a branch of agriculture, containing the cultivation of gardens.

The simplest idea of a garden, is that of a spot embellished with a number of natural objects, trees, walks, polished parterres, flowers, streams, &c. One more complex comprehends statues and buildings, that nature and art may be mutually ornamental. A third approaching nearer perfection, is of objects assembled together, in order to produce, not only an emotion of beauty, essential to every garden, but also some other particular emotion, grandeur for example, or gaiety. The most perfect idea of a garden is an improvement upon the third, requiring the several parts to be arranged in such a manner, as to inspire all the different emotions that can be raised by gardening. In this idea of a garden, the arrangement is an important circumstance; for some emotions figure best in conjunction, and others ought always to appear in succession and never in conjunction. When the most opposite emotions, such as gloominess and gaiety, stillness and activity, follow each other in succession, the pleasure on the whole will be the greatest; but such emotions ought not to be united, because they produce an unpleasant mixture. For that reason, a ruin, affording a sort of melancholy pleasure, ought not to be seen from a flower-parterre, which is gay and cheerful: but to pass from an exhilarating object to a ruin, has a fine effect: for each of the emotions is the more sensibly felt by being contrasted with the other. Similar emotions, on the other hand, such as gaiety and sweetness, stillness and gloominess, motion and grandeur, ought to be raised together; for their effects upon the mind are greatly heightened by their conjunction.

Kent's method of embellishing a field, is admirable; which is, to paint a field with beautiful objects, natural and artificial, disposed like colours upon a canvas. It requires indeed more genius to paint in the gardening way: in forming a landscape upon a canvas, no more is required but to adjust the figures to each other: an artist who lays out ground in Kent's manner, has an additional task; he ought to adjust his figures to the several varieties of the field.

One garden must be distinguished from a plurality; and yet it is not obvious wherein the unity of a garden consists. A notion of unity is indeed suggested from viewing a garden surrounding a palace, with views from each window, and walks leading to every corner: but there may be a garden without a house; in which case, what makes it one garden, is the unity of design, every single spot appearing part of a whole. The gardens of Versailles, properly expressed in the plural number, being no fewer than sixteen, are indeed all of them connected with the palace, but have scarce any mutual connection: they appear not like parts of one whole, but rather like small gardens in contiguity. Were these gardens at some distance from each other, they would have a better effect: their junction breeds confusion of ideas, and upon the whole gives less pleasure than would be felt in a slower succession. Regularity is required in that part of a garden which joins the dwelling-house; for being considered as a more immediate accessory, it ought to partake the regularity of the principal object: but in proportion to the distance from the house considered as the centre, regularity ought less and less to be studied; for, in an extensive plan, it hath a fine effect to lead the mind insensibly from regularity to a bold variety. Such arrangement tends to make an impression of grandeur: and grandeur ought to be studied as much as possible, even in a more confined plan, by avoiding a multiplicity of small parts. A small garden, on the other hand, which admits not grandeur, ought to be strictly regular.

Milton, describing the garden of Eden, prefers justly the grand taste to that of regularity:

Flow'rs worthy of paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots; but Nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain; Both where the morning-sun first warmly smote The open field, and where the unpiere'd shade Imbrown'd the noontide bow'rs. Paradiso Lvi, b. 4.

An hill, by being covered with trees, appears both more powerful and more lofty; provided no other beauties be hid that might be seen if the hill were naked. To distribute trees in a plain requires more art: near the dwelling house they ought to be so thin, as not to break the unity of the field; and even at the greatest distance of distinct vision, they ought never to be so crowded as to hide any beautiful object.

In the manner of planting a wood or thicket, much art may be displayed. A common centre of walks, termed a star, from whence are seen a number of remarkable objects, appears too artificial, and consequently too stiff and formal, to be agreeable: the crowding withal so many objects together, lessens the pleasure that would be felt in a flower succession. Abandoning therefore the star, let us try to substitute some form more natural, that will lay open all the remarkable objects in the neighbourhood. This may be done by various openings in the wood contrived to catch surrounding objects, which in walking bring successively under the eye these objects as by accident; sometimes a single object, sometimes a plurality in a line, and sometimes a rapid succession of them. In this form, the mind at intervals is roused and cheered by agreeable objects; and the scene is greatly heightened by the surprise it occasions when we stumble, as it were, upon objects of which we had no expectation.

An object terminating in a narrow opening in a wood, appears at a double distance. This suggests another rule for distributing trees in some quarter near the dwelling-house; which is, to place a number of thickets one behind another, with an opening in each directing the eye to the most distant through all the intermediate thickets; which, by making these thickets appear more distant from each other than they are in reality, will enlarge in appearance the size of the whole field. To give this plan its utmost effect, the thickets ought to be at a considerable distance from each other; and, in order that each may be seen distinctly, the opening nearest the eye ought to be wider than the second, the second wider than the third, and so one to the end.

By a judicious distribution of trees, various beauties may be produced, far exceeding what have been mentioned; which will appear as follows. A landscape so rich as to ingrafts the whole attention, and so limited as sweetly to be comprehended under a single view, has a much finer effect than the most extensive landscape that requires a wandering of the eye through successive scenes. This consideration suggests a capital rule in laying out a field; which is, never at any one station to admit a larger prospect than can easily be taken in at once. A field so happily situated as to command a great extent of prospect, is a delightful subject for applying this rule: let the prospect be split into proper parts by means of trees; studying at the same time to introduce all the variety possible. A plan of this kind executed with taste will produce charming effects: the beautiful prospects are multiplied: each of them is much more agreeable than the entire prospect was originally; and, to crown the whole, the scenery is greatly diversified.

As gardening is not an inventive art, but an imitation of nature, or rather nature itself ornamented, it follows necessarily, that every thing unnatural ought to be rejected with disdain. Statues of wild beasts vomiting water, a common ornament in gardens, prevails in those of Versailles. Is this ornament in a good taste? A jet d'eau, being partly artificial, may, without disgust, be tortured into a thousand shapes: but a representation of what really exists in nature, admits not any unnatural circumstance. These statues therefore of Versailles must be condemned; and yet so insensible has the artist been to just imitation, as to have displayed his vicious taste without the least colour or disguise: a lifeless statue of an animal pouring out water, may be endured without much disgust; but here the lions and wolves are put in violent action, each has seized its prey, a deer or a lamb, in act to devour; and yet, instead of extended claws and open mouth, the whole, as by a hocus-pocus trick, is converted into a different scene; the lion, forgetting his prey, pours out water plentifully; and the deer, forgetting its danger, performs the same operation.

In gardening, every lively exhibition of what is beautiful in nature has a fine effect: on the other hand, distant and faint imitations are displeasing to every one of taste. The cutting evergreens in the shape of animals, is a very ancient practice; as appears from the epistles of Pliny, who seems to be a great admirer of this purlier conceit. The propensity to imitation gave birth to this practice; and has supported it wonderfully long, considering how faint and insipid the imitation is. But the vulgar, great and small, devoid of taste, are entertained with the oddness and singularity of a resemblance, however distant, between a tree and an animal. An attempt in the gardens of Versailles, to imitate a grove of trees by a group of jets d'eau, appears, for the same reason, not less ridiculous.

In laying out a garden, every thing trivial or whimsical ought to be avoided. Is a labyrinth then to be justified? It is a mere conceit, like that of composing verses in the shape of an ax or an egg: the walks and hedges may be agreeable; but in the form of a labyrinth, they serve to no end but to puzzle: a riddle is a conceit not so mean; because because the solution is a proof of sagacity, which affords no aid in tracing a labyrinth.

The gardens of Versailles, executed with infinite expense by the best artists that could be found, are a lasting monument of a taste the most depraved: the faults above mentioned, instead of being avoided, are chosen as beauties, and multiplied without end. Nature, it would seem, was deemed too vulgar to be imitated in the works of a magnificent monarch; and for that reason preference was given to things unnatural, which probably were mistaken for supernatural.

A straight road is the most agreeable, because it shortens the journey. But in an embellished field, a straight walk has an air of stiffness and confinement; and at any rate is less agreeable than a winding or wavering walk; for in surveying the beauties of an ornamented field, we love to roam from place to place at freedom. Winding walks have another advantage: at every step they open new views. In short, the walks in a field intended to please the eye, ought not to have any appearance of a road. This rule excludes not long straight openings terminating upon distant objects; which openings, beside variety, never fail to raise an emotion of grandeur, by extending in appearance the size of the field: an opening without a terminating object, soon closes upon the eye; but an object, at whatever distance, continues the opening, and deludes the spectator into a conviction, that the trees which confine the view are continued till they join the object: and the object also, as observed above, seems to be at a greater distance than it is in reality. Straight walks also in recesses do extremely well: they vary the scenery, and are favourable to meditation.

An avenue ought not to be directed in a straight line upon a dwelling-house: better far an oblique approach in a waving line, with single trees and other scattered objects interposed. In a direct approach, the first appearance continues the same to the end: we see a house at a distance, and we see it all along in the same spot without any variety. In an oblique approach, the interposed objects put the house seemingly in motion: it moves with the passenger, and appears to direct its course so as hopefully to intercept him. An oblique approach contributes also to variety: the house, being seen successively in different directions, takes on at every step a new figure.

A garden on a flat ought to be highly and variously ornamented, in order to occupy the mind, and prevent its regretting the insipidity of an uniform plan. Artificial mounts in this view are common: but no person has thought of an artificial walk elevated high above the plain. Such a walk is airy, and tends to elevate the mind: it extends and varies the prospect: and it makes the plain, seen from a height, appear more agreeable.

Whether should a ruin be in the Gothic or Grecian form? In the former; because it exhibits the triumph of time over strength, a melancholy but not unpleasant thought: a Grecian ruin suggests rather the triumph of barbarity over taste, a gloomy and discouraging thought.

Fountains are seldom in a good taste. Statues of animals vomiting water, which prevail everywhere, stand condemned. A statue of a whale spouting water upward from its head, is in one sense natural, as whales of a certain species have that power; but it is sufficient to make this design be rejected, that its singularity would make it appear unnatural: there is another reason against it, that the figure of a whale is in itself not agreeable. In the many fountains in and about Rome, statues of fishes are frequently employed to support a large basin of water. This unnatural conceit is not accountable, unless from the connection between water and the fish that swim in it; which, by the way, shows the influence of even the slightest relations.

Hitherto a garden has been treated as a work intended solely for pleasure; or, in other words, for giving impressions of intrinsic beauty. What comes next in order is the beauty of a garden destined for use, termed relative beauty; see Beauty: and this branch shall be dispatched in a few words. In gardening, luckily, relative beauty need never stand in opposition to intrinsic beauty: all the ground that can be requisite for use, makes but a small proportion of an ornamented field; and may be put in any corner without obstructing the disposition of the capital parts. At the same time, a kitchen-garden, or an orchard, is susceptible of intrinsic beauty; and may be so artfully disposed among the other parts, as by variety and contrast to contribute to the beauty of the whole.

Gardening being in China brought to greater perfection than in any other known country, we shall take a flight view of Chinese gardens, which will be found entirely obsequious to the principles that govern any one of the fine arts. In general, it is an indispensible law there, never to deviate from nature; but in order to produce that degree of variety which is pleasing, every method is used that is consistent with nature. Nature is strictly imitated in the banks of their artificial lakes and rivers; which sometimes are bare and gravelly, sometimes covered with wood quite to the brink of the water. To flat spots adorned with flowers and shrubs are opposed others steep and rocky. We see meadows covered with cattle; rice grounds that run into lakes; groves into which enter navigable creeks and rivulets; these generally conduct to some interesting object, a magnificent building, terraces cut in a mountain, a cascade, a grotto, an artificial rock, or such like. Their artificial rivers are generally serpentine; sometimes narrow, noisy, and rapid; sometimes deep, broad, and slow: and to make the scene still more active, mills and other moving machines are often erected. In the lakes are interspersed islands; some barren, surrounded with rocks and shoals; others enriched with every thing that art and nature can furnish. Even in their cascades they avoid regularity, as forcing nature out of its course: the waters are seen bursting from the caverns and windings of the artificial rocks, here an impetuous cataract, there many lesser falls; and the stream often impeded by trees and stones, that seem brought down by the violence of the current. Straight lines are sometimes indulged, in order to take the advantage of some interesting object at a distance, by directing openings upon it.

