Works which may be done in a Kitchen-Garden, in the Month of January.

TO Prune all sorts of Trees, whether Dwarfs or Wall-Trees, to prepare some of them to plant as soon as ever the Ground shall be open after the hard Frosts, and the melting of the Snow that covered it.

To make Trenches, to plant Trees, to dig Molds to amend them; to dig round the Feet, either of Trees over Luxuriant, to cut off their thick Roots, and by that means to make them fructifie, or of such as are infirm, to trim and redress them.

To make Hot Beds, to sow forward Cowcumbers, and Sallets in, whether in Rows or little Furrows, or under Bells. To make Screens to cover those Seeds in case of need: The first hot Beds for Cowcumbers, as also for Musk-melons, are usually made at the very beginning of the Month, and at the same time we may make hot Beds for Mushrooms.

To heat or force Asparagus.

To heat Beds of Sorrel, Patience, Borage, &c.

To raise on hot Beds, Jacinths, Narcissus's of Constantinople, and some Tulips, &c.

To make Trails, Trellisces, or Frames for Wall-trees.

To pull down the hot Beds of the last Year, and to take the rotten Dung that com∣posed them, and lay it upon those Grounds we would amend, or Meliorate.

To lay apart some Molds to have them at Hand, to prepare for the hot Beds, and we may also clear and cleanse the places of the Hot beds, in order to the making of new ones.

To tie up with Bands of Straw, the tops of the Leaves of Long Lettuce, which have not Cabbaged, to make them Cabbage, or at least to whiten them, when they are grown big enough for it.

To raise some Strawberries upon hot Beds, to have some ripe in the Months of April and May.

To dung Figg-trees, in order to have early Figs.

And in fine, to advance the doing by little and little, all that the Spring Season is wont to do with an extraordinary Expedition.

To plant Trees in Baskets, to Pot, and Case Figg-trees, to lay Vine and Fig-tree Bran∣ches, to clear your Trees of Moss, if troubled with it, which is done best in rainy wea∣ther, with the back of a Knife, or some such instrument.

But it would be to little Purpose to know what to do, without being informed how to do it, and therefore for your instruction in pruning, I referr you to my fourth Book, which treating throughly of that Subject, may excuse me from speaking any more of it here.

And as to the way of making hot Beds, you must first know, they are to be made only with Long Horse-Dung, or Mule-Dung, which is to be either all New, or mixed with a third part at most of Old, provided it be dry, and not rotten, for that which is rotten, is not at all proper for making hot Beds, no more than the Dung of Oxen, Cows, Hogs, &c. as well, because it has little or no heat, as because ordinarily those kinds of rotten Dung are accompanied with an unpleasing smell that infects the Plants raised upon such Beds, and gives them an ugly Taste.

By New Long Dung, is to be understood, that which is taken from under the Horses, and has served them for Litter but one Night or two at most.

By Long old Dung, is meant that which has been piled up ever since it was new, in a dry place where it has lain all Summer, to be ready to be used, either to make Coverings for Fig-trees, Artichoaks, Endive, &c. against the Winter Cold, or to make hot Beds after the ordinary manner, which is thus performed.

Page  149 After we have mark'd and proportioned out the place where the Bed is to be, and mark'd out likewise with a Cord, or with Stakes, of what breadth it must be, there must be brought a Rank of Baskets full of Long Dung, one at the tail of the other, begin∣ning the Rank or Row where the Bed is to end; which done, the Gard'ner begins to work where the Rank of Baskets ends, that so the Dung not being intangled with any thing lying upon it, may more easily and handsomly be wrought into the Bed. Then the Gard'ner takes up this Dung with a Fork, and if he be any thing handy, places it so neatly and tightly in laying every layer of his Bed, that all the straw ends of the Dung, are turned inwards, and what remains, serves to make a kind of back or fence on the out-side. The first layer being thus compleated exactly to the breadth that is marked out, which is commonly of about four foot, and to such a length as is thought fit, the Gard'∣ner proceeds to lay the second, third, &c. beating them with the back of his Fork, or else treading them with his Feet, to see if there be any defect, because the Bed must be equally stuft every where, so that no one part may be less strong of Dung than another, which being done, he continues it to the designed length, proportioning it still by Lay∣ers, till the Bed reach the length, breadth, and heighth it should have, which heighth is of between two and three foot when 'tis first made, and sinks a full foot lower when it is setled.

Now as to the intention of these Hot Beds, some of them are designed for the raising, or forwarding of some plants which our Climate is not capable naturally of producing in the naked Ground, as for example, for the raising of Radishes, little Sallets, Straw-berries, Cucumbers, Musk-Melons, &c. and the better to compass those ends, we make Hot Beds during the Months of November, December, January, February, March and April. These Beds must be covered over with a certain quantity of small fine mold, as we shall afterward Direct, and must have heat enough to communicate to that mold, and to the plants that are nourished by it; And therefore those Hot Beds that are an Inventi∣on of Gard'ners against the Cold, which is the cruel Enemy of Vegetation, must be well made.

In the second place, there are other Beds which are to serve for Mushrooms, in all the seasons of the Year, and such may be made every Month, though they act not till about three Months after they are made; and that is, when all their great heat being quite spent, they are grown mouldy within; this sort of Beds are made in a new and sandy Ground, in which is first made a Trench of about six Inches deep, then we cover them with a layer of about two or three Inches thick of the same Earth; they are raised in the form of an Asses back, and over the covering of Earth, we lay another of five or six In∣ches thick of Long Dry Dung, which serves in Winter, to shelter the Mushrooms from the Frost, which destroys them: and in Summer, from the great heat that broils them, and likewise to prevent the mischievous effects of the same excessive heat, we further take care gently to water these Mushroom Beds twice or thrice a week.

As for the breadth of Hot Beds, it should be in all sorts of them, of about four foot, and their heighth must be of between two and three when they are first made, because they sink afterwards a full foot, when once the great heat of the Bed is past; As for the length that is to be regulated by the quantity of Dung we have to make them with, so that according to that, we make them of several lengths; But in heighth and breadth, all Beds should be as near as may be, alike proportioned.

The difference which there is in other respects, between Hot Beds that are to produce plants by their heat, and those which are designed for Mushrooms, consists first in that those of the first sort need not be sunk down within the Earth like the others, which are usually sunk about half a foot, unless they be designed for such Beds as we call Deaf Beds, that is to say, Beds sunk so over Head and Ears into the Earth, that when filled up, they exceed not the superficies of the rest of the Ground about them, in height. In the second place, this difference consists, in that those of the first sort must be flat and even above, whereas these others must be raised in form of an Asses Back.

Lastly, it consists in that those of the first sort must be Loaden with a pretty good quantity of very small mold, as soon as they are made, whereas there must be but a very little mold laid upon the others; That mold by its weight, makes the Beds heat, and settle the sooner. We lay upon them sometimes more, and sometimes less mold; as for Example, we throw on to the quantity of six or seven Inches thick, if it be to sow ordinary plants in, as Sallets, or Musk Melons, or Cucumbers, or to plant Cabbage Lettuce, and Asparagus to be advanced by heat; and to the depth of a foot, if we be to sow Ra∣dishes, and to replant Sorrel, and Musk Melons, and pots of Straw-berries, &c.

Page  150 But before we sow or replant any thing whatsoever upon any new made Hot Beds, the first precaution we must observe, is, to stay six or seven days, and sometimes ten or twelve, to give the Bed time first to heat, and afterwards to give time to that heat which is very violent, to abate considerably; This abatement appears when the whole Bed is sunk, and when thrusting down our hand into the mold, we perceive in it but a moderate heat. Then it is we are to begin handsomly to shape out and adjust the mold, for which purpose the Gard'ner, makes use of a board of a foot broad, which he places upon the sides of the Bed about two Inches from the Edge, and joining close to the mold, and having thus placed it, he endeavours to keep it firm and tight, as well with his left hand and Knee, as with the strength of his whole Body, and then with his right hand, he begins at one end, to press down the mold against the board, so hard, till he bring it to so firm a consistence, that how light and loose soever it were before of its own Nature, yet it may be able to keep up it self alone, when the board is taken away, as well as if it were a solid body. When the mold is thus adjusted to the whole length of the board, then he removes the board to another place, and so continues till he has performed the same operation on all sides of the Bed. And if the board be a little longer, and consequently a little more unwieldy than ordinary, then there must two or three persons join together to work in the same manner, and at the same time, to adjust this mold; or if the Gard'ner be all alone, he must keep the board tight with some Pins, fastned in the sides of the Dung Bed already adjusted; And when the thing is done, the mold should have at least a full half foot extent less on every side, than the lower part of the Bed, and in its oblong square figure, appear as even as if it were a Bed formed on the plain Ground; After which, the Beds are to be employed for those occasions that first obliged us to make them. All things in them would either perish, or be much endamaged, if we sowed or planted in them sooner, or if we should delay our doing it any longer. The heat of the Bed, may last in a condition to be able to perform well its effects for about ten or twelve days after it is sown or planted; but when that time is past, if we perceive the Bed to be too much cooled, we must renew the heat with some good new long dung, or fresh warm litter applied round about it, both to recruit the heat, and to maintain it afterwards in that good tem∣per in which it should be, and in which it was before, when we begun to sow and plant there; so that the plants instead of wasting away or perishing there, may increase and thrive visibly as they should do. It is not so very needful to tell you, that when a man has two Beds next one another, one recruiting of heat will serve for them both, because there's no body but knows it, but it is good to know, that this recruiting of heat between two Beds, should not be by a great deal so strong as when there is but one; for the ordinary Interval or space left between two Beds for the path, being about the breadth of one full foot, a little Dung will suffice to fill it up, and that new heat is reciprocally maintained in its vigour by the Neighbour-hood of the two Beds, that border on each side upon it; But when there is but one Bed, our addition of Dung for a new heat, must be at least two foot broad, all along the whole length of the Bed, and to its full height, and many times it must be higher than that.

When we are to renew the heat, it is not always necessary to make an application of new Dung, it being many times sufficient to stir that the bottom upwards, which we last applied, and which needs it, provided it be not too much rotted, which stirring of it is enough to renew the heat for eight or ten days longer; and there is no need of applying new Dung but when by the rotting of all the last, or of at least a good part of it, we find it to be no longer fit to yield that heat which is necessary for those plants that are raised on Hot Beds.

If they be Asparagus, or Straw-berries which we have taken out of their Cold Beds, and replanted in Hot ones, and there be any apprehension of the Cold, we must care∣fully cover them with Glass Bells, or Chasses or Glased Frames; and to hinder the Frost from penetrating even them, and spoiling what is underneath them, we use besides to cover them with Screens of dry Long Dung, or Litter, or Straw, which we put over the Glass Bells or Glased Frames, and plants never fail to produce upon Beds thus ac∣commodated and maintained in a due heat, by such recruitings Renewed from time to time.

This manner of proceeding is good and commodious enough for Sorrel; because being animated by the moderate heat of the Hot Bed, it springs up there for some fifteen days time, just as that do's that grows in the naked Ground in the Month of May, and afterwards dies; But it is not so good for Asparagus, because they when they are pull'd Page  151 up and Replanted, never produce such fine Shoots, as when they are Dunged and heat on the naked Earth.

