Savoury and Basil.—Winter savoury is a hardy under-shrub, and summer savoury an annual—both natives of the south of Europe, and cultivated in England since about 1650. Basil is an annual, a native of the East Indies, introduced about 1548. All these aromatic herbs may be purchased, admirably dried, in small cases, at Mrs. Johnson’s, in Covent Garden market.
Cucumbers require a hotbed to grow them to perfection; but the smaller kinds for pickling are sometimes planted in the open ground. The seed should be from two to four years old, and it should be sown in pots plunged in a hotbed, not below 58° at night, nor above 65° in the day. When the plants come up, they should be pricked out into pots, three in each pot, and watered, the earth in the pots and the water being both previously kept under the glass for some time, that they may be both of the same heat as the plants. When the plants are about five weeks old, they are generally removed to a larger hotbed, with a two or three-light frame. In this bed, a little ridge of earth is made under each light; and, in each of these, the contents of a pot is planted, without breaking the ball of earth round the roots of the plants. The heat of this bed is generally a little higher than that of the seed-bed. Water should be given every day, warmed to the heat of the bed. If the plants are wanted to fruit early, the ends of the shoots may be pinched off as soon as the plants have made two rough leaves, and this is called stopping the runners at the first joint; this stopping is repeated wherever the runners show a disposition to extend themselves without producing fruit. As plants raised under glass have not the benefit either of currents of air or insects, to convey the pollen of the barren plants to the stigma of the fertile ones, the latter must either be dusted with pollen by the gardener, or the plants should be exposed as much to the air as possible, in the middle of the day, when it is warm enough, during the time that they are in flower. Seeds for the first crop of cucumbers are generally sown in December or January; but, as extra heat and care are required at this early season, the crop for a small garden may be sown about March. The great art is to grow the cucumbers long and straight, and to keep them green, with a beautiful bloom. For the first purpose, many cultivators place a brick under the young fruit; and for the latter they leave on the plant abundance of leaves, and keep the ground moist, as the plant appears to thrive best when it has abundance of heat and moisture, and is kept in the shade. A dry heat, and especially exposure to the burning rays of the sun, will make cucumbers flaccid and yellow.
Pickling Cucumbers are generally sown in patches of ten or twelve seeds in each, in the open air; and when they come up, they are thinned out to four or five in each patch. They are sown in rich ground, and well watered; and as they grow, they are occasionally earthed up.
Melons.—The culture of the melon is the same as that of the cucumber, except that the lowest heat of the seed-bed should not be less than 65°, and that of the fruiting bed 75°. To grow the finer kinds of melons well, however, requires the attention of a regular gardener; and as this is the case also with pine-apples (the plants of which are too expensive to be trifled with), no directions are here given respecting them.
Gourds.—The two kinds of vegetable-marrow—the American butter-squash, and the mammoth-gourd, are excellent for the table, either in soup, or boiled, or fried. The plants of all these kinds should be raised in a hotbed, the seeds being sown in March or April, three in a pot, and covered nearly an inch deep. In May, the young plants should be removed to the open ground, where they should be planted in rich soil, and sheltered for a night or two, till they have become inured to the change. They should be frequently watered in dry weather, as the fruit will not swell without abundance of moisture.
Tomatoes.—The tomato or love-apple is a tender annual, a native of South America, introduced before 1596. The seeds should be sown in a hot-bed in March, and as soon as they come up pricked out into pots; they should be transplanted into a warm border in front of a south wall in May; where they should be trained against the wall, or pegged down over a warm bank of earth sloping to the sun. They require abundance of water while the fruit is swelling; and as much heat as possible while it is ripening.
Mushrooms.—The spawn is generally procured from a nurseryman; and the beds are made of fresh horse-dung thrown together in a heap under cover, and turned over many times in the course of a fortnight or three weeks, till every part has thoroughly fermented. When the dung is thought to be in a proper state, a trench is marked out twelve or fourteen feet long and five broad, and about six inches deep; the mould taken out in forming it being laid on one side till wanted. In the bottom of the trench there should be a layer of long fresh stable manure about four inches thick; and on this, successive layers of the prepared dung, each beaten flat with the fork, till the bed is about five feet high, and narrow at the top like the ridge of a house. In this state it may remain about a fortnight; and then if the bed be found, on trying it by plunging a stick in, to be not too hot, the bricks of spawn should be broken into pieces about an inch and a half or two inches square, and strewed regularly over the bed, each piece of spawn being buried by raising up a little of the dung and inserting it. After this the surface of the bed is beaten flat with a spade, and the whole is covered with mould, that of a loamy nature being preferred. The whole is then beaten quite smooth, and covered about a foot thick with oat straw, on which are laid mats. In about a month or six weeks the mushrooms will be ready for the table; and when gathered they should be gently twisted up by the roots, and not cut off, as the root, if left in the ground, will decay, and be injurious to the young plants.
CHAPTER VII.
THE KITCHEN-GARDEN CONTINUED—THE
MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES.
The fruit trees in a kitchen garden are of three kinds: the wall trees, the espaliers, and the standards. To these may be added the fruit shrubs, and the vines; which last are generally grown under glass.