! June 2. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
107 | 
few Cabbages are sown, of a kind himself or a neigh¬ 
bour has grown for years, is sure to succeed, because 
daily attention is bestowed on the little spot, and the 
arch-enemy met and repulsed at the outset; and by 
occasional stirring amongst the plants, with a stick, &c., 
a degree of strength and free growth is attained by them 
which the more fashionable horticultm’ist in vain looks 
for in the off-handed manner in which he treats such 
common articles as a “ lot of Cabbages.” In fact, the 
odds are, that he is likely to be without any, unless some 
assistant takes their case in hand, or a friend assists him 
| with other plants. 
Now, there is no mysterious agency at work in for¬ 
warding the poor man’s plants; in fact, he often feels a 
pleasure in communicating how he treats them to all 
who may be willing to listen to his simple recital of the 
means he has adopted to secure so useful an end. He 
combats disease by fortifying the patient in such a way 
as to resist its attack. This is done by the aid of ma- 
•J 
mires plenteously applied ; in fact, to such an extent as 
completely to saturate the ground with them, thereby 
urging on the young plant by supplying it with such 
nourishing food, so as speedily removes it beyond the 
reach of those pests which prey on those of a similar 
age, but differently grown. This is no imaginary tale; 
the richly-manured ground in the neighbourhood is but 
little affected by the Turnip-fly, slug, and other enemies 
to young and delicate vegetation. The rapid and vigo¬ 
rous growth that takes place in the first instance soon 
out-grows the attack of the first class of depredators, 
while the frequent diggings and other workings among 
the plants, prevent the latter from increasing to that 
injurious extent they do in a more tardy cultivation. 
From this it will be seen that the market-gardener 
escapes the ravages of the foe by the mere application 
of unlimited means, unassisted by any of the nicer 
points which enable the cottager to rear his plants ; 
the former, in fact, accomplishing his object by sheer 
strength, what the other has to do by stratagem and 
untiring attention, in a way from which we may glean 
a useful lesson, because, instead of advantages of posi¬ 
tion, it is not likely but the poor man has to sow and 
rear his little breadth of cabbages under the shade of a 
fruit-tree, and on ground occupied by its roots, if not 
. by some others likewise; and he has to watch and 
nurse his plants in such a way as to give to them every 
chance to succeed which art can bestow. 
If the weather be very dry, frequent waterings in the 
evening soon swell the seed vessels, and the infant 
plants soon show themselves above ground; then, to 
protect them from the “ fly,” the wood ashes from his 
fire (cool, but dry and fresh) are dusted over them, 
which imparts a stringency very distasteful to the whole 
of the insect family, and generally sufficient to keep 
them at bay, while its virtues remain unimpaired by the 
atmosphere, which, however, is not long. A repetition 
is, therefore, necessary, and sometimes this is often to 
do, until at length the plant out-grows the evils to which 
it is subjected to in its early career. 
When more advanced, his plants require his further 
aid ; for, as they advance, the evils of their position will 
be more apparent. To meet this, he, therefore, generally 
applies such stimulating matter as comes in his way ; a 
pail-full of soap suds is not a bad preventive to “ the 
club-root; ” while any other little thiug, in the way of 
liquid-manure, is applied with equal care and dis¬ 
crimination ; while, to remedy the evils resulting from 
the ground getting hard from the caking of the sediment 
left on the top, it is broken up with a pointed stick, and 
the plants left to enjoy those healthy exhalations which 
fresh turned-up ground impart to all vegetation. 
Under this fostering care, the plants prosper so long 
as they are capable of deriving their sole nourishment 
from such artificial means. Afterwards, the evils of 
their position (if it be a shaded one), cannot be con¬ 
cealed, for the plants will get weak and leggy; they are, 
therefore, to be transplanted afresh before that evil 
occurs, in order to benefit by a more open exposure. 
In thus drawing attention to the cottager’s mode of 
nursing his plants, I wish to put our more favoured 
brethren on the right path. The difficulty of obtaining 
“ a plant ” of many of our most common garden 
vegetables, in difficult seasons, like the present one, is 
attended with some trouble, and very often a fearful loss. 
To prevent this, is, therefore, of importance, and we 
will return to the subject. J. Robson. 
SWEDISH TURNIP CULTURE. 
(Continued from page 128 .) 
The second division of our subject, is the tillage of 
land, so as to render it clean, and free from couch grass. 
The first consideration is the proper time for fallowing, 
or first ploughing the land, and this will, of course, 
vary, according to the system of farming, and the rota¬ 
tion of crops adopted; for it is now the practice, upon 
many well-managed farms, where the greatest amount 
of sheep stock is kept, and upon chalk and gravel soils, 
not infested with couch grass, to sow all, or nearly all, 
the land intended for Swedish Turnips, with Rye, or 
Winter Tares, and sometimes with Trifolium, to be fed 
off with sheep in the spring months, and then to be 
sown with Turnips, after one ploughing. A good 
number of harrowings and rollings are required, so as 
to bring the land into a good tilth by securing a per¬ 
fectly pulverised surface; and, in order to effect this, it 
is essential that the land should be reduced by rolling 
and harrowing, immediately after ploughing, and, if the 
weather is very dry, on the same day as the ploughing, 
for upon this point rests the chance of retaining suffi¬ 
cient moisture in the land to vegetate the seed, and 
insure the action of the manure, and a rapid growth of 
the young plant. 
There is, also, another rotation of cropping, which 
would influence the mode of proceeding for the culture \ 
of this root. Thus, upon farms where the soil is dry and ; 
warm, and where the system of keeping early lambing 
ewes is adopted, thereby rendering necessary a rotation 
of close cropping, a part of the land intended for the 
growth of Swedes should be sown with Tares and Tri¬ 
folium soon after harvest ; but upon the remaining 
part I have adopted a plan, upon my own farm, of 
Italian Rye-grass, which gives a great abundance of 
sheep food during the months of October, November, 
and December. The first, or fallow ploughing, in this 
case, is deferred until the middle of December; and the 
after-culture, upon which I will further remark, will, of 
course, commence in the spring, as soon as the land is 
in a fit state for working. 
Having been, for many years, an advocate for less 
ploughing than is usually done in preparing land for 
the Swede crop, and believing that the most essential 
points, in cultivating for this root, are the complete 
pulverisation of the surface, and the firmness of the 
bottom soil, I was induced, a few years ago, to under¬ 
take an experiment, for the purpose of proving to what 
