January  16,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
57 
Rotation  in  the  Kitchen  Garden. 
BEGONIA  X  JULIUS. 
A  Balsam-flowered  New  Variety  op  the  Winter-flowering  Hybrid  Begonias. 
rooms  when  grown  as  a  specimen,  easily  increased  by  side 
shoots,  treating  as  for  other  stove  cuttings,  potting  in  loam 
and  rubble,  with  a  little  sand  added. 
Pauax  Victorise  is  an  exceeding  pretty  plant  for  table 
decoration  when  grown  in  60’s  and  48’s.  Cuttings  strike 
freely  inserted  in  spring,  as  for  other  stove  cuttings,  or  by 
cutting  of  the  roots,  potting  in  a  compost  of  loam,  peat,  and 
sand.  It  is  always  well  to  have  a  good  supply  of  Panicum 
variegatum  and  Selaginella  denticulata  in  small  pots  for 
table  and  house  decorations.  These  are  easily  increased. — 
J.  Botlet. 
The  importance  of  a  suitable  rotation  of  crops  in  the  kitclieii 
garden  is  a  point  that  does  not  require  much  urging ;  the 
advantages  to  be  obtained  by  it  are  obvious,  ,and  the  ill  eflPects 
resulting  from  growing  on  a  piece  of  ground  an  undesirable  suc¬ 
cession  of  plants  soon  make  themselves  only  too  apparent.  The 
gardener,  however,  unlike  his  agricultural  brother,  cannot  follow 
cut-and-dried  system  of  rotation,  from  which  he  seldom  finds 
it  necessary  to  divert.  The  greater  number  of  his  crops,  the 
varying  length  of  time  they  remain  in  the 
ground,  and  the  fact  that  he  frequently  doe.s 
not  want  to  grow  the  same  crop  in  just  the 
same  quantity  for  two  seasons  in  succession 
render  it  impossible,  and  though  he  may  envy 
the  farmer  his  confidence  in  his  three-course 
or  his  four-course  rotation,  and  admire  the 
fidelity  with  which  he  maintains  it,  he  can¬ 
not  hope  to  do  likewise.  He  must  be  con¬ 
tinually  plotting  and  scheming  if  he  would 
have  one  crop  succeeded  by  another  w'hich, 
while  suitable,  causes  the  least  delay  of 
time,  and  makes  the  best  use  of  the  ground. 
Without  doubt,  some  crops  do  particularly 
well  on  ground  that  has  previously  been 
occupied  by  certain  other  crops,  and  when 
feasible,  those  crops  should  be  planted  on 
that  ground,  but,  unfortunately,  such  a 
course  is  not  always  feasible.  We  knew  a 
certain  lecturer  on  vegetable  culture  who 
had  a  great  faith  in  Celery  as  a  preparatory 
crop.  He  said,  and  rightly,  that  the  heavy 
manuring  and  deep  working  of  the  soil  neces¬ 
sary  in  grmving  Celery  fitted  it  admirably  for 
root-crops ;  and  any  vegetables  which,  in 
soil  recently  manured,  and  where  the  manure 
had  not  had  time  to  thoroughly  decompose, 
were  liable  to  become  scabby,  forked,  or  a 
prey  to  insects,  should  be  grown  after  Celery. 
Excellent  advice,  but  when  he  went  on  to 
insist  that  Carrots,  Beet,  Onions,  Parsnips, 
Potatoes,  and  sundry  other  things  should 
always  be  grown  on  ground  from  which  a 
crop  of  Celery  had  been  taken,  one  of  his 
audience  was  heard  to  remark  that  it  might 
easily  be  done  if  only  people  would  be  con¬ 
tent  with  Celery  and  nothing  else  for  six 
months  in  the  year,  otherwise  he  did  not  see 
how  it  was  to  be  managed. 
But  though  no  rule  can  be  set  forth,  there 
are  several  points  which  should  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  deciding  in  what  order 
vegetable  crops  are  to  be  sown  or  planted  on 
a  piece  of  land.  Plants  belonging  to  the 
same  natural  order  generally  exhaust  the 
soil  of  the  same  constituents  to  ,the  same 
extent,  and  are  usually  subject  to  the  same 
diseases  and  insect  pests,  so  that  any  crop  of 
plants  should  always  be  followed  by  another 
crop  belonging  to  a  different  family.  Insects, 
like  most  other  things,  have  their  fancies. 
The  troublesome  Onion-fly  has  as  keen  a 
taste  for  that  vegetable  as  any  Italian,  and, 
as  the  advertisement  says,  “  He  won’t  be 
happy  till  he  gets  it,”  but  he  treats  The 
Cabbage  family  with  contempt,  while  tlie 
caterpillar  of  the  Cabbage  butterfly  d^ 
lights  itself  in  the  nourishing,  blood- 
purifying  greens,  and  never  pining  for  the 
stronger  flavour  of  the  Onion-bed,  turns 
from  it  with  loathing  and  will  have  none  of 
it.  The  Celery-fly  swears  by  his  favourite 
food,  and  will  have  no  other,  and  even  the 
ubiquitous  wirewonn,  by  no  means  a  dainty 
kind  of  insect,  is  more  damaging  to  root- 
crops,  such  as  Carrots  and  Parsnips,  than 
to  most  other  things.  So  the  greater 
liability  of  a  crop  to  suffer  from  the  depredatmns  of  insects 
if  grown  in  the  same  place  twice  in  succession  is  ob’nous, 
and  the  same  thing  applies  to  fungoid  and  other  *  ceases  ^  ’ 
root  or  “  finger-and-toe  ”  is  characteristic  of  the  Bra^sica  family, 
and  only  attacks  Cruciferous  plants,  while  the  Z 
Peronospora  infestans,  like  an  Insliman,  ^icks  manfu  y  y 
tuber,  and  will  touch  no  other  vegetable.  botter 
By  adopting  a  good  system  of  rotation  the  soil  is  made  bette 
r*  At  the  same  Mr  Massee  of  Kow  states  that  Tomatoes  are 
ijec"  o  tbl?p5onospora,  or  corroctlv,  rhylopMhora  ...tcstaM, 
-Bd.1 
Cocos  Weddelliana  and  Geonoma  gracilis  are  two  of  the 
best,  and  most  graceful  for  table  plants,  when  grown  about 
18in  high.  These  require  a  stove  temperature,  and  a  com¬ 
post  of  two  parts  loam,  one  part  peat  and  sand.  The  follow¬ 
ing  Palms  will  be  found  useful  for  the  rooms :  Areca  lutes- 
cens,  Kentia  Belmoreana,  K.  Canterburyana,  Latania  bor- 
bonica,  Phoenix  reclinata,  and  Seaforthia  elegans.  These 
can  be  grown  to  any  size  they  may  be  required  for. 
Pandanus  Veitchi,  with  its  green  and  white  foliage,  is  one 
of  the  best  stove  plants  grown  for  standing  the  gas,  &c.,  in 
the  house  ;  useful  for  table  in  a  small  state,  and  for  the 
•  1 
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