Sensible of the influence of contrast, the Chinese artists deal in sudden transitions, and in opposing to each other, forms, colours, and shades. The eye is conducted from limited to extensive views, and from lakes and rivers to plains, hills, and woods: to dark and gloomy colours, are opposed the more brilliant; the different masses of light and shade are disposed in such a manner, as to render the composition distinct in its parts, and striking on the whole. In plantations, the trees are artfully mixed according to their shape and colour; those of spreading branches with the pyramidal, and the light green with the deep green. They even introduce decayed trees, some erect, and some half out of the ground. In order to heighten contrast, much bolder strokes are risked: they sometimes introduce rough rocks, dark caverns, trees ill formed and seemingly rent by tempests or blasted by lightning, a building in ruins or half consumed by fire. But to relieve the mind from the harshness of such objects, they are always succeeded by the sweetest and most beautiful scenes.

The Chinese study to give play to the imagination. They hide the termination of their lakes: the view of a cascade is frequently interrupted by trees, through which are seen obscurely the waters as they fall. The imagination once roused, is disposed to magnify every object.

Nothing is more studied in Chinese gardens than to raise wonder or surprize. In scenes calculated for that end, everything appears like fairy-land; a torrent, for example, conveyed under ground, puzzling a stranger by its uncommon sound to guess what it may be; and, to multiply such uncommon sounds, the rocks and buildings are contrived with cavities and interstices. Sometimes one is led insensibly into a dark cavern, terminating unexpectedly in a landscape enriched with all that nature affords the most delicious. At other times, beautiful walks insensibly conduct us to a rough uncultivated field, where bushes, briers, and stones interrupt the passage: when we look about for an outlet, some rich prospect unexpectedly opens to view. Another artifice is, to obscure some capital part by trees or other interposed objects: our curiosity is raised to know what lies beyond; and after a few steps, we are greatly surprized with some scene totally different from what was expected.

These cursory observations upon gardening, shall be closed with some reflections. Rough uncultivated ground, dismal to the eye, inspires peevishness and discontent: may not this be one cause of the harsh manners of savage? A field richly ornamented, containing beautiful objects of various kinds, displays, in full lustre, the goodness of the Deity, and the ample provision he has made for our happiness; which must fill every spectator with gratitude to his Maker, and with benevolence to his fellow-creatures. Other fine arts may be perverted to excite irregular, and even vicious, emotions; but gardening, which inspires the purest and most refined pleasures, cannot but promote every good affection. The gaiety and harmony of mind it produces, inclining the spectator to communicate his satisfaction to others, and to make them happy as he himself is, tend naturally to establish in him a habit of humanity and benevolence.

Having thus unfolded the general principles of gardening, that have an influence upon taste or manners; we shall now subjoin the practical part, in the form of a calendar.

JANUARY.

Flower-Garden.

This is the proper time for planting roots of the ranunculus; the soil should be rich and sandy, and they should be planted at least three inches deep. By laying a quantity of earth made of old thatch or straw, about seven inches beneath the surface of the ground, and then filling it up with rich mould, a prodigious number of these flowers may be produced. A fine earth may likewise be made of tanner's bark, or the bottom of a wood pile, well mixed with about a third of natural soil, which will prove peculiarly serviceable.

As the wind and frost are very prejudicial to carnations and auriculas, they should this month be kept covered.

Anemonies should be planted in beds of fine earth; no dung must be used in planting them. The roots of these flowers may be increased by breaking the knots, about the size of a small button, asunder, and letting them lie two or three days in the sun, before you plant them. It should be remembered, that the roots of the anemony are to be taken up about the end of June or the beginning of July; after being dried in the sun, they should be preserved in a dry cool place, or kept in sand for a month, and then put in papers till the season for planting them. When these roots are first transplanted, a thin layer of willow-earth, or rotten fally-wood, being put under them, forwards their growth.

Fruit-Garden.

The pruning of pears, vines, and plumbs, is the chief employment of this month. In pruning the pear, those buds which appear fuller than the rest should be carefully preserved; all branches that proceed from the knob, whereon the stalk of a pear grew, are to be taken away, but the knob must remain; and the extremity of the last year's pruning is to be taken off.

As the large branches of a pear-tree are useless in bearing, care should be taken to extend the branches sideways, and none but small branches suffered to grow in the middle, and not even those to grow directly perpendicular, as, by that means, they would soon become what is called great wood.

A pear-tree that is vigorous and luxuriant should not be pruned till after it has begun to shoot. A languishing pear-tree may be restored to its former state by pruning and removal into better ground. Another very good method of treating pear-trees not in a bearing state, is to bark the luxuriant branches all round about a quarter of an inch wide, more or less, according to their strength. Apple-trees will likewise bear this operation, which should be done in April. Trees that are too vigorous may be made to bear by cutting off the sap roots, or taking them up, and re-setting them, for they are often planted planted too deep. Plumbs and cherries may be pruned in the same manner as pears.

The winter-pruning of the vine (which requires a first, second, third, and sometimes a fourth pruning) should be done either in October, November, December, or this month. The vigour of the vine is to be regarded; the small weak shoots that never bear any fruit must be cleared away, and the other branches are to be so proportioned as not to occasion any confusion; such as are thickest and best placed should be preserved, and the strong short branches left nine inches or more, according to the size of the vine. When they have shot twelve or fifteen inches long, which will be in the summer, you must begin to nail them up; and when they have shot two or three feet, stop or cut off the ends of the shoots; those on the side should not be broke off till the fruit is set; and a fruit bearing branch should be cut within three or four eyes of the fruit.

All suckers should be cut off as soon as they have shot seven or eight inches. The vine should be kept thinner of wood than any other tree, though it puts forth the largest shoots. All the old wood should be cut out, and its place supplied with vigorous young shoots.

All dead or cankered branches should this month be cut from the standard fruit-trees, as also such as cross each other; but in doing this you must be careful to make the wounded part as smooth as possible, and sloping, that the wet may not enter and be detained there, to the great prejudice of the trees.

Kitchen-Garden.

The management of hot-beds claims almost the sole attention of the kitchen-gardener this month. The place most exposed to the sun is best for making a hot-bed: when you have marked out the dimensions of the bed, drive stakes into the ground on every side, a yard above the ground, and a foot asunder; wind these round with bands made of hay or straw, and then fill them up with wet litter and new horse-dung, treading it down very hard as you fill; in doing which you must be careful to leave room for the earth and the shooting of your plants.

When you have thus laid the bed, fix your wooden frames fitted to the same, for the reception of the mould at top, and for the support of glass frames, which are to be fixed sloping.

The hot-bed should then be finished by putting in the earth; an old hot-bed, well rotted, affords excellent stuff for this purpose; but if that cannot be procured, some very rich mould well sifted will do.

Over the whole you must fix mats supported by short sticks, which must remain about a week; by which time the bed will abate of its extreme heat, and be of a proper temperature for use.

The bed should be warm, not hot; and when the heat lessens too much, by applying new dung to the sides, you may renew it.

When plants are come up in a hot-bed, they should have air and the sun by degrees; and when strong enough, should be removed to a second hot-bed, of less heat than the former, or into very rich earth, where they should be frequently watered gently, and kept from the meridian sun till well settled; and when the weather is cold, by covering the glases a little before sun-set with litter and mats, they may easily be defended from it.

Gardeners in general make their seed beds for cucumbers and melons in this month, for raising them before their natural season; but the better method is, to make hot-beds the latter end of October or beginning of November: about four feet square, and two feet high, is the proper size, wherein, after the heat is moderated, cucumbers and melons may be sown.

About a week after their coming up, plant them four inches apart in the same bed, after having well stirred up the earth. As the days in October are usually warm, the plants may be allowed to have air; but in January they must be kept covered up close. In this first raising of plants, a gardener may, with due care, make them as hardy as he pleases.

It is usual with some people to keep their melon seeds in milk four and twenty hours before they make use of them; others use them without that preparation: they should be set two or three in a hole, in the hot-bed, about an inch deep, and covered close up, to keep them warm. About the end of April is the time for planting melons, which should first be done in small baskets made of old willow-twigs, three inches deep, and eight or nine inches over.

Two or three plants should be planted in one basket, and when they will bear it, moved on another hot-bed, covered with a sandy loam five or six inches thick, sifted fine, wherein they are to grow all the summer.

Cucumbers are propagated after the same manner as melons; but as a bad season may prevent their being successfully raised, it is highly necessary to put some seeds into the bed at three or four different times this month, that if some should fail, the others may supply their loss. In order to raise asparagus for hot-beds, make choice of a piece of ground that has been well dug and mellowed, then strike out lines seven or eight inches from each other, and plant the asparagus roots in them at six or seven inches apart when they are a twelvemonth old: let them be kept free from weeds, and remain in the nursery two years, in which time they will be fit for the hotbed. The hot-bed for the reception of these roots should be made pretty strong, and covered with earth six inches thick, encompassed round with bands of straw. The asparagus-roots should be planted as close as they can be placed together without trimming; which, being done, cover the buds of the plants two inches thick with earth; in which state let them remain five or six days before the frames and glasses are put over them; and then lay on over the whole three inches thick of fresh earth.

As soon as the buds appear, give them what air the season will permit, which will make them green, and of a good taste. The bed will last good about a month, producing daily fresh buds. If the weather be not too severe: when it begins to cool, warm horse-litter laid upon the glasses every night will contribute as much to facilitate the shoot of the buds as if new dung were applied to the roots. It should be observed, that the time for this work is not only in this month, but from November till April; (making fresh buds every month to follow one another for a constant supply) and in April comes the natural crop.

A very moderate hot-bed made after the manner first directed, will serve to propagate early strawberries.

You may make a bed in two or three hours, with the use of hot lime and powdered dung, the dung being in the middle, and the lime underneath and at top; over which you should lay a quantity of fine rich mould.

To raise radishes in the hot-bed with success, you should have sufficient thickness of rich light mould, that they may have proper depth to root in before they reach the dung.

Radishes may be sowed all the year, but in hot-beds in the winter.

Mustard, lettuce, cresses, and other fallading, are generally raised from the seeds sown in drills or lines, in such an exposure as is required by the season of the year; in the winter-season, on moderate hot beds; in the spring, under glasses and frames; and in the summer, on natural beds of earth.

Cresses sown in the natural ground in August, resist the frosts of the winter, and help greatly to enrich the hot-bed fallads with the high taste they maintain by being exposed to the open air.

Small herbs should be drawn up by the roots from the hot beds; and, in sowing a second crop, seeds of another kind should be sown, and not the same kind in the same place.

The hotspur, charlton master, and other peas, must be sown in drills three feet asunder, that you may have room to go between them; and the lines should run from north to south.

When they have shot about six inches high, earth them about four inches on both sides of the lines, raising a little bank on the east side of them, to defend them from the blasting winds.

In February you may sow a second crop, and in March a third.

You must, in the beginning of the winter, sow twice the quantity of peas you need to do, if you stay till February or March; because the cold weather and the mice will destroy great part of them.

FEBRUARY.

Flower-Garden.

For the better management of the auricula, which is to be sown this month, prepare a box of oak or deal, four feet long, two feet wide, and six inches deep, with holes in the bottom, six inches distance from each other; in which, after laying two inches thick of cinders or sea-coals; and spreading over them some earth taken out of hollow willow-trees, till you have filled the box, sow the seeds on the top, without any covering of earth, pressing them into the mould with a flat board, in order to settle them below the edges of the box that the light seeds may not float over the brim in watering.

From the time of sowing to the beginning of April, this box must be placed where it will receive the sun; but after that time, it must be removed into a shady place; and the seeds must be continually refreshed with gentle waterings.

If the seedlings do not come up the first year, they will the second; and in July or August, after they appear above ground, will be strong enough to transplant; when you must set them in beds of light earth well sifted, at about four inches distance from each other, and place them where they may receive only the morning sun.

The April afterwards they will begin to show themselves, when they should be transplanted into pots filled with soil made of one load of melon-earth, or dung well rotted, half a load of sea-sand, and half a load of sandy loam; or a load of melon earth, and the like of sandy loam; or one load of rotten wood, or the bottom of a wood-pile, the same quantity of loam, and half a load of melon earth, prepared as above.

These flowers must be carefully sheltered from the rains, which greatly impair their colours.

Provided the weather is mild, you may, toward the end of this month, plant out your choice carnations into the pots where they are to remain to flower; in doing which, you should not take too much of the earth from their roots; and when they are planted, it will be proper to place the pots in a warm situation (but not too near walls, or pales, which will draw them up weak); and arch them over with hoops, that in bad weather they may be covered with mats; for unless they acquire strength in the spring before the heat comes on, they will not produce large flowers.

The polyanthus seed must be sown upon a place prepared with earth taken out of decayed willows, often watered and kept shaded from the sun all April and May, till the young plants are come up.

