THE COTTAGE GARDESER ARB COIFSTRY GES TLE M AX , .Jastabv _k>, 1S5&. 
; tiie impression, that all losses, or deteriorations. im 
garden crops can be readily corrected by an appli¬ 
cation from the midden. In my eonrse of practice, I 
liave met with numerous cases of vegetable failure, in 
' which, all the dunghills in the ki n gdom would hare 
been of no avail. fffow. I would bare this fact strongly 
I impressed on the minds of all beginners- I was. of 
course, once in their position; and forgetting, or 
i underrating, the imm ense utility of inorganic matter. 
I verily thought to accomplish everything by the aid 
of manures. After manv trials, however, X saw the 
fallacy : and, lest anv one should east the imputation 
on me that I underrate the dunghilL let me at once 
affirm that I can be as loud in its praises as the best 
of them ; but I must have a legitimate ohjeet for the 
i application of manures, which must at times be done 
, with a liberal hand. 
But, a misapplication of manures, when involving at 
once a waste of precious material and a derangement 
’ of the functions of the crops, ends in both disappoint- 
i ment and waste. When, however, we come to what 
I may term the gluttonous class of vegetables, such as 
Celery, Asparagus, Ac.—things not easily injured by 
manure; seldom tired of their plot, if well manured; 
not liable to club like Cabbage worts ; and not apt to 
any particular disease—then the muckheap is all-im¬ 
portant, and it is not easy to offend them. 
But, there are more things still in the high cultivation 
of vegetables to which I must point before I close my 
remarks. One of the chief of these is the planning, 
on a practical basis, good rotation: for, although any 
given kind of vegetables may be repeated on a given 
space, the verdict in favour of rotations lias obtained j 
acceptance with most of our first-rate gardeners: and, 
I believe, a similar class of men amongst our farmers 
would coincide with them. In addition, then, to 
j periodical deep-digging, well-conceived rotations hold 
i an important place. The chief maxims of these, as 
practically known at the present day, are few and 
simple. Let us try to reduce them to their simplest 
, form, as avoiding scientific deductions for the present: 
not because we would exclude the scientific bearing of 
the subject by any means, for this must one day, when 
a little farther advanced, prove the crowning point of 
the whole. 
As maxims, then, surely we may urge that no crop 
liable to a given class of grubs, maggots, or cater¬ 
pillars, be succeeded by one of similar liabilities—that 
I one liable to those obscure characters, the Fungi, 
should not be succeeded by a kind similarly liable— 
that deep-rooted crops should not be succeeded by 
! deep-rooters—and that, as much as possible, things 
possessing close affinities be avoided as successionals. 
Finally, let me recommend a liberal use of the hoe 
during the growing season, stirring the soil deeply : 
not only high culture, but cleanliness is involved in 
this process. To this maybe added the application of 
liquid manure to gross-feeding vegetables, such as 
Asparagus, Cauliflowers, Celery, and Lettuce. The 
occasional application of lime would prove of very 
considerable benefit in old and highly-manured kitchen 
gardens ; but I fear not many can avail themselves of 
it. R. Ebbingto*'. 
WORSLEY HALL. 
The Seat op the Earl op Ellesmere. 
(Continued from page 217.) 
On looking over my notes I find one or two items 
on the gardens that f did not mention in my former 
communication. One was the mode practised there 
now of pruning the Gooseberry. There is, at the base 
of each yearly shoot, a cluster of wood-buds. In too 
tt5it: T anstjunHfes. <lE the young wood is cut down to 
these X'uds when, the bushes are pruned: the conse¬ 
quence is. ’tie buds push cut, and the bush is filled 
with fruitless sk wts. exhausting the tree, and shading 
the frail from the sun. In this manner these bushes 
had Ibeea pruned: and it was only when the trees 
were ©o> weakened, and such wood-shoots were so 
email that the fruit was tolerable in quantity and 
quality- The roots, however, had then got down to 
the wet elay : and then frequently large branches, and 
Ko rne ffres entire trees, died even in full leaf. I noted 
tT-ifl t this sense x the greater part of such wood-shoots 
were cut off close to the old wood, and the remainder 
left at full length. The consequence will be, most 
certainly, that these young shoots will bear fruit nearly 
their entire length; and, what is of more consequence, 
will produce next rammer a quantity of real fruit- 
spurs. I have said certainly this will be the case, for 
I have proved it repeatedly : and I earnestly intreat 
every cultivator of this useful fruit to try this plan ; 
and I will give him leave to set me down as a gardener 
of no experience if he be not perfectly satisfied with 
the result. The Red and White Currant require 
closer pruning; for these buds at the base of each 
young shoot are fruitful, as well as the others that are 
higher up the young shoot. Hence I found here the 
pruning done accordingly. 
I confess, in the case of the Black Currant, I was 
never satisfied as to the best mode of pruning. The 
only plan that I could follow, to please me, was to 
thin out the shoots, and shorten-in those left, to about 
two thirds of their length: and that is the method 
Mr. Davis adopts, and, indeed, most other gardeners, 
in places confessedly well managed. 
The Gooseberries here are becoming so old, and die 
off so much in the manner I have mentioned, that a 
new plantation has been made this season. Instead 
of planting them, as is usually done, on borders next 
the walks, a large quarter has been devoted to them 
entirely : and, not to lose the space between the trees, 
—necessarily large whilst they are young—a row of 
the best kinds of Strawberries has been planted, 
which will, of course, be cleared away when the Goose¬ 
berry bushes require the whole space. 
Asparagus has been cultivated here, to say the least 
of it, in a very singular manner. When a new plan¬ 
tation or crop was desirable, the ground was manured 
and dug, levelled, and the seed thrown on broadcast; 
that is, neither in rows nor beds. In that way it was 
allowed to grow and produce heads, just as it happened. 
Every gardener will understand how such a plan would 
answer. It certainly saved the trouble of making 
beds : but how the ground was to be cleared, or the 
heads gathered without injuring the plants, I cannot 
conceive. I noticed a new plantation on a totally 
different principle. The plants are in double rows, 
about a foot apart, and spaces of six feet between. I 
could see that they had been planted; and from the 
old stems 1 could see also that the plants had been 
very strong. I do consider this plan the best of any 
I liave seen yet; far superior to the old bed system ; 
more easily kept in order; and the vegetable more 
easily gathered when ready. It is the plan followed 
by many market gardeners throughout the country. 
I he old plantations will be gradually worked out by 
taking up portions for forcing till the new ones are in 
full bearing. 
Having seen and noted all the above particulars, wc 
(that is, Mr. Davis and myself,) left the garden liy u 
walk through the ancient wood mentioned in my last. 
I he venerable trees stand at a considerable distance 
from each other, forming that collection of trees we 
understand by the word (/rove. This wuilk lends up to 
the mansion. On each side under the trees there is a 