It follows then, that the best method for Asparagus, and even for Sorrel too, is to take up for about two foot deep, all the Earth in the paths between two cold Beds, (which paths should be a full foot broad) and fill them up afterwards with Long Warm Dung, to heat the neighbouring Earth, and if it be for Asparagus, to cover the whole Cold Bed with the same Dung, to help to warm the Earth; And when the Asparagus begin to sprout, we put Bells upon each plant, or else cover the whole Bed with Glased Frames; after which, the heat of these paths must be renewed by stirring them the bottom upwards, or by renewing from time to time an application of fresh Dung, covering besides the Bells or Glass Frames with dry long Dung, or Screens of Straw, or such like matter, for the reasons above expressed, when we were treating of Asparagus and Sorrel in Hot Beds. The Asparagus plants being thus warmed, and feeling under those Bells or Glass Frames an Air as comfortable as in the Months of April or May, they produce shoots that are Red at first comming up, but which afterward turn green and long, like those that Nature it self produces in warm and temperate seasons. The only inconvenience of these Artificial heatings is, that because they must be very violent to penetrate a Cold Earth, they dry up and spoil those plants, so that such Asparagus, instead of continuing for fif∣teen years together, to bear well as otherwise they do, never spring kindly afterward, and though they be let alone two or three years after a first heating, yet at most, are able to endure but one more.

The Straw-berries which are forced on Hot Beds begin to put out their shoots in Janua∣ry, and Flower in February and March, and yield their Fruit in April and May. The best method of raising them, is to pot them in September, in a tolerable good and light Earth, and afterwards to plant them in Hot Beds in December; they may also be planted in Hot Beds without potting at all, in the Month of March; their runners and some of their leaves must be taken off, if they have too many; the Earth in their Pots must be kept always loose and a little moist, and if there happen any excessive heats in some days of March and April, they must have a little Air given them towards the North, and they must be covered a Nights.

To have little Sallets of Lettuce to cut, mixed with Chervil, Cresses, &c. with the furnitures of Mint, Taragon, &c. and to have Radishes, &c. we make such Hot Beds as I have directed, and we steep in water about twenty four hours, a little bagg of Lettuce Seed, after which time, we take it out, and hang it in a chimny corner, or in some other place where the Frost can't reach it, and the Seed so wetted, drains it self from the water, and heats to such a measure, that it sprouts, and then after we have made upon our Hot Beds some little furrows of about two Inches deep, and about as broad, with a little stick that we draw hard over the mold, we sow that sprou∣ted Seed in those furrows, so thick that it covers all the bottom of the furrows; There must be a * French Bushel to sow a Bed of fourteen Toises or Fathoms long, and of four foot broad, and when 'tis sown, we cover it with a little mold cast upon it lightly with the hand; and each cast of the hand dextrously performed, should cover a furrow as much as it needs, which done, we put some Bells or long Rice Straw over them to hinder the Birds from Eating them, and the heat from evapourating, or the Frost by chilling it, from destroying the Seed, we take away the Straw when at the end of five or six days, the Seed begins to spring well, and at length, ten or twelve days after it is commonly high enough to be cut with a Knife, and eaten in Sallets, that is to be understood, if the Ice and Snow, and even the heat of the Bed be not too excessive. We take the same course with Chervil, and Cresses, save only that they must be sown without steeping their Seeds.

As for Mint, Taragon, Cives, and other Furnitures of Sallets, they are planted on the Hot Bed in the same manner as on the Cold one.

As for Radishes, we seldom steep them to make them sprout, the skins of their Seeds being so tender, that in less than a days time, they would be melted all to a Pap.

I have directed how to sow Roaishes, in the Works of November, where we treat of preparing the provisions we would have from our Gardens in January, February, and March.

It is convenient to sow in the beginning of this Month, or even in November, and December, a Hot Bed of Parsley to supply us with fresh, in the Spring time to serve us till that we should sow in the naked Earth, at the end of February, be grown to its per∣fection.

Page  152 To lay the branches or slips of Vines, Fig-Trees, Goose-berry and Curran Bushes, to take Root, we need only Couch, or lay down their branches into the Earth and cover them in the middle with Earth, to the height of five or six Inches, which are to re∣main in that condition, till the month of November following, when having taken Root, we take them up, that is, separate them from the Tree, and plant them where we have occasion for them.

To Circumpose Trees by planting them in Baskets, Pots, and Boxes, or Cases, we first fill half way with Earth those Baskets, Pots, or Boxes, and then having pruned and trim'd the Trees as I have directed in the Treatise of Plantations, we Plant them, plunging the Baskets and Pots quite into the Earth, but leaving the Boxes or Cases above Ground:

The way of potting the Bulbous Roots of Tubereuses, Juncquills, Narcissus's of Con∣stantinople, Jacynths, &c. is first to put them into Pots, and then to plunge those Pots into Hot Beds, covering the Beds carefully with Glass Frames, Bells, Straw Screens, &c.

To warm or force Fig-Trees, we must have some in Boxes or Cases, and make for them in January, a Deaf Hot Bed (being a Hot Bed made in a hollow dug into the Earth, and raised only even with its surface) and place the Boxes upon it. Then we must have some square Glass Frames about six or seven foot high, which must be fitted purposely to be applied against a Wall exposed to a Southern Aspect: And so the Dung in the Hot Bed fermenting into a heat, warms the Earth in the Box, and by consequence, makes the Fig-Tree sprout; That Bed is to be put into a new ferment when there is occasion, and great care must be taken to cover those Glass Frames close, that no Cold may get within them.

During the whole Month of January we continue to sow upon Hot Beds, under Bells, Lettuces to be Replanted again as I have directed in the Works of December; as also to Replant them under Bells, as well to serve for the Nursery, as in the places they are designed for, and as to the Seeds when sown, we may let alone covering them with mold, if we please, it being enough to pat with the flat of our hands upon the Bed, to press the mold close about them; we use the same method with Purslain sown under Bells, for we can hardly throw so little mold upon those Seeds to cover them, but we shall through too much.

To have some fine little Lettuces for Salleting, we must sow under Bells some of the Bright curled sort, and sow it thin, and stay till it has shot forth two leaves before we gather it. The Seeds of these Lettuces must be sown thin, that the Plants may grow tall, and if we see them come up too thick, we must thin them; the choisest sorts of Lettuce for the Spring season, are the Curled Fair or Bright Lettuce, and after that, the Royal Lettuce, the Short Lnttuce, and above all, the Shell Lettuce, &c. We also sow under Bells, to Replant again, Borage, Bugloss, and Arach, or Orage.

The right method of making Trenches, and diging of molds, is not as was hereto∣fore practised, first, to throw out of those Trenches all the Earth, and then to throw it in again; for that was unprofitably to handle the same Earth twice, and so to lose time, and spend money to no purpose.

The best way to do it then, is to make at first a Gage full as broad as the Trench and of the length of a Toise or Fathom, and to throw up upon the bordering Alley, all the Earth that is taken out of that Gage, which will be all the Earth we shall need handle twice, because at the end of the Trench there will remain one Gage, empty, which must be filled up with the Earth that came out of the first, when the first Gage is made, we must fill it up with the Earth that is to be dug up to make the next, throwing that part of it into the bottom which was at the Superficies, and making a new Superficies of that which was at the bottom; This kind of moving the Ground, makes a natural Slope before the Workman, and in case the Soil must be Dunged, we must have Dung ready placed all along the side of the Trench, and whilst two or three men are at Work in turning up the Earth, and throw∣ing it before them, there must be one at the side of the Trench, to scatter Dung upon that Slope by which means the mold is well mixed, and not at all tram∣pled on, as it is by common Gard'ners, that first lay a layer of Dung, and then a layer of Earth, and afterwards dig the whole over again, continuing this way of laying of layers of Dung and mold, and to turn up one over another, till their Trench be quite filled up as 'tis to remain.

Works to be done in February.

IN this Month, we continue the same works we were doing in the last, if we have had the foresight and convenience to begin them then, or else at least we set upon beginning them now in earnest.

Therefore we set to manuring the Ground if the Frost permits us, and about the end of the Month, or rather to wards Mid-March, or later, that is towards Mid-April, we sow in the naked Ground those things that are long a rearing; as for Example, all sorts of Roots, viz. Carrots, Parsnips, Chervils or Skirrets, Beet-Raves, or Red-Beet-Roots, Scorzo∣neres, and above all, Parsly-Roots.

We sow now also Onions, Leeks, Ciboules, Sorrel, Hasting Peas, Garden or Marsh-Beans, Wild Endive, or Succory, and Burnet.

If we have any Shell-Lettuces that were sown in Autumn last, in some well sheltered place, we now replant them on Hot Beds under Bells, to make them Cabbage betimes. And particularly we take care to replant on them some of the Curld Bright Lettuces, which we sowed last Month, because they turn to better account than the others.

We begin at the latter end of the Month, to sow a little green Purslain under Bells, the Red, or Golden sort being too delicate and tender to be sown before March.

We replant Cowcumbers and Musk-melons, if we have any big enough, and that upon a Hot Bed, in some place well sheltered, either by Walls, Straw or Reed Hedges, or some other Invention to keep off the Wind.

We also sow towards the end of the Month, our Annual Flowers, in order to replant them again at the latter end of April, and the beginning of May.

We also sow our first Cabbages, if as we should, we have not a provision of some in a Nursery under some good shelter, which we should have sown at the beginning of Au∣gust, and replanted in October in the Nursery; we replant these latter in the places they are designed for, taking care not to replant any that begins to run to Seed.

We begin to Graft all sorts of Trees in the Cleft, and we prune and plant them; we plant also Vines, and about Mid-February, if the weather be any thing fair, is the pro∣per time to begin all sorts of Works.

We only make now the Hot Beds which we have occasion to make use of for Radishes, little Sallets, and to raise those things which we are to replant again in the Cold Beds.

We take care to maintain the necessary heat about our Asparagus, and to gather those that are good.

As also to maintain the Heat in the hot Strawberry Beds.

We unnail our Wall-trees in order to prune them the more commodiously, and then nail them up anew.

At what time soever Radishes are gathered, they must be tied up in Bunches, and put to steep in Water, or else they will wither, and retain too biting a taste.

We also continue to plant Trees when the Weather and the Soil will permit us.

Works to be done in March.

AT the beginning of this Month, it appears who are the Gard'ners that have been idle, by their not furnishing us with any thing which the diligent and skilful ones supply us with, and by their having neglected to sow their Grounds which lie for the most part as yet unsown, though the weather has been favourable for it. There is now no more time to be lost in delaying the sowing of the first Seeds that are to be sown in the naked Earth, and of which we have spoken in the Works to be done about the end of February. Good Gard'ners ought to cover with Mold, the Cold Beds which they have sown with their designed Seeds, for fear the waterings and great Rains should beat down the Earth too much, and render its Superficies too hard for the Seeds to pierce and shoot through; they should also bank up their cold Beds tightly with a rake, that so the Rain water, or that of their waterings may keep in them, and not run out of them into the Paths; and in fine, if they have never so little of the Spirit of Neatness in them, they will not fail to take away all the Stones the Rake meets with in its way.

Page  154 The way to cover well all these Seeds with Earth, is to harrow or rake, that is, to move it extreamly to and fro, which is commonly done with an Iron Rake.

About Mid-March at furthest, we make the hot Beds in which we are to replant the earliest Musk melons.

We sow in the naked Earth, in some well sheltered place, all those things which we are to plant again in the like; as for Example, both our Spring Lettuce, and that which we are to replant again at the latter end of April, and at the beginning of May, viz. the Curl'd Bright Lettuce, and the Royal, and Bellegarde Lettuce, the Perpignan Lettuce which is greenish, the Alfange, the Chicons, and the Green, Red and Bright Genua Lettuces are near two Months on the Ground, before they grow big enough to be replanted. And we also sow Cabbages for the latter Season, and Collyflowers to plant them in their proper pla∣ces, about the end of April and beginning of May; and if they come up too thick, we take out some, and replant them in a Nursery, to make them grow bigger, &c.

We sow Radishes in the naked Earth, among all the other Seeds we are sowing, because they do no harm there, but are fit to be gathered at the beginning of May, before either the Sorrel, Chervil, Parsly, Ciboule, &c. be grown big enough to suffer any incommodity by them.

We sow Arrach, or Orage, in the naked Earth.