The seedlings will be fit to transplant the July or August following into beds; the soil of which should be somewhat binding, and their exposure only to the morning sun.

You may have an annual supply of larkspurs without the trouble of sowing, by sowing the seeds of the flowers to drop, which will come up the ensuing spring: they are sown in spots, and flourish in variety of ground.

The single sort of Sweet William is raised by seeds sown in February or March; the double sorts, propagated from slips taken near the root about March or April, and planted in a loamy soil: they may also be laid down in the earth like carnation layers.

Hollyhocks are raised by seeds sown in this month, removed in August or September to their proper places of vegetation, in rich earth.

The most agreeable disposition of this flower is, under some coarse wall, which they will handsomely fill, or in any other place guarded from the winds.

Pinks, and candy-tufts, are generally used in edgings in gardens, and inside of borders, where they are planted in spots, and have a very agreeable effect.

The seed is sown in lines in this month or March; or they may be propagated from slips planted very early in the spring, or in August. Rose-trees, of which there are various sorts, succeed best in a strong holding ground, tolerably moist; they may either be raised from layers or suckers, laid down and taken from the old roots in February or March, and transplanted immediately before the roots grow dry; should there be a necessity for keeping them out of the ground for some time, lay their roots in water five or six hours before they are planted.

The rose-tree does well in borders, or in the quarters of wilderness works, among other flowering shrubs; and some or other of them will be in flower for ten months in the year.

The laburnum tree is commonly planted among the other flowering shrubs of the wilderness, and will grow in the most open exposure, as well as under the shade of large trees: it may easily be raised from seeds sown in this month, and transplanted two years after it comes up.

The althea may be raised from layers or seeds; there are several different colours of this flower, and they may be budded so as to have all the colours on one plant.

The pomegranate prospers most in a light soil; and being propagated by laying down the young shoots in this month or March, may be transplanted either in the spring or autumn season, when they may be put in pots, or against a south wall, where the fruit will ripen.

The pomegranate may also be raised from seed.

The syringa may be raised from seeds; but it is hardly thought worth the trouble, as it is very apt to put forth suckers; these, however, may be easily be taken off and transplanted at this time of the year, and in September.

It is a shady position which makes this shrub shoot, and the sun makes it flower; but it will grow almost anywhere.

The lilac is a plant which grows to a pretty large tree, bearing bunches of purple blossoms, like plumes of feathers, in May; and is raised by laying down the young branches in this month or March, or by taking off the suckers, and planting them in a light soil, about the same time, or in September.

These trees are highly ornamental in the quarters of wilderness works, and small walks of them are very pleasant.

The Spanish broom is planted in wilderness works, and may be raised from seeds sown in light earth; also by laying down the tender branches, and cutting them at the joints, after the manner of the carnation; but the latter method is not so certain as the other, though it is far more troublesome.

The laurus tinus is greatly admired for producing its flower in the winter; and may be raised from the berries, managed as the holly; or from layers, which is the most expeditious way.

This plant is greatly hurt by frost, and succeeds best in moist shady places; it will flourish in loamy soil, without the help of any rich manure, which forwards its growth too much.

The laurus tinus, is often trained up as a headed plant, though it is best planted against a wall, or in wildernesses; and it is observable, that this plant, like all other exotics, is naturally inclined to blossom about the spring in its own country, which is our autumn; for which reason, it should be pruned in our spring season after it has done blowing.

The phillyrea, may in general be propagated from the berries, or raised from layers, which will presently take root.

This plant, which succeeds best in a natural light soil, grows very fast; and being well supported with rails or stakes, a number of them makes a very thick and handsome hedge.

The yew-tree delights in a light barren soil, and is more plentifully produced on the coldest mountains than in the richest soils.

The berries of the yew may be laid in sand, as those of the holly, before they are sown; and there is no difficulty in propagating this plant, or removing it, if the roots are pruned from time to time, by digging about it while it stands in the nursery.

The holly will grow to a very large tree; but being a rooted plant, does not succeed well when transplanted, unless the roots have been often pruned in the nursery.

The berries of this plant, when ripe, are to be gathered; and after they have been laid to sweat some time, are to be put in sand or earth, till the autumn following, when, and likewise in this month, they may be sown in nursery beds.

They will lie in the ground for a long time before they begin to spring, and it will be four or five years before the young stocks will be fit to graft or inoculate upon.

The grafting must be done in March, and the inoculating in July; but for standard trees or hedges, they must be planted at their proper distances while very young, that they may be accustomed to the soil.

The bay-tree, which is managed as the holly, is raised by berries sown in this month, on a bed of earth fresh dug, and covered with some fresh natural earth, well sifted, about two inches thick.

In about six weeks, the seeds thus sown will come up, should the weather prove moist; they should be covered with straw, or fern, for the three first winters, after which time they must be transplanted.

When these plants are discoloured by frost, cut off the top-branch in the spring, and they will shoot afresh.

The bay-tree may also be raised from layers laid down in the month of October, for cuttings, set in pots of fine earth, two or three inches deep; and from suckers taken up with as much root as may be, and planted in the shade, in a gravelly soil, being well watered to settle the earth about their roots.

The laurel is propagated in the same manner as the bay-tree, loves shade, resists the weather, and will thrive in almost every soil.

Towards the end of this month, if the season proves favourable, stir the surface of the ground of your flower-beds, and clear them from weeds, moss, and whatever filth may appear thereon, which will not only make your garden look neat, but be of peculiar service to the flowers.

Fruit Garden.

The business of this month is chiefly pruning and grafting. GARDENING

and is more particularly the season for pruning fruit-trees.

When a tree has produced two well disposed branches with some weak ones intermixed, they should be shortened equally to the length of five or six inches; and if the position of the two branches be irregular, there must be only one left to begin the formation of your tree.

A tree will sometimes shoot five, six, or seven branches, the first year; when this happens, three or four only of the best branches are to be preserved.

A multitude of branches in the first year, is not always a sign of vigour; for they sometimes prove weak, occasioned by the infirmity of the roots: in pruning, generally a vigorous tree cannot have too many branches, if they are well disposed, nor a weak one too few.

The sap of all trees must be kept within due bounds, and a greater liberty is to be allowed to strong trees than to weak ones; for which reason strong and vigorous branches are left of a greater length than feeble ones; and it is best to prune weak sickly trees early, that the sap may not be too much wasted.

In the pruning of wall-fruit-trees, all the branches shooting directly forward are to be cut off close to the branch they spring from; and the utmost care must be taken to prevent their being too much crowded with wood, it being often necessary to take off even bearing branches, to preserve your trees in beauty and health; for it is impossible too great a number of branches should be supplied with juices as they ought; and if they are not, either the blossoms will drop off, or the fruit never ripen.

You should ever be careful to preserve a convenient space between one branch and another in all prunings; also that one branch does not cross another: a slender bearing branch may, notwithstanding, sometimes be permitted to steal behind the main body of the tree, and be no offence to the eye.

That a tree may be the better disposed to bear fruit, the branches should be carried horizontally as much as possible; for the more perpendicular the branches of a tree are led, the more they are inclined to run into great wood and barrenness.

Small weak branches, shooting from the like, should be cut away, as should all shoots put forth in autumn.

When an old tree shoots stronger branches towards the bottom than the top, and the top is sickly, it must be cut off, and a new figure formed from the lower branches; but if the top be in good health, you must cut off the lower ones, unless it be a few that are well placed.

Where old trees are in a weak condition, to preserve them, they are to be disburthened totally, leaving a few branches only shortened to five or six inches.

Having thus laid down the principal rules for pruning in general, we now come to the management of the peach and other fruit trees in particular.

When peach-trees are vigorous, it is best to defer the first pruning till they are ready to blossom, when you may be at a certainty in preserving those branches which are most promising of fruit, and then to shorten them as they require.

You may soon discover the fruit-bearing branches by their swelling buds, and you should reduce them to the length of five or six inches; the last year's shoots may be left ten or twelve inches long.

In the space of about three years, all the wood must at several prunings be taken away, but in the mean time the wall is to be furnished with other wood.

When you have reduced your tree to beauty and order, you have little to do but thinning your fruit till Midsummer, when the shoots are to be shortened and fastened to the wall, giving the fruit the advantage of the sun as much as possible.

If the peach-tree makes over-haste in its bearing, it is a sign of infirmity, and must be accordingly managed, by pruning the branches short, and plucking off all or most of the blossoms or fruit; which it is much less difficult to do than when a peach is over vigorous; for then nature is apt to make a confusion, which requires the greatest skill to know what branches are fit to be chosen, and what rejected.

The peach-tree requires a second, and sometimes a third pruning; the last of which is to be performed about the middle of May, or in June or July.

The apricot and nectarine may be pruned in the same manner as the peach; but it should be observed, that the apricot is more apt to run to wood than any other of these kind of wall-fruit trees.

The usual ways of grafting are, in the cleft—in the bark—by approach, and whip-grafting.

Grafting in the cleft, or slip-grafting, is performed on the cherry, pear, and plum stocks, in the manner following.

When you have chosen a stock, in a smooth place cut off the head of it, sloping: then, with your knife make the top horizontally even; which being done, make a slit of near two inches deep down the middle of the stock, in which fix a cyon, sloped on each side from a bud; and closing the bark of both exactly, tie them round with bals.

When you have thus finished your grafting, put a quantity of clay and horse-dung, tempered together, round the stock and lower part of the cyon; in doing which, be careful not to disturb the latter.

Grafting in the bark is generally performed only on apples, by cutting the head of the stock as already directed; but instead of slitting it, slit only the bark a little above an inch on the south-west side, or as long as the sloped part of the cyon; then, loosening the top of the bark with your knife, put in your cyon (being prepared with a flat slope about an inch long, ending in a point, and begun from the back-side of an eye) and closing it as above, cover it also in the same manner with clay.

When either an apple, pear, plum, or cherry tree, wants a branch to make the tree uniform, a graft may be put into the side without cutting the head of it.

Grafting by approach, or inarching, is performed when a stock grows so near another tree, the fruit of which you would propagate, that it may be joined with a branch of that tree, by cutting the sides of the branch and stock about three inches long, and fitting them, that the passages of the sap may meet; in which posture let them be bound and clayed.

When they are well cemented, cut off the head of the stock

About four inches above the binding; and in March following, having cut off the stubb that was left of the stock, and the cyon underneath, close the grafted place, so that it may subtlet by the stock only.

This manner of grafting agrees best with vines, pomegranates, oranges, and such like shrubs.

When the stock and cyon are of the same bigness, the operation of whip-grafting is performed, by sloping the stock and cyon about an inch, so as to make them fit, and then tying them together, and claying the place.

KITCHEN GARDEN.

Hot-beds for radishes and spring carrots should now be made, according to the directions given for a common hot-bed in the preceding month; which, by proper management, will do for all sorts of seeds that are annual.

To make a mushroom bed, dig a trench five or six inches deep, and lay in it either the dung of horses, mules, or asses, in ridges, which dung must be the last covering before the earth is laid on.

The bed, when it is complete, must be three or four feet high; and after covering the dung about two or three inches deep with such earth as is taken from under a turf, put some mushroom-earth all over the bed on the last covering of dung.

Should the weather be severe, you may defend the bed with straw or dry litter, eight or ten inches thick, or cover it with mats fastened on hoops.

The bed must be kept properly watered, twice or thrice a-week; and the mushrooms will come up in two months time at farthest; sometimes in a month, when they must be immediately cut.

By putting some mushroom earth on your cucumber-beds, you will greatly forward their growth.

In the natural ground potatoes love a sandy soil; and the smaller roots, or knots of them, are commonly saved to raise a crop from, being set about four or five inches deep in the ground, and five or six inches apart; and when their haulms begin to decay, which is generally about Michaelmas, you may take them out of the ground with forks as you have occasion to use them.

The Jerusalem artichoke succeeds best in a stiff soil, and affords a root as large as an ordinary turnip, being in taste somewhat like a potatoe, but rather more watery.

The several sorts of cabbages, as the red cabbage, the Dutch cabbage, the Savoy cabbage, the Russia cabbage, the Battersea cabbage, and the two sorts of the sugar-loaf cabbage, should be planted at proper distances, according to their several statures.

The Savoy cabbages are for winter use, and towards the spring put forth sprouts preferable to the cabbages themselves.

Almost any ground will serve for cabbages; but if the weather be dry, it must be well watered before planting.

The hardest cabbages may be taken up before the great frosts come on; and after they have hung up by the roots about a fortnight, lay them in a cellar, where they will keep a long time; or plant them deep in the ground close to one another, and cover them with haym or straw, till you have occasion to use them.

