foot asunder in the row; and being covered with earth, nothing more will be required but to keep the ground clean by the hoe. The season for planting is in the first dry weather of March; and half a peck of tubers, according to Abercrombie, will plant a row 120 feet long. A good mellow loam is the proper soil, and the spot for planting should be apart from the vegetable garden, otherwise this prolific plant may intrude and become a complete nuisance. Being set in March, the plaut is perfected about October or November; the crop is ready for use when the stems are quite dry. Dig only when wanted, if that be convenient; but if there be a danger of frost, as will most likely be the case, lift the crop, and store away for winter use in moist sand or any kind of light soil through which the frost cannot penetrate. | timely applied, will never be found to fail. Swede turnips should be sown in April and May. Deeply hoe the ridges after thinning, and keep the surface clear of weeds. THE CARROT. The favourite varieties are the early horn, the altringham, and the long orange or Surrey. All require a deep light soil. The early horn is sown in February for the spring crop, and in July for a late crop; the two other kinds are sown in March, April, and May. All are sown broadcast in beds. The seed may be saved by planting a few of the best carrots to stand the winter; seed will not retain its growing prin- i ciple above a year. Carrots may be stored like potatoes in winter. THE PARSNIP is a taper-rooted vegetable resembling the carrot in shape, and in England is a favourite vegetable with salt fish. The seed is sown in drills a foot asunder. The period of sowing is comprised between the last week of February and the first werk of May. On thinning out, let the remaining plants be nine inches apart in the row. The taper-rooted spring radish, of which the varieties are-1. the long white; 2. purple or salad radish; 3. salmon or rose-coloured; 4. scarlet; 5. white Rus sian radish. POTATO.-Like the Jerusalem artichoke and some other plants, the potato is a naturalised exotic in English gardens from the wilds of America, and has been greatly improved by culture within the last hundred years. There are now many varieties, individually distinguished by colour and flavour; and as some are THE RADISH.-There are two distinct kinds of radish, better than others, it is very important that proper which comprise all the numerous varieties which are sorts should alone be cultivated. There are two dis-occasionally cultivated. According to Lindley's catatinct kinds-early and late. Early potatoes are a pre- logue, these are― mature and transient kind; they soon come to perfection, and cannot be stored for future use. On this account no cottager should have any thing to do with early potatoes, which are never grown but as a luxury, and after all they are in general poor waxy stuff. The true potato is the late kind, which will store for winter and spring use. Of this there are hundreds of sorts, every district apparently having one which is best adapted to its soil and climate. The sorts to be preferred are those possessing the quality of mealiness, and which will not degenerate or fail in cropping. The kinds we recommend, as far as they may be found suitable as to climate, &c., are kidney-shaped, or long and flattish; red roughs, a round reddish-coloured potato; and those white kinds which are smooth skinned. Of early potatoes, the ash-leaved kidney is among the best for open-garden culture. The potato may be cultivated either from seed procured from the apple on the stalk, or from the tuber itself. If from the seed, the first crops of tubers are only a little larger than peas, and several seasons are required to bring the plant to an edible size. The common method of cultivation is by pieces or cuts, each having at least one well-defined eye; cuts with two eyes are generally preferred. These are set in trenches, the ground being in good heart with previous manuring, or good old manure placed along with the sets. The season for planting is late in April. Dig and plant sets, fresh cut as the work proceeds, placing the sets from nine to twelve inches apart, and the rows being about twenty inches asunder. Heap six inches of soil loosely over the sets, and when the shoots have risen sufficiently above ground, keep earthing them up with a hoe. When the stalks begin to decay in October, the crop is ready for lifting. (For further information on potato culture, see AGRICULTURE.) The round turnip-rooted spring radish.-6. Crim son turnip-rooted; 7. yearly white; 8. purple turnip; 9. white turnip; 10. yellow turnip. Winter radish.