About Mid-March, we sow Citruls or Pompions upon hot Beds, to replant in the begin∣ning of May.

Commonly there is nothing fit to be replanted in Cold Beds at their coming out of the hot ones, till the end of April, or the beginning of May, unless it be Lettuce, and the Earth must be a little warmed before we remove any thing into it out of a Hot Bed, in which the Plants were still cherished with some remaining heat, or else they will all come to nothing there.

We make an end of pruning and planting during the course of this Month, of all Garden-Trees, and also of Gooseberry, Curran, and Raspberry shrubs, &c. It is very conve∣nient to delay the pruning of vigorous Trees till they begin to sprout, as well to let them spend their first Strength, as to prevent the losing any of their Fruit Buds which we cannot till then discern, and which come to their perfection in the Spring-Season.

We take up at the beginning of the Month, with Mold and all, the plantation of Strawberrys, which we had in the Nursery, to form Cold Beds and Squares of them to re∣main and to refurnish those where there want any.

We sow some seed of piercepier or Garden Sampire in some tub of Earth, or in the na∣ked Ground some sheltered place; it requires commonly two Months to come up, and when it is big enough, we replant it in the Month of May, and sometimes we let it grow till the next year, in order to replant it at the foot of some Wall.

We sow a third time a few more Peas, for we should be sure to sow some of them e∣very Month of the Year, and these now sown must be of the great square sort.

We now have some Mushrooms either upon some Hot Beds made purposely for them, or in some other places well dunged.

At the very beginning of the Month, we sow some little quantity of Endive very thin, to have some of it whited about Mid-summer.

When we know that the Paths between hot Beds, or Asparagus Banks, have been stuf∣fed with very long Dung, so that there seems not to be heat enough in them, and if it be very hot weather, it is convenient to water them reasonably well, that so the Straw in them being wetted, may the more easily ferment into a heat.

Towards the end of the Month, or at the beginning of April, we sow a little Cellery in the naked Earth, to have some late in the Months of August and September. Cellery is commonly almost a Month a coming up; and we sow a little of it at the same time on a Hot Bed, in order to have some of it early.

We digg about the Roots of Fruit-Trees, that we may have finisht that work before they blossom; the Frost being more dangerous in Soils newly moved and turned up than in others.

We begin now to uncover a little our Artichokes, but seldom begin to manure them till the full Moon of March be past, which is generally very dangerous both to them and to the Figg-trees, which last must not yet be quite uncover'd, it being enough to do it half way, at the same time we take off all their dead Wood and Branches, whether kil∣led by the Frost, or by any other means.

About the middle of March or before, if the weather be mild, we begin to sow some Red or Golden Purslain upon hot beds under Bells, and continue still to sow of the Green sort.

Page  155 We replant in their sixt places common Cabbages and Milan Cabbages, which we should take care to have ready in our Nursery, from the beginning of November last past, in some well sheltered place, but we replant none of those that begin to mount, that is, to run up their stalks, as if they were going to Seed.

We sow upon some end of a cold bed in plain Earth, some Asparagus Seed for a Nursery, to furnish us with a Provision of it, which is sown like other Seed.

We plant the Asparagus Squares we have occasion for, to which purpose we make choice of a fine Plantation of one years growth, or else of one of two.

The way to plant Asparagus is, to place two or three Plants of them together, and neatly to spread out their Roots without cutting them but very little, unless we please, and then to cover them with a layer of Earth of two or three Inches thick, to plant these Tufts Checquer-wise, at a foot and a half's distance one from the other.

This Cold Bed should generally be full four Foot broad, that there may be room enough for three ranks of them. But if we design to force any of them by heat in Winter, we must make the Cold Beds but three Foot broad, and we must observe, if the Ground be dry, to lay the Bed hollow within the Earth, with a good Spade, and by that means raise the Paths Arch-wise, making use of the Soil that comes out of it to cover again by lit∣tle and little, and year by year, the Plantation as it grows stronger, and rises out of the Ground. But if it be in a moist Ground, and very cool, it is better not to make the Bed so low nor hollow, but on the contrary to keep it a little higher than the paths, that the Winter waters may descend out of it into them, and may not rot the Plants, to which nothing is more dangerous than too much wet.

Asparagus both old and young must be carefully howed, or cleared of Weeds, and in this Month of March, before they begin to appear above Ground, we must afford them a little manuring, by turning up the Earth to the depth of half a foot about them, to give the young Asparagus the more Liberty to shoot up.

The Radishes that are sown on hot Beds with a cast of the Hand, are generally not so fair nor so good as those sowed in holes, and are more apt to grow hollow and strin∣gy than they.

We still continue to make some Hot Beds for Radishes, that we may be still supplied with them, till the beginning of May, when those sown in plain Ground come in. All the o∣ther Months in the Year will produce us enough of them, if we will take the pains to sow some from time to time, and be careful liberally to water them.

At the beginning of the Month it will be time to replant what we have a mind should run to Seed, viz. Leeks and Onions, and especially the white sort, Cloves of Gar∣lick Cloves and Seeds of Shalots, white Cabbage, Pancaliers Cabbage, &c. Now likewise we are to tie up such Lettuces as should Cabbage, and yet do not, which tying makes them in a manner Cabbage by force.

We sow the Seed of Pannacht or striped Gilliflowers upon Hot Beds, before the full Moon, to replant them in May; we also sow the Annual Flowers upon hot Beds, to replant at the latter end of May, viz. Passe velours, or Velvet Flowers, called also Flower gentles, and A∣maranthus, Indian Ocellus or French Marygolds, Indian Roses, the Belles de Nuit.

We make an end of Planting Trees both in their fixed places, and in Baskets.

We bestow the first manuring upon all sorts of Gardens, as well to render them agreea∣ble to the sight, during the Easter Holy-Days, as to dispose the Ground for all sorts of Plants and Seeds.

We set in the Ground, Almonds that have sprouted breaking off the sprout before we plant them.

We sow in the Flower Plots, or Parterres, some Seeds of Poppy, and of Larks Heels, which will flower after them that were sown in September.

We plant Oculus Christi.

Towards the twentieth day of this Month, we sow some Capucin Capers, or Nasturces, to Replant them again a Month after in some good Exposition, or at the foot of some Tree.

Works to be done in April.

THere is no Month in the year wherein there is more work to be done in Gardens than in this, for now the Earth begins to be very fit, not only to be manured, but to receive whatsoever we have a mind to plant or sow in it, as Lettuce, Leeks, Cabbage, Page  156 Borage, Bugloss. Artichokes, Tarragon, Mint, Violets, &c. Before the Month of April, it is as yet too cold, and after April, it begins to be too dry.

We furnish those places where any new planted Trees give but little marks of their prospering, whether it be by Gum, in stone Fruit, or by pitiful small shoots in all man∣ner of Fruit-Trees. But for this important Reparation, we must have brought up ready to our hands, some Trees in Baskets, which an understanding curious Person will never fail to have made provision of, who will have the pleasure to plant some of them near those that thrive not so well as they should do, when he is not well assured they will absolutely die; for when we are sure of that, we pluck them up quite, to make room for them we should substitute in their place, for which purpose, we make choice of close and rainy weather.

We perform now our second pruning of the Branches of Peach-Trees, I mean only the Fruit Branches, in order to cut them off short to that part just above where there is Fruit Knit; and if any of those Peach-Trees, have produced any very thick shoots upon high Branches, as sometimes it happens after the full Moon of March, we pinch them to make them multiply into Fruit Branches, and to keep them low, when there is occa∣sion, that they may not run up too high before their time.

Peas sown in a good Exposition, at the very middle of October, should begin towards the middle of April, to put forth at least their first Blossoms, and consequently must be pinch'd; the Blossom springs out commonly in Peas, from the middle of the fifth or sixth Leaf, from which same place, there springs an Arm or Branch that grows exceed∣ing long, and produces at each Leaf, a couple of Blossoms like the first, and there∣fore the more to fortify the first, we cut off that new Arm or shoot, just above the second flower.

We continue to trim Musk Melons and Cucumbers, to new heat our Hot Beds, and make new ones, and to sow Cucumbers, that we may have some to replant that may ripen about the end of Summer, and beginning of Autumn.

We make some hot Mushroom Beds in new Ground, the manner of doing which, I have already described elsewhere.

'Tis the Moon of this Month, that we vulgarly call the Ruddy Moon, it being very subject to be windy, cold and dry, and to be fatal thereby to many new planted Trees, unless great care be taken to water them about the Foot, once a Week; For which purpose we make a round hollow circle or small Trench, round about their foot just over the part where the Extremities of their roots are, and then pour into the said Trench or Circle, a pitcher full of water if the Tree be little, or two or three, if it be bigger, and when the water is soak'd in, we fill up the Circle again, if we think good, with Earth, or else we cover it with some dry Dung, or Weeds newly pluck'd up, that we may the better repeat our watering once a Week during the extream dry Wea∣ther.

We weed up all the ill weeds that grow among good Seed, we take the same course with Straw-berries, Peas, and replanted Lettuce, and we howe all about them, the better to loosen the Earth, and open a passage for the first rain that shall fall.

About the middle of April, we begin to sow a little White Endive, in plain Ground, to whiten it in the same place; and provided it be thin sown, no Seed comes so easily up as this sort of Endive.

At the middle of April we also sow in their places, the first Spanish Cardons, and the second at the beginning of May; the first are commonly a Month in coming up, and the others about 15 days.

We also still sow in this Month, some Sorrel, if we be not sufficiently provided with it before; and we sow it either in Cold Beds, in little furrows, which is handsomest, or else scatteringly on the plain Ground, which is most common; or else upon the sides of Squares, to serve for an edging: we likewise replant in rows or furrows, that which we remove from other places, and is but about a year old, and especially of that of the large sort, whether our necessities have obliged us to break up some Bed of it, and that we be not minded to lose it, or whether we do it designedly.

We use the same method with Fennel and Anis, and if the high winds, and Cold hin∣der us not, we begin to give a little Air to our Musk Melons under Bells, and continue to give them a little more and more of it by degrees, till the end of May, when if we be in a good Climate, we take off the Bells quite. And we lift up each Bell with three little forks, otherwise the plant hurt by its sides, would dwindle and grow lank. And if after we have given it a little Air, the Cold continues still sharp enough to spoil the branches and Leaves of it that are sprouting, we take care to cover them with a little dry Litter.

Page  157 At the end of the Month, we replant the Radishes we have removed from the Hot Beds where we first raised them, to make a good provision of Seed, choosing for that purpose, those that have the Reddest roots and the fewest leaves, and we need only make holes at a foot distance one from the other, in one or more Cold Beds, with a planting stick, and thrust in the Radishes into those holes, and then press down the Earth about them, and afterwards water them, if the rain do's not spare us that labour.

We choose apart of the fairest of the Cabbage-Lettuces, as well the Winter ones, which are the Shell, and Jerusalem Lettuces, as the Curles Bright Lettuce raised upon Hot Beds and under Bells, to plant them all together in some Cold Beds at a foot distance one from another, to let them run to Seed; which we also perform with a planting stick.

We plant edgings of Time, Sage, Marjoram, Hyssop, Lavender, Rue, Worm-wood, &c.

We replant Spring Lettuce, to Cabbage, which succeed one another in this order; the Curled Bright Lettuce is the first and best, as being the most tender and delicate, but it requires a mild and light Soil, or above all, a Hot Bed to plant it on, under Bells, from the Month of February, and during all the Month of March, and the beginning of April. A gross Soil agrees not with it, for instead of growing bigger there, it dwindles to nothing.