Carrots are most prosperous in a light ground, in which their roots will grow to a great bigness.

Spring-carrots are sown in July or August; those intended for a winter-crop, in February or March, in dry weather.

When your carrots are come up, and have been above ground about a month, they must be houghed, leaving the space of about five inches between the plants; and after the first houghing they should be kept as clean as possible till they are full grown, when they may be taken up for present use, and kept in sand during the winter.

Parsnips thrive best in a rich soil, and, excepting that they should not stand too thick, are to be managed in the same manner as carrots.

The skirret requires a light, moist, yet a rich soil; and is propagated either by sowing seeds, or by transplanting the offsets from the roots.

As soon as the leaves begin to put forth, they should be taken out of the ground, and parted into as many slips as can be conveniently taken off with the roots, so as only the fresh springing fibres remain on them; drills about four or five inches deep must then be prepared to plant them five or six inches apart, and they must be kept well watered till their roots are fully grown.

The usual time for sowing turnips is in July or August, but some people sow them in this month, by way of providing them for the summer. They thrive best in a sandy, loamy soil, but will grow in any ground; when the plants have two or three leaves, they should be houghed at the distance prescribed for parsnips and carrots.

Onions are sown in this month, and in March, in rich garden soil; and toward the latter end of April, being come up, they are houghed, when about three inches should be left between the plants till they begin to grow fit for salads, and then they may be drawn, or thinned where they grow too close together.

In sowing onions you must not be sparing of seeds, as it often happens many of them, being bad, have no effect.

When the leaves begin to change their colour, they should be pulled up, (in dry weather;) and after being well dried without doors, they must be spread on some floor, to dry more thoroughly for winter use.

Such onions as spire in the house, may this month be planted in lines six inches apart, and two inches distance for feeds for another year.

The leek is sown in a well-wrought ground, and is to be kept free from weeds, and houghed like the onion; the plants are transplanted in July, in rich light soil, in lines about five inches apart.

Strawberries prosper most in ground inclining to clay; and the best way of managing them, is to provide a quantity of horse-dung and coal-ashes well mixed together, and lay it upon the land to be dug or trenched in this month; then make borders three feet wide, on which the slips are to be planted from eight to eighteen inches apart, according to the sorts: the chila strawberries being largest, should be set two feet asunder. Afterwards you may set beans for a summer crop, and plant roses, sweet brier, currants or gooseberries, at every five or six feet distance, as the plants will not begin to bear fruit to any purpose till the following year, and it will be the third year after planting before there will be a full crop; in the mean time the roses, gooseberries, &c. turn to a good account, besides being serviceable to the plants by shading them.

The strawberries should be kept clear of weeds, and, if their blowing season be dry, well watered: early in the spring you must cleanse them, and fling loose earth among them to strengthen their roots.

Of strawberries there are five sorts, the chila strawberry, the hautboy, the scarlet, the red, and the white wood strawberry.

There are two kinds of raspberries, the red and white; the latter is the greater rarity, and thrives in such ground as agrees best with strawberries, being propagated by slips taken from the roots the latter end of this month or in March.

Raspberries should be planted in single rows, about a foot or eighteen inches asunder, and three feet between every row, leaving the heads two feet high when planted.

The Muscovy clustered raspberry, planted against a wall between the trees where there is a vacancy, will ripen very soon; and their chief culture is to keep them clean from weeds in the spring; to prune the tops of the strongest shoots of the last year, leaving them about three feet high; and to cut away all dead and weak branches.

The gooseberry is propagated either by seeds, suckers, or cuttings; the first may be sown as soon as ripe, and will come up the spring following; the suckers are taken from the roots of old trees when their leaves are fallen, and transplanted in nurseries, in open weather; and the cuttings will take root, being planted in the months of September or October.

This tree requires a strong holding soil, and may be transplanted with more safety in October than at this time of the year.

Currants are to be raised in the same manner as the gooseberry, and thrive best in the same kind of soil.

Liquorice should be planted at this season of the year; and the ground made choice of for planting it should be trenched three feet deep, and the liquorice set at a foot distance every way.

March

Flower Garden.

The rose campion is propagated either from seeds sown this month, or from slips taken from the roots: the double-blossom kind is raised from slips only, as it does not produce any seeds; the last-mentioned thrives best in a loamy soil, and open exposure.

In this month also off-sorts of the white hellebore are planted in a rich light soil.

Seeds are now sown of the fox-glove, which succeed best in the shade and a loamy soil; this flower does not blow till two months from the time of sowing.

The poppy, which is an annual, is sown in spots; as is the Venus looking-glass: the latter is proper also for edgings.

The valerian is raised from seeds, and some kinds of it are increased by parting the roots.

The primrose tree will grow in any soil, and the seed of it is sown in the natural ground towards the end of this month: it is very proper for the middle of borders in large gardens; and the seedling plants, which will not blossom till the second year, are to be sown in the nursery, and the young plants removed to proper places in the August after they come up.

Slips of the gentianella are planted in a sandy soil in this month or August.

Cardinal flowers are raised by seeds sown in hot beds, in fine sifted earth; and the seeds being small, are to be lightly covered with mould; these flowers, which are commonly cultivated in pots, may be increased by parting their roots in April, and planting them in places well exposed to the sun.

You should now sow the seeds of the stock-gilliflowers, and transplant them in the August following, in a light natural dry soil.

The double kinds of this flower may be increased by slips or cuttings planted in May, June, or July.

Sow the seeds of the acanthus, in a sandy soil, and in the shade.

A loamy soil is requisite for raising the double rocket flower, which is propagated from slips taken from about the root.

The scarlet lychis is propagated either from seeds, or slips taken from the root; it is also cultivated in pots, and requires a loamy soil, and open exposure.

The several sorts of double wall-flowers may be raised from slips planted in shady places, either in March, April, May, or June; but the bloody wall-flower may be more easily raised from seeds sown in this month: and a sandy soil is requisite to make them thrive.

The monk's hood, a flower of a poisonous quality, is propagated by parting the roots, which should be done in this month, and will thrive best in a loamy soil, in the most shady place in your garden.

The fun-flower, which will grow in any soil, is raised from seeds sown in large borders; and also by parting the roots, either in this month or in August.

The athers, or starworts, will thrive in any soil, and are fit companions for the tallest flowers in your garden: they are propagated from slips taken from the root; and the best method is to plant them in pots, otherwise they will grow so numerous as to become a nuisance rather than an ornament.

Seeds or layers of the passion-tree may be sown this month; and every cutting of it, being planted in fine earth, will take root about May or June.

This tree is a prodigious quick-grower, and very hardy; loves moist and cool places; and, if constantly watered, and dugged about the roots, it will bear fruit resembling lemons.

The arbutus, thrives in a light, gravelly soil, and may be raised either from seeds or layers; and the fruit (which must be gathered about Christmas, and laid to dry for

The layers of the arbutus are made of the most tender shoots about September; but will not be strong enough to transplant the spring following, though they will take root in a year's time.

The apocynum, or dog's-bane, is propagated from seeds sown this month in hot-beds, or from cuttings; a light natural soil agrees best with them; they should be watered but seldom, and then gently; and they should be set in the hot house sooner or later, as they are more or less tender.

Set the stone of the fruit of the palm-tree this month in light earth, and give them the assistance of the hotbed; it is a green-house plant, but might be made to stand abroad, after sheltering for three or four years.

The green privet, which is a plant of a quick growth, and makes an admirable hedge, is propagated by sowing the berries in light earth, about an inch deep, watering them frequently till they come up; a hot gravelly soil is the most proper for this tree; and they are to be transplanted from the seed-bed the second year after sowing.

The mezeron, should now be sown in a loamy soil, and care should be taken to preserve it from the birds.

The berries of the juniper tree may be sown this month in rich ground without watering, or in any light manure, and in about two months they will come up; and they are to remain in the seed-bed two years, during which time they must be kept free from weeds, and then they may be transplanted.

You may now take off the suckers of the spiraea frutescens, and plant them in a light soil.

Sow the seeds of the several kinds of firs ornamental in wilderness-works, which will flourish in any soil; in order to keep their bodies smooth and free from knots, you must break off their collateral buds while they are young and tender.

Upon the hot-bed, sow such exotic seeds as are least tender, and arrive sooner at perfection than those sown the last month; among which are the China or Indian pink, the nasturtium Indicum, convolvulus, and balsamines; and none of these must be planted in the natural ground till the middle of May: if you have no hot-bed, you may defer growing the marvel of Peru and the nasturtium till the next month, when they will come up in the natural ground.

Plant tube-roses in pots of fresh earth, giving them a gentle warmth, but no water till they sprout out of the ground.

The seeds of the campanula pyramidalis should now be sown, and slips taken off from the roots; fresh air should be given to the pots of this flower, and they should be set in some pit where the sun may come at them, by which means they will grow tall.

Mend and repair your shelves and places of shelter for auriculas, which should now be guarded on all sides but the east from the sun, and defended from rain; put canvas coverings or mats over your tulips, to prevent their being blighted; and transplant your carnation layers for blowing, if they were not planted out in autumn.

The feeds of the humble and sensitive plants may now be sown upon the hot-beds; and the noli me tangere in the natural ground.

You may transplant your evergreens; graft the Spanish white jasmine upon the common English sort; and slip or set box for edgings, or in figured works.

Such exotic plants as have suffered in the green-house, should be removed to the hot-house; where, to prevent the steam of the bed from being of bad consequence, the dung should be covered with a due thickness of earth.

FRUIT GARDEN.

You may make layers of the vine either in this or the next month, and they will be fit to transplant at Michaelmas; this tree is also propagated by laying down the young branches as soon as the fruit is gathered, or by making plantations of cuttings at that time.

If the weather proves open in February, that is the best time for planting vines; and the soil in which they best succeed is rocky or gravelly.

A chalky hill, lying very open to the sun, will produce better grapes than any of the rich soils prepared with horse-dung; but a tolerable good compost, to mix with the earth about the roots, may be made with the rubbish of old buildings.

In planting a vine, let the places where your vines are to stand be open and prepared before any of the plants are taken out of the nursery, when great care should be taken in their removal; they are to be planted six or seven feet every way, and the best grapes for a vineyard are the marlmorel, chiante, claret grape, and Burgundy black morellon.

These vines are to be pruned the September before transplanted, according to their strength, leaving not more than four buds on the strongest; and to cleanse them from weeds is all the care they will require the first summer.

Shorten the summer-shoots about the end of September, and the strongest of them will begin to show a little fruit the summer following.

In May or June of this second year, the small shoots and superfluous branches are to be carefully broke off; and two or three shoots only preserved on each vine, which should be supported by stakes or poles, till the September following, (for the nearer the grapes grow to the ground, provided they do not touch it, the sweeter they will be) and then they may be shortened.

The vineyard, thus planted and managed, will, in five or six years time, produce a good crop of grapes.

The fig is raised either from layers, seeds, or suckers; the layers are ordered like those of the vine; the seeds are sown in rubbish, or such like soil; and the suckers are separated from the old roots the beginning of this month, and transplanted without cutting off their tops.

The fig tree thrives in the same sort of soil as the vine, and may be planted either against walls or in standards.

The pruning of this tree is very different from that of other fruit-trees; for as the practice is to take away the small branches in pruning other trees, so here it is to be avoided, because the fig puts forth its fruit chiefly at the extremities of the last year's shoots; but you may cut off some of the weak smaller shoots which do not promise to bear, so as you do it close to the great wood.

The branches must not be suffered to grow too high, as they are prevented by that means from being full; the new thick branches must be shortened yearly to about a foot, and the bud at the end of the branches broken off in the spring time, which will cause the figs to shoot out more early, and instead of a single branch there will be two.

The pruning season of the fig is towards the end of this month; and it is best in the summer to let this tree have some liberty from the wall, and not suffer it to continue close tacked to it like other fruit-trees; but in the winter some of the straggling branches should be cut off, and the best and biggest branches tacked to the wall in November, that they may be more effectually settled, and sheltered from the frost in the winter by the defence of a mat, or otherwise, especially when the season is very cold.

The suckers which this tree puts forth in great abundance, must be kept down, and whatever you cut away, must be as close to the great wood or roots as you can; and a whole tree may, after an unkind winter, be cut down for the recovery of its former state of health.