-11. Black Spanish; 12. brown oblong; 13. large purple; 14. round brown; 15. white Spanish, a large bulb, which in good soil grows to the size of a small stubble turnip. Numbers 2 and 3 are the best of the spindle-rooted radishes; numbers 6 and 7 of the early turnip-rooted. The winter black radishes are rarely seen in gardens; but the large white (15) is very mild, if the soil and season be favourable, and its texture is tender. Sown in February and March, the spring radishes come into use in April and May; if required earlier, they must be protected by frames or mats. The mar ket-gardeners obtain them early by gentle forcing, covering the beds every severe night. The sowings of all the early varieties may be repeated monthly till August. The winter radishes are sown in July and August, and come into use from September till the spring. A rich and light soil suits the radish, with occasional copious supplies of water; and rapidity of growth is required, otherwise the roots will not be tender, nor will the flavour be mild. HORSE-RADISH is a vegetable which in certain soils is of extremely difficult culture, in others of uncontrollably luxuriant growth: it is a most pernicious weed where it intrudes, because of the multitude of vital germs withi which its root-stock abounds, and by which it is readered a sort of vegetative polypus, every inch of it being capable of developing a growing bud. Such being the difficulty of artificial propagation, it THE TURNIP. Of this useful vegetable there are may be questioned whether much trouble is not exmany varieties, but three only are grown in gardens: pended uselessly to effect that which nature produces these are the early Dutch, which is white; the yellow by the most simple means. However, horse-radish Dutch; and the Swede, also a yellow kind. The white can be procured by trenching two feet deep a plot of is the most delicate while young, but the yellow Swede free loam, removing all stones as the work prois preferable as a keeping or late turnip. The yellow ceeds. One trench being well cleared, a layer of Dutch has also an excellent flavour. Turnips are cul- manure two inches thick should be laid at the bottom tivated from seed in drills one foot apart, and thinned (for none must be mixed with the soil), and upon that when they come into leaf, to afford room for their three inches of the fine loam. Some fine straight roots expansion. For the two Dutch varieties, the best soil being in readiness, they are to be cut into two-inch is sandy, enriched with bone-dust or good old stable lengths, and piece after piece pressed into the soil eight dung. One ounce of seed will go over a great space- inches asunder, in a row, to the whole length of the Abercrombie says as much as 200 square feet of sur-trench, and exactly in the middle. The soil is then to face. Small sowings should be made in succession from March till July, and then the main crop for winter should be sown. To avert the encroachments of the turnip beetle, scatter road-dust over the leaves before the dew is off them in the morning. This, when be dug out another two feet space, turning it into the open trench, clearing away the stones and other rough substances. Thus alternately trenching and planting, a bed will be formed of any extent that may be require The work should be performed either in October an November, or in February; and the driest weather of | from weeds by hand-weeding or flat-hoeing. Some the season should be selected. Abercrombie, one of the best practical writers on gardening, made the following judicious remarks, which will, if duly considered, throw light upon those habits of the plant which have led to the deep method of culture just described. "The root," he says, "being durable, forms itself into a thick knotty stool at a certain depth, sending up several erect, straight, root-shoots, in length proportionate to the depth of the stool or main root, which, if planted fifteen or eighteen inches below the surface, the shoots or sticks of horse-radish will rise to that length. They will rise in May, increasing all summer till October, when in rich ground they will be sometimes large enough to dig up for use, being an inch thick; if not, they must have another year's growth, taking them up clean to the bottom by cutting them off close to the old stool, which remaining, sends up a fresh supply annually." These habits indicate two important facts. First, that the crown or stool must enjoy all the benefit of the manure, to enable it to send up a straight stem, and to nourish that stem by its own power; therefore no manure must be placed in the upper soil, since it might excite lateral growth. Second, it points out the method of taking up the roots, which should always be that of trenching, beginning at one end of the bed and clearing away the soil to the full depth of the original trench. Thus a row can be taken without disturbing the crowns, by cutting off the sticks or upright shoots close to the head of each stool or stock; and what is surplus of each digging can be preserved in sand till more be required. BEET-ROOT OF RED BEET.