The Green Curled Lettuce, the George Lettuce, the Little Red Lettuce, and those called the Royal, the Bellegarde, and the Perpignan, follow next after. The Royal Lettuce is a very fair and thick Lettuce, which differs only from the Bellegarde in that it is a little less Curled. The Capucin, Short, Aubervilliers, and Austrian Lettuces succeed them, and run not so easily to Seed, as the preceeding ones. The Alfanges, Chicons, and Imperials which are all Lettuces to tie up, bring up the Rear; and the Genua Lettuces, both the Red, Bright, and Green, are the last Summer Lettuces; we must replant a good number of them at the very beginning of May, to have them good about Mid-summer, and all the rest of the Summer; of all Lettuces, this sort best endures the great heats, and is least disposed to run to Seed; for which reason to obtain Seed of it, we must have sown it upon Hot Beds from the very Month of February, that we may have some good plants of it to set again at the latter end of April.

The Royal Lettuce begins again to be fit to be replanted about the middle of September, to supply us, together with that of Genua, all the rest of Autumn. From the end of August, we begin to sow the Shell, or Winter Lettuce, that we may have some fit to re-plant in the Months of October, and November, for our Winter provision.

It is hard to make any Descriptions of these sorts of Lettuces, exact enough to distin∣guish them by, the difference between them consisting chiefly in having Leaves a little more or less green, or Curled; It is enough for the curious to know their names, to be enabled to ask for them of their Friends, or buy them of the Herb Merchants, we learn∣ing effectually to know them in the using. The two Crisped or Curled Sorts are so called, from the Curling of their Leaves, and the Red ones from their Colour. The Shell Lettuce has a very round Leaf which is very apt to shut up like a Shell.

There is an infinite Diversity of kinds of Lettuces, the worst is that which we call Cats Tongue, which is very sharp pointed, and never Cabbages. The Aubervilliers Lettuce grows so very hard that it is scarce fit for Sallets, but is better for pottage; but yet it is very subject to be bitter.

We must not fail every fifteen days, to sow a little Genua Lettuce, that we may always be provided with some fit to replant during all the whole Summer, till the middle of September; we must be careful and especially in rainy weather, to destroy both the Black and Shell Snails that come out of the Walls where they breed Young ones, because they do a great deal of mischief by gnawing the young Shoots of Trees, and new plan∣ted Lettuces and Cabbages. If the Ruddy or Dry Winds Reign, as they generally do this Month, we must carefully and plentifully water every thing in our Kitchen-Garden, except it be the Asparagus.

We continue to Trim Musk Melons, and Cucumbers, and plant new ones upon new Hot Beds, at the beginning of this Month, and we also sow some in the naked Ground, in little Dikes filled with mold, or compost, like to those I have already mentioned for Cardons.

We now likewise search the Woods for Young Straw-berry Plants, to make Nurseries of, in some part of our Garden, we plant tufts of two or three plants of them together at four or five Inches distance one from another, and if the Soil be dry, in a hollow Bed of two or three Inches deep, the better to retain and preserve the rain water, and that of our waterings, or else upon some Bed near some Northern Walls.

Page  158 We also now dis-eye or separate the Off-Sets or Slips of our Artichokes, as soon as they are big enough, and we plant as many of them as we need, two or three of them in each hole, or Trench of about three or four Inches deep, and two full Foot and a half distance one from the other, each Bed should be four foot wide, and contain two rows of Artichoke Plants along its sides, and there must be a void space left in the middle, of three foot wide for the planting of Leek Chaids, or great whited Leeks, or else of Collyflowers, in imitation of the Market-Gard'ners, who are good Husbands of their Ground. The two Artichoke Plants which we set in each hole, must be placed a full foot and half distance one from the other.

We still continue planting Asparagus, and filling the places where there are any wan∣ting, if we can timely discover them, and we take care to water the new Plants.

We likewise still bind up those Lettuces that Cabbage not as they should.

We keep open the Windows of the green Houses, where our Orange Trees are in fair weather, to reaccustom them by little and little, to the wide Air; towards the end of the Month, we bring out our Jasmin and trim it; we also begin to prune our Vines at the first coming in of the Month, if we have neglected to do it about the middle of March last; and we prune the Wall Vines sooner than those in the open Fields.

We have already in the month of March, set into the Earth, those Almonds which sprouted early, and in this Month we set those which having not sprouted at the same time with the others, had been put up back again into Mold, Earth, or Sand.

In the beginning of this Month, Gardens should be almost in their Perfection, as well for their general neatness, and pleasing Prospect, as being all over covered either with the green Seedlings of all sorts which have been sown, or with Plants which have been set, excepting Endive, Succory, Celery, Collyflowers, &c. which are not replanted till about the middle of May. In fine, if we have neglected any thing that should have been done in March, we must be sure to do it at the very beginning of this Month, and particularly, we must sow Parsly, wild Endive, or Succory, and the first Harico's or French-Beans, the second being to be sown about the middle, and the third at the latter end of May, that so we may have a crop of them about two Months after sowing.

About this time, the Strawberries growing in the naked Earth, shoot forth their stems, when we must take exact care to pluck all the Cuckows among them, that is, those Straw-berry plants that blossom much without knitting; nay, I would have the Caprons pluckt up too, unless any Person have a particular fancy for them, they are easie to be known by their thick short and Velvet stems, their large Flowers, and their very long Velvet, and sharp pointed Leaves; but the Cuckows are somewhat hard to be distinguisht, parti∣cularly till their stems be formed. The most part of them are Strawberry Plants that have degenerated, and yet so, that the Leaves of the good ones and the bad ones are pretty like one another; but those degenerate Plants in process of time by their runners, pro∣duce an infinite number of others, which to appearance are very fair, and consequent∣ly very apt to deceive us, yet those that are acquainted with them, observe that they are a little more Velveted, and somewhat greener than the good ones. And in Conclu∣sion, I must tell you, that if extraordinary care be not taken to extirpate those unlucky Plants that impose upon us thus by their Beauty, we shall in little time find our▪ selves stockt with none but such, to which the Proverb particularly agrees, which saith, a fair show, but little Fruit.

We sow our last Cucumbers about the tenth or twelfth of this Month, to have some lateward ones, and such as may be fit to pickle in October, which last are commonly called Cornichons, or horned Cucumbers, and in English, Crumplings, and Guerkins.

The Strawberry stems must be much pinched, and some of them must be quite plucked up too when they shoot up in too great Numbers from feeble Plants; by pinching, here is meant the taking off the last Flowers and last Buds of every stem, leaving but three or four of those that first appeared upon those stems, and which are nearest to the Ground.

It is particularly about the end of this Month, that May Moon begins, that is so fer∣tile, and so vigorous in its Productions, when we must with all possible care run over our Wall-trees, and draw from behind the Trails, those Branches that grow between them and the Wall, as well the smaller ones, as more particularly those that are thick: at the same time Peach-Trees and other Stone-Fruit-Trees are to be pruned the third time, it having been done the second time whilst they were in Blossom, to take away all those Branches that had not blossom'd. And at this time we reckon, that all those Blossoms that will knit at all, are already knit, and accordingly we are not to count any of them for true Peaches, but those only that are well knit, and of a pretty bigness too, because Page  159 till then, many of them continue to fall, though they seemed well knit. And therefore it is convenient to shorten all those Branches which having been left long purposely for Fruit, have not answered that end, but have either retained no Fruit at all, or a very small quantity, and which perhaps sprout but weakly, that is, produce but very little shoots, or perhaps nothing but Leaves, the feeblest of those Branches must be dischar∣ged of all their shoots, to one or two at most, and in general, all those Branches must be shortned, that appear not vigorously, or that are blasted by the Ruddy Winds. And Lastly, we must leave only such a burden of Branches and Fruit on the Tree as shall be proportionable to its greater or lesser Vigour, and accordingly we must leave a great deal upon vigorous Trees, especially if they be sprung from Stones, and but a little on them that are weak, and always aim as near as may be, to form that which we call a goodly Tree, taking all possible care that each Fruit-Branch may have its Fruit at its Extremity. This third pruning should be done either before we new nail up our Wall-Trees, or at least whilst we are nailing them.

At this time likewise, we are to pinch, that is to say, break off, to four or five Eyes or Buds, those thick shoots in Peach-Trees that are sprung out since the main Pruning of that year, in order to make them shoot out three or four midling shoots, one where∣of may be for a Wood Branch, and the rest for Fruit; this Operation is to be perfor∣med particularly upon those very thick shoots that spring out of the Extremity of a Tree that is grown high, when it has already attained its due height. It is likewise sometimes, though rarely performed upon the lower shoots, when we have occasion to fill up any void places that are made near any very thick Branches, whether young or old, which we have cut short the last Winters Pruning; those thick Branches are but too subject ei∣ther not to sprout at all, or to grow full of Gum, both they and the young Shoots they produce in the Spring time.

It is not convenient to pinch any of all the other Fruit-Trees, excepting Graffs, when having been graffed upon thick stocks, they have begun to shoot out with too much ri∣gour, because the shoots of such graffs would grow too high, and too bare, if they were not checkt by this Operation, and made to produce many Branches that prove good, instead of one that otherwise might have remained useless, unless it be in such occasions we may pinch as long as we please, we shall never gain any advantage by it. Some∣times pinching extends likewise to Fig-Trees, but that is not to be done till the end of May, as I shall further shew afterwards.

Works to be done in May.

THe Effects of Vegetation during the Month of March, seemed to be but little proofs of Trial which Nature then made in order to some greater performances. For alass, Trees blossoming or shooting forth Leaves, or beginning to put forth swelling Buds. &c. are all marks of lesser vigour than weakness, after which, in the producti∣ons of April, we have seen the same Nature augment in strength, and shew its effects by the knitting of Fruit, lengthning out Branches, and the coming up of sown Seeds, &c. But at length when we once come to the Month of May, 'tis then that Mother of Vegeta∣tion seems in earnest to display and exert all the force she is Mistress of, in order to the maintaining her self in that flourishing Estate during the whole Months of June and July following, at this time covering the Walls with new Branches, plumping the Fruit, and covering the Earth with a lovely and charming verdure, &c. And now our Gar∣d'ners have great need to be upon their Guards, to prevent their Gardens falling into dis∣order, because 'tis most sure, that if they be not now extreamly careful and laborious, there is no Disaster, but they may expect; pernicious Weeds will in little time choke up all their good Seeds, their Walks and Alleys will be overgrown, and their Trees will fall into the greatest Confusion, for which reasons it will highly concern them to be ex∣treamly watchful and diligent to weed, manure, cleanse, to take off all superfluous Leaves and Sprigs, and to nail up Wall-trees, by which means it will be in their Power to acquire the desirable Commendation of having adorned and set out their Gardens with all the lustre and excellency which they ought to have.

Green Peas, that were sown in Banks or Borders in October, now begin to recompense our Pains, and to blossom at the coming in of this Month, (the Blossoms last commonly about eight or ten days before they begin to pod, and in three weeks after, they are fit to gather, and shell. In the mean while, about the seventh or eighth day of the Month, we should plant our Collyflowers, Milan Cabbages, Capucin Capers, or Nasturces, Beet-Chards, &c. Page  160 If we plant them sooner, they commonly run to Seed, which is to be avoided; and in fine for those things, we ought not to pass the fifteenth day, nor likewise for the sowing of Winter Cabbages. We now make all the hast we can, to make an end of dis-eying or slipping our Artichokes, which are vigorous, and seem to have need of being discharged and thinned, and we make an end of planting new ones. The Eyes or Sucker-slips are good enough, provided they be pretty thick and white, though they have no root at their heel or foot, and we may be sure to have very fine Fruit from them in Autumn, and in truth it were to be wished, they would yield none sooner, because those produced before that time are commonly pitiful, starveling, and as 'twere abortive Fruits. Yet 'tis not enough to plant only some good thick young slip-suckers, but we must likewise plant some midling ones, especially in some well sheltred place, only to fortifie themselves there during the rest of the year, that they may be able to yield us their first Artichokes next Spring; those which have born in Autumn, not making such swift advances as these other. Next we are to plant our Beet Chards almost at the same time, which are well placed, if planted in the middle of the Artichokes, that is, one Beet plant between two Artichokes, so that there may be some in one Rank, and none in the other, for there must be room enough left free, to go upon to water, weed, manure, gather, and to cover them too, when need shall require.

