THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[April 11. 
who have hut a small garden, as they require very little 
room, being of the dwarf short-jointed kinds, and very 
| prolific. The early peas should be stopped, or have their 
j tops picked out, as soon as the first blossoms commence 
opening. Attention to this point will considerably ad¬ 
vance their early podding. The soil about the main- 
sown summer varieties now coming up should be kept 
well stirred; should be earthed up in due season; and 
sticks, or some kind of protection, placed for keeping 
them upright, and preventing their being driven about 
by the wind. Sow sea-hale thinly in drills, one foot 
apart, and attend to the forced plants of this season. 
Thin the shoots, as required, at intervals, until thinned 
sufficiently according to the strength of the plants, leav¬ 
ing one, two, or more shoots to each. 
I k- Cucumbers. —Sow ridge varieties. Prepare the forment- 
ing materials by thorough intermixings and frequent 
turnings; encourage those now producing fruit, by fre¬ 
quent application of tepid weak liquid-manure; stop the 
shoots regularly at each show of fruit; do not allow the 
vine to become too much crowded ; but, at the same time, 
take care never to exhaust the plants by thinning too 
much at one time. It should be an almost daily custom 
thus to run them over—stopping, pegging, and regulating 
the vine, and setting and placing the fruit to grow straight. 
It is very easy to take out such portions of the vine as 
have become weak and exhausted, to make room for the 
younger and more vigorous parts. The same system 
should also be kept in view with regard to melon culture. 
The vine should never be allowed to become too much 
crowded, and then be thinned out extensively at once. 
Such extremes in management is often the forerunner of 
disease, canker, red spider, and thrip, &c., which should 
be avoided if possible. Sudden drafts of cold, when 
giving air, should be particularly guarded against 
throughout this month, or the prospect of a fine crop of 
healthy fruit may be very quickly cut off. Water should at 
all times be applied with caution and judgment, taking 
the advantage of applying it after a fine day, and when 
not very windy. Shut up early, take the covering oil 
early in the mornings, and give air previous to the 
sun shining on the structure. If these instructions are 
attended to, neither disease nor vermin will be seen ; but 
should any symptoms of canker at any time appear, 
from long continued dull, damp weather, apply im¬ 
mediately a slight dredging of fresh slaked-lime to the 
parts affected. 
Rrocoi.is. —All the different sorts of brocolis may still 
be sown (excepting the Purple Cape kind). Those who 
have not already done so, should prepare a good rich 
warm border for this purpose, and divide it into small 
beds—a bed for each kind. This is the best season lor 
sowing the brocolis, Cape excepted, which for the general 
crop should be sown the first week in May; and should 
the weather then be very dry, the ground should be well 
watered previously to sowing the seeds, and a sprinkle 
given afterwards too. 
Borecoles and savoys may still be sown, and Brussels 
sprouts too. The present is also a good season for sowing 
the general crops of the best sorts of Red beet. 
Asparagus Beds should have had all their forking-up 
done before this; and if any arc not raked off neatly, let 
it be done without delay, as the young shoots will now bo 
soon peeping through where the earth is not too thick 
upon the crowns, so that the sun can penetrate it. A 
sprinkling of salt will be found very beneficial once a 
week during the cutting season. The alleys between 
the beds, forked-up neatly, would be a good situation for 
lettuce during the summer months. Cauliflowers are 
frequently planted in them, but this should not be, as 
cauliflowers are of too large a growth to plant in the 
alleys, which are rarely more than two feet six inches 
wide in the smaller gardens; but lettuces do well in such 
places. J- Barnes & W. 
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 
HOME SUGGESTIONS. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers." 
In commencing a series of hints on household manage¬ 
ment, I must earnestly solicit my readers to extend to 
me, in this department, the extreme indulgence I have 
experienced at their hands in one of a very different 
kind. On the subject of domestic affairs so much is 
involved, and so many able and experienced hands have 
been held out to help and direct inquirers, that I feel it 
almost impossible to fill the important post assigned to 
me either with beuefit to others or the least credit and 
satisfaction to myself. 
Real economy is a principle. It is, or ought to be, 
practised from the highest motives,—from the love and 
fear of God, and in accordance with the precept and 
example of our gracious Teacher, who commanded His 
disciples to “ gather up the fragments that remain, that 
nothing be lost.” It does not consist of scraping up 
with one hand and lavishing wastefully or selfishly with 
the other, but in firm and decided retrenchment in every¬ 
thing, however gratifying to the flesh, which can possibly 
be reduced or given entirely up. We are very apt to 
think, we have done great things when we have knocked 
oif a few extra shillings in some way, where, perhaps, 
liberality would be most advantageous, while we are 
spending unnecessary pounds in others where frugality 
would be well-timed and of real account. The “ right 
hand ” and the “ right eye” must be given up in things 
i temporal as well as in things eternal; in lact there is 
nothing, however trilling, which we are called to do or 
suffer that does not involve a principle, and upon which 
| a Scriptural rule cannot be brought to bear. It is diffi¬ 
cult sometimes to be economical without being mean : 
from fear of one extreme the mind will fly off to the 
other, and in our utter corruption of heart we cannot be 
surprised to find this frequently the case ; but when we 
do all things in obedience to a Divine Master, and with 
a single eye to His honour and service, wc shall most 
generally find the right medium, or at least we shall 
j commit fewer mistakes than those who are saving for 
the lucre of gain, or who are striving to keep up an ap¬ 
pearance to the world that their means or circumstances 
do not warrant. 
1 commence by replying to the many correspondents 
who have addressed us on the subject of small means 
and reduced incomes, and whose situation in some cases 
is perilous and anxious in the extreme. 1 address my¬ 
self, in the first place, to the husband and the father, 
because I am proud to say they are most difficult to 
deal with in matters of retrenchment and expense ; and 
without their willing and full co-operation the self-deny¬ 
ing wife and mother, with all her striving, can effect 
little. 
“ An expensive house,” “ an income alarmingly re- 