-This is one of the most valuable of the spindle-rooted vegetables; it has heretofore been wasted by most persons, who, overlooking the really useful purposes to which a root so salubrious can be applied, have considered it as little more than a garnish to salads. Beet-roots should be boiled or baked til they become perfectly tender, when they may be eaten warm as a dinner vegetable. When cold, they should be cut into slices, and covered with vinegar. The plant is a biennial, that is, it grows and perfects its roots in one season; in the following spring it sends up its flower-stalk, ripens its seeds, and dies. Seed, therefare, can thus be procured; but it is better to purchase or exchange than to grow it. Of the two varieties of red beet, the smaller deep-purple variety is greatly preferable to the larger, which approaches to and is little better than mangel wurzel. We select two varieties. 1. The short-rooted deep purple beet, for its root. 2. The beta cycla, or silver beet, the leaves of which only are used in lieu of spinach. To grow the red beet well, the ground ought to be light and pulverisable, otherwise the spindle-root will be diverted if it meet with obstacles, and become forked and distorted. Trench the plot to the depth of eighteen inches, removing large stones, roots, and hard clods of earth; lay a stratum of manure at the bottom of the trench, in order to attract the root downward; then return the fine earth. Let the work be completed before frost set in, and mark out the beds according to the number of rows required. At the middle or latter end of March, the seeds are to be sown. These are contained in a curious seed-vessel of rude shape, and cannot Conveniently be separated from it. In sowing, stretch the line, and draw an even drill about an inch or an inch and a half deep, and drop the seed-vessels at even distances, two or three inches asunder; for although these spaces are much too small for final growth, it is in all cases wise to be liberal of seed, because insects and other enemies destroy many plants, and thus a season may be lost. Cover with light fine earth, and either tread or beat the covering earth with the spade till it lie firm on the seeds. If the plants rise equally, thin them gradually, till they stand from nine to twelve inches apart every way, or even eighteen inches for the large rooted variety. Beet will transplant, but the operation dwarfs the plants; and at best it is attended with some risk. Keep the rows or beds entirely free roots will be ready in September, and thence throughout winter. In using them, or prior to storing up during winter, cut off the straggling leaves, being careful not to wound the roots; they keep well in dry and wellwashed sand, but become tainted if wet straw or decomposable vegetable substances are present. To collect seed, either reserve two or three of the best roots in the spot where they grow, or transplant them in autumn to a convenient situation. The flowerstems will be produced in the following spring, and should be secured by stakes till the seeds ripen. Then cut down the stalks, and dry them on a cloth under an airy shed; separate the seed-vessels, and preserve them in paper bags in a dry and cool situation; the seeds will retain vegetative power for several years. Remark applicable to Beet, Carrot, and Parsnip.-In stiff clayey or cloddy land these spindle-root vegetables succeed very indifferently, carrot especially; therefore, to avoid repetition, it is thought right to observe that at the time of sowing (the land having been previously trenched, and left exposed to frost in ridges), the soil is to be levelled, and holes made along the course of a garden line with a strong pointed crowbar about four inches asunder and twelve inches deep. Fill them with very light sandy earth sifted, and make a little cavity in the centres, into which drop four or five seeds; cover them with the same light earth, and beat the surface level with the flat of the spade; the roots so treated will tap downward, and be preserved as in a sort of sheath by the binding earth around them. Thus carrots, which always fail in certain soils, as we have often observed, may be produced of handsome figure and good quality, and beet-root may be grown without a fork in it-a circumstance of considerable importance with a root which is so liable to be injured by the loss of its purple juice whenever it is wounded by the knife. The Alliaceous or Onion Kinds of Vegetables. This savoury class of kitchen vegetables comprises the onion, leek, garlic, and shallot, the two former being by far the most important. All are natives of eastern countries, but they grow to great perfection, as respects pungency of flavour, in the British islands. THE ONION.