The Earliest Musk Melons begin to knit in the first quarter, or at the full of this Months Moon, but chiefly at the wane of it, if their Beds were very hot at the full, and are grown cooler at the wane.

We also at the same time Rank our Fig-Trees in the place alloted for the Fig Planta∣tion, that we may have them in the disposition we desire. They begin then to put forth their Leaves and shoots, and at length their Fruit begins to plump at the full Moon.

Towards the end of the Month, we begin with diligence and expedition, to nail up the new shoots of Wall-Trees, if they be strong enough to suffer it: And it is convenient to have finish'd this Work at the beginning of June, because at the end of that Month, we must begin the second nailing of the first shoots, and the first of those which were never yet nail'd. We must likewise pinch, or break off the thick shoots we find, whether because after the first pinching of April, they have not multiplied into Branches as far as they extend, and on the contrary, have produced yet but one thick shoot, or because, though they have multiplied into Branches, they have produced one shoot thick enough to be pinched; for otherwise that thick shoot would be unuseful and per∣nicious; unuseful, because it must be taken away, or at least be cut very short, and pernicious, because it will, as one may say, have robb'd other necessary shoots of that nourishment they should have had: Always taking it for a Rule, that we must in nailing, take care to couch all those Branches which may and ought to be couched, without tying several of them together, or taking away, or plucking off any that is sightly, unless it be that we can by no means couch it, in which case, we must cut it off within the breadth of a Crown piece of the place from whence it sprouts, in hopes that out of the two sides of the remaining stump of that thickness, there may sprout some good Fruit-Branches, we must also have a care not to lay one cross another, unless we be necessarily obliged so to do, to fill up a void place, or to preserve a uniform equality.

If there be any Trees designed to mount upright, we must accordingly order for that purpose, the Branch that seems most proper for it.

We tie the graffs either to their Trunk, or to sticks set up on purpose by them, to make them grow in that figure we would have them, and hinder them from being bro∣ken by the Winds.

We sow a great deal of Genua Lettuce, and we replant some of them, and of the other Lettuces also.

We likewise trim Pear-Trees, either to take off the false shoots if any appear, which is done by plucking them quite away when they make a confusion, or even such others which though they be good, yet because they might produce that confusion which is so much to be avoided in a Tree, must therefore be taken off, for the better fortifying of those that are to make the figure of that Tree; for a second shoot will grow much more vigorous, if we take away that which being at the extremity of the pruned Branch was counted for the first.

We sow Endive, that we may have some good, at the end of July, which may be white∣ned in the same place where it first grew, without removing, if it being sown thin, and well watered during the whole Month. We now also take the advantage of some rainy Page  161 weather, to replant in their designed places, our annual Flowers, some of them seldom failing to come to good there; we likewise take the advantage of the same time, to fill up with Basketed, or Circumposed Trees, the places of those that are dead, or that thwart our expectations, or that give us no very good hopes of their thriving. The manner of doing it, is, to make a hole big enough to hold the Basket and Tree, then to put it in, and carefully to fill up with Earth all the hollow space round about the Basket, and to press it down hard either with the foot or hand, and then to pour down all round upon it, two or three pitchers full of water, in order to the better incorporating the Earth without, with that within, so that there may not be left the least hollow in the world. It is necessary to renew these waterings two or three times during the rest of the Summer.

We also still plant Beet Chards, choosing for that purpose the brightest of those that are of the growth of the last sown Seeds, as being both fairer and better than those which are green.

We continue our Nurseries of Straw-berry Plants till the end of this Month, at which time, we may perfectly distinguish the good ones by their Stems, or upright shoots.

We also still continue to tie up those Lettuces that Cabbage not as they should.

We sow no more Lettuces, except Genuz Lettuces, after the middle of May, because all the rest but only this last sort, are too apt to run to Seed.

We replant Musk Melons and Cucumbers in the naked Earth in little Holes or Trenches filled with mold; we also plant Pumpions▪ or Citruls in the like holes, at the distance of three Toises or Fathoms, they are such as have been raised on Hot Beds, and therefore to make them take root again, the sooner, we cover them with something for five or six days, unless it rain, the great heat of the Sun, otherwise being apt to make them wither, and sometimes to kill them quite.

We continue to sow a few Peas, which must be of the biggest sort; and if we think good, we pull off some of the Branches of the others that are over vigorous, after they are well cleared of Weeds; Peas that are disbranched, bearing a more plentiful crop than others.

We bring out our Orange-Trees at the first quarter of this Months Moon, if the weather begin to be secure from the assaults of the Frost, and we put them into boxes that have need of it; I referr you for their culture to the Treatise I have composed expresly about that subject: It was our care during all the fair days in April, to leave open the windows of their Conservatories, to accustom them by degrees, to the open Air.

We trim our Jasmins when we bring them out, cutting off all their Branches to the length of half an Inch.

At the end of this Month, we begin to clip for the first time, our palisades, or pole hedges of Box, Filaria's, Yew and Espicia's.

Above all things, care must be taken to water all our plants largely, or else they will all roast and scorch, whereas by the help of seasonable waterings, we may visibly perceive them thrive. We also now water new planted Trees, and for that purpose, we make a hollow Circle of four or five Inches deep, round about the extreamities of the roots, and pour into it some pitchers of water, and when 'tis soak'd in, we either throw back the Earth into the Circle, or else we cover it with dry Dung, or little, in order to renew our waterings several other times, till the Trees have taken fast root again, after which, we fill it up with Earth again.

We may begin to replant our Purslain for Seeding towards the end of the Month.

We continue to trim Musk Melons, but we replant no more of them after the middle of May.

But we still continue to plant Cucumbers.

About the end of the Month; we begin to plant Cellery, and we use two ways of planting it, viz. either in Cold Beds hollowed into the Ground, as we do Asparagus, plan∣ting three ranks of them in every Bed, and placing both the ranks, and the Cellery plants at about a foot distance one from another, and that is the best way for them when they are a little bigger than ordinary, that so we may be able to raise the earth about them afterwards, with that which was taken out of the furrows, and which was thrown upon the next Cold Beds, or else we replant them on plain Ground at the same distance as before, and at the end of Autumn, binding them first with two or three bands; these are rai∣sed in tufts, that we may replant them as nigh as we can, to one another, that so they Page  162 may be the more easily covered with long dry Dung, and be the better whitened, and defended from the Frost.

Towards the end of the Month, we begin to tie our Vines to their props, and to nail up such stocks of them as are planted by Walls, after we have first clear'd them of all their feeble, unprofitable, and unfruitful Shoots and Sprigs.

We likewise plant single Anemonies, which flower a Month after, and we may have planted some every Month since the last preceeding August, they blowing and flowering in the same manner, if not hindered by an extream cold Season.

At the very beginning of the Month, or at least as soon as ever we can, we pick off, and thin our Apricocks when there are too many of them, never leaving two close to∣gether, that so those we leave on, may grow the bigger, and at the end of the same Month, we may pick off, and thin our Teaches and Pears, if they be big enough, and there be two many of them. About that time also, or at the beginning of the ensu∣ing Month, the first bright Cabbages are to be sown for Autumn and Winter, the biggest of them which are replanted in July, being to be eaten in Autumn, and the less vigorous which are replanted in September and October, being to serve for our Winter Provi∣sion.

During all the Month of May, the shoots of Wall-Trees are apt enough to slide them∣selves behind their trails or props as I have said in the Month of April, and we shall hardly be able to draw them out again without breaking them, unless we do it in time, and be careful once every Week, to take an exact view all along our Walls, to reme∣dy so mischievous an inconvenience, against which too much caution cannot be used. Ma∣ny Branches grow crooked, rugged, parched, and hooked at the ends, and their Leaves also; and therefore about the full Moon, we must pull off those Leaves so crumpled and hooked, and break off as low as we can, the parched shoots, that there may spring o∣thers instead of them that may be better and streighter. Fig-Trees too must now be pruned, and especially those in Boxes, of the method of doing which, I have compo∣sed a particular Treatise.

We continue to sow a few Radishes among other Seeds, as we should have also done in the two last preceeding Months.

We also now take the advantage of some gentle Showers, or of very cloudy weather, to uncover what we have sheltred under Glass Bells or Frames, as well for the watering of our Beds, as for the inuring and hardening them to indure the open Air.

If our Garden be situated in a Sandy and dry Ground, we endeavour by the help of some little Dykes or Gutters, to carry off all the water that falls sometimes in hastly Storms, to those places that are manured, that none of it may be unprofitably wasted in the Walks or Allies, and if they be situated in Ground that is too strong, fat and moist, such as that of our new Kitchen-Garden at Versailles, we drain it away from those Grounds that are incommoded by it, by conveying it into the Walls or Allies, to spend it self there, or shooting it off into Stone gutters that carry it out of the Gar∣den; for which purpose we must raise our Ground into arch'd ridges.

During all this Month, it is good to lay yellow stock Gilliflowers, by planting cut∣tings of them, where ever we have a mind, or by laying their Branches that still grow to their Plants.

Those that are curious in Carnations and Clove-Gilliflowers, in order to have double ones, sow some good Seeds of them about the 5, 6, 7, or 8th. of May Moon, in earthen Pans, or wooden Tubs, that at least they may begin to sprout at the full Moon, which sometimes happens in June, but most commonly in May, those plants ought to grow big enough to be removed in September, into the naked Earth, that so they may have taken Ground before the Equinox; others again content themselves with sowing their Seeds be∣fore the Equinox.

We should likewise replant before the end of May, some green curled, and Aubervilliers Lettuce, that we may have some all the Month of June, together with the Chicons, and Imperial Long-Lettuce.

We must also at this time endeavour to destroy the thick white Worms, which now spoil the Strawberries, and Cabbage Lettuce, and take away the green Caterpillars, which quite cat up the Leaves of the Curran and Gooseberry bushes, and so spoil their Fruit.

At the end of May, we should also thin those Roots that grow too thick, and replant those we have plucked up in another place, as Beet-raves, or Red Beet-Roots, Pars∣nips, &c.

Page  163 We may replant Daisies, Bears-Ears, and white double Narcissus's, though in Flower, that not at all hindering them from taking Root again.

Works to be done in June.

IHere repeat the same Caution I have already given at the beginning of the Works of each Month, which is, that we must be careful to do that at the beginning of this Month, which we could not do in the last, and we must moreover continue all the same Works, excepting hot Beds for Musk-melons, which now have no longer need of them, but we may still make some for the latter Cucumbers, and for Mushrooms.

We may also plant some Artichokes, till the twelfth or fifteenth of the Month, which being well watered, will serve for the next Spring. Waterings are to no purpose, if they soak not to the Root, and therefore the deeper the Plant is rooted, the more plentifully must it be watered, and especially in dry Ground, for in wet Grounds, they must be wa∣tered both less often, and less plentifully. For example, Artichokes growing in light Grounds, have need of a Pitcher full or two of Water, for each Plant, whereas in stronger Grounds, one pitcher full will serve three.

Towards the middle of June, we plant Leeks in Holes or Trenches six full Inches deep, at half a foot's distance one from the other, which is done with a planting stick, placing but one of them in each hole, without heeding to press down the Earth close about the Leek, when we have done, as is practised to all other Plants that are set with a planting stick.

We continue to sow Endive, and Genua Lettuce, that we may be furnisht with some to replant upon occasion, all the rest of the Summer, and we gather the Chervil that is the first that runs up to Seed from the Chervil, that was sown the Autumn before, cutting off all the Seed stems, and when they are dried, threshing out the Seed, and fanning it like Wheat.

