and when men will look back with astonishment at 
the narrow-sighted policy of bygone days, avhen those who 
ought to have known better could not discern that weeds 
were their enemies in a double sense; for it is difficult to 
say whether they do most harm in exhausting the soil or in 
obstructing the light. 
Spare Land. —The time has now arrived when some early 
summer crops will lie removed, and make way for their 
successors. Foremost amongst these, perhaps, stands the 
early potatoes; and it becomes the allotment holder to 
“take stock,” to ascertain what will be most useful during 
the approaching winter. If he has a cow, or pigs, let him 
by all means lean to root culture, for these are invaluable, 
whether in the cottage, the cow-house, or the piggery. The 
Swede is, of all others, the most generally useful at this 
period, and for this purpose, as the tap-rooted plants, such 
as mangold, &c., will not transplant so successfully as the 
Swede turnip. To be sure, some kinds of turnip may be 
sown, especially if the soil be light and in very fine tilth, 
with a better chance of success than the Swede, if not 
deferred. There is the Dale’s hybrid, the Yellow Bullock, 
&c., which, to the solidity of the Swede, add the earliness of 
our best old kinds. 
Amongst other matters for filling up spare plots, or the 
intervening portions of such, let us not forget cabbage. It 
has before been observed, that it is a most undoubted stroke 
of good allotment policy to sow a patch of cabbage, of some 
early-hearting kind, once a month, with the exception of 
September, October, November, December, and January. 
We speak here of the ordinary garden cabbages; the Drum¬ 
head, for cattle purposes, is altogether another affair. A 
planting in the end of July, from an early sowing in June, 
will prove of much use, providing a site can be spared ; they 
will prove nice, close-hearted stuff by the beginning of 
October, and will, in fact, be what a London market-gar¬ 
dener would term good coleworts. It may happen that the 
cottier’s family may not need them, and, if he live near a 
town, he can bunch them, and send his wife, or the bairns, 
to market with them, where they will speedily obtain highly 
remunerating prices. This course of proceeding we have 
frequently urged, and we must continue to repeat it; for if 
an allotment man can produce two pounds by a marketing 
system where only one pound’s worth could be obtained by 
home consumption, he is in a position to provide things 
needful to fill up the blank, and, it may be, lay by a few 
shillings into the bargain. Many other things might be 
suggested to fill blank patches, but space will not permit 
further detail in this way. 
Miscellaneous Matters. —The whole of July is the best 
period in all the year to get out crops of the various 
brocolis, autumn cauliflowers, the green kale, the cabbaging 
kale, Brussels sprouts, savoys, and, indeed, all other winter 
greens. After this month they can scarcely be recom¬ 
mended to the allotter, as they do not produce bulk enough 
to be profitable. Nevertheless, as secondary crops a good 
many may be introduced in the early part of August, if the 
soil is good, and the cultivator has no better object in view. 
All these things require liberal manuring, and, if manure 
runs short, we do not recommend any but the kale and 
Brussels sprouts. It is the best practice to insert them in 
deep drills; this keeps them cool, and enables the cultivator 
to earth them up with facility. 
Onions should be clean weeded once more, and, if they 
are in beds, the alleys may be then dug, and planted with 
some of the greens. 
The various Root Crops. —If the final thinning-out has 
not been completed, let it be done immediately. 
Distance in the Drill about as EolloWs— 
Mangold . 8 to 12 inches 
Swedes. 7 — Iff „ 
Parsnips . 7 — 9 „ 
Large Carrots. 5 — 8 „ 
Kohl rabi. 5 — 8 ,, 
Dependent on the 
richness of the soil. 
The maximum for 
rich soil; the mini¬ 
mum for poor soil. 
When the final thinning is carried out, let the hoe bo well 
worked through and between their stems, and, if any gaps 
occur, Swedes are the most eligible to fill them, and man¬ 
gold, or cabbage plants the next. 
Leeks and Celery. —Useful cottager’s crops. A rich 
trench should be made for a few of each in tile beginning 
of the month. Culture and distance similar. 
Lettuces. —A good bed of Ady’s Cos, or the Bath Cos, 
may be sown in tile first week. These will make large 
autumn lettuces, and if the cottager has an in-pig sow to 