The following is the method of making the horizontal shelters for fruit trees: Lay rows of tiles in the structure of the wall, at certain distances one above another, the tiles jetting forward, and hanging over the plane of the wall about an inch and a half; this is neither a difficult nor a chargeable work, if the wall be of brick, to place between every two rows of bricks these horizontal shelters of tiles: and if the wall be of stone, and the joints be anything regular, it is not less easy.

In order to avoid the inconvenience of branches riding over the edges of the tiles, in each row, at convenient distances, must be left void places or gaps, for the wood branches to pass through; which gaps are to be left wider at the bottom than at the top of the wall; and the rows of the tiles are not to be laid exactly horizontal, but rather a little sloping, the better to shoot off the water from the fruit.

Blooms and tender fruit are more especially preserved by these horizontal shelters, than by mats, or coverings, of any kind whatsoever; and by their assistance a good quantity of the choicest fruit may be depended on in the most difficult and unseasonable year.

Kitchen Garden.

Directions have, in the month of January, been given how to sow peas in drills, or lines, and to earth them when they come out of the ground; when beans may be planted three feet asunder between the rows, and the large peas four feet, being set about five inches apart in a stiff soil, without any manure, kept clean and watered about the time of their blossom.

Thyme is raised either by seeds sown in this month or April, or from slips planted at the same time.

Sage is also propagated from seeds or slips, but most commonly from the latter, taken from the roots at the end of this month, or the beginning of the next, and planted, in light earth, a foot apart.

Of marjoram there are two sorts; one of which is called winter sweet marjoram, and propagated by planting the slips about March or April in moist ground; and the other sort is sown annually on hot-beds.

Camomile and pennyroyal are propagated from slips planted in this or the next month, in stiff soil and in a shady part of the garden.

Fennel is raised from seeds sown in this month in the natural ground; as is parsley, dill, &c.

Mint and balm will grow anywhere, and are propagated by parting their roots in any time of the spring as well as by sowing.

Mint is more generally propagated than balm, and when it is about a foot high you may cut it in branches, and dry it in the shade for winter use.

Rue is a plant which is multiplied by slips set in a light soil, and should have a place in the shade.

Tansy is a plant, which should always be kept dry in winter, and is increased by parting the roots in the spring.

Sellery is a hot herb, and raised from seed sown in this month, or April, in some well exposed place in the garden; it must be planted out about six weeks after it is come up in beds, allowing six inches distance between the plants, and they may remain to the middle of June, at which time some of the first sowing will be fit to plant in trenches for blanching, in a light rich soil.

Your trenches must be eight or ten inches wide, and of the same depth; in which the plants are to be put as soon as made, after having pruned off their tops and roots; place them at five inches distance; as they increase in growth, earth them up within four or five inches of their tops.

Endive may be sown in this month, but April is the more proper time; a light soil agrees best with it, and when it has been come up about six weeks, plant it in beds as directed for sellery, and about the middle of July plant it in rows about six inches apart.

When it is well grown, tie up some of it to whiten; which work should be continued every ten or twelve days.

Purslane is sown in this month, and glasses are used to help it forward; and in April it is sown in warm places.

Sorrel is sown in rows or drills, like other saladings.

Of spinach, in March, April and May, you are to sow several parcels of ground at different times, about a fortnight from each other, as a constant supply for the table, till there is plenty of other greens.

There are two sorts of spinach, the prickly sort, and the round spinach, both of which thrive in a light rich soil; and such as is intended for winter use must be sown in August.

Chives are raised by off-sets from the roots, planted at six inches distance, cutting off their branches at the time of planting; they succeed best in a light, rich ground; and the oftener they are cut, the smaller and finer they are.

Tarragon Tarragon is raised from slips and seeds; the slips are taken from the root, and planted in this month in as warm an exposure as possible.

Artichoke seeds are sown about the beginning of this month, and planted out in April; and the middle of this month is the most proper time to slip the roots for new plantations; for they are raised by suckers as well as seeds.

When you have severed the slips, three heads are to be left growing upon every old root; and these slips are to be planted two feet apart, in lines four feet distance from each other, and well watered after planting.

Artichokes thrive best in a strong rich ground, exposed to the sun, with dung well mellowed in it; when they blossom the first year, the roots are endangered; you may therefore break off the blossoms, and about the middle of July break off the stems of the old roots that have done blowing, by which means you will furnish yourselves with fresh shoots.

The seeds of the cabbage and lettuce of all kinds may now be sown in the open ground among the crops; a light rich ground and a warm exposure agrees best with them; and that there may not be wanting a supply of them, they are to be sown every month from March to August, when the winter crops are to be put in, which should be planted out three weeks after they come up, at about five inches distance.

Such as produce large cabbages early in the spring may be permitted to stand for seed, and are to be staked up and defended from the wind; the seeds will be fit to gather as soon as they begin to show their down, and then the plants are to be pulled up and set to dry in a greenhouse.

The cauliflower seed is sown in some well-exposed corner of the garden, where the young plants may be sheltered; and about the middle of April, when they are in their first leaf, they are to be planted in a nursery about five or six inches asunder, and there continue till the latter end of May, or June, when they are to be transplanted abroad for your crop, which should be done in moist or rainy weather; or if it be a dry season, holes are to be made in the ground, about three feet apart, and to be well watered before you plant the cauliflowers, which will make the plants shoot, being also frequently watered afterwards.

In the autumn following they will bear large flowers; but some of them will not flower till after Michaelmas, and such plants may be taken up with the earth round their roots, and set together in the greenhouse, or some such place, where they will enlarge themselves, and be fit for use in the winter.

To raise summer cauliflowers, you must sow the seed the beginning of August, upon some decayed hot-bed; and as soon as they have put out their leaf, transplant them about three inches distance, upon some other bed; in the middle of September draw out every other plant, and set them six inches apart under a south wall, to stand there till spring, when they are to be planted out for flowering; or you may set them in the places where they are to blossom, covering them with glass-bells in the winter.

If the weather is open, the first week in this month you may sow asparagus; and the seedlings will be fit for planting out the February or March following.

The following is the method used by the best gardeners to produce a natural crop.

After measuring out the ground, allowing four feet for the breadth of each bed, and two feet for the alleys between the beds; open a trench at one end, and lay into the bottom of it horse-dung about six or eight inches thick; then go on and trench the same quantity of ground lying next to the first trench, throwing the earth of the second trench upon the dung at the bottom of the first, and thus continue working till the whole is done.

Having finished your beds, plant asparagus, taken fresh out of the nursery, in lines at eight or ten inches distance, spreading their roots, and covering their buds with earth about four inches thick; each bed takes up four rows; and when they are all planted, sow the whole with onions, and rake it level, for the alleys will not be of any use till after Michaelmas, when the onions will be off, and the shoots of the asparagus plants made that summer are to be cut down, the alleys dug up, part of the soil thrown upon the beds, to raise the earth about five or six inches above the buds of the plants, and the alleys supplied with dung, or some rich soil.

In March following the earth must be raked down; and the alleys are to be turned up every winter, and now and then enriched with dung.

When Michaelmas is past, you may cut down the haulm, and give them their winter-dressing; and you should not be later than the middle of March in raking and laying down the beds.

It is a general rule, not to cut any of the asparagus till the fourth year after planting; but where the plants are strong, a few may be taken here and there in very small quantities the third year.

The asparagus appears above ground the beginning of April, and may be cut till the beginning of June, when they have stood five years; but if they are younger, you must not cut them after the middle of May.

No buds that appear above ground should be suffered to grow in the cutting season, unless they proceed from fresh plants, to make good deficiencies; and those must be suffered to run up every year, till they have gathered strength: it is best to cut them downwards a little sloping with a knife made blunt at the point.

APRIL

FLOWER-GARDEN.

In this month, and the beginning of May, the seeds of the carnation are to be sown in a compost made of sandy loam, and well-converted melon-earth, two loads of the former to one load of the latter; sift them well together, and let them lie in a heap for a time to mellow; then sift it a second time either to sow the carnation-seeds in, or to plant your layers or roots of them upon.

Having filled your pots with this earth, and smoothed them on the top, sprinkle on your seeds; and covering them with the same compost, press it gently with a board, and let them stand exposed to the weather. The seed will come up in about three weeks; and in July following the young plants will be big enough to transplant into beds, where they must be set about ten inches distant from one another, and shaded from the sun with mats for about three weeks.

You may find many varieties from the seedling plants in the second year; and whatever rarities appear, they must be laid down as soon as possible, by cutting half through a joint, and splitting the internode upwards, halfway to the other joint above it; then the wounded part must be buried in the earth, and fastened down till it takes root, which, provided the earth is light, will be in about two months.

The most proper season for laying down the layers of the seedlings is in July; and when planted they must be carefully guarded, both from the intense heat in summer, and the chilling frosts in winter.

The flower stems will begin to put forth about April, when each flower must be supported by its stem being tied to a stick about four feet long; and as soon as the flower-buds appear, leave only one or two of the largest upon each flower stem, to blossom; and about ten days before the flowers open, the round poded kinds will begin to crack their husks on one side, when you should split or open the hulk on the opposite side to the natural fracture with a fine needle; and three or four days before the complete opening of the flower, you must cut off the points on the top of the flower-pod, and supply the vacancies on each side of the hulk with two small pieces of vellum, which may be easily slipped between the flower-leaves and the inside of the hulk, by which means the flower will make an equal display of its parts, and the form of it, consequently, be entirely regular.

When the blossom begins to show its colour, you should fix a piece of flat board upon the sticks, to shelter it from the sun's extreme heat.

The seeds of the carnation must be gathered towards the end of September, in dry weather, and be exposed for a month or two, through a glass, without opening the husks till the time of sowing the seeds comes round again.

The seeds of the columbine are sown in the nursery this month, from whence you may remove the choice plants to the garden, and next year they will yield flowers; the roots of this flower will hold good for three or four years, when you must have a supply of fresh ones.

The seed of the scarlet bean is annually sown in good ground, well exposed to the sun; and sticks should be fixed in the ground, round which they will twine, and make a very agreeable show.

The amaranthus is an annual, sown on a hot-bed; and the seeds being sown in this or the preceding month, in the hottest part of your garden, are to be raised under glasses.

The African marigold is also an annual, raised on a hot-bed.

**Fruit-Garden.**

You should now carefully weed your beds of strawberries, and take off their runners; and if the season is dry, it will be proper to water them, for they produce but little fruit when this is neglected.

Lay the branches of the peach-tree horizontally, and keep them free from great wood, and perpendicular shoots in the middle, that the sap may be carried in such due proportion as is necessary; and it should be ever observed, that too much vigour is as pernicious as too little, with respect to the tree bearing a sufficient quantity of fruit.

When a pear or apple-tree is ungovernable, and will not bear fruit, strip off the bark of the strongest branches half an inch, or an inch, according to the bigness of the tree, and take it entirely away to the wood.

These branches will continue to bear fruit for several years; and when they die, there are always in a pear-tree a sufficient number of others to succeed them, especially in the middle of the tree; which, if ungovernable, ought to undergo the same kind of discipline.

This work, which should be practised only on low dwarfs, or wall-trees, is best done in March or April.

Cherry-trees, not in a thriving condition, should now be slit perpendicularly down with the point of a knife, just entering the bark of the stem of the tree, to prevent being hide-bound; after which operation they will thrive and prosper wonderfully, when, for want of it, they will continue almost barren for ten or fifteen years.

At this time you should look carefully to your young fruit-trees which were planted in the spring, observing to water them in dry weather; and if you observe the leaves beginning to curl up, you should water them gently all over their branches; which may also be practised to great advantage on old trees; but it must not be done in the heat of the day, lest the sun should scorch their leaves, nor too late in the evening, especially if the nights are cold.

Where you observe the fruit-trees to be greatly infested with insects, you should wash the branches with water, in which a great quantity of tobacco stalks have been steeped; which, if carefully done, will infallibly destroy the insects, and do no any injury to the trees; or if the leaves which are curled are taken off, and some tobacco-dust thrown on the branches, it will destroy the insects, and may, in a day or two, be washed off again.

Towards the end of this month, you must look over your espaliers and walls of fruit-trees, training in the regular kindly shoots in their proper situation, and displacing all fore-right and luxuriant ones.

In the middle of this month uncover those fig-trees which were screened from the frost in the winter; but do it with caution, as the young fruit, which now begins to appear, may be greatly hurt by being exposed to the air too suddenly.

**Kitchen-Garden.**

The middle of this month is the proper time to plant out melons, which are to be raised under paper: in making these ridges, if the ground is dry, the dung should be but a half a foot higher than the surface of the ground, and the earth should be laid at least a foot and a half thick upon the dung, that the plants may have depth enough to root; they will require no watering, after they are well well rooted, and hereby a choicer sort of melons may be generally obtained; which, in the common method, frequently miscarry, or produce but little fruit.