The same method is practised with all Seeds that are gathered each in their proper Seasons, and especially in the Months of July and August, taking great care to prevent the Birds, who are very greedy of them, from devouring them.

We replant Beet Chards in order to have them good to eat in Autumn, and they are best placed in the void space remaining between the Artichoke Ranks, they must be set at the distance of a Foot and a half one from the other.

We must take great care to extirpate all the Weeds which now grow up in abun∣dance, and that particularly before they run to Seed, to prevent their multiplying which they are apt to do but too much of themselves without sowing.

We must now also without further delay, clip all our Palisade's, and edgings of Box, so that they may be all furnisht at furthest at Mid-Summer, and have time to shoot out a∣gain before Autumn; and we must liberally water all Seeds sown in our Kitchen Gar∣dens.

We must water plentifully, and every day the Cucumbers upon Hot Beds, and Musk-melons moderately two or three times a Week, allowing half a pitcher full of Water to each Plant.

From the very middle of June we begin to graff by Inoculation, our Stone-Fruit-Trees, and especially Cherries upon great Trees, upon Wood of two years growth, which are cut off three or four inches from the place where the Scutcheon is to be placed. The best time for this, is always before the Solstice.

Gross Soils must be often stirred and manured, that they may not have time to grow hard, and chap, commonly we bestow an universal manuring or stirring up the Ground upon all our Gardens in this Season, and the best time to stir dry Grounds in, is either a little before or after Rain, or even whilst it rains, that the water may the more swiftly penetrate to the bottom, before the great heat comes to turn it into Vapors, and for strong and moist Soils, we must wait for hot and dry weather, to dry and heat them, before we move them, carefull Gard'ners make Dykes to convey the gluts of Water that fall about this time in hasty Storms, a cross their Squares, especially if their Ground be light; but on the contrary, if it be too strong, they drain the water out of the Squares, as I have said already, when I was speaking of the works of May.

Persons curious in Carnations, and Clove-gilliflowers, should have begun before this time to put Rings about each plant of them, to keep up their mounting stems, and hinder the Winds from breaking off their Buds or Buttons, the like they do to their Sedums, &c. and if they have not yet done it, they do it in this Month, and not only take off Page  164 from them the small Buds that grow upon them in over great Numbers, to fortifie the principal ones, but likewise the greatest part of the mounting stems, in order to pre∣serve only one of the fairest, and most likely, to produce the most beautiful Flowers.

We also still continue to destroy the thick white Worms that spoil the Strawberries and Cabbage Lettuce.

We carefully cultivate our Orange-Trees, according to the method prescribed in the Treatise I have composed purposely on that Subject.

The Wild Purslain begins to appear at the beginning of June, and lasts till the end of July, which must be carefully scraped.

We take up our Tulip Roots out of the Ground at the end of this Month, their Leaves being then withered.

We disbranch Harico's or French-Beans, and towards the end of this Month, we sow Peas to have them fit to eat in September.

Works to be done in July.

THis Month likewise requires a great deal of application and activity in a Gard'ner, to do all that he could not do the last Month, and to continue still all the same Works, but only the hot Beds. Now the great heats without waterings, do very great damage, but being allayed with frequent waterings, give Birth to very fine Producti∣ons.

In this Month, many sorts of Seeds are gathered, and Endive is sown for the provisi∣on of Autumn and Winter. We also sow Royal Lettuce to have it good for use at the end of Autumn.

We also still continue to sow some Ciboules, and white Beets for Autumn, and some few Radishes in cool Places, or such as are extreamly well watered, to have them fit to eat at the beginning of August.

If the Season be very dry, we begin at the latter end of the Month, to graff by in∣oculation of a Dormant Bud, upon Quince-trees, and Plum-Trees

We begin to replant White or Bright Cabbages for the end of Autumn, and the beginning of Winter.

We sow more Lettuce Royal.

We sow for the last time, our Square Peas in the middle of July, that we may have some to spend in October.

In this Month particularly, Peach-Trees produce several shoots. About the middle of July, we begin to lay our Clove-gilliflowers and Carnations, if their Branches be strong enough to bear it, otherwise we must stay till August, or the middle of September.

From the very middle of August, we begin to sow Spinage to be ready about the middle of September, and Mâches for Winter Sallets, and Shell-Lettuces, to have Provision of Cabbage-Lettuces at the end of Autumn, and during the Winter Season.

We replant Strawberry Plants in their designed Places, which we had raised in Tufts.

We gather Lettuce and Radish Seeds, as soon as ever a part of their Pods appears dry, and then we pull up their Plants, and lay the whole a drying.

We also gather the Seeds of Chervil, Leeks, Ciboules, Onions, Shalots, and Rocamboles, or Spanish Garlick.

We sow Radishes in the naked Earth, for Autumn.

At the latter end of the Month, we sow some Cabbage in some good Exposition, to re∣move into a Nursery, in some other well sheltered place, where they are to pass the Win∣ter, in order to be replanted in their designed places in the following Spring.

We also sow all the Month long, some Shell-Lettuces in some good Exposition, as well to replant at the end of September, or beginning of October, in the places where they are to remain under some good shelter, as to have some ready hardned to the cold, to replant again after Winter, either in the naked Earth in the Month of March, or upon hot Beds; at the very beginning of February, and if the Winter be very cold, they must be covered with long Litter.

We may sow Onions to have good ones the next year, at the very beginning of July, which it is best to replant in the Month of March next following.

We now water liberally.

Page  165 We replant a great deal of Endive at a large foot distance between Plant and Plant, as also Royal and Perpignan Lettuces, which are very good in Autumn and Winter.

We sow Mâches for Lent.

We still continue to replant Winter Cabbages.

We shear our Palisade's the second time.

We continue to nail up our Wall-Trees, and by little and little, to uncover those Fruits, which we would have tinged with much Red, as Peaches, Api Apples, &c.

We tye up our Endive with one, two, or with three bands, if it be very high, but the uppermost Band must be always looser than the rest, otherwise the Lettuce will burst in the sides whilst it is whitening.

At the middle of August we begin to cover with compost, the Sorrel that was cut very close to recruit its vigour, a good Inch's thickness of Compost is enough to strew all over it, because they would be apt to rot, if we should use more to them.

We still continue sowing of Sorrel, Chervil, and Ciboules.

We pluck off the runners of Strawberry Plants, to preserve their old Stocks in the greater vigour, and when their Fruit is past, which is about the end of July, or the be∣ginning of August, we cut away all the old stems, and old Leaves, that they may pro∣duce new ones.

We also cut away all the old Stems of Artichokes, when the Artichokes are taken off.

We still continue sowing of Spinage, for the beginning of Winter.

We take our Onions out of the Ground as soon as their Stems begin to dry, and we let them lie ten or twelve days a drying in the Air, before we lay them up in our Grana∣ry, or some other dry place, or else we bind them up in Ropes, because otherwise they would ferment and rot, if they were laid up before they were dry.

We gather our Shalots at the very beginning of the Month, and draw our Garlick out of the Ground.

At the end of August the Florists set into the Earth their Jacinths, fair Anemonies and Ranunculus's or Crow-foots, Junquills, Totus Albus's and Imperials.

We destroy both ordinary Flies and Wasps which eat the Figs, the Muscat Grapes, and other Fruits, and for that effect, we tye some Bottles or Cucurbit-glasses full of water mix∣ed with a little Honey, to some of their Branches, by which means, those insects being allured by the sweetness of the Honey, enter into the necks of those Glasses, and so perish in that mixture, but they must be emptied and shifted with new Water, as often as they begin to fill with those little unlucky insects.

Though the first Bud of a Clove-gilliflower or Carnation is beautiful and Promi∣sing, it do's not follow thence, that all the rest will be so too.

The Beauties of a Carnation are, to be high and tall, well burnisht and garnisht, well ranged, of a lovely colour, well plumed and displayed, and of a perfectly Velvet-like softness to the Touch.

At the beginning of this Month, we tread down the stems of Onions, and the Leaves of Beet-raves, or Red Beet Roots, Carots, Parsnips, &c. or else we take off their Leaves quite, to make their Roots grow the bigger in the Ground, by hindering their Sap from spending it self above Ground.

It is still a good Season enough to lay Clove-gilliflowers and Carnations.

Works to be done in September.

THE Ground in Gardens in this Month should be universally covered all over, so that there should be not so much as the least spot in it without some Kitch∣en and Esculent Plants, whether sown or replanted, which is not altogether so necessa∣ry in the preceeding Months, both because we then reserve a good part of our Ground for Winter Plants, such as are Lettuces, Endive, Peas, &c. and because some plants re∣quire a very considerable time to arrive to perfection in, and would not have enough if they were allowed less than to the end of Autumn.

We still continue the works of the preceeding Month.

We make hot Beds for Mushrooms.

We replant a great deal of Endive, and that closer together now than in the forego∣ing Months, that is, we place them at half a foots distance one from the other, because now their Tufts grow not so large as before.

Page  166 They must be replanted in almost all the spare places from the very beginning of the Month, till the fifteenth or twentieth day. At the latter end of the Month, we sow Spinage the third time, which will be good in Lent, and even in the Rogation season fol∣lowing.

We still continue planting Winter Cabbages, and especially those of the Greener sort.

We may likewise still about Mid-September, sow some Cold Beds of Sorrel, and replant some old, there being yet time enough for it to attain to a sufficient vigour before the first Frosts come.

During this whole Month we continue to remove Straw-berry Plants out of our Nur∣series, to reimplace those tufts which are dead in our Beds, and we immediately water them, as we must do all Plants which we set a new.

We set some in Pots towards the twentieth day, if we intend to force any in the Winter.

About the fifteenth of the Month, we graff Peach-Trees upon Almond-Trees, and upon other Peach-Trees as they stand in the places where they are to remain; the sap being then too much diminished to be in any capacity to overflow the Scutcheons.

We tie up first with Osier withs, and afterwards towards the fifteenth of the Month, we carefully wrap up with long Litter, or new straw, some Spanish Cardons, and Arti∣choke Plants, to have them whitened or Blanched about fifteen or twenty days after; But great care must be taken in wraping them up, to keep them perfectly upright, otherwise they will overset, and snap in sunder on one side; and to hinder the winds from laying them on one side too, they must be fenced with a Bank of Earth of about a full foot high.

Towards the end of the Month, we plant Cabbages in Nurseries, in some well sheltred place, in order to replant them in their designed places assoon as the Winter is over.

From the fifteenth of the Month to the end, and till the middle of October, we replant Shell Lettuces in some well sheltered place and especially near the foot of some Southern and Eastern Wall, that we may have some of them Cabbage for our spen∣ding in Lent, and during the whole Months of April and May.

We bind up our Cellery with one or two bands below, and then we raise a Butt or Bank about it, either with very dry long Dung, or with very dry Earth, to whiten it; but we must have a care not to tie it up but in very dry weather. The same caution must be observed in all Plants that are to be tied, after which, we cut off the extreami∣ty of the Leaves, to prevent the sap from ascending and spending it self to no pur∣pose, by which means it is kept down in the Buried Plant, and makes it grow thick.

We also now tie up the Leaves of some Collyflowers whose Fruit seems to begin to be formed.

We cover with compost, the Sorrel which has been cut.

We sow Maches for Lent, and for Reponces, it is not worth the while to sow them in a Garden because there are enough of them in the Spring time, to be found in the Corn Fields, and by hedge sides.

It is particularly in the Month, and during all Autumn, that Gard'ners most desire rain.

We continue to destroy Flies and Wasps that eat the Figs, Muscat Grapes, and Pears, and other Fruits, &c. with Bottles, or Cucurbit Glasses of Honied Water.

We sow Poppies and Larks Heels in Flower Gardens, to have them Flower in June, and July, before them that are sown in March.

