106 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, May 24, 1859. 
position to be easily dried up, or, in other words, their 
supplies cut off. Just below such ill-fated branches we 
may generally observe a young branch or two, which, a 
season before the complete decay of the declining branch, 
assume unusual vigour; for the sap through the con¬ 
striction of the original branch has already evidently 
begun to create new channels ; and from the commence¬ 
ment of the vigour of those young branches may be 
dated the decline of the original branch. If these opinions 
are right, we may at once infer that it is unwise in 
practice to permit any shoots to assume a gross character 
near the bole of the tree. R. Ereington. 
(To be continued.) 
HINTS WHEN TO TILL. 
Notwithstanding the many improvements which me¬ 
chanical science has afforded us for tilling the ground, 
and notwithstanding the general dissemination of know¬ 
ledge directing when that operation ought to be done. 
Nature still has her all-important duties to do as well; and 
no skilled implement, however ingeniously contrived, can 
form a substitute. True it is that much assistance may 
be rendered; and a judicious preparation of the soil in 
due time enables the duties, which Nature alone can per¬ 
form, to be accomplished in a shorter time than they 
would have been if left entirely unaided. There being 
seasons in which this assistance may be more called for 
than in others, it is well to consider this and act accord¬ 
ingly—the subject being of much consequence to the cul¬ 
tivator of the soil. A few words will explain to the in¬ 
experienced what is meant to be acted upon in each case. 
Since man was condemned to till the ground and eat 
bread by the sweat of his brow, various have been the 
means by which the tilling process has been accomplished; 
yet it is not saying too much, perhaps, to affirm, that the 
inhabitants of fully one-third of the earth’s surface are 
contented to use the same primitive tools that were used 
in the earliest period of the world’s existence. Scratching 
the ground with a crooked stick, and depositing the seed, 
and brushing it over with the bough of a tree, completed 
the operation. A repetition of this duty, no doubt, led 
to the discovery of the best time to do it: and satisfied 
with this extent of horticultural knowledge, the poor be¬ 
nighted African and other barbarous races have continued 
without any advance for centuries. A less genial climate, 
and soil not so prolific, no doubt sharpened the ingenuity 
and excited a greater amount of industry on the part of 
those occupying a more northern latitude: hence the 
superiority we have arrived at in this all-important branch 
of national economy, the last few years having added 
considerably to our knowledge of this particular branch 
of tilling the ground. If the agent now on trial—steam 
—become as useful and tractable in this hitherto-laborious 
work as it has become in carrying us and our goods to 
different parts of the kingdom, the present age may justly 
be regarded as having witnessed a greater revolution in 
pre-existing maxims and ideas than any given period of 
the world’s history of many times its duration. It is not 
the purpose here to discuss the merits of the various 
steam ploughs now before the world, and their adaptation 
in stirring the soil so as to promote its fertility; but to 
say a few words respecting the best time for such soil¬ 
stirring, when done in a more primitive way—by the 
hand—as is usually done in gardens. 
In stiff retentive soils, in wet winters with little or no 
frost, the ground becomes soddened; and continued wet 
keeps it so. Should frost occur when it is thus charged 
with water, the enlargement of its parts by frost enables 
the air to penetrate it more freely when mild weather 
returns. This, combined with the action of the frost, 
separates those adhesive particles which constitute its 
stiffness, and a more open texture is the result for the 
time. But this is not a permanent change; as an inju¬ 
dicious treading over it when it is still moist will consoli¬ 
date it into a mass nearly, if not quite, as compact as 
before. Now, this treading at this particular time ought 
to be avoided: consequently it behoves the cultivator so 
to arrange his work as to manage to put in the crops 
required for such ground while the weather is dry, if 
possible. In certain seasons this cannot well be done; 
but it is often advisable to delay a few days on this 
account, the good condition of the ground being of much 
consequence to the after-welfare of the plant. This is 
more especially the case where things have to be planted; 
as the ground where seeds are sown sometimes improves 
while the seeds are germinating, so that it is not advisable 
to wait very long for the proper sowing time, unless under 
very peculiar circumstances ; and even then some contri¬ 
vance will often enable the work to be accomplished in 
another way, when a prolonged wet spring retards the 
ordinary process. 
In very wet, stiff soils, and in wet springs, the ordinary 
mode of sowing Onions, Carrots, Beet, and similar crops in 
continuous rows, may be departed from, and they may be 
sown broadcast in beds four feet wide, taking care not to 
sow too thick ; and to be equally careful to thin the plants 
in sufficient time to enable them to grow out. If the alleys 
between the beds are only about fifteen inches wide, the 
plants growing at the edges will overhang and occupy the 
most of it during the summer, and the total crop will be 
little short in quantity and quality of that grown in the 
ordinary way; while the alleys will afford facilities at all 
times for getting at the plants without injury to the 
round, which is a matter of importance in some places, 
n other soils pressing and consolidating them are of ser¬ 
vice rather than an injury, as is the case in sandy or 
peaty soils, which allow the air to penetrate them too 
freely ; for the more freely it can be made to pass through 
clayey soils, the sooner it is likely to improve. 
The above advice is given to overcome the evils of a 
wet soil and moist spring; but a difficulty often arises 
from an opposite cause. A stiff soil becomes hard and 
cloddy in a dry season, or, rather, hardens instead of 
mellows down in March, when a mild winter has not 
aided it by any frost of consequence. Some soils are 
very obstinate from this cause, and it is difficult to over¬ 
come their adhesiveness. Perhaps one of the best ways 
is to sow such garden seeds as must be sown at a certain 
time, and to cover them with a little fine soil brought 
from somewhere else. It would even be better if a good 
bed of this soil were made for such seeds to germinate in ; 
and the quantity it takes is not such a serious matter after 
all. Sifting some leaf mould, dry earth, and ashes, or 
anything conveniently handy, and spreading a little of 
this over the ground, will enable the seed to make a start; 
and by that time it is likely the dry east winds will have 
pulverised the natural soil into a fitting medium for the 
plants to grow in, and they may succeed pretty well 
after all. 
Evils like the last may often be obviated by having 
the ground dug up early enough in the autumn to get 
what, in local phrase, is called a crumby surface, even 
when the winter has been wet and mild; but it often 
happens that plots of ground cannot be cleared in time 
for it to have a whole winter’s fallow. In this case some 
contrivance like the above will be required; and it i 3 sur¬ 
prising how grateful Nature is for such assistance rendered 
her. It very often happens that the best crops proceed 
from some of those unpromising cases. When it is so, 
there is the gratification of having made the most of 
circumstances:—a maxim that cannot be too strongly 
enforced on all, as well for other duties in life, as for 
making the most of a stubborn soil and an awkward 
season. J. Robson. 
Shading. —As every person’s experience should be recorded 
for information to others, I venture to trouble you with an account 
of how I “do” my shading for Cucumbers, as they require 
