THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 3, 1858. 
feet, and are well branched down to the ground. Pinus 
cxcelsa grows here like a Poplar, in respect to speed ; 
last year several of them made shoots a yard long, and 
ripened their wood well, so that no frost has injured 
their form. I observed, that the Mount Atlas Cedar 
grows here much quicker than its congener, the Cedar 
of Lebanon. 
The subsoil of this nursery is limestone rock. 
Hence, all sorts of stone fruits thrive well, and ripen 
their shoots every season to the very top of each 
branch. The quarters behind the ornamental borders 
are, consequently, filled with young fruit trees, in 
various stages of growth. How the men are busy 
budding the proper stocks with Peaches, Nectarines, 
Apricots, Plums, Pears, Apples, &c. 
Around these quarters, I saw a broad border of 
shrubs of various kinds (evergreen), as well as those 
that shed their leaves. I also noted some large flats 
of Roses, but the soil here is too warm and light for 
the Rose. Mr. Epps lias a larger nursery at Ashford, 
about sixteeen miles distant, where, I am told, the 
Rose thrives admirably. He also has a seed farm of 
a great extent, and is’ very successful in getting his 
seeds true to their kind. The crops of seeds of Onions, 
Carrots, Peas, &c., are looking well and promising, 
and, if there is a tolerably dry autumn, we shall have 
garden seeds good and cheap next season. 
The harvest had commenced in Kent pretty freely. 
Wheat, Oats, and Barley appear to be above an ave¬ 
rage crop. Beans are rather short in the straw, but 
! well podded. The season in this part of the country 
is certainly a fortnight or three weeks earlier than in 
Lancashire. I hear nothing of the blight in Potatoes, 
though fears are entertained that the showers that 
were falling when I was there would bring it on. 
T. Appleby. 
The Sorghum Saccharatuh. —On the afternoon of the 4th 
of April, we paid a visit to Mr. C. W. Croaker’s Sorghum 
plantation, for the purpose of witnessing the process of sugar 
making. In this, however, we were disappointed, au accident 
having just previously happened to a portion of the ma¬ 
chinery, whilst crushing the second stalk, which prevented 
further operations. Mr. Croaker afterwards showed us 
several varieties of this plant now being grown by him. The 
i first was the Sorghum Saccharatum, or Chinese Sugar Cane, 
of which he has two acres under cultivation, the whole of 
which he intends using for sugar making. This plant, not¬ 
withstanding its being grown on high ground, and the long 
drought which has prevailed this season, is still quite green 
and healthy, presenting a pleasingTontrast to the parched- 
up land by which it is surrounded. The stalks have in some 
instances reached a height of nine feet., measuring an inch 
in diameter, and are very sweet to the taste. Another variety 
is the Zulu Kaffir Impliee, of which there are five plants, ob¬ 
tained from seed furnished by Mr. W. Archer, the Registrar- 
General of Victoria, a gentleman who has very actively 
exerted himself in introducing this plant into general cul¬ 
tivation throughout the Australian colinies. Each of these 
plants has eleven stems, the leaves of which are broader and 
stronger than the Sorghum. Owing to the dryness of the 
season, but one of these presents any appearance of seeds; 
and, owing to the same cause, it can hardly be expected to 
reach perfection this year. The next variety was what Mr. 
Croaker terms th® Concord Millet, a plant strongly re¬ 
sembling the Imphee, and which throws from three to six 
stalks from one root. In addition to its being much sweeter 
in taste than the Imphee or Sorghum, it produces a large 
quantity of seed — in some cases as much as eighty bushels 
to the acre. Mr. Croaker informs us that this was first in¬ 
troduced into the colony in the year 1829 or 1830, by an 
officer of 'one of His Majesty’s vessels, from the coast of 
! Africa, since which time it has been grown by members of his 
i family on the Lachlan. He has also a few plants of the red 
seed Millet, which, though saccharine, is not likely to be 
nearly so productive as either of the other descriptions.— 
Bathurst Times ( Australia ). 
A SUPPLY OE CABBAGE. 
Eew tilings afford greater scope for getting wrong, 
than providing for the wants of another year. Cab¬ 
bages, Cauliflowers, and Peas may be sown so early as 
to be useless ; or, if too late, there is the unpleasant 
reflection of being behind one’s neighbours. After 
all, there is always a something left to chance,—a 
something over which the season exercises so much 
influence, that positive rules cannot well be laid down 
at all times. 
In certain springs Cabbages have a tendency to run 
to seed, which they have not at others, even though 
they may have been sown exactly on the same day 
the preceding autumn. A something peculiar in the 
passing winter tends to hasten on the plant to the 
point intended for it to fulfil—that is, the perfection of 
its seed for its own reproduction. This result is 
what—in the Cabbage, Cauliflower, and some other 
vegetables—the cultivator tries to avoid. A speedy 
flowering is very well for plants of an ornamental 
character, but a luxuriant growth is wanted in the 
Cabbage tribe. 
Now, to accomplish this, long and well-directed cul¬ 
tivation has done much; originally only an annual, 
bearing a few loose leaves, not much larger nor more 
useful than those of the wild Mustard or Charlock, the 
parent species of our garden Cabbage has passed 
through so many improvements, that it resembles its 
original condition only in the botanical structure of its 
flow ers, and some other points; and one of the prin¬ 
cipal features attempted, and in a great measure at¬ 
tained, is that of checking the tendency it has to run to 
flower in the spring ; for, like most cruciform flower¬ 
ing plants, it blooms early in the season, and, of 
course, is useless when it does so before attaining that 
proper useful size which it ought to do. 
A careful selection of the best plants for seeding, 
and of those which show the least tendency to do so, 
has been so often repeated with judicious skill, that 
Cabbages, of greater size and age than formerly, will 
stand the winter without “ bolting,” as the common 
name of running to seed is called. And be it remem¬ 
bered, that when they pass the critical period in 
spring, which tries their inclination, there is little 
danger afterwards, as all the mischief is done in a few 
days. 
To sow the seed, and afterwards tend the plants, in 
such a way as to get them as forward as possible early 
in spring without bolting, is one of the points in hor¬ 
ticulture over which many stumble ; as an injudicious 
anxiety to be early may prompt an inexperienced hand 
to sow too soon, w 7 hile a contrary effect is produced 
by delaying it too long. Nevertheless, with all the 
care that can be taken, it will now and then happen 
that mistakes will take place, as the seasons are not 
all alike severe, and varieties of the plant in question 
differ, as well as the situation and other things. But 
there are some points in the culture of this plant 
which it is advisable to bear always in mind. The 
first is, never to depend entirely on one sowing ; and 
another is, to be careful to sow only the best variety 
that can be had; for, common as this vegetable is, it 
is, after all, the most useful of any in. the garden,—a 
good breadth of it affording a something every day in 
the year; and, although the humble cottager is very 
often able to boast of his Cabbages being superior to 
those of his more affluent neighbour, it chiefly arises 
from greater care in selecting the variety grown. 
As practical details are more useful than general 
principles, it is proper here to say, that for favourable 
situations in the south of England the first week in 
August is early enough to sow Cabbage for the prin¬ 
cipal crop of the following year, while it is even ad- 
