351 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, March 12, 1861. 
that tlio stems below ground were nearly gnawed in two by rats. 
Something of this kind, or the severe frost, is most likely the 
cause. We almost incline to the former, from the leaves falling 
so soon in the autumn, and such a wet autumn too. Nothing 
you did to your border beyond 12 feet would have any such 
effect, and the heat you put on your border must have been of 
a mild character. Liquid manure will do no good if either of 
the above is the cause of the failure. Indeed, with a soil such 
as you describe, no liquid manure can be needed at any time. 
Let us know if you detect the cause of the failure.] 
THE LITTLE MARKET-GARDENER; 
OE, 
HOW TO CULTIVATE AN ACEE OE LAND WHEN PEOFIT IS 
THE CHIEF AIM, AND SHOWING HOW A FAMILY MAY 
BE SUPPOETED AND SOMETHING PUT BY FOE A BAINY 
DAY. 
(Continued from page 303.) 
CELERY. 
Do not let February pass away before you have sown your 
Celery seed. If you have no manure that will do to make a 
hotbed you had better buy a ton of fresh from a stable. You 
must have some sort of a frame : therefore, you had better have 
a good one made at once. The first that I had made is very 
useful, although small, being only 2 feet long and 18 inches 1 
wide. It is a very nice little frame, and only cost me 7s. I j 
have now two more, rather larger, being 3 feet long and 4 feet 
wide each, having two lights to each frame. They cost me £1 j 
each, and I find them very useful. 
I make a small hotbed at the beginning of February in some 
warm corner, and place the smallest frame upon it. I then take 
ashes enough to plunge the pots in up to the rim, and I sow as 
many pots with Celery seed as the frame will hold. The best 
sort of Celery that I have grown for market is the Manchester 
Red and Cole's Red. No one seems to care about any sort of 
White Celery, either as plants or for use. 
I never sold any Celery plants at less than 4cZ. per score. I 
sold all I could spare last year at 5 d. per score. I always try to 
have the plants ready for sale by the time the early Potatoes 
are ready to be taken up. 
BROAD BEANS. 
Broad Beans should also be planted in February. About two 
rods will be plenty to plant with them. They are not very good 
friends to the soil, and if it was not for accommodating some of 
my customers I should not grow any. The stillest part of the j 
garden will do best for Beans. I plant mine 3 feet from row 
to row. 
RED CABBAGE. 
If you have any Red Cabbage plants, mark out two rods of 
land of the same description as for early Cabbages, and dig into j 
it one ton of good rotten manure. I used to plant my Red 
Cabbages 3 feet from row to row, and 2 feet from plant to 
plant in the row'; one rod would then hold eight rows, and 
twelve plants in each row, which made eight dozen to the rod. I , 
now plant them 26? inches from row to row and 30 inches from ! 
each other in the row; they then stand 30 inches from each 
other every way, and a rod will hold nine dozen. 
I always have mine ready to begin to cut by the last week in 
August, and have several times sold the first half dozen for 3s. ! 
The rest I sell some at 3d. and some at 2d. each. If it should j 
happen that you have no plants, and cannot get any, lose no ! 
time in digging a bit of land in a warm border, and sow such to j 
grow plants enough for yourself and a few dozen to sell. They j 
will make good Cabbages, only they will not be ready for pickling j 
so early as those sown in autumn. 
EARLY CAULIFLOWERS. 
You may also in February dig about half a rod of land in a 
warm border, and sow it with early Cauliflower, either in rows 
or broadcast. I always sow mine in rows. I mark out the land 
into three-feet-six-inches-wide beds, and have five rows on each 
bed. I make the rows with the back of a rake; not deep, but 
only just enough to cover the seed. Be sure and do not forget 
the red lead to mix with all seeds that the birds are likely to 
take, and mind to sow them as soon as ever tho land is dug; 
and if tho weather is dry I dig the land and sow all sort3 of 
seeds at night. You may also sow a little Cauliflower seed in a 
few flower-pots or boxes, and put them under glass—that is, if 
you have time to attend to them, but not without. I have not 
time to attend to them, therefore I do not sow any. 
