The potatoe is so essential and desirable an article of food, that too much care cannot be bestowed in their culture and preservation; for should other crops fall short, this will afford the grower a certain means of supporting his family.
Carrots and Parsnips
For a general crop, may be best sown in December and January. The ground should be dug deep, and broke up very fine. If the soil be light, the seed should be sown on a calm day, and trod in.
Carrots and Parsnips may also be planted in July, and also in November. They thrive best in an open situation, or a light sandy soil; and after they come up, should be thinned and set out with a small two inch garden hoe.
Cabbages
For a constant supply may be sown in January, April, May, July, August, October, and early in November, at a time when the ground is in a moist state. The plants sown in April will not run to seed. Care should be taken to set out the plants in a richer and stronger ground than the bed they are taken from; otherwise the crop will be poor. Their first bed should now and then be weeded with the hand, in dry weather, and the freshest and strongest plants removed first. In setting them out, a passage should be allowed between the rows of at least two feet, and in the rows the plants kept eighteen or twenty inches distant from each other, which will allow them a free circulation of air. As they grow up, they should occasionally be earthed up a little, and carefully weeded, as nothing has a more negligent and slovenly appearance than a foul bed of cabbage. In very dry hot weather, their first bed should be watered now and then; after rain they should be set out, but not during its continuance, as it would wash the mould from the roots, and numbers decay without taking root at all in the new bed. Cabbages run to seed in August and September.
A gardener of long experience in the Colony has favored us with the following remarks on the culture of the cabbage: "Although cabbage seed may be here sown with advantage at several times of the year, yet I have of late years confined myself to two sowings only; namely, in January, and as near the middle of May as I could find the weather most favorable, for two general crops. That sown in January comes well in for a winter supply; but must be taken great care of, or will come to nothing; for as January is one of our hottest months, they will require to be shaded from the sun's excessive heat by boughs, which if closely twined together will continue their shelter even after the leaves are withered; and also, to be watered at least once in every two or three days, until they get pretty strong in the ground. The other crop, sown in May, will come into use early in summer; and do not require any care more than they usually receive."
Turnips
The ground should be prepared in February; and at the latter end of the month some may be planted; for which purpose gentle showery weather is most favourable.
Turnips for a general crop should be sown early in March, and they will be ready for food for sheep in the beginning of May. During their growth they require hoeing once or twice, to thin and keep them clean, if the land be foul.