424 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
March 6, 1886. 
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN.* 
Gardening may be said to divide itself under four 
distinct beads, viz., Trees and Shrubs, Flowers, Fruits 
and Vegetables, all of primary importance, but having 
relative value to each other according to circumstances. 
As a rule, however, we are disposed to give precedence 
to the last as being the most important, because we find 
in vegetables something more tangible and useful than 
are luxuries ; they are, indeed, absolutely essential 
elements of our existence, as much so as the corn which 
maketh the staff of life. If the least attractive and 
ornamental, certainly the vegetable department of any 
garden is one of its most interesting features, and pro¬ 
bably the most profitable. Hence we find gardeners of 
all descriptions valuing their kitchen gardens, taking 
special pride in their products, and devoting to them 
all possible care, skill, and attention. There are, 
therefore, few gardeners who will not hail with satis¬ 
faction the appearance of the Messrs. Vilmorin’s remark¬ 
ably complete and admirable exposition of garden 
vegetables, which, having been mostefficiently translated, 
has been offered to British readers under the compre¬ 
hensive designation of The Vegetable Garden. 
Mr. William Eobinson, who has written a special 
introduction to the book, gives prominent emphasis to 
the value of the contents, as making us more fully ac¬ 
quainted with vegetables fit for food than we have been 
in the past. Without doubt our insularity as a nation 
has told against our mental development in that respect, 
and a certain dogged obstinacy in regarding continental 
products as trifles, has led to the exclusion from our 
gardens of many vegetables which the versatile French 
people have long utilized and we have scorned. If 
Messrs. Vilmorin’s splendid compendium should help to 
arouse some greater interest in continental vegetables, 
and possibly of some other diverse form of cooking, - 
then great good to British gardening will have been 
accomplished. Mi'. Eobinson, who has never failed to 
express his sympathy with vegetarianism, also looks 
for some good results to that interesting development 
of food reform in the country by the increased know¬ 
ledge of vegetables, and aroused interest in them that 
must inevitably flow from a perusal of The Vegetable 
Garden. 
Of the contents it is well to say at once, that whilst 
literally teeming with practical information, the book is 
presented in admirable type, and is superbly and most 
numerously illustrated. But these illustrations are not 
merely printed as pictures—they are so admirably 
defined and so truthful to character that they tell their 
own tale at once, and might be said almost to render 
descriptive matter superfluous. There is one element 
in these scores of illustrations which marks them so 
distinctly from many others we are familiar with in 
seed lists, &c. They are all drawn true to nature, and 
depict no fancy or ideal forms. Probably, there is not a 
root, plant, or fruit depicted but which was drawn from 
the life, hence we get no idealities. Then the contents, 
comprising as they do a thousand and one diverse kinds 
of vegetables, are alphabetically arranged, so that the 
reader may instinctively turn to the subject of inquiry 
without much seeking. 
The general character of the text may be described 
as a combination of the historical, cultural, and de¬ 
scriptive ; hence we find any special plant or family 
of plants described with the utmost fullness, and the 
culture amply detailed. Further than that, the reader 
is treated to short essays upon methods of cooking and 
serving-up, so that the cook as well as the gardener 
of the household may derive from the perusal no small 
amount of information. 
Of course, some references are open to question where 
certain families are concerned that are peculiarly prolific 
of kinds and diversities of character. Thus we find no 
less than 172 kinds of Peas described, and very many 
of these figured ; but it is obvious that already two- 
thirds of these are now hardly met with in gardens on 
this side of the Channel, and it is obvious that every 
year will see a material change in the name and nature of 
the kinds in general cultivation : hence, were a new 
edition of this book issued in some few years time, a tre¬ 
mendous excision of sorts would beneedful tobring it up to 
date. 
Potatos, again, are found in exceeding abundance, 
French, English, American, and other kinds being fully 
"The Vegetable Garden. Illustrations, Descriptions, and 
Culture of The Garden Vegetables of cold and temperate climates, 
by M. II. Vilinorin-Andrieux, of Paris. English edition, published 
under the direction of W. Robinson.—London : John Murray. 
described and many of them figured. Of these we find 
scores that have here dropped out of cultivation already, 
whilst many of the best new sorts find no mention. 
