KITCHEN GARDEN.

In this department those plants are cultivated which, after being subjected to various culinary processes, are used as articles of food. They may be enumerated in the order of their importance, each, for the sake of precision, being accompanied by its botanical name.

Cabbage Tribe.

The Brassica oleracea, Lin. is a plant indigenous to our rocky shores; but no one, seeing it waving in its native habitat, could possibly anticipate that it would ever appear in our gardens, disguised as the ponderous drumhead or sugar-loaf cabbage, or on our tables as the delicate cauliflower and broccoli. The cultivated varieties are numerous; but the following are the most important.

Common White Cabbage. The economical uses of this vegetable are well known. Its principal subvarieties are the following:

| Small Early Dwarf, | East Ham, | |-------------------|----------| | Early May, | Large Sugar-loaf, | | Dwarf Vasek, | Drumhead, | | Early York, | Scotch, | | Chinese, | Tronchuda. |

The first three are adapted for early crops; the next three for use in the end of summer and autumn, and the others for winter. The leaf-stalks of the Tronchuda are used like sea-cale.

The Cabbage is propagated from seed, which may be sown in beds four feet wide, and covered over with a thin layer of earth. The proper seasons for this operation are the middle of August, the beginning of March, and Midsummer. By observing these times, and employing different sorts, the succession may be kept up through the year.

For the early spring crops, the late sown plants are in October transferred from the seed-bed to some open and well manured ground, where they are arranged in rows two feet asunder. The principal supply may be put out in February, affording the larger sorts more width between the rows. The crops sown in spring are planted out in May and June. For subsequent culture, all that is necessary is, to keep the ground clear of weeds, and to draw up the soil about the stems. In some situations watering in summer is beneficial.

The cabbages grown late in autumn and in beginning of winter are denominated Coleworts, from a kindred vegetable no longer cultivated. The object is to have them with open or slightly closed hearts. Two sowings are made, in the middle of June and in July, and the seedlings, when they acquire sufficient strength, are planted out in lines, a foot or fifteen inches asunder, and eight or ten inches in the rows.

The Red Cabbage, of which the large or Dutch red is the common variety, is much used for pickling. It is sown along with the white varieties in August and in spring, and the culture is in every respect the same.

The Savoy. This variety, like the preceding, forms into a close head, but is distinguished by the wrinkling of its leaves. It is a very useful vegetable during the winter months. The principal subvarieties are the Early Green, the Yellow, and the Winter, of each of which there are various forms. The seed is sown in autumn and in the end of spring, and two plantings may take place, in April, and in June or July.

Brussels Sprouts. This vegetable is allied to the foregoing, but does not close or cabbage. From the axilae of the stem-leaves proceed little rosettes or sprouts, which resemble savory cabbages in miniature. The seed should be sown in spring, and the seedlings planted out before midsummer, during showery weather. In October the plants should have additional earth drawn to their roots, to firm them, and save them from being destroyed by frost. The earliest sprouts become fit for use in November, and they continue good, or even improving in quality, till the month of March following. Mr Van Mons of Brussels mentions (London Hortic. Mem., vol. iii.), that by successive sowings the sprouts are there obtained for the greater part of the year. In spring, when the plants have a tendency to run to flower, their growth is checked by lifting them, and replanting them in a slanting direction, in a cool shady situation.

Open Kale. The principal subvarieties are:

- German Greens, or Curries, - Scotch Kale, or Green Borecole, - Purple, or Brown Kale, - Delaware Greens,

Buda Kale, Jerusalem Kale, Woburn Kale.

Of these the three first are considered the most valuable, and are the sorts chiefly cultivated in this country. The seed is sown at various times from February to May, and the seedlings are planted out in moist weather during summer, in rows two feet asunder. The Buda Kale is sown in May, planted out in September, and being hardy, affords a supply in the following spring.

Of the Turnip-rooted Cabbage, or Kohl-rübe, there are two varieties, one swelling above ground, the other in it. There is nothing peculiar in the culture, unless that, in the case of the first mentioned, the earth should not be drawn so high as to cover the globular part of the stem, which is the part used. The seed may be sown in the beginning of June, and the seedlings transplanted in July; they are thus fit for use at the approach of winter.

Cauliflower. This variety is cultivated for the sake of the flower-buds, which form a large dense cluster or head, and afford one of the most delicate products of the kitchen-garden. There are three subvarieties, the Early, the Late, and the Reddish-stalked; but these seem to present scarcely any well-marked distinction.

The sowing, for the first or spring crop, is made in the latter half of the month of August; and, in the neighbourhood of London, the growers adhere as nearly as possible to the 21st day. A second sowing takes place in February on a slight hot-bed, and a third in April or May.

The cauliflower being tender, the young plants require protection in winter. For this purpose they are sometimes pricked out in a warm situation at the foot of a wall with a southern exposure, where, in severe weather, they are also covered with hoops and mats. A better method is to plant them thickly in the ground under a common hot-bed frame, and to secure them from cold by coverings, and from damp, by giving air in mild weather. For a very early supply, it is useful to be at the pains of potting a few scores of plants; these are to be kept under glass during winter, and plunged out in spring, defending them with a hand-glass, and watering them when needful. Sometimes, as in market-gardens, patches of three or four plants are sheltered by hand-glasses throughout the winter in the open border. It is advantageous to prick out the spring-sown plants into some sheltered place, before they are finally transplanted and committed to the open ground in May. The later crop, the transplantation of which may take place at various times, is treated like early cabbages. Cauliflower succeeds best in a rich soil and a warm situation. After planting, all that is necessary is to hoe the ground, and draw up the soil about the roots.

It is found that this vegetable, being induced to form its large and crowded clusters of flower-buds in the autumn, may be kept in perfection over winter. Cauliflowers which have been planted out in July, will be nearly ready for use in October. Towards the end of that month, the most compact and best shaped are selected and lifted carefully with the spade, keeping a ball of earth attached to the roots. Some of the large outside leaves are removed, in order that the plants may occupy less room, and at the same time, any points of leaves that immediately overhang the flower are cut off. Where there are peach-houses or vineries the plants may be arranged in the borders of these, together, but without touching. Or they may be placed in the same manner in hot-bed frames: In mild dry weather the glass frames are drawn off, but they are kept close in rain; and in severe frost they are thickly covered with mats. In this way cauliflower may be kept in an excellent state for several months.

Broccoli has a close affinity to cauliflower, being, like it, of Italian origin, and differing chiefly in the greater hardiness of its constitution. The subvarieties are numerous, and exceedingly diversified. The following are those which are in most repute at present. The first five produce their buds in autumn, the others in spring:

- Purple Cape, - Green Cape, - Granger's Earlys, - Early Purple, - Early White, - Cream-coloured, - Sulphur-coloured, - Spring White, - Late Purple, - Late Danish.

Of the autumnal sorts there should be two sowings, one in the middle of April, and one in the middle of May. As the plants acquire strength they are shifted into the open ground, where they are placed in lines two feet apart. The Cape varieties are of great excellence, being of a delicious flavour when dressed; but on account of the plants being apt to start into flower, their cultivation has in many places been neglected. With proper management, however, this tendency may be overruled. The first sowing may be made on any border of light soil, scattering the seed very sparingly. In about a month the plants may be transferred directly into a quarter consisting of sandy loam, well enriched with rotten dung. The greater part of the second crop should be planted in pots likewise directly from the seed-bed. These pots are to be sunk in the open ground till the heads be formed; and in the end of November they are to be placed under a glass frame, where very fine broccoli may be produced during the severest weather of winter. Mr Ronalds of Brentford recommends (London Hortic. Trans. vol. iii.) that the Early White, which is also a very fine sort, should be sown on a hot-bed, and treated like the secondary crop of cauliflower.

The spring varieties are extremely valuable, as they come at a season when the finer vegetables are scarce. They are sown in the middle of March or the beginning of April, and afford a supply from March to May inclusive of the following year.

To obtain seed of the Brassica tribe, true specimens of the different varieties should be selected, in such a state of advancement as that they will flower as early as possible in spring. They should be planted in an open situation, and kept as far apart from other kinds of the same tribe as may be. As they are very liable to cross or hybridize, it is perhaps better, except in the case of some favourite variety, to procure supplies from a respectable seedsman, from whom they are almost uniformly to be had genuine, the extensive seed-growers being at great pains to prevent intermixture of crops.

**Leguminous Plants.**

Of the Pea (*Pisum sativum*), there are two principal varieties, the Field or gray hog pea, and the Garden Pea. The latter alone requires our attention here. Its chief subvarieties are:

- Early Frame, - Early Charlton, - Bishop's Dwarf, - Dwarf Marrowfat, - Tall Marrowfat, - Imperial, - Knight's Tall Marrowfat, - Dwarf Marrowfat, - Prussian Blue, - Prussian Green, - Leadman's Dwarf, - Sugar.

The first three are suitable for early crops, and the others for successional supplies. In the sugar pea, of which there are two sorts, the tall and dwarf, the inner filmy lining of the pod is absent, and the young legumes are used like kidney-beans.

The first crop of peas is sown about the beginning of November, in front of a south wall; and these, after they have appeared above ground, are defended by spruce-fir branches, or other spray, throughout the winter. In January and February other sowings are made, and sometimes the seed is put into flower-pots and boxes, and the young plants afterwards plunged out in spring. From the end of February moderate sowings should be made twice a month till the middle of August, thus ensuring a supply of successive crops of delicate green peas. For the latest crops the early frame and the Charlton are the best. Pease are sown in rows from three to five feet asunder, according to the height which the different sorts are known usually to attain. As they grow up the earth is drawn up to the roots, and the stems are supported with stakes, a practice which, in a well kept garden, is always advisable, although it is said that the early varieties, when recumbent, arrive sooner at maturity.

The early crops come into use in May and June, and by repeated sowings, the supplies are prolonged to November. Pease grown late in autumn are subject to mildew, to obviate which, Mr Knight has proposed the following method. The ground is dug over in the usual way, and the spaces to be occupied by the future rows of pease are well soaked with water. The mould on each side is then collected, so as to form ridges seven or eight inches high, and these ridges are well watered. On these the seed is sown in single rows. If dry weather at any time set in, water is supplied profusely once a week. In this way the plants continue green and vigorous resisting mildew, and not yielding till subdued by frost.

Of the Garden-bean (Faba vulgaris), amongst many varieties may be mentioned:

- The Early Mazagan, - Early Lisbon, - Dwarf Pan or Cluster, - Long Pod,

Green Genoa, Windsor, Green Windsor, White-blossomed.

The Mazagan and Lisbon are sown in November, and are defended during winter in the same manner as early peas, but they are more difficult to preserve. The same sorts should be sown again in January and February. In March the Dwarf Cluster and Long-pod may be put in the ground for a general crop, and subsequently the Windsor and White-blossomed. The latter is a variety of considerable merit, and when the pods are taken at an early stage, they have little of the peculiar bean flavour, or only enough to render them pleasant. During the growth of the bean crop, all the culture that is necessary is, that the earth be drawn up about the roots. Topping the plants is usually practised, being found to promote the filling of the pods.