-For a crop of onions the soil should be rich, light, and deep, and well exposed to the sun. Before sowing, work and enrich the bed to the depth of eighteen inches, and then beat it flat and firm with a spade. Sow the seeds at any time of March, thusscratch drills by the line just so deep as to be clearly discernible, and sprinkle the seeds along them about three or four in an inch. Sift fine sandy earth over the seeds, and pat the surface even. As the onions advance, thin them out according to the variety, allowing alternately an intervening space fully equal to the breadth of the onion between bulb and bulb. In September twist the necks, fake up the crop when the leaves become yellow, and expose the onions to sun and air under a shed till they be externally quite dry. Many sow onions broadcast in beds, in which case they likewise require thinning. A summer supply of onions, at a time when the previous stock is exhausted, and the growing autumn crop has not come into season, must be desirable, and it is easily obtained. Prepare the ground early in February; select a number of those small bulbs that are always found in every bed of the larger kinds, which are not above an inch broad. The bed being ready about the end of the first week, mark out squares on the surface by means of cross-strings, but do not move the ground. At each intersection of the lines, press in an onion, the root downward, to onethird of its depth, so that the bulb remain firm and erect. Thus, when completed, the bed will exhibit the onions in squares five or six inches asunder. onion forms its bulb in the first year of its growth, and the flower and seed in the second year. These small onions will therefore naturally attempt to produce a flower head, which, as soon as it is fairly visible, is to The be pinched off. Another attempt will be made, and that also must be frustrated. The natural course of the vital-fructifying sap being thus interrupted, will be diverted to the bulb, and gradually, almost imperceptibly, two, three, or four onions of medium size will be produced and grow freely. These are to be taken, as soon as they are ripe (which, if the summer be fine and sunny, with occasional showers, will be in July), and dried in the air as before directed. THE LEEK is another of the garlic family, and if properly treated in a favourable soil and situation, grows to a very large size. It is a plant which is much improved by proper transplantation, but yet can be grown very well in its seed-bed; the London leek is the best. Sow the seeds in a shallow drill at the close of February or early in March, and cover them with half an inch of fine soil; as the plants grow, keep the surface clear of weeds by hand-picking and passing the Dutch hoe lightly on each side of the leeks. Presuming that they are thinned out at first to stand three inches asunder, half of the plants will remain, and the other half will be removed to another situation. Thus the plants in the seed-bed will stand six inches asunder, and will be greatly assisted if the ground be opened on each side of them at the distance of nine inches, and manured spit deep. A crop of fine middle-sized leeks will be obtained in the succeeding autumn. To transplant leeks, prepare a bed at the end of June to contain either two or four rows nine inches asunder, and manure the soil richly to the depth of a foot or fifteen inches. Let the bed settle during a week or more, and in July make holes along the intended lines six inches deep and as far apart. Collect a number of the strongest leeks, trim off the straggling roots, and all the suckers or offsets. Drop a small handful of powdery manure or reduced year-old cow-dung into each hole, place in it a leek, and holding it by one hand, fill the hole with water. The object is to fix the leek as in a case, to which it can adapt itself, and will fully occupy, becoming, under propitious circumstances, a plant of large size and of most excellent quality. GARLIC, one of the most pungent species of allium, is increased by dividing the bulbs into cloves or small bulbs, and planting them in good sandy loam, at any period between the middle of February and the end of April. Draw drills two inches deep and ten inches apart, then press the root-end of each clove firmly into the earth, till it stand erect; let the distance between each be six inches, and fill up the drills with fine sand. Keep the ground free from weeds, and when the leaves turn yellow, take up the bulbs with a trowel or handfork, and keep them in a dry room. Rocambole, a mild species of garlic, may be cultivated in the same man ner. THE SHALLOT is a native of Palestine; its culture is precisely the same as that of garlic, therefore both may be grown to great advantage by adopting the plan suggested by the late Mr Knight, described in vol. ii. of the Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. Let a rich soil be placed beneath the roots, and raise the mould on each side to support them till they become firmly rooted. This is then removed by a hoe, and by pouring water from the rose of a watering-pot, till the bulb stand wholly out of the ground. Thus they become mere surface bulbs, supported entirely by the fibrous roots, which pass deeply beneath into the rich soil. The growth of these plants, Mr Knight adds, so closely resembled that of the onion, as not readily to be distinguished from it till the irregularity of form became conspicuous. "The form of the bulbs, however, remained permanently different from all I had ever seen