THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLE MAN, January 24, 1860. 
255 
how this is done, but I have seen no further reference to the 
subject.—W. B. 
[It is now an old question which is of little practical value to 
any one except to those nurserymen who are engaged in rapidly 
growing and multiplying new Grapes, and they all know it already. 
It was first discovered by an accident. Some Vine or Vines had 
too much heat, or frost, or drought in the midst of the growth. 
They stood stock still, and looked queer; but, having no tune to 
lose, the grower cut them back to the last eye, and it then 
occurred to him that eyes half ripe with a loaf to each would root 
and run like a ripe eye without a leaf. He tried, and they did, 
and he had fifteen Vines that year from one eye, twelve from 
another, and so on. After that he put in his ripe eyes singly in 
very small pots early in January, and at the end of April he 
cut down all his young Vines to the last eye, and made each 
joint into a cutting, shook out the balls, and started with the 
young-cut Vines, just as if they were old-rooted plants. The 
one eye started almost next week, and made a far better Vine 
that season than any he ever raised from a February start. A 
gardener might, therefore, improve young Vines of that season 
if he planted them in May, and as soon as they took to the border 
cut them as above.] 
ROTATIONS AND PREPARATIONS IN THE 
VEGETABLE GARDEN. 
At this dormant period good cropping requires that the whole 
scheme for the ensuing year be definitively laid down and adhered 
to ; and I advise all young gardeners to pursue a similar practice 
to that I have followed for the last twenty-five years; which is, to 
look over the whole garden, note-book in hand, and enter the 
present or last crop, together with the preceding year’s cropping 
on the same plot. It would be attempting too much to go back 
beyond that—it would render the whole too complex ; besides, it 
is scarcely necessary. As an instance, let us suppose that the 
quarters of a garden are nearly rectangular, which is generally the 
case. I will take the case of one quarter only by way of illustration. 
North-west quarter ; west end. 
4 Strides of Asparagus—no change. Then 
6 Strides Celery succeeding last year’s Cabbages. 
8 ditto last summer’s Peas succeeded by Onions. 
And thus until the end of the quarter is reached. The aspirant 
may then settle the rest over the fireside in sharp weather by a 
thorough consideration of the periods at which the products must 
be had, and also the proportion of each ; and in the latter some 
judgment is required. It will be here seen that it is impossible 
to lay down any fixed scheme of rotation, as a farmer may do 
with his fields. It is altogether another affair ; for only behold 
the variety of things there are in a good vegetable garden! 
For instance : It may stand as a maxim that Potatoes are good 
preparers for Cabbages. Well, on looking to the note-book we 
find twelve yards of Potatoes ; but if Cabbage must succeed, then 
we only require six yards of Cabbage, so that six yards of the 
Potato-ground must pass on to something else—and so on with 
many other crops. But this is no reason why eligible rotations 
should not be pointed out. 
Now I am sorry to observe that science has done little for us 
in this matter. I fear a learned chemist would make but a sorry 
hand at scheming such a rotation of crops under such circum¬ 
stances as I have before alluded to. If it had been so, there are 
plenty of intelligent gardeners—men of good education and con¬ 
siderable reading, who, far from being prejudiced, would speedily 
adopt principle instead of mere practice. The latter, however, in 
experienced hands generally succeeds admirably: as witness the 
excellent produce and variety to be found in the gardens of the 
nobility, &c. Nevertheless, there are a few maxims worth bearing 
in mind, and which may serve to bias the general scheme. I will 
proceed to them. It is well known that the whole of the Cabbage- 
worts, from the Cabbage up to the Cauliflower, are liable to the 
club; and, indeed, if there were no club, they do not like to 
succeed each other: therefore, a change must be sought for 
them. I prefer the newly-trenclied soil; for in this family we 
have—say Cabbage at the lowest end of the series, Savoys, 
Brussels Sprouts, the various Kales, the Broccolis a host, and 
Cauliflowers, besides a whole lot of intermediates and new puffs 
every season, 
Iu my practice I always regard some crops in the light of what 
T call preparers, which, whilst they themselves are absolutely 
necessary as forming part of the system, at the same time leave 
the soil in a fresh condition as to future vegetable crops. Such, 
as I regard them, are as follows :— 
1st. All bush fruit. 