Kidney-bean. Under this general title are included the common kidney-bean (Phaseolus vulgaris, Linn.) of many varieties; and also the Scarlet Runner (P. multiflorus, Willd.). Kidney-beans are the haricots of the French, who enumerate upwards of 200 varieties. The sorts usually cultivated in this country are:

- Early Yellow, - Early Red Speckled, - Early Black, - Early White, - White Batteries,

White Canterbury, Black Speckled, Brown Speckled, Scarlet Runner, Dutch White.

The first four are the earliest; the others are more productive, and better fitted for a general crop. As the plant is of tropical origin, our climate is scarcely sufficient for the extensive cultivation of the ripe beans, which are the principal object in France and Italy. The immature legumes are chiefly used in this country.

It is seldom advantageous to sow kidney-beans in the open ground before the middle or end of April; after which period successive sowings may be made every fourteen days to the end of July. The plants are grown in rows two feet apart, and the earth is carefully drawn to the roots. Kidney-beans are well adapted for forcing, in hot-beds, or in hot-houses; the climate of the peach-house, when it can be obtained, being considered the best. The sowings may begin in January; they are made in pots, and a supply may be thus obtained in the months of March, April, and May. The dwarf speckled is commonly used in hot-houses, and the early white in hot-beds.

Esculent Roots.

The Potato (Solanum tuberosum). This well-known plant is a native of the elevated regions of equatorial America. It was introduced into Europe about the middle of the 16th century, but remained little known or regarded till within the last hundred years; it is now so generally cultivated, as to have effected almost an economical revolution in this country. Most of the original British sorts were derived from Ireland. Its multitudinous varieties now set enumeration at defiance, and many are indeed appearing and disappearing every year. The culture of the late sorts properly belongs to the farm, and when the gardener has to take them under his care, he will find it best to adopt such as are common in the agriculture of the district. Of the early kinds, most of which are supposed to have originated in Lancashire, the following may be esteemed the best:

- Early Royal Dwarf, - Early Frame, - American Early, - Early Ash-leaved, - Early Kidney, - Walnut-leaved Kidney.

Potatoes are commonly propagated by dividing the tubers, leaving to each segment one or two eyes or buds. The sets are then planted by the aid of the dibble or spade, in rows at a distance varying from fifteen inches to two feet. It has been suggested by Mr Knight (London Hortic. Trans. vol. vii.), and his views have been amply confirmed by experiment, that by planting whole tubers, and at greater distances, a larger produce will be obtained. Mr Knight proposed to leave four feet between the rows, a distance which, except with the larger varieties, was found to be too great. An experienced horticulturist in Scotland states, that by planting whole tubers, and by leaving in the case of dwarfs two feet, and in the tall varieties two feet and a half, between the rows, a return from one-third to one-half more was obtained than could be had from the old method. Of course a greater quantity of tubers are required for planting, but these bear no proportion to the great increase which results; and besides, early potatoes at the planting season being unfit for eating, there is little economy in sparing them.

The earliest crops should, if possible, be placed in a light soil and in a warm situation, and are planted about the middle of March. Sometimes the eyes of the tubers are made to spring or vegetate on a hot-bed, and the plants are put out as soon as the leaves can bear the open air. Perhaps it is better, as recommended by Mr Saul of Lancaster (Gardener's Mag. vol. ii.), to promote incipient vegetation in some warm place, as a house or greenhouse, by laying a woollen cloth or some other covering over them. When the sprouts are about two inches long, he plants them out towards the end of March, and thus procures young potatoes in seven or eight weeks. A secondary planting of tubers should be made before the middle of April. When the stems are a few inches above ground, the earth should be drawn to them; an operation, however, which, while it improves the crop, delays its maturity for two or three weeks. Mr Knight recommends removing the flowers as they appear; and states that by this means the produce is increased by a ton per acre. The fine early varieties, however, scarcely produce any flowers.

An important fact in the cultivation of the potato was observed about the year 1806, by the late Mr Thomas Dickson of Edinburgh, viz. that the most healthy and productive plants were to be obtained, by employing as seed-stock unripe tubers, or even by planting only the wet or least-ripened ends of long-shaped potatoes; and he proposed this as a preventive of the well-known disease called the Curl. This view has been confirmed by Mr Knight. An intelligent writer in the Gardener's Magazine (vol. ii. p. 171) states a method by which sprouting of the eyes is accelerated. He takes up the seed potatoes a considerable time before they are ripe, and exposes them for some weeks to the influence of a scorching sun. The resulting crop is at least a fortnight earlier; but it is not said how this practice affects the curl.

The forcing of early potatoes on hot-beds has long been practised; but it is attended with considerable trouble and expense. Small supplies of young waxy tubers are now often produced during winter, in boxes placed in a mushroom-house, or in a common cellar, if free from frost. In October, old potatoes are placed in layers, alternating with a mixture of tree leaves and light mould. Vegetation soon proceeds; and there being no opportunity for the unfolding of stems and leaves, the energies of the plants are expended in the production of young tubers. Before mid- Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus), or tuberous-rooted sunflower. This plant, which is a native of Brazil, derives its epithet Jerusalem from a corruption of the Italian Girasole, a sunflower, and Artichoke from the resemblance, in flavour, which its tubers bear to the floral receptacles or bottoms of the artichoke. It is propagated by means of its tubers in the manner of potatoes. In March they are planted out in rows three or four feet asunder, and in autumn the new tubers are fit for use. For the sake of convenience, it is advantageous to store them, though the roots are hardy enough to bear the winter frosts. Some, indeed, allow them to remain in the ground, and dig them up when required. In this way a sufficient number of sets are generally left in the ground, and the stalks are thinned into rows in summer; but this is a slovenly mode of treatment, and seldom produces well-flavoured crops.

The Turnip (Brassica Rapa), like the potato, has, to a great extent, migrated into the fields, and become the care of the husbandman more than of the gardener. The following are the most esteemed garden sorts:

| Early White Dutch | Early Yellow Maltese | |-------------------|----------------------| | Early Stone | Dutch Yellow | | Green-topped White | Aberdeen Yellow | | Long White | Long Yellow |

Besides these, the Navet of the French (Brassica Napus v. esculenta) is occasionally cultivated, and more frequently the Swedish Turnip (Brassica campestris v. Napo-brassicæ, L.), which is a most excellent winter sort, though it belongs more properly to the farm. For early crops, the white Dutch is the principal variety; the other white sorts, and the beautiful yellow Maltese, are useful in summer and in the beginning of autumn. The yellow Dutch being capable of enduring any degree of frost, affords the best winter supplies.

Turnips succeed best in a rich, well-worked soil, of a light or medium quality. The first sowing is made about the end of March, in a warm situation; and it is usual to put in additional sowings, once a fortnight or three weeks, till the end of August. The early crops are sown broadcast, and the later in drills. After the plants have shewn a rough leaf or two, they are thinned out, being left at the distance of eight or ten inches in the drill; and the ground is hoed and kept free from weeds. As turnips which have stood the winter throw up their seed-stalks early in spring, after which their roots become stringy, and are much deteriorated, it is useful to store the turnips in winter, keeping them in a close place, and covering them with straw.

The young plants, while in the seed-leaf, are often destroyed by a small beetle called the turnip-fly (Haltica nemorum). Many remedies have been proposed; it has been found beneficial to dust the rows with quicklime; but perhaps the best precaution is to sow thick, and thus insure a sufficient supply both for the insect and the crop.

The Carrot (Daucus Carota) is one of our native Umbelliferae, but has been much transformed by cultivation. The best varieties are the Early Horn and the Orange Carrot, the former for early, the latter for general cultivation. The carrot loves a light, deep, fresh soil, in which it may be at liberty to push down its long spindle-shaped roots. A few Early Horn carrots may be sown in February on a moderate hot-bed. In the beginning of March, the same sort may be sown in the open air. In April, the orange variety may follow as a general crop; it succeeds best in drills. In many old gardens the early plants are liable to the attacks of a small grub, the larva of some insect; it is therefore a useful precaution to sow a moderate crop of the Early Horn variety in July. After sowing, it is only necessary to thin the plants and keep them clear of weeds. The roots are stored in winter in the manner of turnips.

The Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is now less cultivated than it was in Catholic times, when it was a favourite accompaniment to dried fish in Lent. To some its flavour is not agreeable; but it is a very nutritious vegetable, and of easy digestion. Like the carrot, its root is long and tapering, differing chiefly in being of a whitish colour. Its culture is also very much the same.

Red Beet (Beta vulgaris) is a biennial plant, a native of the shores of the south of Europe. The boiled root is eaten cold, either by itself or as a salad; it is also often used as a pickle. The varieties are numerous, but the most common are the Long-rooted, the Short or Turnip-rooted, the Bassano, and the Green-topped. There is a fine French variety called Castelnaudary, from a town in Languedoc; but as yet it is little known in this country.

Red beet prospers in a rich, deep soil, not recently manured, and which has been well pulverized by the spade. During April the seeds may be sown in drills, fifteen inches asunder, and the plants are afterwards to be thinned to eight inches from each other in the lines. In the northern parts of the island, the roots are stored in winter, care being taken not to break them or cut off the leaves too closely, as they bleed when injured.

Skirret (Sium Sisarum) is a native of China, now seldom seen in our gardens. Its tubers are used like parsnips. It is a perennial, and may be propagated by separating the roots in spring; but it succeeds better by annual sowings, which may be made in April.

Scorzonera (Scorzonerà Hispanica) and Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) are generally associated together in gardens, and are now less cultivated than they deserve. The roots are used in soups, and sometimes as dressed side dishes. They are sown in lines, and treated like the crops of red beet or parsnip.

The Radish (Raphanus sativus) is a native of China. There are two principal varieties, the spindle-rooted and the turnip-rooted radish; and of these the subvarieties are numerous. The following may be mentioned:

| Early Frame Scarlet | White Turnip | |---------------------|-------------| | Short-topped Scarlet | Yellow Turnip | | Scarlet Salmon | White Spanish | | Long White | Black Spanish |

The first two and the white turnip radish are best suited for early crops; the scarlet salmon for summer, the yellow turnip for autumn, and the white and black Spanish for winter.

Some cultivators sow their earliest crop in November, in a warm situation, at the foot of a wall or in front of a pinery, and continue sowing once a-month, if weather permit, during winter. Others grow their first radishes under frames, aiding vegetation by a slight bottom heat. As the season advances, successional supplies are sown once a fortnight. From the middle of July to the middle of September, the turnip-radishes are sown from time to time; and on the approach of frost they may be stored up in sand like carrots, and kept throughout winter.