of the same species, being much more broad and less long; and the crop was so much better in quality, as well as more abundant, that I can confidently recommend the mode of culture to every gardener." CHIVES, one of the smallest of the garlic tribe, is a hardy and useful vegetable, far superior to young immature onions. The plant grows in tufts somewhat like small rushes in appearance, but of a colour resem bling the yellow green of young onions or scallions; it never bulbs. A crop is readily increased by dividing the roots in April or early in May. SALADS. Salads are those watery plants whose long fresh leaves are eaten at table raw, or only dressed with zests and condiments without the preparation of cooking. The principal vegetable of this kind is THE LETTUCE, of which there are several varieties, but all may be classed under two heads-the upright or cos lettuce, and the open or cabbage lettuce. Of the upright, the green and white cos, and of the open, the inner cabbage and grand admirable, are the best. In spring culture, sow every month in very shallow drills of fresh-digged ground, in good heart, made extremely rich with rotten manure. Strike the drills a foot asunder, and as the plants rise, thin them to stand in regular order, first to two inches, then, for table use as small salad, to six inches, and for the larger sorts, finally to one foot. Never transplant during spring and summer, as the plants, by removal, sustain a check which urges them to fly up to seed. Spring and summer lettuces are sown from February to July In September, two small sowings should be made of the hardy sorts, to come in use during late winter and spring; but it would be safer to make use of a large three-light frame. Some lettuces heart freely: those which do not should be assisted by passing a flat string of matting round them from the middle upwards. This bandage must not remain many days, otherwise the lettuce will run to seed, and become bitter. In autumn culture, sow in August, in drills pretty close together, for the express purpose of transplantation in September or October; they will not then run up. When the plants are three inches high, thin out half of them, and transplant some into warm quarters, and others under a frame; protect by coverings of hoop and mats those in the open ground; and if they bear the winter, thin the plants early in the spring to six inches apart. The plants in the frame will rarely fail if the earth be free from slugs. To save seed, transplant some of the finest lettuces when about half grown; they will produce a flower stalk, and when the down of the seeds becomes visible, cut off the upper portion of the stalk, and dry it in a warm and airy room: thus save all the seed as it ripens in succession, for it is very valuable. ENDIVE is a salad of a pleasant bitter taste, and some authorities say it has been imported from China. There are three principal sorts in ordinary cultivation, the green-curled, white-curled, and Batavian, with undivided flat leaves. The seeds are sown at different periods between the beginning of June and the second week of August, as required for the autumnal, winter, and spring crops. When the plants are three or four inches high, they may be removed to beds of moderately enriched loam, to stand a foot apart. But trans plantation is not essential, for very fine plants are produced in the seed beds. When they are nearly fall grown, they must be prepared for the table by blanching, as otherwise they would be too bitter for use. Blanching may be effected by several methods: the most simple is that of passing a string of soft bass mat ting round the centre of each plant, so as to exclude the light from the heart; but as hard frost is very injurious, some plants ought to be removed to a bed of dryish earth or sand under an airy shed; or garden frame partially covered might be placed over a certain number of those already tied up. A good kind of pot for blanching is one of French invention, made of earthenware, and perforated with holes; a represen tation of it is given in fig. 3. Many persons blanch only by throwing straw loosely over the plants, but this without makes a litter not very pleasing in a garden. The tying within a darkened frame or pot, and be thus le liable to decay; for it is known that the plants suffer from being tied. The Batavian endive, however, re quires a bandage at all times, otherwise its harsh green | out into intermediate beds of soft rich earth (the first leaves will be useless, and the central heart, which sowings over a gentle hot-bed), to bring plants in June and July. alone is eatable, will never be rendered tender and white. Some persons blanch in a simple way by laying a tile over the open heart of the plant. CORN-SALAD LAMB'S LET TUCE, a native of Britain, formerly used much more than it now is, and cultivated Fig. 3. The roots of celery become bushy, and its leafstalk firm and stout; it likes moisture, and the soil to be rich with decomposed vegetable matter. Selfsown