August 2, 1909 
Vegetables in the Highteenth 
Century. 
Some interesting observations on. the 
above subject appear in a recent number 
of ‘the ‘Journal of Horticulture.’ For 
Many’ years varieties remained without 
any change. There were no novelties 
in peas, potatoes, or lettuce. French 
beans were represented by more varieties 
than any other vegetable, and a dwarf- 
growing kind was much welcomed as 
preferable to the climbing sorts. The 
Scarlet Runner had been cultivated a 
hnndred years previously, solely for its 
flowers ; but’ Miller recommended it for 
its edible pods. The cauliflower was of 
the poorest quality, and sold from 1/ to 
2} each. A little later on this vegetable 
of the right sort was sold at 5/ each. In 
1800 there was only: one variety of the 
white or cauliflower broccoli; but there 
Were half:a-dozen kinds of. ‘sprouting,’ 
or, as’ some eee it, the Italian 
asparagus. 
Seakale ‘was hardly known. In its 
Wild state the young growths have been 
boiled and eaten time out of mind. The 
method of blanching it was copied from 
Nature, the heads being covered with a 
Coating of sand 4in. thick, and the heads 
Were cut before they pushed — quite 
through ° 
Turnips were in general cultivation, 
and‘a large number of sorts were known. 
Ih Scotland turnips were customarily 
eaten raw at breakfast. ; 
Celery only became an English vege- 
table in the eighteenth century, 1t was 
Planted 4in. to 5in. apart, and ‘the ‘roots 
and tops were pruned before planting, so 
One can Hag what the elses was 
like, 
Rhubarb was not used as a vegetable 
Until late in the century, when the roots 
Were planted to make tarts of iii stalks 
in the spring. 
The potato made an extraordinary 
Progress, The tubers were at first 
Planted Gin, ‘apart, and the crop lifted as 
the potatoes were. wanted. The working 
_™an did not use them at all, and for a 
long time he refused to have anything to 
do with a plant.which bore the character 
tested the 
produce. 
crop, and was torced under glass, the 
seed being sown in pots in the autumn, 
the plants wintered in cold frames, and 
planted out in spring. 
well grown, and forced on ordinary hot- 
beds. 
gen, 
the edible portion, especially such as are 
planted early, like the garden pea, phos- 
large, succulent leaves and stems. 
gives solidity and crispness to stems and 
leaves, and high color to the fruit. 
Phosphoric -acid gives plumpness, and 
increases the sugar and starchy parts of 
the seed, and forces‘ early maturity. A 
good general fertilizer for all garden 
vegetables, except peas and beans, would 
be the following mixture per acre, but 
intensive market gardeners use’ three or. 
four 
potash, 1501b. to 225lb.; superphosphate 
2501b. to 375lb.; nitrate of soda, 1501b. to 
226lb. The fertiliser should be raked in 
just before the seed is sown. 
and beans the normal amount of potash 
and phosphoric acid may be doubled, and 
the nitrate of soda reduced to 50lb. per 
acre. The'sulphate is the best available 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
17. 
that arrived with-it at its introduction: 
However, by the middle of the century 
its value as a food, and not merely a 
luxury, began to be recognised. 
The cucumber became, quite early in 
the century, one of those subjects which 
abilities of gardeners to 
The pea was an important 
Asparagus was 
' Uses of Fertilizers for 
Vegetables. 
Garden vegetables do not exhaust the 
soils on which they are grown to any 
extent as compared with the exhaustion 
produced by many spring crops. 
and beans are the most exhausting crops. 
The chief ingredient in a good fertilizer 
for vegetables of which the leaves and 
stems are the edible portions is nitrogen. 
For root vegetables, phosphoric acid and 
Peas 
potash are about as important as nitro- 
For vegetables, of which seed is 
phoric acid is the leading element. For 
vegetables like the tomato, egg plant, 
celery, melon, &c., potash is the most 
important. 
Nitrogen forces early growth, and gives 
Potash 
times as much:—Sulphate of 
For peas 
form of potash for garden vegetables, as. 
it contains no chlorides of salt, and does. 
not make the soil cold. It also acts with 
especial favorableness on the starchy 
portion of vegetables. Fresh or water- 
slaked lime is always beneficial to garden. 
soil. 
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. Currie Street, 
ADELAIDE. 
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3 
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415 CENTRAL MARKET. ~ 