Oxalis Roots (Oxalis crenata, Jacq.; O. arracachu, G. Don) have of late years been cultivated for the table in this country. The plant produces tubers at the root, somewhat in the manner of the potato; but they are of small size, seldom exceeding that of a walnut. By cultivation, however, by manuring, laying down, earthing up, watering, and other helps known to horticulturists, considerable increase of size in the tubers may be effected. From the mode of culture adopted by the most intelligent gardeners, we conclude that a rich, light soil is the most proper (although some cultivators have recommended a poor soil); that it is useful to forward the plants in a hot-bed, in the way practised with early peas, so as to have them ready to transplant by the middle or end of May; that in planting out, they should be inserted in a sloping position, so that a considerable portion of the stem may be covered by the soil; that earthing up, or drawing up additional soil to the stems in June and July is important; and that laying down the stems horizontally in August, and covering them slightly (to the depth perhaps of two inches) with mould, tends greatly to promote the productiveness. It should be observed that the tubers continue to swell in size till November, or till stopped by frost. It is believed that the largest tubers, having full eyes or buds, yield the strongest plants; and therefore a portion of the largest should always be reserved for seed-stock. Cut sets of these large tubers are, by some cultivators, preferred to whole tubers. The rest, from the size of a filbert to a walnut, go to the cook. We may remark, that till the plant become more common, the very smallest tubers should not be thrown away, but should be carefully preserved, for increasing the extent of the oxalis bed the following season. The mode of dressing for table is simple. The tubers, after being cleaned, are boiled for about ten minutes, or till they be slightly softened; and they are then served up with white sauce. Some persons merely put them into boiling water for a few minutes; then, pouring off the water, transfer them to a covered saucepan; and place the pan upon hot cinders, drawing some of these near to the lid: in this way the tubers are rendered more dry or mealy. They are of excellent quality and pleasant flavour; somewhat resembling a new potato, with the additional zest of a nut or kernel. The oxalis comes from the same country that afforded us the invaluable potato, and has been extolled as likely to rival it; but this it will never do: a dish of oxalis will form an agreeable variety and adjunct, but no more; bearing to the potato such relation as sea-cake does to asparagus. It may be added, however, that the oxalis cremata is, in other respects, a useful vegetable. The leaves may be used as salad, and form, indeed, the principal salad at Lima. The shoots and young branches are found to make a pleasant purée, having the wood-sorrel flavour; and the larger stems have been used in tarts, in the manner of rhubarb-stalks, and been found more tender.

Alliaceous Plants.

The Onion (Allium Cepa) is too well known to require description: it has been cultivated in this country from time immemorial. Among the varieties may be enumerated:

| Strasbourg, Deptford, Globe, James's Keeping | Silver-skinned, White Portugal, Blood Red, Potato Onion |

Besides these, the Welsh Onion or Ciboule (Allium fistulosum, L.), a native of Siberia, is sometimes grown for scallions. For a general crop, the Strasbourg and Deptford varieties may be esteemed the best. The White Portugal grows to a large size, but does not keep well. The silver-skinned is chiefly used for pickling.

The onion affects a light, rich, well worked soil, which has not been recently manured. The principal crop may be sown in the course of the month of March, according to the state of the weather and the dryness of the ground. Garden Onions are grown in beds, four or five feet in width, and are regularly thinned, hoed, and kept free from weeds. About the beginning of September the crop is ripe, which is known by the withering of the leaves; the roots are taken up, and, after being well dried, are stored in a garret or loft, where they may be perfectly secured from damp.

Towards the end of August a secondary crop is sown, to afford a supply of young onions or scallions, as they are called, in the spring months. The Strasbourg and White Portugal may be used for this purpose. Those which are not required for the kitchen being allowed to stand, if the flower-bud is picked out on its first appearance, and the earth is stirred about them, frequently produce bulbs equal in size and quality to the large ones that are imported from the Continent.

Some eminent horticulturists have strongly recommended the transplanting of onions. Mr Knight sows the White Portugal onion in spring under the shade of a tree, where they remain of a diminutive size. They are kept over winter, and are planted out in the succeeding spring. Mr Brown collects all the minute bulbs of the ordinary crop, and uses them in the same way. Mr Macdonald, Dalkeith Park, confines his operations to one summer. He sows in February on a slight hot-bed, or sometimes merely under a glass frame. In the first or second week of April, according to the state of the weather, he transplants the young seedlings in rows, eight inches asunder, and at the distance of four or five inches in the row. Previously to planting, the roots of the seedlings are dipped in a puddle of one part of soot to three parts of earth, an expedient which is found to secure the transplanted onions from the wire-worm. Onions thus treated attain a large size. We have seen autumn-sown onions submitted to a similar management with great success.

The Potato Onion is propagated by the lateral bulbs, which it throws out, under ground, in considerable numbers. It is planted about mid-winter, and ripens in summer. Its flavour is strong, and not unpleasant; but the plant being rather delicate and troublesome in cultivation, is not likely to supersede the common onion.

The Pearl Onion, of recent introduction, and hitherto little known, produces clusters of small bulbs at the root. These little bulbs are of a fine white colour, like the silver-skinned onion, and very fit for pickling.

The Leek (Allium Porrum) is a native of Switzerland, but has probably been cultivated in this island for many centuries. The varieties are the narrow-leaved or Flanders leek, the Scotch or flag leek, and the broad-leaved or tall London leek. Of these the Scotch leek is considered as the most hardy.

Leeks are sown in beds in spring; and in June or July are planted out in rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart, and six inches asunder between the rows. The tips of the fibrous roots are trimmed before planting. When the weather is moist, it is found beneficial merely to lay the plant into the hole made by the dibble, without closing the earth upon it, the stem being by this means encouraged to swell out and fill the hole.

Shallot (Allium ascalonicum) is a native of Palestine. It is much used in cookery for high-flavoured soups and gravies, and is sometimes put into pickles. It is propagated by off-sets, which are commonly planted in September or October. Some recommend the mixing of soot with the manure as a protection against maggots, by which this plant is greatly infested. Autumn planting, however, is found the best expedient, as the bulbs are ripe before the larvae commence their depredations. Garlic (*Allium sativum*) and Rocambole (*Allium Schoenoprasum*), though common ingredients in continental cookery, are comparatively seldom used in this country. A few rows will generally be found sufficient. They are propagated by offsets from the roots, or by the bulblets which grow on the flower-stem. The Chive or Cive (*Allium Schoenoprasum*), a pleasant little native plant, is used occasionally as salad and alliaceous seasoning. A single row may be planted as an edging to an onion bed, and it is easily increased by parting the roots in spring and autumn.

**Spinaceous Plants.**

Spinach (*Spinacia oleracea*) is an annual plant, and is a native of Western Asia. It has long been cultivated for the sake of its succulent leaves, which, when properly dressed, form a pleasant and nutritious article of food. There are two varieties; the round-leaved or smooth-seeded, and the angular-leaved or prickly-seeded. The latter, as being the most hardy, is used for the winter crop.

The first sowing is made in August, in some sheltered situation; the plants, as they advance, are thinned, and the ground is hoed. In the beginning of winter the outer leaves become fit for use; in mild weather, successive gatherings are obtained, and, with proper management, the crop may be prolonged to the beginning of May.

To afford a succession crop, the seeds of the round-leaved variety should be sown in the end of January, and again in February and March. From this period it is proper to sow small quantities once a fortnight, summer spinach lasting only a very short time. The open spaces between the lines of cauliflower, and others of the cabbage tribe, will generally afford enough of room for these transient crops. They are generally sown in shallow drills, and are thinned out and weeded as may be required.

White Beet (*Beta Cieola*) is cultivated for the leaves, which are used as spinach. The midribs and stalks of the great white beet, when separated from the leaves, are stewed and eaten as asparagus, under the name of Swiss Chard. The culture does not differ materially from that of the red beet.

New Zealand Spinach (*Tetragononia expansa*) is a half-hardy annual, a native of New Zealand, from which it was brought by the late Sir Joseph Banks. It is an excellent substitute for spinach; and if well watered, it will continue to afford large quantities of succulent leaves during the hottest weather. It is sown in a pot placed in a melon-frame in March; the seedlings are transplanted into small pots, and kept under cover till the beginning of June, when they are plunged out at two or three feet apart, and treated somewhat like gourds. In gathering the leaves, care must be taken not to injure the leading shoots.

Quinoa Spinach (*Chenopodium Quinoa*). This vegetable is a native not only of Chile, but of the table land of Mexico. It is described and figured by Ruiz and Pavon, and Humboldt informs us, that in Mexico the leaves are universally used as spinach or greens, and the seeds in soups, or like rice, so that quinoa there vies in utility with the potato itself. Although the plant had been known in Britain for a number of years, it was only during the autumn of 1834 that any considerable portion of seed was ripened or saved in this country. This was accomplished at Boyton in Wiltshire, by Mr Aymer Bourke Lambert, the well-known patron of botany and horticulture. Considering the elevated region in America in which the quinoa is successfully cultivated, there can be no doubt that its heritage will be freely produced in this country; but it seems probable that, in order to secure the ripening of seeds, it may be requisite to place some plants close by a wall having a south or south-west aspect, as is practised with seeding onions; more especially since we are warned by Willdenow, that, in Germany, "semina sub dio non semper perficit." There are two varieties, the common white-seeded or green quinoa, and the dark-seeded or red quinoa, the former seemingly the more hardy, or at least germinating most freely.

Garden Orache (*Atriplex hortensis*), Wild Spinach (*Chenopodium Bonus Henricus*), and Garden Patience (*Rumex Patientia*), are sometimes used in place of common spinach; but as, in this country at least, they are deemed rather curious than useful, it may be sufficient to indicate their names.

**Asparaginous Plants.**

Asparagus (*Asparagus officinalis*) is a perennial plant, a native of the shores of Britain, where it occurs sparingly, and of the steppes in the east of Europe. Though somewhat unpromising while in a state of nature, it affords, in cultivation, an esculent of considerable value, and is therefore grown extensively both in private and in sale gardens. The principal varieties are the red-topped and the green-topped, of which the latter, while it is less succulent, is considered the better flavoured. There are numerous subvarieties, such as the Battersea, Gravesend, Giant, &c., which differ only slightly or not at all from those already mentioned.

Asparagus, growing naturally on loose sand, loves a light deep soil, through which it may be able to shoot its long stringy roots. Two feet and a half is considered a desirable depth, but in France the ground is sometimes prepared, by sitting, to the double of that depth. A considerable portion of well-rotted dung or of recent sea-weed is laid in the bottom of the trench, which may be from two to three feet deep; and another top-dressing of manure should be digged in preparatory to planting or sowing. The older horticulturists used to grow their asparagus in beds four or five feet wide, with intervening alleys of about eighteen inches in breadth. At present, in Scotland, it is customary to sow or plant in rows from three to four feet asunder; a method which, in every way, is found to be most convenient. Except where the garden is new, when, of course, it is advantageous to procure a supply of ready grown plants, it is thought preferable to keep up the stock of asparagus by sowing.

The sowing is made in March, in slight drills; and, as a portion of the seed often fails to germinate, it is a good precaution to employ about double the quantity of seed that may be ultimately necessary. If the plants come up too thickly, they may be thinned out towards the end of the first summer, to the distance of about six inches in the rows. The ground is hoed, and kept clear of weeds. It is a common practice to take slight crops of onions, lettuce, cauliflower, or turnip, between the lines of asparagus during the first, and, if the rows be wide, also in the second year. The young heads or stalks, the part used, should not be cut before the third spring, and they are not in perfection till the fourth or fifth.

The asparagus quarter can scarcely be over manured. The proper time to perform this operation is in the end of autumn, when the annual flower-stalks are removed, preparatory for winter. When beds are employed, their surface should be stirred with a fork; a layer of well-rotted hot-bed dung is then laid on, and the whole covered with a sprinkling of earth from the alleys. If the plants are grown in rows, the manure is simply dug in by means of a three-pronged fork, care being taken not to injure the roots. This operation is repeated annually. No other culture is required; but it is necessary to observe a due moderation in reaping the crop, as the shoots, when much cut, become progressively smaller and less valuable. Hence a considerable quantity of ground is required for the culti- vation of this vegetable, and it is a general rule never to gather it after pease have come into season.