If you have plenty of time, and should wish to show your 
neighbours that you can grow Cauliflowers as early as any of 
them, I will tell you how to go about it. As soon as you have 
sown your seeds in flower-pots or boxes under glass, procure 
some good turf about 3 inches thick and put by out of the way 
until the plants are ready to prick out; then take your turf, and 
cut it into four-inch squares; scrape out a hole in the under 
side like a flower-pot, put into that hole a bit of good soil, and 
plant one plant in each ; keep them under glass until they have 
good roots, then harden them off by degrees; and when they 
are hardy enough to stand a little frost without being hurt, dig 
out holes with the spade where you intend planting them, and 
put a spadeful of good rotten manure into each hole, and plant 
your Cauliflowers, turf and all, one in each hole. Yery few 
people will have Cauliflowers ready to cut before you. 1 have 
seen beautiful Cauliflowers cut in May from seed sown in 
February, and grown in this way. 
SECOND EARLY' POTATOES. 
It will be time to plant the second early Potatoes the first week 
in March. Lose no time in getting the land prepared, if not 
already done. Mark out fourteen rods of the driest part of the 
garden—but remember that you will want ten rods of the best 
part of the garden for growing Celery—to plant the Ash-leaved, 
or rather the Walnut-leaved, Kidney upon. If it is good soil, 
2 feet or 3 feet deep, mark out twenty-four rods altogether. 
Then mark it thus— 
CO 
- 
K> 
Take the soil out of No. 1 two spades deep, and place it upon 
No. 2. Then mark out No. 3 the same width as No. 1; place 
the top soil of No. 3 in the bottom of No. 1, and the bottom 
soil of No. 3 on the top of it, and so on down that half of the land 
and up the other, finishing at No. 2.— Thos. Jones. 
(To be continued.) 
EXPLANATIONS. 
In reply to “L. D. M.,” as to the Potatoes, that will appear 
in proper time in “ The Little Market-Gardener.” I never 
make less than 10s. per rod of Ash-leaved Kidneys, and it takes 
about one peck to plant a rod, and I reckon them at 2s. 6d. per 
peck. In 1859 I made 15s. per rod without any dung, by 
digging as I have advised. In 1860 I made 16s. per rod of the 
crop. The worst crop of seconds I ever had was six pecks to 
the rod, and I sold them at Is. per peck. 
As regards the cost of dung, I stated what it would cost if you 
had it all to buy for the first year ; after that I expect the pig- 
manure and the house sewage and charred stuff together, with 
about £3 worth of good stable-dung, and £2 worth of bone and 
guano, to be quite enough for one acre of land, and I think I 
stated this pi’etty plainly in my first paper. 
As to Gooseberry and Currant trees, Raspberries, Strawberries, 
and Rhubarb stools, I did not think it fair play to set their 
cost down in the table, unless I had set down also how many I 
expected to sell in a year. As “ L. D. M.” must remembei', I 
am wilting for a market-gardener. I sell a great many of those 
things myself; and I although I never make it a rule to “ collar ” 
anything, which, if I understand right, means stealing it, still I 
never paid one penny for any of them. I honestly obtained 
them all as presents. The labour, of course, I expect the market- 
gardener to do himself, as I am writing for a little market- 
gardener. If “ L. D. M.” wishes to ask any moi'o questions 
I shall be very happy to answer them, although I have to do all 
my writing before six o’clock in the morning.— Thos. Jones. 
FORM OF BOILERS AND PIPES. 
I think of putting up a vinery 35 feet long by 12 feet wide, 
and 10 feet high, this spring, and have taken some pains to 
little purpose to find out the best way of heating it. Amongst 
other books I have attentively read some volumes of your useful 