Some five years hence nine-tenths of the Potatos men¬ 
tioned in the book will have been forgotten. The 
illustrations of many kinds—and of French sorts 
specially—exhibit in a marked degree the diversity in 
form found in continental Potatos, as also of the 
national taste both in appreciating form and beauty and 
of methods of cooking. Let us say that with all our 
appreciation for French cookery, and too common 
habit of deprecating our own cuisine, that no style of 
serving up the Pommes de terre of our French neigh¬ 
bours can, in our estimation, for one moment outweigh 
the nutty-flavoured, floury, and cleanly-served Potato 
of English cookery. 
If we stop at the Kidney Beans, we find the highly 
fancied Butter Beans not only admirably illustrated, 
but lucidly described. Few things more strongly 
mark the divergent tastes of English and French 
people than do the varied popularity of certain kinds 
of Kidney Beans. Whilst the Butter Beans and the 
Haricots are so popular abroad, we evince little taste 
for any of the family except our favourite scarlet or 
white Bunner, and the ordinary prolific dwarf form, 
and in each case only eaten green with the pod. 
Somehow the fatty Butter Beans have made little 
headway here, but whether that comparative in¬ 
difference to these products be due to tastes that are 
peculiar and permanent, or to our want of appreciating 
many diverse forms of vegetable diet remains to be seen. 
Very certain it is that the inhabitants of the British 
Isles, and of England especially, are great eaters of 
animal flesh, and it is a moot point whether a strong 
passion for flesh diet is not inimical to the adoption of 
vegeterianism. 
All the Brassica family are very fully treated upon, 
as may be assumed from the fact that some forty-five 
Cabbages are figured whilst there are Broccolis, 
Cauliflowers, Kale, &c., in exceeding abundance. Those 
who may wish to enter into a study of the Cabbage tribe, 
will find in this book a fund of information. Possi¬ 
bly they may think that the work of testing, and com¬ 
parison has been so well done by the authors that harldy 
more remains to be done, although this sort of work will 
always bear doing over again, because of the personal 
interest which is created when trials of this kind are 
conducted in our own gardens ; therefore, we commend 
to gardeners of all sections, and specialty to that large 
bodj r of young student gardeners, a close perusal of 
this remarkable work, and they will find that their 
capacity to conduct vegetable garden ^ departments 
immensely increased. 
It is undoubtedly well to understand the common 
rules of kitchen garden culture, but it is better to 
have a broad and intelligent appreciation of all that 
relates to vegetables, whether personal or cultural, and 
to have such conception of all that relates to vegetable 
culture, as this book presents, is to be a far wiser and 
nobler cultivator, and more intellectual gardener. 
Probably, not a few estimable and usually well in¬ 
formed men will rise from a perusal of this book with 
the belief, that after all their previous knowledge of 
the subject, left much to be desired. 
The difficulty found in drawing a clear line between 
vegetables and fruits is evidenced by the fact that 
Strawberries are described and figured fully for the 
reason that these are commonly grown in vegetable 
quarters and under the same methods of culture. But 
then Melons are included also, and for the simple 
reason that these are so closely allied to Gourds, 
Marrows, and Cucumbers, all esteemed vegetables, and 
therefore could not be with consistency omitted. 
Melons specially wear a changeful face, and the sorts of 
this year will be forgotten after a few more seasons have 
passed away, hence minute descriptions of fugitive 
kinds have only a temporary interest, whilst the 
cultural details may be said to hold good for gene¬ 
rations. Even greater is the divergence found between 
vegetables and funguses than between the former and 
fruits, and yet it is not possible to omit Mushrooms, or 
very interesting illustrations of some small moveable 
beds, which, if correctly represented, certainty indicate 
remarkably productive powers. 
Imantophyllum miniatum yap.. B. S. Williams (see p. 411). 