Asparagus readily admits of being forced. The most common method is to prepare, early in the year, a moderate hot-bed of stable litter, and to cover it with a common frame. After the heat of fermentation has somewhat subsided, the surface of the bed is lined with turf, to prevent the escape of vapour; a layer of light earth or exhausted tan-bark is put over the turf, and in this the roots of plants five or six years old are closely placed. The crowns of the roots are then covered with two or three inches of soil. A common three-light frame may hold 500 or 600 plants, and will afford a supply for several weeks. After planting, linings are applied when necessary, and air is occasionally admitted. Care must be taken not to scorch the roots. Where there are pits for the culture of late melons or succession pine plants, such as the Alderston pit, or the succession pit with the hot-water circulation, they may advantageously be applied to this purpose.

It has been recommended (Lond. Hortic. Trans. vol. v.) to force asparagus on the ground on which it grows. Perhaps the best method is that suggested by Mr Spiers in vol. iv. of the Gardener's Magazine. The seed is sown in beds four feet eight inches wide, and there are four rows of plants, eleven inches asunder in the bed. The beds are lined by a pigeon-hole brickwork two feet deep, an operation which we presume need not be performed till immediately before forcing, that is, when the plants are at least four years old. In October, when the stalks are cleared away, the surface is covered with littery straw. When forcing is commenced, the brick-lined trenches are filled with hot stable-dung, well beaten, to about eighteen inches above the surface of the ground. The bed is also covered with prepared dung. In about twelve days, when the buds have begun to appear, the latter covering is removed, glazed frames are placed upon the brick-work, a little fine soil is sifted over the plants, the linings in the trenches are raised higher, and the whole treated like a common hot-bed. In this way, we are informed, excellent supplies may be obtained, and the plants may be forced every year.

Before leaving this subject, it may be mentioned, that about Bath, the young flower-spikes of Ornithogalum pyrenaicum, found native in that neighbourhood, are used like asparagus, under the name of Prussian grass.

Sea-kale (Crambe maritima) is a perennial plant, growing spontaneously on the shores of the southern parts of the island. The roots are spreading, the leaves waved, glaucous, and covered with a fine mealy bloom, and the stalks rise to about two feet high, bearing white flowers which smell of honey, followed by seed-pods, each containing a single seed.

The country people in the west of England have long been accustomed to use in spring the young shoots, which, by passing through the sand and gravel on which they grow, are somewhat blanched and rendered tender. In conformity with this practice, the cultivation formerly recommended consisted merely in covering the beds on the approach of spring with a little dry earth or sand, in order to the blanching or intenering of the shoots. These were cut as they appeared in March and April. Now, however, the blanching is not only much more completely effected, but simple means have been devised for supplying the table for half the year, including all the winter months. It has, within these few years, become a vegetable of common occurrence in the markets both of London and Edinburgh.

Sea-kale seems partial to a light dry soil. If manure be added, it should consist of sea-weed or leaves of trees. The plants may be propagated by offsets, or small pieces of the roots having buds or eyes attached to them; but the most eligible method is by seed. We have seen very tolerable Kitchen blanched stalks produced by plants only nine months old from the seed, and after two summers, seedling plants will have acquired sufficient strength for general cropping. The sowing is made in March, the seeds being deposited in patches of three or four together, the patches being arranged in lines three feet apart, and two feet in the line. In order to secure a succession, and to obviate the bad effects of forcing, it is proper to sow a few lines of sea-kale every year.

Various modes of blanching the shoots have been resorted to. In the first volume of the Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, Sir George Mackenzie describes a very convenient method. The sea-kale bed is merely covered, early in spring, with clean and dry oat-straw, which is removed as often as it becomes dry and dusty. The shoots rise through the straw, and are at the same time pretty well blanched. Others employ dried tree-leaves for this purpose. Another method practised by many gardeners consists in placing over each plant a flower-pot of the largest size inverted; but convenient blanching-pots, with moveable lids, have been constructed for the express purpose. It may be proper to provide from thirty to sixty such pots; and it may be expected that each pot will, on an average, furnish a dish and a half of shoots during the season.

With the aid of these pots, sea-kale is forced in the open border in the way now to be described. In the latter end of autumn a bed of vigorous sea-kale plants is dressed, that is, the stalks are cut over, and the decayed leaves are removed. The ground is, at the same time, loosened about the eyes, and a thin stratum of gravel or sifted coal-ashes is laid on the surface to keep down earthworms. A pot with a moveable cover is placed over each plant or each patch of plants. Stable-litter is then closely packed all round the pots, and raised up to about a foot above them; the whole thus assuming the form and appearance of a large hot-bed. When fermentation commences, a thermometer should be occasionally introduced into a few of the pots, to ascertain that the temperature within does not exceed 60° Fahrenheit, and the depth of the litter is to be regulated accordingly. The vegetation of the included plants is speedily promoted; so that, in the space of a month or six weeks, the shoots will be ready for cutting, which, being thus excluded from the light, are most effectually blanched, and are exceedingly tender and crisp. By means of the moveable lids, the plants are examined and the shoots gathered without materially disturbing the litter. By commencing at various times, a supply for the table can be readily furnished from the middle of November till the middle of May.

The Artichoke (Cynara Scolymus) is a perennial plant, a native of the south of Europe, and is a well known inhabitant of our gardens. It resembles a thistle on a large scale. In France, the entire head or whole leaves of the involucre of the artichoke are eaten, when in a young and tender state, en poivre, or with pepper, salt, and vinegar; but in this country the only parts used are the base of the leaves of the involucre, and the immature floral receptacle, or phoranthium, commonly called the bottom, freed from the bristly seed-down which has been called the choke. The varieties are the conical or French, the globe or red artichoke, and the dwarf globe. Of these the first is the highest flavoured, the second is well adapted for a general crop, and the third is prolific, and occupies little room.

The artichoke loves a deep cool dry soil. It is propagated by parting the roots in April, the sets being planted in rows four or five feet asunder, and two feet apart in the rows. The young plants generally afford a crop which succeeds that of old plants; and for this reason a new plan- tation is made in some gardens every year. During summer the plants are kept clear of weeds, but require little other attention. In November the decayed stems and leaves are removed, and the ground cleared. In some gardens the earth is ridged slightly around the roots, in order to defend the stools from the frost. This, however, is done more effectually by a litter of straw, or of the refuse of the stable-yard, of the depth of a foot, drawn close round the base of the leaves. In April this litter is taken away, the stocks are examined, and two or three only of the strongest shoots are permitted to remain. The offsets, which are carefully removed, afford materials for a young plantation. The ground between the rows is dugged over. At this time manure may be applied; well-rotted hot-bed dung, and above all sea-weed, being considered preferable.

The Cardoon (Cynara Cardunculus) is a perennial plant, a native of the south of France and Spain. It has a close resemblance to the artichoke, but surpasses it in size. The edible part, or chard, as it is called, is composed of the blanched and crisp stalks of the inner leaves. Besides the common sort there is a prickly variety, known in France by the name of the Cardoon of Tours. The common artichoke is also used for the production of chard. Cardoons are found to prosper on light deep soil. The seed is sown annually about the middle of May, in shallow trenches, like those for celery, and the plants are thinned out to ten or twelve inches from each other in the lines. In dry weather water is copiously supplied, not only to increase the succulence of the leaves, but to prevent the formation of flower-stalks, which render the plant useless. In autumn the leaves are applied close to each other, and wrapped round with bands of hay or straw, the points of the leaves only being left free. Earth is then drawn up around the leaf-stems to the height of fifteen or eighteen inches. Sometimes cardoons are blanched by a more thorough earthing up, in the manner of celery, but in this case the operation must be carried on from the end of summer. During severe frost the tops of the leaves should be defended with straw or litter.

The Rampion (Campanula Rapunculus) is an English native biennial, the roots of which, under the name of ramps, are used as a salad, or boiled like asparagus. It is but little cultivated in this country. The seed is sown broadcast, about the beginning of June, in a cool situation, and the young plants are merely to be thinned and kept clear of weeds. On the approach of frost, the roots, which somewhat resemble small radishes, are stored in sand, and will keep fresh and firm till spring.

Salads, &c.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a hardy annual, but of what country it is a native is unknown. Some suppose it to be a seminal variety of the native L. virosa, a poisonous plant; "which," says Professor Lindley, "would not be more remarkable than the fact, that the indigenous celery is one of our strongest poisons." Besides its well-known uses, it may be mentioned that the late Dr Duncan senior, of Edinburgh, prepared from its milky juice, a medicine denominated Lactuarium, similar in its action to opium, but capable of being administered in cases where that powerful drug is inadmissible. There are two principal varieties, the Cos or upright, and the Cabbage-lettuce. The subvarieties are numerous; we may mention the following:

| Early Forcing Cos | White Cabbage | |-------------------|--------------| | Green Cos | Brown Dutch Cabbage | | White Cos | Imperial Cabbage | | Cilieis | Grand Admiral |

By proper care fresh lettuce may be had throughout the whole year. The first sowing is made in January, in some sheltered situation, or under hand-glasses, or in February on a gentle hot-bed. The seedlings are transplanted as soon as the weather will permit. A second sowing may be made in the beginning of March, and another in April. Besides the ordinary compartments, the seedlings may be planted on celery ridges, between rows of slight crops of other vegetables, and, in short, in any odd corner which may occur. To obtain a winter supply, a sowing is made in August or September, and the plants are pricked out in October, along the bottom of walls, or under glazed frames.

Endive (Cichorium Endivia) is an annual plant, a native of China, from which it was introduced in 1548. It is the lettuce of winter, the blanched hearts being used for salads and in soups. The varieties are, the Broad-leaved Batavian, the Green Curled-leaved, and the White Curled-leaved. A sowing may be made in the beginning of June, and another in July, the seeds being scattered very sparsely, that the plants may not come up in clusters. The seedlings are transplanted into a rich soil, and are arranged in rows twelve or fifteen inches asunder, and at the distance of ten inches in the row. Sometimes they are planted in drills to facilitate the operation of blanching. The later crop should be placed in a sheltered situation, where it may be able to withstand the winter. When the plants have reached their maturity, the leaves are gathered up, and tied together an inch or two below the tips, and afterwards about the middle of the plant. In two or three weeks they are found sufficiently blanched for use. In winter it is necessary to draw the earth quite up about the leaves. At that season, too, the plants may be inserted into a sloping bank of earth, or blanched in boxes in the mushroom-house, or in a cellar.

Succory (Cichorium Intybus) is an indigenous plant, the cultivation of which may be said to have been introduced by the foreign refugees during the French revolutionary war. By the French it is much esteemed as a winter salad, and, when blanched, is known by the name of Barbe du Capucin. When intended for winter use, the seed is sown in May or June, commonly in drills, and the plants are thinned out to four inches apart. If the first set of leaves grow very strong, owing to wet weather, they are cut off perhaps in the middle of August, about an inch from the ground, so as to promote the production of new leaves, and check the formation of flower-stems. About the beginning of October the plants are raised from the border; all the large leaves are cut off; the roots are also shortened. They are then planted pretty closely together in boxes filled with rich light mould, and watered when needful. When frost comes on, the boxes are protected by any kind of haulm. As the salad is wanted, they are removed into some place having a moderately increased temperature, but with little light; such as a mushroom-house or cellar off the kitchen. Each box affords two crops of blanched leaves, and these are reckoned fit for cutting when about six inches long. The roots of this plant, it may be added, have been employed as a substitute for coffee-beans, and in Flanders, and some parts of France, a portion of them is very often mixed with coffee.