2nd. Asparagus. 
3rd. Strawberries. 
4th. Artichokes. 
These are, in the main, crops which stand in the same plot for 
two or three years—some much more. This circumstance with 
reference to vegetable culture is tantamount to a state of rest; 
and since most of these things receive manure almost annually, 
the soil must be in good heart when they are broken up. 
But I have another class to point to in this case—ordinary 
vegetables of only a few months’ standing, if not preparers as to 
rest, at least are quite innoxious to their successors. Now all 
this proceeds on the assumption that the residue of past crops 
when in a corrupting condition is prejudicial to certain other 
crops, although innocuous—nay, beneficial—to some others. Of 
such matters, although at times doubted formerly, enough has 
since transpired to show there is indeed a foundation for the 
opinion. Plants may have a power of selection ; but the worst 
is, they have not in all cases the power of rejection. 
What makes crops so signally to flourish, of almost any 
kind, when growing on fresh-enclosed land, which has been 
for a good while under grass ? What but that the quantity of 
organic matter they have is all congenial to them wants.? But 
j in old gardens, especially if they have been badly handled, there 
' is such a mixture of deleterious remains, that the crops take 
1 up what they should not. 
The class I alluded to before this digression I will point out. 
I Potatoes prepare for any crop. Peas succeed very well with me 
1 on ground where any of the Cabbage-worts had grown. Celery 
will make good land for anything. Spinach, Lettuces, and, 
indeed, anything of the Salad kind; Endive amongst the rest. 
But in any case let not two crops of any of the Cabbage-worts 
succeed—let there be a change of some kind. I had forgotten to 
name that any of the family may succeed Onions or Carrots. 
In all these cases I have said nothing about the question of 
manure or no manure, as it stands on another basis. But this 
will have to come in for consideration at last. 
It ought to be well borne in mind, too, the habits of the crop 
as to deep or shallow rooting, and as to their mode of rooting col¬ 
laterally. What practical gardener would think of trenching thirty 
inches deep for such things as Spinach, Endive, Lettuce, &c.? 
And, as to manuring, who would think of doing so to a last year’s 
Celery-bed, be the successor what it may ? Therefore, after laying 
down a course of cropping, the question of manuring must wind 
the matter up as far as the head is concerned ; the rest will bo 
left chiefly to strong backs and elbows. One thing I may name. 
I have been speaking chiefly with regard to what I should call 
primary crops. But let the inexperienced consider that there 
are a host of minor articles, which, although as useful as any in 
their day, may not bias the scheme before alluded to. There are 
all the autumn and winter Salads, winter Spinach,'—most im¬ 
portant in families of any distinction; besides many other 
things. But so much depends on the movements and wants of a 
family; and herein lies one of the first duties of a gardener—to 
learn their movements, and, setting aside his own conceits, to 
provide for the probabilities, For my part, my worthy employer 
having been an M.P. and something more for nearly thirty years, 
and being a gentleman of fixed habits, I know and can count on 
his movements with tolerable certainty. 
But a word more about manures. I would here ask what it is 
that makes the side-fibres of such spindle-shaped roots as the 
Carrot, Parsnip, &c., to multiply and become inconvenient ? 
Doubtless, the temptations that exist in the upper soil in the 
shape of decaying or other manurial matters, by which those 
fibres are induced; and instead of a fine, long Carrot, straight as 
a gun-barrel, and half a yard in length, we have a lot of crooked, 
stumpy, bandy-legged things, full of forky and other pro¬ 
tuberances, And, doubtless, this is one reason why Carrots 
from farming land are generally far superior. So in the manure 
question, it is not only how much manure, but how to apply it. 
R. Errington. 
Port Wine Vintage or 1859.—Messrs. Clode and Baker 
say, “ It is unfortunately our duty to report another bad vintage 
hi the Douro ; the arrolamento recognises the quantity of wine 
produced as 17,292 pipes, and the Provaclores are expected to 
class about one-third of that as fit for shipment to England ; we 
are, however, of opinion, from observation during the vintage 