seed, that which falls from a seeding plant, if it light on rich earth, as that of a newly-dressed asparagus bed, in October, will bring noble plants in the spring, fit to go at once into trenches. Such plants may be thus shortly described: they are about six or eight inches long, with numerous stout leaves, and a in gardens as an agreeable but rather insipid salad. A massive collection of short fibrous roots. If these be quarter of an ounce of seed was estimated by Aber-produced by autumn-sown seed, nothing more is recrombie as sufficient to sow a bed 4 feet by 5 broad-quired; but the spring sowings will always furnish cast. The first sowing is effected in August, the second weak and lax plants, that, when grown three inches in September, for winter use. Thin out the plants high, must be removed to a nursery bed over manure when an inch high, to stand at three times that dis- to strengthen and become stocky. Few persons can tance asunder. For summer salading sow once a obtain these plants till June, unless grown constantly month, beginning in March. Cut the plants for use as under glass. soon as they are large enough; this the taste will de- To trench for celery, prepare the trenches by pretermine; but they should be taken very young, other-viously manuring the whole plot in the method recomwise they become rank in hot weather. mended for asparagus; and after the ground has settled, dig a trench or two for the first plants a moderate spade's depth, depositing the earth on a ridge to the right and left of the trench. Clear the bottom, lay on it three inches of leafy manure, and re-dig the ground to incorporate it with the manure. Then select a number of the strongest and most regular plants, trim off loose straggling fibres and all the side suckers, but do not touch a true leaf: set the plants four or five inches, and the large sorts six inches asunder, and fill the holes with water; shade during sunshine for three days, and give water every evening, unless there be copious showers. The size of the plants will indicate the season of transplanting. CRESS, or GARDEN CRESS.-In alluding to the culture of this common salad, we will include mustard, because they naturally are companions, and are always mentoned together, though they are of two very different families. In cultivating mustard and cress, it is essenfial only to remark, that the latter should be sown three or four days in advance of the former, because cress is more tardy than mustard. Both are very accommodating herbs, inasmuch as they will grow upon wetted flannel in a saucer placed in any apartment, as well as on the floor of a green-house. On ship-board, thus, under cover, they can be obtained throughout the winter; and in the garden, from March to November, by successional sowings made once every fortnight. Sow either broadcast over the surface of a fresh digged bed, raking, and patting in the seeds by the flat of the spade, or in shallow drills half an inch deep, covering the seeds with a little fine soil. Sow thickly, and if the young plants rise, as they are apt to do, with a covering ir cake of earth over them, remove it by means of a Ight heath-wisk. Salad should be taken before the true rough leaves be fully developed. WATER-CRESS, a valuable antiscorbutic, and wholesame as a fresh alterative to the inhabitants of cities, grown to most advantage by the edge of running streams. If a small rivulet can be introduced into the garden, nothing can be more easy than to plant the roots in spring, and when they have once seeded, there will be speedily a mass of water-cress, which it requires only trouble to pull. The moisture is required prinegally in summer. The soils best calculated to bring the plants forward are loams inclining to gravel. The London markets are now supplied with immense quantities of "fine spring water-cresses," from the moist lands of Essex and neighbouring counties. CELERY is a native of Britain, found in ditches and marshes near the sea. The odour of the wild plant is very rank and disagreeable, and its juice is acrid and dangerous. By cultivation, this dangerous weed has been brought to the condition of that highly-esteemed vegetable which is called sweet celery. Of this there are three varieties: 1. The common upright hollow white celery; 2. The purple-stalked; 3. The giant white and red. Of the last (for which Manchester is particularly celebrated) there is a new sub-variety, extremely tender and delicate in flavour, the plants growing in favourable soils, and, under skilful management, to an enormous size, but in ordinary cases not larger than the common white, yet always possessing a superiority in texture and flavour. Half an ounce of seed is deemed sufficient to sow a bed 4 feet wide, and 10 feet long, comprising, therefore, 45 square feet of surface; and it may be sown in a frame, with gentle heat, at the end of February, for the first crop, and thence to the end of May, on a warm sheltered border for succession. All the seedling plants should be