Parsley (Apium Petroselinum) is a biennial plant, of well-known use in cookery. It is said to be a native of Sardinia, but it now grows spontaneously in various parts of Britain. The varieties are the Common, the Curled-leaved, and the Hamburg, the last of which is cultivated for the sake of its tuberous roots. Parsley loves a light rich soil. It is sown in drills about the beginning of March, and the seed lies some weeks in the ground before the plants appear. As they grow up they are thinned out, and they are defended by branches or other coverings from hard weather in winter. The Hamburg variety being cultivated for its roots, is sown about the same time in a well-trenched soil, in drills a foot apart, and it is thinned to about nine inches in the rows. In the beginning of November the roots are taken up and stored in sand.

**Celery (Apium graveolens)** is a native biennial, an inhabitant of the sides of ditches near the sea. In its wild state it is of an acrid nature, and of a coarse, rank flavour; but by cultivation it is improved into one of the most agreeable salads. There are two principal varieties; celery properly so called, with upright stalks and fibrous or slightly tuberous roots; and celeriac with large turnip-shaped roots. Of the former, the principal subvarieties are, the Italian, the Red Solid, and the White Solid, of which the second and third are the best.

Celery is usually sown at three different times: on a hotbed in the beginning of March, and in the open ground in March, and again in April. The seedlings, when about two inches high, are pricked into rich soil, in which they are allowed to stand till they are four or five inches high. The first crop is defended by frames or hand-glasses, and is planted wide to admit of being lifted with balls of earth adhering to the roots. Towards the end of May trenches for blanching the celery are prepared. These trenches are three and a half or four feet apart, fifteen inches wide at the bottom, and about a foot below the natural level of the surface. The soil at the bottom of the trench is carefully dugged and manured, and a single row of plants is placed in each trench. Sometimes where a large supply is required, the trenches are made six feet wide, and after a similar preparation, rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart are planted across the trenches. As the plants advance in growth, earth is laid up about the stalks of the leaves, an operation which is repeated at the end of every ten or fifteen days, care being taken not to choke the plants. As the celery approaches maturity, scarcely anything but the tips of the leaves appear above the ridges, and, when lifted, the stalks are found to be completely blanched. Successional crops should then be planted out. Celery loves a rich light soil and an abundance of moisture.

**Celeriac**, or turnip-rooted celery, is treated at first like the early crop of common celery. In the beginning or middle of June it is planted out in a flat bed, in drills fifteen inches apart. A single earthing afterwards suffices. Its large round roots are used in soups, and are much relished by some. It is, however, more attended to in France and the Low Countries than in Britain.

**Garden Cress (Lepidium sativum)**, and **White Mustard (Sinapis alba)**, are generally associated in their use as salads, and in their culture in the garden. They are annual plants, and are eaten only when very young. In winter they may be raised on a slight hot-bed, in spring under hand-glasses, or in drills near a south wall, and in summer, when they should be sown once a fortnight, in drills, in any cool shady situation. Table mustard, which is made from *Sinapis nigra* L., belongs rather to the department of agriculture. Durham mustard, which is distinguished for its poignancy, though not remarkable for fine colour, is said to be made principally from the seeds of the common yellow field mustard or charlock, *Sinapis arvensis* L.

Of Rhubarb (*Rheum*) several species and many varieties are cultivated for the purpose of supplying materials for tarts, the foot-stalks of the leaves being well adapted for that purpose, and coming into use at a most convenient season. *R. rhaponticum* and *palmatum* were the species first employed, and are still occasionally used; but the sorts now preferred are seminal varieties, mostly allied to *R. hybrimum* and *R. undulatum*. The following are the most worthy of notice:

- Wilmot's - Gigantic - Elford - Buck's

Of these, the talented editor of the *Horticultural Register* decidedly prefers the first two, the former as being excellently suited for forcing, the latter as growing to a great size, without rankness. They may be multiplied by dividing the roots, and this is the common practice; but they thrive much better when grown from seed. Mr Paxton recommends sowing on a slight hot-bed in spring, and transplanting out in rows in the month of May. No stalks are gathered from them for the first two years, but in the third season they are fit for use. A portion of the crop is allowed to come on under the general influence of the season; but much also is forced, which may be done in a variety of ways. Some treat it like sea-kale, covering the root allowed to remain in the ground with a large pot or box, and wrapping it round with litter. Others take up the roots in autumn, pot them, and force them in vineeries or hot-beds. Perhaps the best method is to procure long narrow boxes of a moderate depth, and to place them, packed full of roots, in a mushroom-house or cellar, where there is a considerable temperature. The rhubarb soon throws up its stalks, and these being partially etiolated, possess a delicacy and flavour superior to those grown in the open air. It is easy, by varying the time of subjecting the boxes to the increased temperature, to keep up a succession of rhubarb stalks, from the period at which kitchen apples become scarce or begin to lose their flavour, till green gooseberries come into season.

The following annual plants are occasionally used in cookery, or as salads: *Chervil*, Scandix perefolia; *Purslane*, Portulaca oleracea; *Lamb's-Lettuce*, Fedia olitoria; *Indian Cress*, Tropocolum majus; *Marigold*, Calendula officinalis; *Borage*, Borago officinalis. These may be sown in spring, or in the beginning of summer, in any fresh light soils. In general a small quantity will suffice.

The *Common Sorrel*, Rumex acetosa; and the *French Sorrel*, Rumex scutatus; and the *Horse-radish*, Cochlearia Armoracia, are perennials, and are increased by parting their roots. They thrive in any cool shady situation.

The *Capsicum or Chili*, Capsicum annum, and the *Love-Apple*, Solanum Lycopersicum, are tender annuals from tropical climates. Both are sown in hot-beds in spring, and after being transplanted and nursed in separate pots, are planted out, the former in a warm border, and the latter against a wall. In Scotland the Capsicum will scarcely mature its fruit without the aid of glass.

*Dill*, Anethum graveolens, and *Angelica*, Angelica archangelica, are umbelliferous biennials, which have been for a long period, though not extensively, cultivated in our gardens. They are easily raised from seed. With these may be associated the beautiful perennial, *Fennel*, Anthum Foeniculum, used in salads and sauces. It may be propagated either by parting the roots, or by seeds, which should be sown in autumn, soon after they are ripe.

In every garden there is a small department set apart for the culture of Sweet Herbs and Medicinal Plants. We need not here enter into details respecting their uses or culture, but shall merely give classified lists.

**Shrubby Plants** increased by parting the roots, or by cuttings: *Thyme*, Thymus vulgaris; *Sage*, Salvia officinalis; *Winter Savory*, Satureja montana; *Rosemary*, Rosmarinus officinalis; *Lavender*, Lavandula Spica; *Hyssop*, Hyssopus officinalis; and *Rue*, Ruta graveolens.

**Perennial Herbaceous Plants**, increased by parting the roots: *Spearmint*, Mentha viridis; *Peppermint*, M. pipe- Flower rita; Pennyroyal, M. pulegium; Balm, Melissa officinalis; Tarragon, Artemisia Dracunculus; Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare; Costmary, Balsamita vulgaris; Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis.

Biennial or Annual Plants, increased by sowing the seeds—Clary, Salvia Sclarea; Coriander, Coriandrum sativum; Caraway, Carum Carvi; Sweet Marjoram, Origanum majorana; Summer Savory, Satureja hortensis; Sweet Basil, Ocimum basilicum; and Bush Basil, O. minimum. These last, the basils, which are natives of the East, and in much request for their delicate flavour, are raised on hot-beds in spring, and transplanted with balls, into some warm situation. In Scotland, they are mostly treated as tender annuals, and are grown, under glazed frames, in flowerpots.

There are besides a few others, which, in each of the classes, more properly belong to the Dietetics, and the Materia Medica. The young green leaves of Prunus Laurocerasus (under the name of laurel), may properly enough be employed in garnishing; but they ought never to be used, as they too often are, for giving a nutty flavour, or for greening other articles; hydrocyanic acid being given out, and proving injurious, even in small quantities.

Glazed houses, for the reception and culture of exotic plants, though sometimes placed in connection with similar structures in the forcing department, are now almost universally regarded as appendages of the flower garden. In the hands of architects they have assumed a great variety of forms. We shall confine ourselves to the exhibition of the principle of the most important of these, and shall limit our remarks to the Greenhouse, the Conservatory, and the Stove.

The Greenhouse is intended to afford a winter and partly a summer shelter to the less tender classes of exotic plants grown in pots. Fig. 5, Plate CCXCHI., exhibits the old lean-to greenhouse. The general form of the house is that of a winery with pretty lofty front glass. The main part of the area is occupied by a stage rising in steps to receive the potted plants. At some height above the front flue is placed a narrow horizontal bench of trellis work to receive small plants which require to be near the light. The interior air is warmed by one or two flues, or other heating apparatus, according to its volume; but a temperature of 45° Fahr. during winter is sufficient. Sometimes greenhouses are constructed with span-roofs and a double stage. They may indeed assume any form which taste can suggest, provided there be a sufficiency of light, and the plants be not too far from the glass. The heath-house does not essentially differ from the greenhouse, but for it a span roof is certainly preferable.

In the Conservatory the chief plants grow in beds of earth sunk in the floor. Fig. 3, Plate CCXCHII., shews the principle of this species of house. The beds marked b b are filled with a light soil calculated for the plants which are to inhabit them. Fig. 4 represents the front elevation of the roof. Numerous varieties of this structure also have appeared, and some most sumptuous examples have been erected in the gardens of the nobility. With similar restrictions as in the greenhouse, the conservatory may be said to be capable of assuming any form.

The Plant Store may be either a dry store or a bark stove, or both combined, and is applied to the cultivation of tropical plants which require an elevated temperature. The dry stove may be considered as a greenhouse with a larger than usual apparatus for the production of heat. The bark stove is furnished somewhat in the manner of a pine stove, with a receptacle to contain a bed of fermenting tanners' bark into which the pots are plunged. In this country, stores are regarded as belonging rather to the botanic than to the flower garden; they are extremely useful, however, in the latter, for, besides presenting the florist with many unusual forms of vegetation, they afford in summer a variety of beautiful plants, which, when in flower, may be introduced into the greenhouse.

Sometimes the various botanical structures are combined into one imposing assemblage, as that exhibited in Plate CCXCHII., Fig. 1, the ground-plan of which is given in Fig. 2 of the same plate; a being a palm-house; b for New Holland plants; c large greenhouse; and the intermediate spaces being occupied by dry stove, heath-house, and greenhouses. This mode is, of course, suited only for places of the first order, where splendour is the object, where every thing is on a great scale, and expense little regarded. In a vast proportion of cases economy must be studied; and in villa gardens the ornamental plant-house is very often attached to the library or the drawing-room. A good plan for such a glazed house may be found in the Gardener's Magazine, vol. vi. p. 664.