The alleys between these beds should be afterwards raised with dung and earth to the level of the beds, that the roots may have room to extend on each side, for the roots of these plants spread as far in the ground as their branches extend on the surface.

Of kidney-beans we have two sorts; the one, which is called the Battersea-bean, bears early, and near the root, without running high; and the other, grows near six feet high.

We sow these beans, the first week in this month, about four inches apart, in drills from north to south, in a light fresh soil, covering them with earth, raised in a ridge, to keep the wet from them: the lines of the Battersea-beans should be too feet apart; and the other sort are be sown in rows like runcival-peas, having alleys between them two feet and a half wide; the former kind need not be staked, but the others will not bear well unless they are staked.

From the first sowing in this month, you may, once every three weeks till the middle of July, continue to sow fresh ground with kidney-beans to succeed one another; observing, that when the ground is very dry, as in June and July, and the weather hot, you must water the drills as soon as you have opened them, before you put in the seed, which will contribute to their vegetation; but after they are sown, you must avoid watering them.

Toward the end of this month, you may sow the nonpareils, and the Spanish morotto-peas, about two or three inches apart in lines, leaving a space of three or four feet for alleys, till the whole is sown; and when they grown up six inches high, earth them up, and set one row of sticks or boughs about six feet high, on each side, for them to run up, and you will have a plentiful crop.

The charlton, or matter-hotspur, should be sown in December, for the first crop, in drills about two or three feet asunder, the lines running from north to south: a second crop of the same kind of peas should be sown in February; and in March we may put in a third crop of the same sort.

Some ground may be prepared about the beginning of April for the dwarf-peas, which seldom rise higher than half a foot, and are to be set four or five inches apart, in lines about eighteen inches distant from one another; and in order to have a constant supply of young peas, there is a sort of dwarf peas which may be sown in May or June, in edgings upon a gentle hot-bed, the first week in September, and will produce peas in the winter.

Spanish chardons may now be sown in the natural ground; you are to make holes for the seeds about five or six feet distance, and put four or five seeds in each hole; and when they are come up, leave growing only one strong plant in a hole for blanching.

Lavender and rosemary are raised from slips planted in this month, which take root almost immediately if they are shoots of the last year, but if they are older they will not grow: these plants should be set in a light sandy soil, in the warmest and driest part of the garden.

THE ficoides, which is propagated by the cuttings, being planted abroad in a natural bed of earth in this month, will be fit to put in pots in August, where it may remain in open air till the latter end of September; some kinds of this plant being annual, must be raised from seeds every year; and one sort of it will stand the winter, if we raise young plants of it about July or August, that do not blossom in three or four months.

The shrub-kinds, which have their stalks woody, will bear moderate waterings; but the others, which are more succulent, must have very little water. These plants must be exposed to the sun, which will open their blossoms, unless it be two kinds, which only flower in the night. The cuttings of these plants should not be planted before the wounded parts have been dried a day or two in the sun.

The torch-thistle is a succulent plant, raised from cuttings planted between May and the end of July, upon a little hill in the middle of the pot, for they can hardly endure water: and before they are put into the hot bed, they must stand abroad about twenty days to take root; their waterings must be seldom, and gentle: and the best compost for this plant is, the rubbish of old walls, mixed with about one third of sandy soil. The sedums, especially the tree-kind, are easily propagated from branches set in the earth in a light sandy soil, either in this or any of the summer-months, giving them a little water, and as much air and shade as possible in the summer; and in the winter no water at all.

There are several sorts of the geranium, which are raised by planting the cuttings, this month, in natural ground, where they will become proper for transplanting the August following; and from seeds sown in March on hot-beds. Those planted in the natural ground require a medium soil without dung, must be frequently watered, and housed with the orange-trees.

The ammonum Plinii is raised from cuttings planted this month in the natural ground: during the summer it must stand in some place defended from the sun, and be constantly supplied with water.

Cuttings of the Arabian jasmin may this month be planted in a sandy soil, and is more injured by wet than cold. At the time the cuttings are taken from this plant, it should pruned to within six inches of the last year's shoot, and have fresh earth put to the roots; by which means it will shoot near a foot in the ensuing summer.

Layers of the myrtle-tree should be made this month: the youngest shoots must be bent into the earth, after it is well stirred; and being often refreshed with water, will take root, and be fit to take off from the mother-plants in the spring following. In July, the cuttings of this tree are planted, stripping off the leaves, two inches from each cutting, and setting them that depth, about an inch apart, in pots of fine light earth, watering them frequently till they have taken root, which will be about the latter end of August; and this young plantation is to remain till the second of March before they are to be transplanted into pots. About the middle of April you may prune, and put earth about the roots of such old myrtle-trees as are in a bad state, and cut the branches off their heads within three or four inches of the stem.

The melianthus is a plant propagated with ease from slips taken about the roots any time between this month and August; planted in a sandy soil, and frequently watered.

The pyracantha is raised from cuttings, planted in May or June, in pots of fine earth, and watered frequently, keeping them from the sun till the following winter, when a warm exposure will be serviceable to them. This tree may also be raised from layers and seeds, and thrives best in a dry gravelly soil, unmixed with dung or any other rich manure.

The oleander plant has many varieties; the most common of which is the scarlet oleander, which being of a hardy nature, may be kept abroad all the winter under a south wall; but the sweet-scented oleander is more tender, and should be housed with the orange-tree. These shrubs are raised by layers in this month or the next, in a medium soil, and with moderate watering, and will take root to transplant the August following.

Orange and lemon trees may this month be removed and transplanted without danger, as well as brought out of the conservatory: upon bringing out your exotics, and other plants, brush and cleanse them from the dust they have contracted in the house, give them fresh earth on the surface of their pots, and water them well, when they are placed in order they are to stand. When you transplant or remove orange-trees, you are to do it carefully, without injuring their bodies; let the cases for your trees be filled with a composition of two parts in sandy loam, one part rotten dung, and one part white sand; and when your orange-trees are so removed, give them frequent waterings, but without wetting either the stem or the leaves; set them in the shade for a fortnight, and let them have the sun by degrees; as, when it is too hot upon them, it turns their leaves yellow.

**Fruit-Garden.**

In the beginning of this month, look carefully over your wall and espalier trees, and take off all fore-right shoots, and such as are luxuriant and ill-placed; and train such kindly branches as you would preserve regularly to the wall or espalier, which will prevent your trees from growing into confusion.

Fruit-trees may be transplanted in the summer months, from May to August, even when the trees are in blossom: the method of transplanting them is, by preparing holes for them before you begin to take them up; and the earth taken out of the holes you are to make very fine, and mix with water in large tubs to the consistence of thin batter, with which each hole is to be filled for the tree to be planted in, before the earthy parts have time to settle or fall to the bottom. A tree, thus planted in batter, has its roots immediately closed, and guarded from the air; and as the season now disposes every part of the tree for growth and shooting, it loses very little of its vigour if you are careful of its roots, observing to wound but few of them at the taking the tree out of the ground, and not let them dry in the passage from one place to another. Though this practice is of use in summer-plantations, yet in the usual winter-plantations it is pernicious, as it will then chill and rot the root of your trees.

As the cutting and wounding some roots of a tree, and among them of the capital ones, cannot be avoided, a mixture of gum has been contrived to plaster over the wounded parts of the great roots, and prevent the air and wet penetrating too much into the vessels of the roots; and if the root be very large, you may at the same time mark its corresponding limb or branch in the head, to be cut off about a fortnight afterwards in the same proportion, and then to be plastered in the same manner as the root was done before.

In the removal of trees, care must be taken that it be sudden; for if the roots are permitted to grow the least dry, we may presently discern a failure in the top-branches, which will require time to redress; for which reason, it has been thought impossible to remove a large tree to any considerable distance.

There is one convenience in this last way of planting, which is not in the common way; and that is, that the tree may be taken up without any earth about the roots, which makes the transportation more easy; and by this method, and the assistance of prepared gums, peach-trees, nectarines, pear-trees, plum-trees, and cherry-trees, with fruit upon them, either green or ripe, may be removed, though the trees are six or seven years old; and trees of all sorts may be thus transplanted in the summer.

**Kitchen-Garden.**

You may now give your melons air in the middle of the day, and look to your melon-ridges, weeding them, and carefully pruning off the water-branches, which are known by their flatness and extraordinary breadth; it is also necessary to pinch off the tops of the runners that have fruit upon them, having three or four joints above the fruit, and taking care that the fruit be well sheltered with leaves from the power of the sun, otherwise their growth will be spoiled; but when the growth is perfected, you cannot expose them too much to the sun for ripening. If the season be dry, rather float the alleys between the melon-ridges, than pour water upon the plant, or near the stems.

About the beginning of this month, sow cucumbers in the natural ground, both for salad and pickling: in sowing those for salads, put about twelve seeds in each hole; but leave only four or five when they come up; let the earth be fresh, and well worked with a spade, rather light than stiff; and a plantation of this kind will produce twice as much fruit as one of the same quantity of ground forced with dung.

To raise cucumbers for pickling, sow them in a drill, as you do peas or French beans; and put a row of bushy sticks on each side of them: the rows must be four or five feet asunder; and if sowed in the south border, where where there is a vacancy, and nailed against the wall, they will grow fairer and finer flavoured than those on the ground.

Replant imperial and Silesia lettuce: sow some of the white and brown Dutch cos-lettuce, to be planted out for cabbaging in June; sow radishes and endive very thin, to be branched without transplanting; and you may also sow purple and cabbage-seed; transplant cauliflower-plants; make your first drills for leekay, if your plants are large enough. Plant out cabbages and beet-chard; and you may yet sow thyme, sweet marjoram, and gilly-flowers.

You should now be very careful to destroy weeds before they shed their seeds; destroy also the nests of caterpillars and other insects which annoy your trees; prune off all crumpled leaves, for they harbour the worst of vermin; and if the weather be dry, water new-planted trees, asparagus, &c.

JUNE.

FLOWER-GARDEN.

The leaves of the saffron crocus appear as soon as the flower is past, and remain all winter, which in the spring should be tied together in knots to help the increase of the roots; and these will be fit to remove or transplant about Midsummer. This plant delights in chalky ground, but it will prosper also in a sandy soil; and the pitillium contains the saffron used in medicine. The roots of the several kinds of crocus may be taken out of the ground in this month, and replanted with other bulbs; they love a light soil, and may be increased by off-sorts.

The cyclamen is propagated from seeds sown as soon as ripe, in a light soil, and transplanted in Midsummer when their leaves are decayed; and it is a general rule, that all bulbs may be safely transplanted, when their flowers and leaves are decayed.

The colchicum thrives best in a sandy soil, and will only bear transplanting about Midsummer, when the roots are entirely at rest. There are many sorts of aloes, the most common whereof are brought from America; but Africa produces the greatest variety, where they grow upon rocky ground; therefore the earth proper for them is to be made with one half sandy soil, and the other rubbish of old walls, mixed and fitted together; you should plant them shallow in the pots, raising the earth about them, so that the plant may, as it were, stand on a hill; and when you water them, do it without touching any part of the plant, otherwise they will be in danger of rotting; the off-sorts of the aloe may be planted in the latter end of this month, and the beginning of July, when they should be suffered to stand abroad for about nine days; and they may be helped with a hot-bed as soon as they begin to take root; if the weather be fair while the aloes are abroad, their earth being dry, will require watering once a week; and from the time of their being houled till the middle of October, gentle refreshments may be given them while the sun is upon them in the morning; but from October to March, they must be kept very dry. In May they should be transplanted, without disturbing the roots; the seeds of many kinds of aloes ripen in Britain, and may be sown in April upon hot-beds. The fritillaria is propagated by planting their branches in a natural bed of earth any time between June and August, and they will soon be fit to plant into pots; they succeed best in the same sort of earth as the aloe.

The Indian fig is raised by planting its leaves singly about two inches deep, in pots of earth composed of lime, rubbish, and sandy loil, after their wounds are dried, and letting them stand abroad till they take root, and then they may have the help of the hot-bed; you must give these plants a good deal of the sun, and the leaves should be planted during the summer-months.

FRUIT-GARDEN.