In this Month, and the precedent one, we replant Endive among Cabbage Lettuces, these latter having commonly performed their duty, before the Endive is come to its full growth. Waterings must be continued as long as the weather is Hot and dry.

Good Winter Endive, if our Garden be in a sandy Soil, must be sown from the middle of August, to St. Lambert's Day, which is the seventeenth of this Month; and if it be in a stronger and heavier Soil, it must be sown a little sooner, and that always very thin, that in a Month's time, it may grow big enough to remove, that is to say, about as thick as ones Finger. It should be planted till the middle of September, at six or se∣ven Inches distance between Plant and Plant, that it may be replanted a second time, and that nearer together, afterwards, at the beginning of September two or three Inches deep in the Earth, if it be dry and sandy, or at least in a sloping Ground, without cutting off any thing from the Root, which has produced a little tuft, and it must Page  167 be covered in frosty weather, to prevent the cold from rotting it to the very Heart, which caution being observed, it will keep till Lent, whereas Endive that is come to its full growth before the bitter cold weather, will not keep at all in Winter.

Works to be done in October.

WE continue the same Works as in the preceeding Month, except Graffing, the Season for which is now past, but we are particularly busie in preparing Cel∣lery and Cardons; we plant a great many Winter Lettuces, and some too upon old Hot Beds, to force them so as to have them good for our eating about Martlemas.

At the beginning of the Month, till the tenth or twelfth day, we sow some Spinage to be ready for the Rogation Season.

We also sow our last Chervil upon the Ground, that it may be come up before the great Frosts, and may yield Seed betimes the next Year.

At the very beginning of this Month, if we did not do it at the beginning of the last, we take down our Hot Beds, and apply our selves to making of Stacks or large Cocks of the mouldiest Dung, to raise Mushrooms on.

We plant Winter Cabbages on those Stacks, we lay aside all the Mold or made Earth, to use again when we make new Hot Beds, and we carry away the rottenest Dung to those Grounds that are to be dunged.

About the middle of October, we carry back into their Houses our Orange-Trees, Tube∣roses, and Jasmins, placing them there with some agreeable Symmetry, leaving the Win∣dows open in the day, so long as it freezes not, but keeping them always carefully shut at Night, till at last we shut them up quite, and carefully dam up both them and the Doors.

We lay the Tuberose Pots upon their Sides to drain them from the Water, that the Roots of those plants may not rot in them.

We begin to plant all sorts of Trees as soon as their Leaves are fallen.

We still continue to plant a great many Winter Lettuces in some well sheltered Place, and on some good Borders, at six or seven Inches distance one from the other, there u∣sually perishing enough of them to prevent our Complaints of their growing too thick together.

Towards the middle of October, the Florists plant their Tulips, and all other Bulbous Roots not yet set into the Ground.

In this Month we must perform our last manuring and turning up of strong, heavy, and moist Grounds, as well to destroy the Weeds, and give an Air of neatness and a∣greeableness to our Gardens in this Season, when the Country is more visited by all the World than at any other time, as to make that sort of Ground timely contract a kind of Crust, that may hinder the Winter waters from so easily penetrating them, and on the contrary, may shoot them off down to places of a lower Situation.

We continue our Hostilities against the Wasps that destroy the Figs and Grapes, and the good Plums and Pears, &c.

We cut old Chervil, that it may spring afresh.

It is convenient to begin to sow now in some well sheltered place towards the South or East, or else upon Hot Beds, those Sallets, &c. that are to be made use of in Winter, or early in the Spring, upon Condition they be well covered when sown, against the cold, when it shall be time.

Works to be done in November.

IN this Month we begin to force an Artificial Spring by the means of our Hot Beds, up∣on which we sow little Sallets, viz. Small Lettuce to cut, Chervil, Cresses, &c.

We plant Lettuce to Cabbage, under Bells or Glass Frames, and we replant upon them, Mint, Tarragon and Balm Plants, and some Sorrel, wild Endive or Succory, and Macedonian Parsly. We also sow in them Peas, Beans, Parsly, and Burnet, and if the weather still continue pretty fair, we make an end of planting Lettuces in places of good shelter.

This is peculiarly the Month of the greatest Work and Labour of all, in order to the avoiding the inconvenience of wanting Garden necessaries, which is an ordinary Compa∣nion in this dead Season, to those that have been wanting in timely foresight; for in Page  168 earnest the Cold fails not to make great Havock in the Gardens of the lazy; and there∣fore at the very beginning of the Month, how flatteringly fair soever the weather appear, there must be some dry long Dung brought and laid near the Endive, Arti∣chokes, Chard Beets, Cellery, Leeks, Roots, &c. that being ready at hand, it may with the more facility in few hours be thrown upon every thing that needs it, to prevent their destruction; and assoon as ever the Cold begins to declare it self, we must begin to cover our Fig-Trees.

Now is the proper time to make Plantations of all sorts of Trees, and of Goose-berry, Curran, and Rasp-berry Shrubs, and 'tis good to continue on till the end of March, un∣less it be when it Freezes hard, or when the Earth is covered with a great deal of Snow.

During all the same time, we set Trees and Shrubs in Baskets, which we dispose of in some particular place, and especially towards the Northern quarter. We set in them Standards as well as Dwarfs, keeping an exact account in writing of the order of the several kinds. These Baskets are to be placed at half a foot distance one from the other, and must be so well interred, that but just their Brims at most may be discerned above Ground: And we couch in those Baskets, such Trees as are designed for Wall-Trees, just in the same manner as if we were actually planting them by Walls, and those which are designed to be planted in the open Air, we place upright in the middle of the Bas∣kets.

Assoon as the Frosts begin to appear, we begin to use the long Dung which we have been carefull to order to be brought and laid ready in needfull places; for example, if it be for Artichokes, we may keep them a little elevated towards the North, to serve them instead of a small shelter, till we cover them quite, or else if we be pressed with work to be done elsewhere, we cover them presently, always taking care however before we cover them, to cut off all that is withered from them. A little of this Dung serves a∣gainst the first attacks, but we redouble our coverings as the Cold augments. They which are not provided with that sort of dry Dung, may use instead of it, such dry Leaves as are gathered up in the neighbouring Woods.

If we have a mind to whiten for Chards any of the biggest of those Artichoke Plants, we tie them below with two or three Bands, and then we wrap them about with long dry Dung, or straw, which we bind over them again, as we have already directed when we were speaking of Cardons.

In dry Soils, we earth up a little our Artichokes, which would be pernicious in wet Grounds, because it would rot the Artichoke Plants.

It is convenient to let the Artichokes alone so covered till the full Moon of March be past, that being commonly very dangerous; and many Gard'ners are the cause of the loss of their Artichokes, when they let themselves be tempted by some fair days in March, to take off their coverings quite, and to proceed to manuring them; for if we uncover them, it should at most, be but a little, and we should always have that caution, to leave the Dung close by them, to be ready at hand to cover them again, in case the Frost returns.

At the very beginning of the Month, before the Frosts be come, we make an end of tying up our Endive that is big enough to suffer it, and we cover it with what we can get: we also cover our other Endive in the same manner, which we could not tie up. It likewise whitens equally well; and it is very convenient, if we have a conserva∣tory, to plant as many as we can of the biggest of them there, in tufts, as we shall further shew afterwards.

We cut down Asparagus stalks when the Seed is Ripe, which we carefully lay up, if we be minded to sow any of them in the following Spring. It would be dangerous to cut those stalks sooner, as well because of spoiling the Seed, as the plants or stocks themselves, which might by that means be irritated to an abortion, and producing before their time, some pitiful sorry little new shoots.

We take the advantage of some fair dry weather, to lay up all we have a mind to keep for our Winters provision; and for that effect, we take up the plants in tufts, with Earth hanging to them, before they be Frost bitten, and plant them very close to one another in the Conservatory, which are for Example, all Roots, as Carrots, Parsnips, and Beet-raves, or Red Beet Roots, and Artichokes, which have Fruit. The Green ones are more proper for this purpose than the Violet ones, which are more tender and less able to resist the Frost, and more apt to putrefie in that part next their stem, than the others which are more rustical and hardy. And also Spanish Cardons, Collyflowers and Endive or Succory, as well the White, as the Wild sort, and even Leeks and Cellery, though both Page  169 these last will keep well enough in the naked Earth, when they are well covered: But here it is to be noted, that Cellery when once whitened must be eaten presently, otherwise it would rot; And we must be carefull to raise some of it late, that may remain small in the Earth, without being very much covered, which serves for the latter end of February and the Month of March.

Those Persons who live near Woods, will do well to gather up the leaves there, not only to make use of for coverings, as I have said, but likewise to lay them to rot in some hole, the powder of them being very good, and especially to make use of for mold.

We now open and lay bare the Roots of Trees that seem to languish, in order to take from about them the old Soil, cut off as much of their Roots as is found in an ill condition, and Earth them up again afterwards with good new Earth.

We make some Hot Beds for Mushrooms. The method to make them well, is to choose some spot of new, and as near as can be, light and sandy Ground, and dig there a hollow Bed of five or six Inches deep, of three or four wide throughout, and of what length we please. The Dung must be either of Horse, or Mule, and must be already pretty dry, and such as has been piled up some time: Then we make the Bed about two foot high, ranking and pressing the Dung as close and tight as we can, yet so disposing it that the upper part of it may be raised into a ridge like the Back of an Asse, that it may the better shoot off the waters to the right and left, which if they should pierce through it, would rot the Dung; after that, we cover the Bed to the thickness of two foot more, with the Neighbouring Earth, over which again, we throw another covering of three or four Inches thick of Litter, which in the Winter may guard from the great Cold, and in the Summer, shade from the violent heat the Mushrooms which may be expected to shoot up about three or four Months after.

We cleanse Trees of Moss that are troubled with it.

They which have great Plantations of Trees to prune, should now begin that opera∣tion upon those which are least vigorous.

We employ the long dry Dung of which we ought to have made provision in the Summer, to cover our Fig-Trees, as well those of the Wall, as Dwarfs; and for these last, we tie all their Branches as close as we can conveniently, together with Osier Withs, that we may the more easily wrap them about with this covering; and for the Wall-Trees, we endeavour to leave so many of the higher Branches as we can, on the sides, and to tie several of them together to poles or forked sticks that are to serve them for Props, and by that means too, we cover them with more ease, and less charge. We leave on them that covering till the full Moon of March be past, at which time, we only take off part of it, till the full Moon of April be likewise past, the Frosts of these two last Months being dangerous to the young Fruit which then begins to put forth it self, as the Winter Frosts are to the Wood which they make to turn all into Pith.

They whose Pear-Trees are pestered with Tiger Babbs, will do well now, not only to gather up the Leaves that are attack'd by them, to burn them immediately, but also to scrape their Branches with the back of a Knife to clear them of the Eggs or Seed of that Cursed Insect, which remains sticking to them all Winter, for though we cannot so far prevail that way, as totally to exterminate them, yet however there will be so many Enemies destroyed, as we destroy of those Eggs.

The days being now very short, skilful Gard'ners will therefore work by Candle∣light till Supper time, either in making of Straw-Screens and Coverings, or preparing Trees for planting, as soon as the Frost permits them, or in designing, &c.

We put those Trees into the Earth in furrows which we could not plant, covering up their Roots as carefully as if we were planting them in their designed places, without leaving any hollow Chinks about their Roots, because otherwise the great Frost would spoil them.

We may begin at the latter end of the Month to force such Asparagus, as are at least three or four years old, and this forcing is performed, either on the cold Bed in the place where they grow, which is the best way, or else upon a Hot Bed, if we be minded to remove them. But ordinarily we stay till towards the beginning of the next Month, before we make any Essays of that kind, it being in my Opinion, long enough to have of them for four Months together by Artifice, till Nature be ready to furnish us with more of them for two Months longer by her own sole Virtue and Power, not but that we might begin to force them at the very beginning of September or October.