Greenhouse Plants.—This beautiful class of plants have become so numerous, that, in a sketch like the present, it is impossible to give the names of even a limited selection. We may once more refer to Mr Loudon's tables in his Encyclopedia of Horticulture, or to his still more copious lists in the Hortus Britannicus, in both of which works much valuable information may be obtained. The recent increase of species makes the work of selection at once more necessary and more difficult; a work which it must be confessed is often negligently performed. Many of the finer sorts of woody plants are propagated with difficulty, and consequently, being high priced in the nurseries, are possessed in requisite abundance only where there is considerable liberality on the part of the proprietor. On the other hand, the species which strike easily are circulated by gardeners themselves, many of whom, by their own interest and resources, more than half fill their greenhouses without calling for the aid of their employers. To this cause may be ascribed the perpetuation of many mean looking plants, which, if hardy, would scarcely be tolerated in well-kept shrubberies, and certainly ought not to encumber the greenhouse.

Light mould produced by the rotting of turf from pastures, and reduced with sand if necessary, or enriched with leaf-mould, is well adapted for most greenhouse plants. Some require a mixture of peat earth; others thrive only in pure sandy peat. If more specific directions be wished, we would recommend the reader to have recourse to Cushings Exotic Gardener, or to the more recent work by Sweet, entitled The Botanical Cultivator. The common means of propagation is by cuttings, inserted in earth or sand, and covered, if necessary, with bell-glasses. A few sorts are increased by grafting or layers. Nearly all may be raised from seed, large quantities of which are annually imported from abroad; and, it may be added, many greenhouse plants ripen their seed in this country.

Many of these plants require shifting and fresh earth twice a year; all of them should be repotted once a year at least. It is the common practice to examine their roots in spring or the early part of summer, and, removing the matted fibres, to put them into larger pots if necessary. As room is extremely valuable in limited greenhouses, it is desirable that the plants should be kept of a moderate size; and they are, therefore, rather to be under-potted than otherwise. Many of the free-growing plants require to be shifted again in August; at which period of the year, it is considered preferable to repot those which require to be disturbed only once a year. During the summer months, a great proportion of the inmates of the greenhouse are placed in the open air, on a spot paved or laid with ashes, to prevent the entrance of earth-worms into the pots, and not too much exposed to winds. Meanwhile, their place in the greenhouse is occupied by balsams and other tender annuals of a showy character. On the approach of winter the plants are again placed under cover. All that is necessary in the management of the greenhouse in winter, is to keep up a steady but very moderate temperature, to preclude the access of damp by regular airing in mild dry weather, and to attend to moderate watering where it may be needed.

Of late years, particular genera of plants have come greatly into vogue, and it would be an omission not to notice some of them. Among the foremost may be mentioned Pelargonium, with its affinities. This beautiful tribe has varied nearly as rapidly as the Dahlia; to the discomposure of some botanists, whose scientific logic has been brought into jeopardy. Pelargoniums are of easy culture, propagating readily by cuttings, and requiring only to be shifted from time to time. Equal to these in point of beauty of colour, and certainly superior in elegance of form, is the family of Cape heaths, the Erica of botanists. Of this genus there is said to be 600 species, considerably more than the half of which exist in our collections. Many heaths may be raised from seed, which occasionally ripens in this country; the most common mode of propagation, however, is by cuttings, and this in some species is attended with difficulty. Heaths require a peaty soil, and attention in watering. For further information, we may refer to the excellent little treatise of Mr M'Nab of the Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, whose success in this department is quite unrivalled, and in whose hands heaths attain a splendour which, we believe, they never reach in the environs of Table Mountain itself. The superb genus Camellia is the only other that particularly claims our attention. To the elegance of the finest evergreen it unites the beauty of the fairest rose. The Camellia, though a native of Japan, is not particularly tender, but from some peculiarities in its constitution, its culture requires a considerable degree of attention and care. Cuttings of the single red variety strike freely, and upon these as stocks, the finer sorts are grafted by inarching or side-grafting. The soil generally employed is a mixture of peat and light loam. Care must be taken not to allow the roots to become matted in the pots. The young plants should be shifted at least once a year; when old, and in large tubs, once in two years will be sufficient. It is found beneficial to apply a certain degree of heat while the plants are growing, and till they form flower-buds for the following season. To have Camellias in perfection, a house with a span roof should be appropriated for their reception. There are some splendid collections of this noble plant in the nursery-gardens in the neighbourhood of London, particularly at Hackney, Vauxhall, and Clapton.

Conservatory Plants.—These are composed of a selection from the numerous inmates of the greenhouse. They should be naturally of an elegant form, capable in general of sustaining themselves, and somewhat hardy in their constitution. Many of the Australian plants, particularly the Acacias and Banksias, are well adapted for this purpose. The ascending Proteas of the Cape, Clethra arborea of Madeira, and many others of a similar habit, may likewise take their place in this department. To these may be added a few of the harder Heaths and Camellias, together with a Myrtle or two, double flowering Pomegranate, Camphor-laurel, Tea-tree, and some of the varieties of the magnificent and consecrated Rhododendron arboreum. Any wall in the interior of the house may be furnished with a trellis, and covered with such climbing plants as Lonicera Japonica, Cobbea scandens, Maurandia sempervirens and Barclayana, and the trailing Pelargoniums. In the management of the conservatory, abundant air should be admitted, and care should be taken not to draw the plants; that is, not to cause them to become too tall and spindle-formed by over-crowding. They should be so pruned as to keep them comparatively short and bushy; but after all pains have been taken, the sorrowful time at length arrives, when they either disfigure themselves by pressing against the glass, or must submit to the no less distorting process of a violent amputation. To meet such exigencies, it is recommended that, wherever there is also a greenhouse, a few plants should be kept in training for the conservatory, and substituted in the room of any that become unmanageable. After all, the fourth, fifth, and sixth, summers of the conservatory will always be the finest: and when a longer series of years have gone by, and the plants have outgrown the space allotted to them, perhaps the best thing that can be done is to change the whole interior of the house, plants, earth and all. If this operation be anticipated, and for a year or two prepared for, sufficiently large plants may be had in readiness, and the appearance of a well-furnished house be attained in one or two seasons. It is scarcely needful to add, that the neatness which is so desirable everywhere in the flower-garden is absolutely indispensable in the conservatory.

Stove Plants.—There are many beautiful plants, natives of tropical regions, which are cultivated in our stoves, but which, from the elevated temperature they require, can be only occasionally visited with pleasure. This may account for the fact that stoves are seldom found but in first-rate gardens, even where the price of fuel is inconsiderable. It is unnecessary to be minute respecting dry stove plants: their culture is precisely that of greenhouse plants, differing only in the degree of heat. Many dry stove plants are succulent, such as Cactus, Aloe and Mesembryanthemum, and of course require an arid soil, composed of a little light loam mixed with lime-rubbish or shivers. One of the most successful growers of the cacti was the late Mr Walter Henderson at Woodhall. The compost which he employed consisted of 1 part rotted dung; 1 rotted leaves, 1 heath mould, ½ loam, and 1 coarse sand, all well mixed together; and the pot was nearly one-third filled with shreds, so as to form an effectual drain. Some of the species, such as Cactus speciosus and Cereus flagelliformis, are improved, and made to flower more freely, by being kept growing vigorously in the greenhouse during summer. The bark stove plants thrive best in the tepid vapour peculiar to the equatorial climes. In order to furnish bottom heat, a bark pit is prepared, into which the pots or tubs are sunk; and the atmosphere is heated by flues, by steam, or, what is better, by a circulation of hot-water. Along the front glass, and on the back wall, are shelves on which pots may be arranged, according to the necessities of light and shade. On the front shelves are occasionally placed shallow troughs, filled with old tan, leaves, or decayed wood, for the reception of the air-plants and other epiphytes. Small cisterns too are introduced to contain tender aquatics. Along the rafters some of the more elegant species of Passiflora, such as P. quadrangularis, may be trained; and through the branches of some of the woody plants, Cascuta, Tropacolum, and other tender climbers, may be allowed to twine themselves. In the pit may be plunged some of the Palms, those princes of plants. In short, there is no end of those numerous tribes, "the potent sons of moisture and of heat," with which the teeming regions of the equator are filled; and no suite of stoves in this country, however extensive, can come up to the wishes of the botanist. The management of this department of floriculture is laborious and trying to the constitution. A strong heat, both in the bark bed and in the atmosphere, must be maintained; the air must be kept charged with vapour, and the plants require frequent shifting and repotting. For more detailed information as to the management of particular stove plants, we may again refer to Cushing, who, in his Exotic Gardener, has treated this subject with a skill and fulness that have not been surpassed, perhaps not equalled, by any of his successors.

CALENDAR.

JANUARY.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow early frame and Charlton peas in the beginning of the month, and dwarf marrowfats about the end of the month; early mazagan and longpod beans during the first and last weeks; onions, on very light soils; as also parsley, if not done in August, on a warm border; short-topped radish in two or three sowings, at a week's interval, in the same situation. In the last fortnight sow hardy green and brown Dutch lettuce.

Plant fruit trees, in general, in open weather, mulching the trees to protect them from the drought which may occur in spring. Plant shallot.

Prune all sorts of fruit trees in mild weather or in moderate frosts, nailing only in fine weather; wash those trees Calendar. infested with insects, with soap-suds, flowers of sulphur, and tobacco liquor.

Forcing Department.—Prepare for making up hot-beds for early cucumbers and melons, at least where a pit heated with hot water is not in use. Sow salads, carrots, and kidney-beans on slight hot-beds. Sow peas in cold frames for transplanting. Force asparagus, sea-kale, and rhubarb, in hot-beds, in pits, in the mushroom-house, or in the open garden by covers surrounded with litter. Give air in fine weather, and water sparingly, to the pinery and cucumber-pit; and to other forcing houses, according to the progress of the trees. Attend to the forced kidney-beans and strawberries. Give abundance of air to the greenhouse, conservatory, and alpine frame, but little water. Begin to force roses, kalmias, rhododendrons, &c., and hardy flowers and bulbs.

Flower Garden.—Plant dried tubers and bulbs of border flowers, if not done in autumn; but roots of the finer florists' flowers ought to be deferred till next month.

Transplant herbaceous plants and evergreen shrubs in light soils, if not done in autumn; also deciduous trees, shrubs, and hedges. Lay edgings in fine weather.

Sow mignonette, stocks, &c., in pots; sow peas, and a few hardy annuals, on a warm border. Give stage auriculas and carnations abundance of air; but keep them rather dry, to prevent damping off.

February.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow beans and peas in the beginning and end of the month; a few early cabbages, to replace the last sowing in August; red cabbages and savoys in the last week. Sow also early horn carrot; Dutch turnip; onions for a full crop in light soils, with a few leeks. Sow chervil and fennel, and lettuce for succession, with radishes and round-leaved spinach, twice in the course of the month; small salads every fortnight.

Plant Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, horse-radish, and early potatoes. All sorts of fruit trees may still be planted. Strawberries may be planted about the end of the month. Transplant for seed, if not done before, all the brassica tribe, including cabbage, cauliflower, turnip, &c.; also carrots, onions, beet, celery, endive, leeks, and parsnips. Transplant to the bottom of a south wall a few of the peas sown in November for the first crop.

Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums, before the buds be much swelled; also apples, pears, cherries, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries, before the end of the month. Finish the dressing of vines, keep the fruit-room free from spoiled fruit, and shut it close.

Forcing Department.—Plant out melons and cucumbers on hot-beds and in pits, sowing more for succession. Sow carrots, turnips, and early celery; cauliflower, to be afterwards planted out. Plant early potatoes on slight hot-beds. Continue the forcing of asparagus, rhubarb, and sea-kale. Pine-apple plants require little air or water at this season, except young plants in dung-frames, which ought to be kept free from damp. Shift fruiting plants by the middle of the month, if not done in August. Continue the forcing of all sorts of fruits. Those who have not commenced sooner will find this one of the best seasons to begin. Be careful to protect the stems of vines that are outside of the forcing houses.

Let the greenhouse and conservatory have plenty of air in mild weather. Put in an extra quantity, if not done in autumn, of cuttings of Pelargoniums, Fuchsia, Salpiglossis, Calceolaria, Heliotropium, and Salvia splendens, for the flower garden. Sow stocks, a few tender annuals, and dahlia seed, on a slight hot-bed, or in pots.

Flower Garden.—In good weather plant dried roots, including most of the finer florists' flowers; continue the transplanting of hardy biennial flowers, and herbaceous plants, shrubs, and deciduous trees.

Sow in the last week mignonette, and hardy annuals, in a warm border, for subsequent transplanting.

March.

Kitchen Garden.—Sow main crops of peas, beans, cabbages, onions, leeks, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, borecoles, lettuces, and spinach. In the beginning, and also in the end of the month, sow turnips and savoys. In the last fortnight sow asparagus, cauliflower, sea-kale, cardoons, celery, and most of the culinary aromatics, as dill, fennel, parsley. Small salads should be sown every ten days.

Plant early potatoes in the first week, and a main crop during the last fortnight. Jerusalem artichokes, sea-kale, asparagus, and peas raised in frames, may now be planted. Full crops of cabbages should now be planted out, and cauliflowers under hand-glasses. Propagate by slips the various pot-herbs, as mint, sage, savory, tansy, &c.

Fruit Garden.—Finish the planting and pruning of fruit trees before the middle of the month. Protect those coming into blossom. Begin grafting in the third week; dig and dress between the rows of gooseberries, currants, and other fruit trees, if not already done. Kill wasps when they first appear, for the death of every individual now is equal to the destruction of a colony in autumn.

Forcing Garden.—Proceed with the forcing of melons and cucumbers, giving air, and applying linings to maintain the proper temperatures. Examine pine-suckers and crowns, potting those that are kept in tan during the winter; repotting those that require large pots, and dressing the roots of such as are sickly; about the middle of the month, shift to the succession pit, and give a top-dressing to the fruiting plants; turn the tan, and add new bark to the pits, to keep up bottom heat. In the viney and peach-house, attend to the keeping down of insects by watering; and promote the growth of the young shoots, by steaming in the evenings. Sow the seeds of capsicum and tomato.

Greenhouse.—More water may be given than formerly. Sow seeds of greenhouse and hot-house plants; also the different sorts of tender annuals; pot off those sown last month; shift greenhouse and stove plants; plant tuberose in pots for forcing. Begin to propagate greenhouse plants by cuttings.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—In the last week, sow hardy annuals in the borders, with biennials that flower the first season; as also perennials. Plant anemone and ranunculus roots. Transplant from the nursery to their final sites annuals sown in autumn, with biennials and herbaceous plants. Propagate perennials from root-slips and offsets. Protect tulips, hyacinths, and choice flowers, from severe weather. In the last week put into heat the finer sorts of dahlias, so as to spring them, and prepare them for propagation by

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1 We have not deemed it necessary to treat separately, or at length, of the means of destroying insects; many of the nostrums recommended proving very inefficient. The wash here mentioned is perhaps the best and simplest for the stems and branches of wall fruit-trees. Some prefer making it of the consistence of paint, and laying it on with a brush. One advice we would tender to all gardeners—not to be anxious to kill the smaller kinds of the feathered songsters, the soft-billed warblers of the garden, which are often suspected of attacking blossom or fruit, when they are only picking off caterpillars or aphides, their favourite food. In hot-houses, the keeping of the walls and frame-work clean, by frequent white-washing and painting, is very important; and much benefit results from occasionally filling them with the smoke of tobacco-paper, and then thoroughly syringing. cuttings and by division of the roots. In the first week finish the planting of hardy deciduous trees and shrubs; evergreens by the middle; but some of the hardier sorts may still be planted towards the end of the month. Likewise finish the pruning of all deciduous trees and hedges as soon as possible. Attend to the dressing of shrubberies, laying of turf-edgings, and to the state of gravel walks.

**April.**

**Kitchen Garden.**—Sow asparagus, sea-kale, beet, salsify, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, and onions on heavy soils; also peas, beans, turnips, spinach, celery, cabbages, savoys, and German greens, for succession. Sow broccoli and kidney beans both in the second and in the last week; and small salads should be sown twice or thrice during the month; also all sweet herbs, if not done last month.

Plant cauliflower, cabbages, sea-kale, lettuce; and finish the planting of the main crops of potatoes. Propagate all sorts of pot-herbs, and attend to the hoeing and thinning of spinach, onions, turnips, &c. Earth up cabbages, cauliflower, peas, beans, and early potatoes. Stake up peas; blanch sea-kale and rhubarb in the open air, by covering with straw or leaves.

**Fruit Trees.**—No pruning ought to be left undone till this period; stone fruits, in particular, are much injured by spring pruning. If vines have been neglected, rubbing off the buds that are not wanted is safer than pruning. Protect the finer sorts of fruit-trees on the walls.

**Forcing.**—Continue the preparation of succession beds and pits for cucumbers and melons. Sow gourds and basil. Pot love-apples and capsicums. Attend to the routine culture of the pinery, giving water and air when necessary. Keep up the bottom heat with linings and additions of new tan. In the forcing houses, from the variable state of the weather considerable vigilance is required in giving air. Keep down red spider (acarus) in the more advanced houses by frequent waterings. Continue the usual operations of disbudding and thinning of fruit, and take care to keep up the proper temperatures.

**Greenhouse.**—Still sow all sorts of tender annuals. Proceed with all necessary shifting. Propagate rare and fine plants by cuttings or grafting. Pot off tender annuals, and cuttings of half-hardy greenhouse plants put in in February for the use of the flower garden.

**Flower Garden and Shrubbery.**—Sow main or succession crops of annuals of all sorts; half hardy annuals in warm borders, or on slight hot-beds. Biennials and perennials should be sown before the middle of the month. Plant Tigridia pavonia and fine stocks. Finish the transplanting of herbaceous plants by the end of the first week. Protect stage auriculas and hyacinths from extremes of every description of weather; and tulips from hoarfrosts and heavy rains. Plant out tender deciduous trees and shrubs raised in pots. Remove part of the coverings of all tender shrubs and plants in the first week, and the remainder at the end of the month. Form and repair lawns and grass walks, by laying turf and sowing perennial grass-seeds.

**May.**

**Kitchen Garden.**—Sow small salads every week; radishes and lettuces thrice; spinach once a fortnight; carrots and onions for late drawing; kidney-beans in the first week and last fortnight. Pease and beans, cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, bore-cale, broccoli, savoys, and German greens, for late crops. Sow pumpkins and cucumbers on a warm border in the last week. Continue the various operations of hoeing and earthing up the different crops.

**Fruit Trees.**—Disbud peaches, nectarines, and other

early trees against the walls; also attend to the thinning Calendar of fruit. Give occasional washings with the engine to keep down insects. Pick caterpillars from gooseberries and wall trees on their first appearance. Mulch, if not done before, all newly planted fruit trees, watering abundantly in dry weather. Remove from raspberries and strawberries all suckers and runners that are not wanted.

**Forcing.**—Plant melons, and cucumbers, and some basil, on the hot-beds prepared for vegetables in February, and now free. Plant out pumpkins on dung-ridges, under hand-glasses. Sow late crops of cucumbers and melons; attend to the various particulars in their culture, heat, air, water, shade, and insects. Go on with the usual culture of the pinery; give abundance of heat and water, keeping down all manner of insects.

**Greenhouse.** Turn out all hardy plants about the middle, and the more tender at the latter end of the month. Sow tender annuals for succession; potting and shifting all those sown at an earlier period. Pot off, likewise, all rooted cuttings. Put in cuttings of the different desirable species which are now fit for that purpose. Sow a few hardy annuals and ten-week stock, &c. for late crops.

**Flower Garden.**—Sow annuals for succession; biennials in the last week, in the nursery compartment, for next year. Propagate by cuttings, dahlias, pansies, double wall-flowers, rockets, scarlet lychnis, and lobelias, by dividing the roots. Plant out, during the first week, dahlias, hardy pelargoniums, stocks, and calcotarias, protecting the dahlias from slight frosts. By the middle and end of the month, masses of the following plants may be formed with safety: pelargonium, heliotropium, fuchsia, salpiglossis, nicembergia, salvia, verbena, bouvardia, erica, and lobelia. Protect tulips, ranunculus, and anemones, from the mid-day sun, from rains, and winds. Remove the coverings from all tender plants in the open air.

**Shrubbery.**—Planting out of tender evergreens from pots may be continued, but any other kind of transplanting will be carried on at considerable risk, except in very moist and cloudy weather. Proceed with the laying down of lawns and gravel-walks.

**June.**

**Kitchen Garden.**—Sow peas and beans for late crops. The kinds used for early crops are likewise best for this purpose. Sow salading every ten days; also carrots and onions for drawing young. In the beginning of the month sow endive for an early crop. In the first week sow turnips for succession; and in the third week for a full autumn crop. Scarlet and white runners for a late crop; cabbages for coleworts.

Plant full crops of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, savoys, German greens, and leeks; ridge out early celery, successional crops of cabbage and cauliflower. In the first fortnight of the month, plant cucumbers for pickling, in a warm border, placing hand-glasses over them. Pull and store winter onions.

**Fruit-Trees.**—Train and prune the summer shoots of all descriptions of wall and trellis trees. Standards do not require this, except those are trained en pyramide or en guirnouille. Mulch and water fruit-trees and strawberries in dry weather, desisting from watering as soon as the fruit begins to ripen. Net over cherry-trees, to protect the fruit from birds. Destroy insects by frequent washings, and directing tobacco-smoke against them, or by strewing snuff (or the fine powder of tobacco) over them. In the first week, plant out love-apples in vacant spaces along the bottom of a south wall.

**Forcing and Greenhouse Department. Hot-beds and Pits.**—Proceed with planting melons and cucumbers raised from seeds and cuttings, for late crops. Keep up, by linings, the necessary temperatures for ripening of the fruits. Continue the cultivation of the pinery stated for last month; but, if you wish very large-sized fruit, and do not care about preserving suckers, remove the whole suckers from the stem and roots, and apply heat and water in abundance. Shift suckers and succession plants in the beginning and middle of the month, as the state of the plants may require.