The inoculation of fruit-trees now demands the attention of the gardener, and the following is the most approved method of performing the operation. About Midsummer take off a vigorous shoot from any tree you would propagate; and after having made choice of a stock of about three or four years growth, in a smooth part of it make a downright slit in the bark, a little above an inch in length, and another crosswise at the top of that, to give way to the opening of the bark; then gently loosen the bark from the wood on both sides, beginning at the top; which being done, cut off your bud with a penknife, entering pretty deep into the wood, as much above as below the bud, to the length of the slit in the stock; after the bud is thus prepared, take out the woody part of it (carefully preserving the eye of the bud) then put it in between the bark and the wood of the stock at the cross slit, putting it downward by the stalk, where the leaf grew, till it exactly closes; then bind it about with coarse woolen yarn, the better to make all parts regularly close, and the bud incorporate with the stock; in three weeks time the bud will be incorporated with the stock, when you must loosen the yarn, that it may not gall the place too much: the quicker this operation is performed, the better; and you must put two buds into one stock, in inoculating nectarines and peaches. If the buds inoculated this month do not hit, you may make another attempt in the same year, and on the same stock. The proper time for inoculating is from the beginning of this month to the latter end of August; and care must be taken that the branch and shoot made choice of for inoculation, do not lie by, but that they be used as soon as cut.

You may upon one tree, bud peaches, nectarines, apricots, plumbs, and almonds.

KITCHEN-GARDEN.

Kidney-beans, radishes, lettuces for cabbaging, and endive, may now be sown; as may also the large sort of peas, about five or six inches apart, allowing three or four feet distance between the lines, and they will in September afford a good crop.

Replant cabbage-lettuces; transplant leeks in light rich ground, and at six inches distance from each other; and if the weather be dry, you may gather herbs for drying a- against the winter, such as lavender, rosemary, sage, mint, sweet marjoram, thyme, &c.

Take especial care to preserve your plants from the scorching sun; stir up stiff ground; continue to destroy weeds; and give your plants gentle waterings about their extreme fibres, which should be done at the close of day.

**July.**

**Flower-Garden.**

There is little to be done in the flower-garden this month: the berries of the coffee-tree which are now ripe, may be sown, first cleaning their seeds from the pulp, in pots of fine earth, about an inch deep; and if you give them the help of a hot-bed, in less than six weeks time they will sprout.

The fruit of the ananas being ripe in this month, if you cut off the crown of the leaves which grows on the top of it, and plant it in a light sandy earth, it will, with the assistance of a hot-bed, presently take root.

Anemony-seeds, now sown, must be sprinkled with water frequently and gently.

**Fruit-Garden.**

The management of the vine should this month be chiefly attended to: it is to be observed, that from a vigorous shoot of a vine already once pruned, there will push again several Midsummer shoots weaker than the former, from the first, second, and third bud towards the extremity; which shoots are to be taken off, only remembering that it is proper to spare the last of such shoots so far as to leave one bud upon it, from whence, in Autumn, nature may a third time exert herself; for if those shoots were all entirely removed, the vine would push at those bearing buds which lie at the bottom of the shoots; in consequence of which, there would be either a want of fruit at those places next year, or a necessity of pruning the branch shorter than was intended, or is in the winter convenient.

There is no danger in exposing the grapes this month to the sun; for though the vines appear thin of wood and leaves, the Autumn shoots will recover that fault.

Put nets over your grapes to preserve them from the birds; and you should also guard against wasps and other insects, which now destroy the peaches, apricots, and other fruit; by placing phials of honey and ale near the trees, you may soon entrap a great number of them.

**Kitchen-Garden.**

You may know sow kidney-beans, and some peas, to bear in September and October; sow cucumbers upon a bed made with dry horse-litter, and covered with light earth ten inches thick; they must be covered at night in September with a common frame and glass, to keep them from frost and rain, and by this method you may have some cucumbers till Christmas.

Make a bed for mushrooms as directed in February; and be sure to cover it very thin with earth.

About the middle of this month sow royal Silesia, and brown Dutch, white gos, and other sorts of lettuces, chervil, carrots, and turnips.

Plant cabbages, and savoys; transplant endive for blanching against winter; earth up fellery in drills, and plant out a new crop to succeed the former; take up shallots, garlick; and water plentifully all herbs that are feeding.

**August.**

**Flower-Garden.**

The tulip-tree being a plant of the wood, should be among such trees as are designed for groves, where it will rise to a great height: the seeds of this tree come from Virginia, and are to be sown in pots this month, and sheltered the winter, and they will come up all in the spring following.

At two years growth the young plants may be transplanted into single pots, and must have shelter in the winter for the first nine years at least till they have gathered strength enough to resist the severity of the frosts, when they may be planted in the natural ground, rather a sandy soil than any other.

The iris flower has many varieties, some with bulbous and some with tuberous-roots: the roots of the bulbous iris may be taken up as soon as the leaves begin to wither, and planted in August; and they may be increased by offsets taken from their roots when their stalks are decayed: the best of the tuberous kind is the chelidonian iris, commonly called the toad flag, which requires a warm and rich soil, and must be carefully ordered, or it will not thrive well.

The narcissus, or daffodil, is a flower of a hardy nature, and thrives greatly in any ground; these flowers are propagated from offsets from their roots, planted in this month, and may be raised by seeds sown in September, which will produce great varieties: the seedling plants are to remain without removal two or three years, when they are to be taken up in June, and replanted in good ground at a proper distance.

The jonquil is of the same kind with the daffodil, and flowers much about the same time; the roots, which are bulbous, are to be taken out of the ground, and replanted like other bulbs.

The bulbous violet, or snow-drop, is reckoned amongst the daffodils, and is one of the earliest flowers in the spring.

You may now plants offsets of the hyacinth, in beds of sandy soil; the tuberous hyacinth is a plant of an aspiring head, and very tender nature; the roots of it must be taken up in April, and replanted in pots of prepared earth; and, like other shrubs, it requires the assistance of a hot-bed: you may take up the bulbs of this plant in September, and preserve them in dry sand.

This is the proper time for parting the roots of the lily, which succeeds best in an open sandy soil: the stri- The ped white lily is so great a rarity as to deserve a place in the nicest garden, and the orange-lily is a proper companion for it; the lily of the valley is easily raised from plants, and thrives best in shady ground.

The crown-imperial may be raised from seeds, but is commonly propagated from off sets that spring yearly from old roots, which are to be taken up in June when the stalks are dry, and replanted in August.

The work to be done this month, in the fruit and kitchen-garden, is the same as directed in the preceding month.

SEPTEMBER.

FLOWER-GARDEN.

The tulip is propagated in the following manner: the stems of this flower being left remaining upon the root, will perfect their seeds about July, which will be fit to gather when the seed-vessels begin to burst; and then they are to be cut close to the ground in a dry day, and laid in some dry place till September, when they are to be sown, in a soil composed of natural black earth and sand; and after their second appearance above ground, they may be taken from the pots they were sown in, and put in a bed of natural sandy soil, well sifted, where the thickness of half an inch of the same earth should be spread over them; and thus they are to continue, without any other culture than every year adding half an inch for their covering, till they begin to blow, which will be in five or six years time: in this manner tulip-seeds are every year to be sown for new varieties.

In planting tulips, all the forward blowers should be planted in a bed together; and of the late flowering tulips the tallest sorts should be placed in the middle line of the bed, with two rows of the shorter on each side.

Tulips planted in this month need no shelter till March, when, the flower-buds appearing, they should be defended from blights with mats, or other covering; which covering will also serve to shelter them, when blown from the too powerful heat of the sun, and pernicious damps.

There are two classes of tulips; the precoce tulips or early blowers, and the serotine or later blowers; and these are distinguished by their double and single flowers: they have also different denominations, from their colour and stature, as bagats, which are the tallest flowers, commonly purple and white marbled; agates, which grow shorter, and are veined with two colours; and beazarts, which have four colours, tending to yellow and red, of several sorts.

You may now take up the roots of the peony, part and plant them; they will prosper in any soil.

The seed of the mullein may now be sown, in a sandy soil, and a shady part of the garden; it is a beautiful plant, and blossoms four feet high.

Violets are increased by transplanting their runners either in this month or in February, which will of themselves take root at every joint; they thrive best in a binding soil, shady situation, and should be planted in the most rural parts of the garden.

You may now increase daisies by parting their roots; and they make very pretty edgings for flower beds.

Layers of the honeysuckle may now be put down; they thrive best in the shade, and are most easily trained up in pots.

There are seven sorts of the jessamine: the common white, the yellow, and the Persian jessamine, are propagated from layers or cuttings, and will grow in any soil; the layers are made in this month, and the cuttings may at the same time be planted, which should always be a foot long, and two joints be under ground. The jessamine should be planted against walls or trees, or mixed in hedges. There are jessamines of a more tender nature, which require to be sheltered in the conservatory in the winter, as the Spanish jessamine, the Portugal jessamine, the Indian jessamine, and the Arabian jessamine: these are propagated by grafting on the common white jessamine in March, or by inarching in May, or cuttings planted at the same time: the inarched plants are to be cut off the middle of August following, and in February you are to cut off the branches within four or five inches of the stem; and, after they have fresh earth put to their roots, they may be set near the glasses or windows of the green-house: they succeed best in a medium soil between sand and clay, without dung, and should not be watered too frequently.

The virgin's bowery is raised from layers in this month, and from cuttings also: it is of a twining nature, must be supported with stakes: it may either be planted against a wall, or set in the wilderness; and it thrives best in a light soil.

The Virginia dogwood blossoms early in the spring; and the flowers are succeeded by red berries, which hang a long time upon the tree: the seeds are sown in pots of light earth in autumn, and they are to stand the winter in the green-house, giving them the assistance of the hot-bed the following spring.

The Virginia myrtle, which bears berries, from which is drawn the green wax whereof candles are made, is propagated by sowing the berries in pots of black sandy earth, which should be kept continually moist.

The sassafras-tree is a plant of Virginia, which loses its leaves in winter, and in the spring puts forth its yellow flowers in clusters, which are succeeded by blue berries, like those of the laurus tinus; these berries are sown in autumn, in a sandy soil.

You may now make layers or slips of the box tree; and the seeds may be sown as soon as ripe, or laid in sand during the winter, to be sown in the spring following; this plant thrives best in a chalky soil.

The dwarf or Dutch box, is of great use for edging of flower-beds, or making scroll-works; it will remain good, without renewing, a long time; and so great is the increase of it, that being earthed up every year, in four or five years after the planting, it may be taken up, parted, or slipped, and be made to plant four times the ground it stood upon.

FRUIT-GARDEN.

You may now gather the different sorts of fruit as they ripen; for those which are in eating this month, seldom continue long good.

Transplant. Transplant strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, and currants, towards the end of this month, if the weather proves moist; otherwise it will be better to defer it till the beginning of the next month; and this is the best season to plant cuttings of gooseberries and currants, which will take root, and make better plants than those which are propagated by suckers.

Your fruit trees against the wall of your forcing-frame, must now be pruned and trained close to the wall or espalier, that their buds may be preparing before the season for applying the heat; and you should also prepare for the ground where the fruit-trees are designed to be planted the next month, that it may lie to mellow and sweeten.

Kitchen-Garden.

Sow Spanish radishes for the winter, and spinach to be cut in February; make plantations of the Dutch brown lettuce to stand the winter; sow sorrel, chervil, and small herbs for salads, in some well-exposed place, observing to provide such mixtures for this season as are hotter to the taste, than in the former months.

You may now replant endive, and all sorts of fibrous-rooted herbs; continue to earth up fennel; raise the banks of earth about chardones for blanching; transplant asparagus-roots; make plantations of cabbages and coleworts; transplant young cauliflower plants in places where they are to flower; transplant strawberries; make beds for mushrooms; cover mushrooms sown in July every night; earth up your winter-plants; prepare composts; and, if the weather be dry, water your plants and herbs in the morning, and give your turnips the first houghing.

Such cucumbers as are now ripe, must be cut open, and the seed or pulp taken out of them, which should lie three or four days together before they are washed, and ten days in the sun before it is laid up; and it should ever be observed, that if seeds are not thoroughly dry before they are laid up, they will rot, and be good for nothing.

October.

Flower-Garden.

You should now plant anemones, and ranunculus; and as soon as they appear, defend them from winds and frosts, with saw-dust, dry straw, or mats; and make an end of putting tulips into the ground: and likewise put hyacinths, tulips, narcissuses, &c., in glasses made for that purpose, to blow early in the house.

Continue to transplant and lay roses, and such like flowering shrubs; and to plant the cuttings of jessamines and honeysuckles in shady borders. Sow the berries of yew, holly, and other evergreens, prepared in earth or sand; and prune these kinds of plants if the season be mild.

This is a proper time to remove your ananas or pine-apples out of the bark-beds into the stove; and always keep a tub of water in the stove to water them when it is wanted, which should stand twenty-four hours before it is used.