pricked As to future attention, water the plants frequently in the evenings till they begin to grow; and when they become three inches higher, stretch a line along each edge of the trench, and cut down by the spade as much soil as will suffice to earth the stems to that height; break it fine, and grasping each plant firmly in the left hand, insinuate the soft soil around it; then place a little finely-reduced manure along the channel of the trench on each side, remote from the stems; this will nourish the fibres, without coming into contact with the leaves; water poured once or twice along the course of this manure will promote its action. Repeat the earthings as often as the plants advance three inches, and manure the extreme edges where the spade has made a groove, till at length the trenches become level with the surface of the ground. Then dig out soil, and add it, sloping ridgewise, till the plants are "landed” up fifteen, eighteen, or more inches above the surface level. Celery may be preserved from frost by two or more sloping boards placed as a pent-house about the leaves. SWEET HERBS. These we shall class under two heads-namely, those that are purely fragrant, and those which are used for culinary purposes. ROSEMARY and LAVENDER.-These are hardy undershrubs, natives of the south of Europe. They yield powerful essential oils when distilled with water, that of lavender being employed, as are also the dried flowers, in the preparation of the spirit usually but erroneously called lavender water. Bees are extremely partial to the flowers of rosemary. Both these shrubs are propagated with great facility by slips of the young side shoots, trimmed of the strip of ragged bark, and merely dibbled into the soil. They will grow almost any where, and in any aspect, but the flowers possess the highest degree of fragrance when the plants grow in a dry, sandy, or gravelly earth. Spring or September is most favourable to the propagation by slips. THYME and LEMON THYME are used in seasonings; the latter is one of the most fragrant herbs of the garden ; both are raised from seeds sown early in spring, or by opening the earth around the stems, spreading the reclining shoots like layers upon it, and strewing some fresh sandy mould over them. Roots are soon formed, and thus a supply of young plants is obtained. It appears essential to renew thyme, and to place it (lemon thyme particularly) in new soil, otherwise the plant dwindles and perishes. SAGE, red and green, is propagated in the same way as lavender. performed before the frosts of winter set in; and if the Suckers are generally ready at some period of Apr; and gardeners are willing enough to part with them. Having procured the desired number, level the ground, dig a portion of it again, and reduce the surface to the finest condition possible; then, after trimming off decayed leaves and damaged roots, plant the suckers in a row, two feet asunder. It is usual to form a complete MARJORAM.-There are three sorts of this herb-pot bed of three or more ranks, the rows to be five feet marjoram, sweet or knotted marjoram, and winter mar-apart-and we have prepared ground, as above, for joram, all hardy or sub-hardy perennial and biennial such a bed—but, in truth, artichokes and all other small shrubs, natives of the south of Europe, which permanent vegetables ought to be set in single rows grow readily in a dry light soil, but require change of ten feet apart, because the ground between the row situation. The first and third sorts may be propagated can be cropped with other annual vegetables, which w by division, in the manner of thyme, but the sweet benefit the artichoke, not only by the rich manor. marjoram should be raised from seeds sown in April applied at the first, and other successional croppings, every year, the plants to be thinned out to the distance but by abstracting from the soil whatever it may exude of six inches. from their roots of an excrementitious nature, and which, of necessity, must be injurious to the individua itself, though nutritious as manure to a vegetable of a different habit and character. The garden, in all its crops, permanent or temporary, ought to be made a late ratory of corrective rotations, wherein one crop sha attract and consume that which another deposits. A dozen good artichokes will be sufficient for a moderate family; but as some suckers may fail, it will be pru dent to set the plants one foot asunder, securing the roots firmly in the soil, and giving a copious waterg at the time of planting; the supernumeraries can be removed when all are safe. SAVORY.