Forcing-houses may have the same treatment as stated last month. Little water and a good deal of air must be given to those houses where the fruit is beginning to ripen. Those in which the fruit is past, ought to be constantly under a system of thorough ventilation.

The Greenhouse will now be occupied with tender greenhouse plants and annuals, and the more hardy plants from the stove, for here they will remain longer in flower. Shift, re-pot, and propagate all plants, fine perennials, biennials, or annuals, and cuttings of all sorts that are desirable. Sow fragrant or showy annuals, to flower in pots during winter.

Flower Garden.—Take up bulbs and tuberous roots, and dry them in the shade before you remove them to the store-room. Fill up with annuals and greenhouse plants those beds from which the bulbs and roots have been raised. After this season, keep always a reserve of annuals in pots, or planted on beds of thin layers of well-rotted hot-bed dung, from which they are easily removed with balls, to fill up any blanks which may occur in the border or parterre. Sow perennials, if neglected last month, to be planted out in the spring. Lay and pipe carnations and pinks in the end of the month.

July.

Kitchen Garden.—In the first week, sow peas for the last crop of the season. In the last week, sow yellow turnip for a full winter crop, and spinach for an early winter crop. Endive, for autumn and winter crops, in the beginning and end of the month; also successional crops of lettuce and small salads.

Plant full crops of celery, celeriac, endive, about the middle and end of the month; late crops of broccoli, cauliflower, and coleworts, in the last week. Gather and dry medical and pot herbs; also propagate such by slips and cuttings.

Fruit-trees.—Continue the summer pruning and training of all wall and espalier-rail trees, with the destruction of insects. Plant strawberries in pots, for forcing next winter. Propagate different sorts of fine fruit-trees, by budding on other trees, or on prepared stocks.

Forcing.—Attend to the pruning of melons and cucumbers, giving air and water, renewing linings, &c. Go on with the usual cultivation of the pinery, but withhold water from the plants when the fruit begins to ripen. Have the old plants with suckers on them put into a brisk bottom-heat, giving proper supplies of water; this will increase their size very much, and materially shorten the period of their coming into fruit. The forcing-houses ought to have the same treatment as stated for last month.

In the Greenhouse, little alteration will take place in the culture and management from that given for last month; necessary attention being paid to potting, shifting, and putting in cuttings, and giving abundance of water to the potted plants, both in the house and out of doors.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Take up the remainder of tuberous roots, such as anemone, ranunculus, &c., finishing by the end of the first week; fill up their places, and any vacancies that may have occurred, with annuals from the reserve ground. Propagate herbaceous and other plants that have gone out of flower, by means of cuttings and slips; also roses and American shrubs, by laying, budding, or cuttings. Go on with the laying and piping of carnations and pinks; attend to the staking and tying up of dahlias and strong herbaceous plants.

August.

In the Kitchen Garden, sow winter and spring spinach in the beginning and about the end of the month; parsley and winter onions, for a full crop, in the first week; cabbages, cauliflower, savoys, and German greens, about the middle of the month, for planting out in spring; lettuce in the first and last week; small salads occasionally; black, Spanish, red and white queen radish, for winter crops.

Plant and earth up celery and endive. A few coleworts may still be planted.

In the Fruit Garden, proceed in the training and regulation of summer shoots of all fruit trees as directed for the three last months. Mat up, in dry weather, gooseberry and currant bushes, to preserve the fruit till late in the autumn. Every exertion must now be used by the gardener to preserve the ripening fruits on the walls from insects, and to destroy wasp nests.

Forcing.—The same routine of cultivation in hot-beds and pits may be proceeded in as stated for last month. Sow, and propagate by cuttings, in the beginning of the month, cucumbers, to be afterwards grown in hot water pits, or in boxes in the front of the pine-stove, for a winter crop. In the pinery most of the fruit will be cut by the middle of the month, when a general shifting of succession plants will take place; as also a potting of suckers; but these will be strengthened by being allowed to remain on the old plants until the end of this month. In the forcing-houses where the crops are past, part of the sashes may be removed, so as to permit thorough ventilation.

Greenhouse.—Attend to the propagation of all sorts of greenhouse plants by cuttings, and to the replacing in the greenhouse and stoves the more tender species, by the end of the month in ordinary seasons, but in wet weather in the second week. Sow half-hardy annuals, as Clarkia, Schizanthus, Coreopsis, &c., to flower during winter.

Flower Garden and Shrubbery.—Sow in the second and the last week, on a warm border of a light sandy soil, with an east aspect, for planting in spring, Clarkia pulchella and elegans, Coreopsis tinctorcea, Oenothera Lindleyana, and rosea-alba, Collinis grandiflora, Schizanthus pinnatius, &c. Auricula and Primula seeds in pots and boxes. Propagate all sorts of herbaceous plants by rooted slips; lay chrysanthemums; take off layers of carnations, pinks, and pansies. Transplant evergreens in moist weather, about the end of the month; and propagate them by layers and cuttings.

September.

Garden.—Sow a few small salads for late crops; lettuce and spinach, if not done last month, for spring crops. Plant endive and lettuce. If broccoli be too strong or tall to withstand the winter, lift them and lay them nearly up to the neck in the earth. Lift onions, and lay them out to win on a dry border or gravel walk. Lift potatoes and store them.

Fruit Trees, &c.—Finish the summer pruning and training. Assist the maturing of the fruit, and, what is equally important, the ripening of the young wood for next year, of peaches and nectarines on hot walls, with fires during the day. Gather and lay up in the fruit-room with care the autumnal sorts of apples and pears. Plant strawberries for a main crop.

Forcing.—Take care that late crops of melons and cucumbers be not injured by damping, from getting too much water and too little air. In the pinery the usual routine of cultivation may be carried on; in the first week take off and pot all strong suckers, if not done in the middle of last month; the remainder may be taken off at the end of the month, and planted in old tan in a frame or pit prepared for that purpose. In this way they will be found to keep much better over the winter, and to be better supplied with roots, than if they had been potted, which ought never to be done after this season. Expel damp, and assist the ripening of late crops of grapes and peaches, with fires during the day. Prune early vines and peaches.

**Flower Garden, &c.**—Sow in the beginning of this month all half-hardy annuals stated for last month, if not done at that time. Sow also the different species of primula; and the seeds of all such plants as, if sown in spring, seldom come up the same season, but if sown in September and October vegetate readily the succeeding spring. Continue the propagation of herbaceous plants, taking off the layers of carnations, pinks, pansies, and chrysanthemums, by the end of the month. Plant evergreens; lay and put in cuttings of most of the hard-wooded sorts of shrubby plants.

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**October.**

**Kitchen Garden.**—Sow small salads and radishes in the first week; Mazagan beans and early frame peas in the last week. If the winter prove mild they will be somewhat earlier than those sown next month or in January.

Plant cabbages in beds or close rows till wanted in spring. Cauliflowers in the last week, to receive the protection of frames, or, at any rate, at the bottom of a high wall or hedge in a sheltered situation.

Store potatoes, beet, salsify, scorzonera, skirret, carrots, parsnips, by the end of the month.

**Fruit Garden.**—Such fruit trees as have dropped their leaves, may be transplanted. Protect fig-trees, if the weather prove frosty, as soon as they have cast their leaves. Cover late crops of grapes on hot walls with woollen nets or mats, to prevent injury from frost. Store and lay up very carefully during the month all sorts of apples and pears, the longest keeping sorts not before the end of the month, if the weather be mild. A part of them may be placed in a close cellar.

**Forcing.**—Assist hot-beds and pits with fresh linings, to keep up the declining heat of such beds as have not ripened off their crops. Give abundance of air in good weather. Gradually lower the heat of the pinery.

Dress vines and peaches; clean and repair the forcing houses and their flues.

**Greenhouse.**—Replace all sorts of greenhouse plants. Fill the pits with pots of stocks, mignonette, and hardy annuals for planting out in spring, along with many of the more hardy sorts of greenhouse plants. The whole ought to be thoroughly ventilated, except in frosty weather. Begin to force roses, hyacinths, and a few other bulbs, for winter and early spring decoration.

**Flower Garden.**—Sow a few pots of hardy annuals in a frame, or on a sheltered border, for spring use, as directed for August.

Plant the greater part of the common border bulbs about the end of the month, with a few anemones for early flowering. Transplant strong plants of biennials and perennials to their final situations.

Protect alpine plants, stage auricules, and carnations with glass frames; half-hardy greenhouse plants, such as fuchsias, &c. about the end of the month, with coverings of broom or spruce-fir, preferring the latter. Take up, dry, and store dahlias and tigridia tubers in the end of the month; pot lobelias from the open borders.

Transplant all sorts of hardy evergreens and shrubs, Calendar, especially in dry soils, giving abundance of water. Put in cuttings of all sorts of evergreens, &c.

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**November.**

**Kitchen Garden.**—Sow early from peas and mazagan beans, in the second week, for an early crop. Protect endive, celery, artichoke, seakale, with stable-litter or ferns; mulch asparagus with hot-bed dung; take up endive, late cauliflower, early broccoli, and lettuces, and lay them in an open shed, or in old cucumber and melon pits, which will protect them from frost, and afford a supply during winter. Force rhubarb and seakale in the open border, under boxes or cases, surrounded and covered with well-fermented stable dung. Plant all sorts of fruit trees in fine weather, giving an abundant supply of water to settle the earth about the roots. Commence and carry on the various operations of pruning and nailing when the weather may permit. Take off such late sorts of apples and pears as may remain on the trees, and lay them carefully past in the fruit-room; which place will require frequent examination, and the removal of all decayed fruit.

**Forcing and Greenhouse.**—In hot-beds and pits keep up the requisite degree of heat by frequent additions to the linings. Cucumbers and pines, on hot-beds, will require more than ordinary attention, to prevent them damping off from too much moisture. Where a circulation of hot water in pipes is employed for heating, the necessary temperature and dryness are much more under the control of the gardener. Force asparagus, rhubarb, and seakale, in the mushroom-house or pits.

In the forcing-houses, prune and train the trees; dig and dress the borders of such houses as have not been already done. Continue the forcing of roses, hyacinths, &c. The directions for the greenhouse and conservatory in January apply also to this month generally.

**Flower Garden, &c.**—Plant dried tubers of border flowers, but the finer sorts had better be deferred till spring. Protect such half-hardy plants as were not sheltered last month. Plant deciduous trees and shrubs as long as the weather continues favourable. Dig and dress such flower borders and shrubberies as may now be cleared of annuals and the stems of herbaceous plants.

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**December.**

**Kitchen and Fruit Garden.**—Sow a few peas and beans, as in November. Very few operations can be carried on during this month, with the exception of trenching and digging in dry weather.

Plant all sorts of fruit trees in mild weather. Proceed with pruning and nailing wall-trees, whenever an opportunity occurs. Examine the fruit-room every week, removing the fruit found in a state of decay.

**Forcing, &c.**—The same degree of attention to hot-beds and pits will be necessary as in the last month. Continue the forcing of asparagus, rhubarb, and sea-kale, in pits and in the mushroom house.

Proceed with the usual routine of culture commenced last month, making the necessary preparations to begin forcing by the last week of this, or the first of next month.

**Flower Garden, &c.**—The directions for last month will be found equally applicable to this. Rake and sweep leaves from lawns and gravel-walks, repairing the latter as occasion may require.