Set your pots of carnations, which are now blowing, into your greenhouse near the door; and the beginning of this month you are to house your myrtles, anemone Plinii, melianthus, and such tender greens as remain yet abroad. Tie up those plants that grow disorderly, and place the aloes, torch-thistles, euphorbiums, &c., nearest the sun; and the other plants, which are more hardy, towards the back of the house.

When you water your housed greens, let it be in the morning, when the sun shines upon them; but you are to give no more waterings to your tender succulent plants after the middle of the month.

The windows of the greenhouse are to be kept open day and night till about the fifteenth of this month; after that, in the daytime only.

Fruit-Garden.

You may now plant peaches, apricots, and other fruit-trees; and as nothing is more prejudicial to them than dung, this should be done in untried earth.

Should this month be a wet one, you must raise the borders, and the trees planted high; for it is certain death to peaches and apricots, to stand where the water stagnates in the winter.

Vines should now be planted against walls seven or eight feet asunder, in a soil composed of sea-coal ashes, drift sand, or the rubbish of old-buildings, with an equal quantity of natural earth mixed with rotten dung.

About the middle of this month sow cider-preparings in beds of fresh earth, to raise stocks for grafting, or even making of orchards without grafting; and from a nursery of this kind we may have as many different sorts of apples as we raise plants, although the seeds come all from the same tree.

You may now have plantations of apples, grafted upon paradise stocks, in pots; they will bear when the trees are very small, and very greatly set off an entertainment, being placed growing upon a table among dishes of fruit.

Transplant trees of all sorts, and lay up acorns and mast in sand; lay bare the roots of old unthriving forward blowing trees; stir up new-planted ground; and lay in a good stock of untried earth to be ready upon all occasions, for fruit-trees, ever-greens, and flowers.

Kitchen-Garden.

This is the proper season to lay up roots for winter-stores, such as carrots and parsnips; take the roots of turnips out of the ground, and lay them up in sand; make plantations of currants and gooseberries, from the suckers or cuttings.

The first week of this month sow cucumbers on the natural ground, to be afterwards transplanted into pots, for the convenience of sheltering from cold nights, till a hotbed is prepared for them. This is better than to begin after the usual method in December or January.

Make plantations of lettuce, for winter-use: transplant cabbages

Cabbages and cauliflower plants. Take up those cauliflower plants which begin to flower, tie their leaves together, and bury their roots and stalks in sand, in a cellar, or some cool place. Cut artichokes with long stalks, and preserve them in the house by setting their stalks in sand. Earth up and dress such artichokes as have done blowing; and continue to earth up fennel for blanching.

Sow kidney-beans in baskets under a south wall, to be afterwards forwarded by hot-beds, for early beans; and hot-sprout peas, and Spanish beans, in some well exposed border, under a wall or a hedge. Sow also radishes in some warm place, to draw early in the spring; and cresses, lettuce, mustard, spinach, &c., upon a decayed hotbed. Put likewise fine roots of mint upon a gentle hotbed for winter salads.

NOVEMBER.

Flower Garden.

You may now cut down the stalks of such tall blowing flowers as have done blossoming within three inches of the root. Tie up all trees and shrubs to stakes, otherwise by their being loose, and at liberty, the wind will destroy them. Lay up heaps of earth for your several sorts of flowers, and make the proper mixtures for exotics; observing, that where the ground is too stiff, it may be brought to a state of loam, by adding to it a sufficient quantity of drift or leaf-mold.

Peonies, and some fibrous roots, may now be planted. If the weather be open, you may yet transplant roses, jessamines, honeysuckles, syringa, and lilac. Unnail your passion-trees from the wall, and lay them upon the ground, that in case of severe frosts they may be covered with straw.

Plant hyacinths, jonquils, narcissus's, and polyanthus's, in pots, and plunge them into hot-beds, to blossom about Christmas; lay down your auricula pots upon their sides, the plants towards the sun, to drain them from moisture, and preserve them from frosts; and shelter young seedling bulbs from the frost, but give them daily airings.

Fruit Garden.

The business of this month being principally planting, it may be necessary to give the reader directions for bringing fruits to perfection in the winter, so as to have, by a particular management in planting, ripe fruit throughout the year.

Apricots, cherries, early peaches, nectarines, currants, gooseberries, are to be planted in the following manner, against a paling of five feet high: the stakes to support this paling must be set about four feet distance from one another; to which you are to nail whole deal-boards of twelve feet long, well-jointed to one another, and ploughed on the edges, so as to set in laths, that thereby the steam of the dung, which is to lie at the back, may not get among the plants; because wherever such steam comes, it will cause mildews.

The deals are to be an inch in thickness; for if they are not quite so thick, the trees will be apt to be scorched upon the first application of the hot dung; and if they are thicker, the artificial heat applied to their backs, upon the time it begins to decline, will not be powerful enough to warm thoroughly, and then the dung must be oftener refreshed.

When the paling is up, you are to mark out a border on the south side of it, about four feet wide; and on the outside of the border, fasten to the ground, in a straight line, some scantlings of wood about four inches thick, to rest glass lights upon, which are to slope back to the paling, to shelter the fruit as occasion requires: between these glass-lights, there must be bars cut of whole deal, about four inches wide, for the glasses to rest upon; and the bars must always remain fixed, as in a frame for a hotbed.

There must be a door, shaped to the profile of the frame, at each end, to be opened, either the one or the other, as the wind happens to blow, ever observing that the door be opened on that side only which is most free from the wind.

You may plant fruit-trees in a frame of this sort the same summer it is made, and the trees will take very good root before winter, and be so well stored with sap against the following spring, that they will shew no sign of their removal, but bear extremely. Besides, by this summer planting, the trees seldom or never throw away their strength in autumn shoots, or make any attempts towards it, till September and October, when the frosts prevent their design.

The trees planted must have time allowed for the juices to digest, before you begin to force them: therefore the hot dung is not to be applied to the back of the paling before November.

About the middle of this month, or towards the end, is the time to bring ripe cherries in February: and at the same time likewise the heat may be used for apricots, so as to make the masculine apricots as large as duke cherries by February, and ripen them the beginning of April. The Anne peach will ripen about the end of April, as will also several sorts of forward plumbs.

The early nectarine thus forced will ripen with the masculine apricot: we may have green gooseberries fit for tarts in January and February; and ripe gooseberries and currants in March and April; but cherries do not bear this alteration in nature so well.

The grapes that do best for this sort of work, are, the royal muscadine, marlmore, black sweet water, and black morillon: the best sorts of the forward peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plumbs, and the Dutch raspberry, should be ever fixed on for forcing in the above manner. A row or two of strawberries may also be planted in this frame, which would ripen at the end of February, or beginning of March; and amongst the fruit you may mix here and there a monthly rose-tree; and have a border planted with early tulips, hyacinths, jonquils, narcissus's, and other flowers, which by the forcing heats would make a kind of summer all the winter.

The trees planted in these frames must be close to the paling, contrary to the methods of planting against walls; for the roots will run under the pales, and draw nourishment equally from the earth about them; but with walls it is otherwise.

The trees need not be planted at a greater distance than four or five feet; and those that have stood seven or eight years against walls, may be removed to these forcing-frames without any danger: as to pruning these trees, the same method is to be followed as recommended for other trees in February; but the season for doing it is not the same; for in the forcing frames our spring begins in November; but in the other case it does not begin till the end of January, or beginning of February.

The trees are to be pruned and nailed to pales about a week before the forcing heat is applied, and all the glases put up as soon as they are pruned.

The hot-dung intended to be laid at the back of the pales, should be tossed up in an heap some days before it is used, that it may yield an heap everywhere alike: when it is fit to be applied to the pales, lay it four feet wide at the base; and let it slope to two feet at the top, the height in all being at first within four inches of the top of the pales, and in about six weeks time it will sink to four feet, when you are to apply fresh dung. The blossoming of the tree is very much helped by covering them with the glass lights in frothy weather: but they should not be denied the rain, if the weather be tolerably mild, till the buds begin to stir; after that, the glasses to remain over them constantly, till the sun begins to have some power.

When the sun shines warm, and the wind is not too sharp, give the air at the front of your frame; and if this does not happen during a fortnight's space, then give air at the end, and put up mats or canvas to correct the winds, and cause the air to circulate in the frames.

About three changes of dung will be sufficient to bring your cherries to ripeness in February, allowing each parcel to remain a month at the back of the pales: but if April proves cold, the forcing heat is to be continued till May, for plumbs, peaches, nectarines, and apricots.

Kitchen-Garden.

Hot beds for asparagus should now be made; also gentle hot-beds for the cucumbers and kidney-beans sown in October: continue to sow radishes, lettuce, cresses, spinach, &c. on a hot-bed; and if your nursery is without roots, provide them from some old plantations.

Sow peas, and beans of the hotspur and Spanish kinds, in open ground; and if the weather be fair, earth up those sown in September. Earth up fennel, and tie up endive plants for blanching: and this is the best time to cut down asparagus haulm, when it is turned yellow; it must be cut within two or three inches of the ground, and the earth of the alleys flung up upon the beds; or if the asparagus be worn, you are to give it a covering of rich dung, not quite rotten: and cover well your artichokes with long dung, to defend them from frosts, otherwise they will be destroyed in a severe winter. House, and cover with sand, carrots, parsnips, &c. and house cabbages.

You must now trench your ground, and lay it up in ridges to mellow; and in a frothy season wheel on dung and other manures upon such places as want to be enriched.

Plants are to be guarded against frosts, and sheltered against cold rains; and trees must be staked, to defend them against violent winds, common in this month.

December.

Flower-Garden.

You should now cover the beds of choice anemones, hyacinths, and ranunculus's; pick off dead and rotten leaves from all exotic plants; lay mulch about the roots of new planted trees and shrubs; cover the pots of feeding flowers; turn over the earth prepared for the flower garden, that the frost may make it mellow; and mix up some new heaps, that there may be a sufficient quantity ready for use eight or ten months before it is wanted.

You must not be too hasty in warming your greenhouse with artificial heats, but let in as much sun as possible, which being a natural heat, is the most agreeable to your tender plants. The chief business is to keep out frosts; to effect which, the doors and windows of your greenhouse must be well matted, and guarded from the piercing air.

But as no plant can live without air, therefore to recruit it in the house, and feed the plants therewith without pinching them, it is adviseable, that at the end of your green-house there should be an antechamber, through which you are to pass to the house; which chamber will have fresh air from abroad every time you go into it; and upon opening the door of it into the greenhouse, the air will there mix with the other that has been pent up, and impregnate it with new parts, by which means, it will contribute to the vegetation of plants, without coming upon them too suddenly.

Fruit-Garden.

Continue to prune vines; prune and nail wall-fruit trees, also such standards as are hardy; examine orchard trees, and take away such branches as make confusion; covering every considerable wound with a mixture of bees wax, rosin, and tar, in equal quantities, and of tallow about half the quantity of any of the others; which are to be melted together in an earthen vessel well glazed; and, with a painting brush dipped into it, the wound is to be covered; destroy snails in every part of your garden; and you may, if the weather proves mild, remove or plant most sorts of hardy trees that in the winter shed their leaves.

Kitchen-Garden.

If the season proves mild, you may earth up those artichokes which were in the former months neglected; in doing which, if the ground is not very good, bury some rotten dung in it, which will greatly promote the growth of your artichokes in the spring following.

Towards the middle of the month, make a hot-bed for asparagus, GARDENING.

Asparagus, in like manner as that made in November. Sow upon hot-beds, lettuce, radish, cresses, mustard, and other herbs which are hot, to cut for small salads.

In open weather you may sow early peas and beans of the same kinds, and in the same manner, as directed in November and the preceding months; and as vermin now very much destroy your roots and seeds, you are to set traps to catch them.

You should, when the weather is not too severe, uncover the cauliflower plants every day, that they may enjoy the benefit of the air, otherwise they will be very weakly; and in dry weather take up sallery, and endive to blanch.

Great care must now be taken of the mushroom-beds; they should be covered with fresh dry straw, so thick as to keep out the wet; for as, where proper care is taken, there will be a constant supply of them for the table in the most rigorous season, so, when they are neglected, the produce will be small in proportion.

GAR

GARGARISM, in medicine, is sometimes taken, in a large sense, for every colliquation of the mouth; but, strictly speaking, it signifies a liquid medicine, appropriated to affections of the mouth, gums, fauces, larynx, and sometimes of the head, received into the mouth, and there used by way of colliquation, without deglutition.