Page  170 The way of forcing them is, to dig the Earth out of a Path, to the depth of two Foot, and the breadth of one full foot and a half, if originally the Path were but three Foot over, because there must be at least six or seven good inches of Earth be left next the Asparagus Tufts. The Path being thus voided, we fill it up with long hot Dung, very well ramm'd and trodden down, till it be a full foot higher than the Super∣ficies of the Cold Bed, at the first making, and after fifteen days, we stir this Dung over again, mixing some new Dung with it, the better to enable it to communicate sufficient heat to the two adjoyning Cold Beds, but if it appear too much mortified, so that the Asparagus does not shoot up briskly enough, then this recruiting of the path-way with fresh Dung and stirring, must be repeated afterwards as often as it shall be necessa∣ry, which commonly happens to be once every ten or twelve days. If there fall any great Rains or Snow, that may have too much rotted that Dung, so that it appears not to retain a sufficient heat, then must it be quite taken away, and all new put in its place; for in fine, this Bed must always be kept extreamly hot; as to the Cold Bed, in which the Plants are, the Ground must be digged up, and stirred a little in it, to the depth of a∣bout four or five Inches, as soon as the path-way is filled up, for it cannot be done be∣fore, because of bringing the Dung to that, (which cannot be done without much trampling on the Soil) which digging being finished, we cover the said Cold Bed with some of the same long Dung, to the thickness of three or four Inches, and at the end of fifteen days, so much time at least being necessary to give activity to those Asparagus Tufts, that in this Season, are as 'twere dead, or at least benumbed with the cold, we lift up the Dung to see whether the Asparagus begin to shoot or no, and if they do, at every place where they appear, we clap a Glass Bell, which we also take great care to cover close with long Dung, and especially a-nights, to prevent the Frost from penetrating in the least man∣ner in the World, to the Asparagus, which being so extreamly tender and delicate as 'tis, would be absolutely spoiled by the least breath of Cold. If in the day time, the Sun shine out a little bright, we must not fail to take off the Dung from the Bells, that the Asparagus may be visited by those kindly beams that animate all things, and if besides those Bells, we had likewise Glass Frames to clap over them, and so doubly to cover whole Beds of Plants, that would still be more commodious and more advantageous for bring∣ing to effect this little Master-piece of our Art. By these helps, the Asparagus springing out of that warm Earth, and meeting with a warm Air under those Bells, grow red and green, and of the same thickness and length as those of the Mont•s of April and May; nay, and prove a great deal better too, because they have not only been unattack'd by the injuries of the Air, but have attained their perfection in much less time than the o∣thers, and I can without vanity affirm, that I was the first that by the inducement of some very plausible Reasons, devised this expedient, to oblige the greatest King in the World, with a Pleasure before to him unknown.

I add here, that a Bed of Asparagus dextrously forced, and well maintained, produces abundantly enough for a Fortnight or three Weeks, and that because the King should not want during the whole Winter, this new Dish which he beholds with so gracious an Eye, as soon as the first Beds begin to furnish him, I begin to force as many new ones, and so continue the same course every three Weeks, till the end of April, when Nature advertises me, that 'tis time to put an end to those Violences I have done Her, and that she is then willing in her Turn, to serve us some Dishes prepared by her own skill.

I can likewise tell you, that though my Beds are but •i•teen Toises or Fathoms long, and that I force but six at a time, yet there is spent on them each time, at least fifty Cart loads of Dung, and that the only Vexation I meet with in this Work, is to see an infinite number of Glass Bells broke with covering and uncovering them every day, in spite of all the care I can take to prevent it.

We may likewise remove old Asparagus Plants out of Cold Beds into Hot ones, it being true that they spring there, but they never prove so fair as the others, and are attended besides with this inconvenience, that they die there in a very short time.

We force Sorrel and Wild Endive, or Succory, Macedonian Parsly or Alisanders, &c. in the same manner as we do Asparagus, but most commonly it is done rather upon Hot Beds, than on the naked Earth, and the Success is very speedy and infallible, and particularly in procuring in one fifteen days time, Sorrel that is as fair as that of the Month of May.

We should have finished our last manuring of dry Grounds the fifteenth day of this Month, as well to render them impenetrable to the Rain and Snow waters, as to destroy the Weeds, and to make our Gardens appear something neat and handsome.

Page  171 We preserve in their places, or rather we transplant in Turfs, such Cabbages as we design for Seed; and if in the Month of April, we perceive they meet with any diffi∣culty in making their way, we must help them by giving the Cabbage a cut cross-wise on the Head pretty deep, by which means the Seed stem will the more easily pass. We do the same thing in May to some sorts of Cabbage Lettuce, which have much ado otherwise to run up to Seed.

To have Radishes betimes, that is, towards Christmas, or Candlemas, we sow them in Hot Beds about the middle of November. I have already laid down directions for the making of Hot Beds, in the works of February: That which is particularly to be observed for Radishes, is that we must beat down with a board, the Superficies of the mold, to render it a little solid, and to prevent it from rowling into the holes that are to be made to Sow the Radishes in, after which, that the Bed may be handsomly Sown, we take a cord rubbed with Plaster, or Chalk, or other white matter, and holding it well stretched out between two of us, we mark out with it as many white lines, at three or four Inches distance one from another, both throughout the whole length and breadth of the Bed, as its extent will permit, and then with a round wooden planting stick of a full Inch thick, we make holes all along every line at the like distance of three or four Inches one from another, and we put only three Radish Seeds into every hole, and if we chance to let fall any more we pull up all the Radishes that come up above the number of three. They which observe not to mark out such lines, but make their holes by random-sight only, have their Beds not so handsome, and they which make their holes nearer, and which leave more than three Radishes in a hole, run the hazard of having Radishes with a great many leaves and but little Root, there are many Market Gard'ners whose practise it is, to Sow lines or rows of Lett•ces in February and March, a cross their Beds of Ra∣dishes, but then the holes must be made at the distance of seven or eight Inches; and the Lett•ces thus sown in lines, will be gathered and spent, before the Radishes are fit to gather.

If it freezes very hard we cover the Hot Bed, with long steeped Straw, for five or six days, besides which, for its further defence against the rigours of the Winter, wecover them with Straw-Screens or coverings, supported upon Traverse Frame• or Cradles composed of Stakes, or other Poles of Wood, placed very near the Superficies of the mold, and we stop the sides close up, and if the Frost increase notably, we put a new load of long dung over those Straw-Screens, but if it be but moderate, there will need no other covering, the heat of the Bed being sufficient to defend the Plants; Radishes thus sown come up in five or six days, and if the holes had not some Air, they would be smoothed and grow dwinling in piercing through the small Straw.

We must not fail at the beginning of this Month, to take up in Turf, the Cellery which we had planted at a reasonable distance, in the Months of June and July, in particular Cold Beds; and when we have taken it up, to carry it into the Conservatory, or else to replant it in some other Cold Bed, placing its Plants very close together, that they may the more easily be covered.

Assoon as the White Frosts seem to be setled, we must cover our Winter-Lettuces which are planted in well sheltred places, but not with dry Dung as other Plants, for fear some of the filth should get into the heart of those that Cabbage, but with very clean Straw, upon which we lay some long pole of Wood, to keep it in its place, and hinder the wind from blowing it off.

Works to be done in December.

IF it be a pertinent caution I have given at the beginning of every Month, That we ought then to be careful to finish what we could not do in the preceeding Month, it is particularly necessary to repeat it at the beginning of this Month, with respect to that which last expired. Assoon as December is come it is no longer time to dally. For now the Earth in Gardens is quite strip'd of all its usual ornaments, and the Frost that seldom fails to signalize it self this Month, without respecting the quality of their Ma∣sters, spares no bodies Gardens, but unmercifully destroys all it meets with of a nature too delicate to endure its rigour; and therefore it concerns us now to make an end of housing and of covering what we could not house or cover in the Month of November, viz. Endive, Cardons, Cellery, Artichokes, Roots, Collyflowers, Chard-Beets, Leeks, Fig-Trees, &c. And above all things, we must be careful to preserve those Novelties which we may have begun to advance by Art, as Peas, Beans, Cabbage, Lettuce, and little Sallets, Page  172 to avoid the displeasure of seeing perish in one bitter Night, what we have been labour∣ing two or three Months to advance.

We may likewise still at the beginning of the Month, continue to sow some early Peas, upon some banks made of Earth raised in double slopes along by some Wall placed in a good Exposition, and especially that towards the South.

We transport our rotten Dung to those places we design to muck, and spread them abroad there, that the rain and Snow waters may the better penetrate them, and carry their Salt a little below the Superficies of the Earth where our Seeds are to be sown.

We interr our Almonds in some Basket, to Sprout. They should have sprouted by the Month of March, to be ready then to be planted in their allotted places. It is conveni∣ent to prevent the great Frost from coming at them; for which end the Baskets must be housed up in the Conservatory, or else well covered with long Dung if left in the naked Earth. The way to lay these Almonds to sprout, is first to lay at the bottom of the Basket, a layer of Sand, Earth or mold, or made Earth between two and three Inches thick, and to lay a Layer of flat Almonds, upon it with their sharp ends inwards, till its first layer of Earth be quite covered with the layer of Almonds, upon which we lay a second layer of Mold or Sand of two Inches thick, and then upon that again a second layer of Almonds placed in the same manner as the first, and so a third and fourth, &c. till the Basket will hold no more.

It is likewise not amiss to put one single layer of Almonds into the naked-Earth, and to cover them with Earth, to the thickness of about three Inches: When they begin to come up at the latter end of April, we take them in up Turfs, that is, with some Earth hanging to them, and breaking off their sprouts, we replant them in their designed places, in rows distant one from another, a foot and a half, and in those rows, the Almonds must be placed at the distance of half a foot from each other.

We are busie in making trails for Wall-Trees.

We may prune Trees as long as there is no Icicles, or hoar upon the Branches, and as the hard Frosts do not raign, for they harden the Wood so that the pruning knife can∣not easily pass: Always observing that we must never prune Wall-Trees without unnail∣ing them, because it would be too troublesom to do it otherwise, neither can we so well discern what Work we are to do.

One of the most principal Works of this Month, is, at the beginning of it, to make a Hot Bed of long new Dung of the ordinary breadth of four foot, and height of three, and assoon as its great heat is spent, we must sow upon it, under Glass Bells, some good bright Curled Lettuce, and assoon as 'tis grown a little big, which usually happens in a Month's time, we must take up the fairest, and plant it in a Nursery upon another Hot Bed, and under other Bells, to the number of twenty, or twenty five under every Bell, and when they are grown reasonably big there too, we must take up the biggest with a little Earth about them, to replant them to the number of five or six under each Bell, to remain there till they be quite Cabbaged, which usually happens towards the latter end of March, and we take care to fence them well from the Cold, as well with coverings of Litter, as by new heating their Beds.

We practise the same method in sowing these Lettuces in the Month of January, and in replanting in February, that we may have some ready betimes, that is, towards the end of March, and to continue so doing till the Earth produces us some of her self, without the help of Hot Dung. At this time they that employ themselves in rear∣ing Novelties, spend the most part of each day in covering them at night, and uncovering them in the morning, or else all comes to nothing.

When in the Winter time, we are raising and forcing of Lettuce upon Hot Beds, and under Bells, we must be careful often to lift up the Bells, to take away the dead Leaves, there being a great many that rot and perish, and one rotten Leaf rots others. The inside of the Bells must also be cleansed from the filth and moisture that gathers there in abundance, and when there comes a fair Sun shiny day, we must not fail to lift up the Bells, that the moisture may be dryed up that sticks about the Leaves. But the chiefest thing to be observed above all, is to keep the Beds moderately hot, by recruiting and new heating, and fermenting them from time to time.