-Winter and summer savory; the former is propagated either by slips and cuttings, by separating the lower shoots, or rooted offsets, in spring; the latter is an annual, sown in April, and becoming fit for gathering in the summer and autumn. MINT. Garden and spearmint, and peppermint, are not properly sweet herbs; the latter, indeed, is only used medicinally, the essential oil possessing extremely pungent qualities, which render it one of the best diffusible stimulants we possess. Spear, or garden mint, is used in the kitchen for a variety of purposes familiarly known. All the species, including pennyroyal, another medicinal mint, are cultivated by division of the roots in spring. Mint delights in moisture; and when growing in a soil which it affects, extends with great rapidity. Care, however, is required to give it a new situation when the plant becomes weak, and its leaves appear of a pale and yellowish hue. To dry and preserve these herbs, select the shoots just as the flowers form and show colour, but before they expand; suspend them in an airy situation, under cover, not exposed to the sun. MISCELLANEOUS VEGETABLES. ARTICHOKE. This vegetable is esteemed by many, yet is found in few gardens; it is a native of the south of Europe, and was brought to England nearly three hundred years ago. Two varieties of it are cultivated in the best gardens-the conical oval-headed, and the round-headed, with dark purplish heads, the scales turned in at top. The plant has fibrous, rather fleshy roots, large deeply-cut leaves, whitish with down, and it produces an upright stem, bearing at the summit an oval or roundish flower-head, not unlike a thistle. Artichokes can be raised from seed, but much more speedily by offset-suckers, which are produced freely by the parent plant. Select a spot of open ground; any soil will do, but a free light loam is to be preferred. Dig out a trench two feet wide, and of the same depth, if the good soil extend so low; if not (and this remark will apply to every future allusion to trenching), remove all the good soil, whatever its depth, to a space beyond the boundary of the farthest intended trench, and dig and turn the inferior bottom soil, incorporating with it three or four inches of good half-decayed stable manure. Then mark out another two-foot trench, and throw into the first eight or nine inches of the surface-soil of the second trench; add another similar layer of dung, and work it and the earth thoroughly together. Again, throw in the remainder of the good soil of trench 2, and add a third layer of manure, which mix also with the soil. Thus trench 1 will be completed; and by repeating the work till the earth dug out of i be deposited in the last intended trench, all will be manured and laboured alike; and a piece of rich ground will be prepared that may be expected to keep in heart during many years. These directions will apply to all enriched trenching, therefore we shall not repeat them. The work ought to be The subsequent culture is as follows:-Hoe occasionally to destroy weeds, and keep the surface open. A cr cannot be anticipated during the first year; and if litt heads be pushed up, it will be wise to remove them 24 soon as seen. When the plants become torpid at : yellow in autumn, a few of the outside leaves are to t scaled off by the hand; the ground should then be marked by the line on each side at eighteen inches distance from the plants; and being cut straight y driving the spade to its full depth along the line, t earth is to be dug up, broken fine, and laid on the surface of the eighteen inches left on each side of toplants, bringing it carefully against them, so as not t fall into their hearts, but yet to protect them effectualy near the tops of the leaves; the operation is cal landing up. This done, fill the trenches with littery straw, dung, or fern; and in the event of hard fro bring more litter close to the plants, and lay it over th landing earth, for artichokes are rather tender, a may be destroyed during severe winters. This prac tice is to be observed every year, with the additiona precaution to cut the flower stems close down. Spring-dressing consists in removing suckers after levelling the earth, and digging in a little of the sh manure that is left on the ground after clearing away the straw, &c., and making the soil neat. One or tw of the strongest suckers may be left on the stock. ASPARAGUS. This is justly esteemed one of the choicest vegetables of the garden; and indeed it po sesses every quality to recommend it-flavour for t palate, hardihood of constitution, facility of culture, and it brings profit to the grower. It is a native of the British isles, but in its wild state bears little rese blance to the plant in a state of cultivation. Perfect hardy, so much so as to resist a frost below zero, was that of January 1838, it nevertheless benefits by protection and generous tillage: this it will now be our object to prove, while explaining the method by which it is cultivated. In forming new plantations, it is customary to purchase two years' old plants, because they are safely removed at that age, and come into bearing in two years more; April is the best season for planting; but having ourselves pro duced beds from seeds, we prefer that method of pro pagation. Let the ground be prepared before frost sets in by deep trenching and rich manuring; but by all means adopt the practice recommended by Gra |