The Kitchen Gardener's Instructor: Containing a Catalogue of Garden and Herb Seed ...

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author, 1847 - Herb gardening - 181 pages

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Page 146 - This table and the accompanying remarks are the result of many years' actual observation ; the whole being constructed on a due consideration of the attraction of the sun and moon in their several positions respecting the earth ; and will, by simple inspection, show the observer what kind of weather will most probably follow the entrance of the moon into any of her quarter», and that so near the truth as to be seldom or never found to fail.
Page 127 - ... flat square bricks, which being done, set them on edge, and frequently turn them till half dry : then with a dibble make two or three holes in each brick, and insert in each hole a piece of good old spawn, the size of a common walnut ; the bricks should then remain till they are dry.
Page 127 - ... a gentle glow through the whole. When the spawn has spread itself through every part of the bricks the process is ended, and they may be laid up in any dry place for use. Mushroom spawn, made according to this receipt, will preserve its vegetating powers for many years, if well dried before it is laid up ; if moist, it will grow, and soon exhaust itself.
Page 67 - ... half asunder, every way, for the purple, or two feet for the white kind ; and if kept clean, and a little earth be drawn up to their stems, when about a foot high, they will produce plenty of fruit. Or, the seed may be sown about the end of...
Page 36 - Strain your line along the bed six inches from the edge ; then with a spade cut out a small trench or drill close to the line, about six inches deep, making that side next the line nearly upright...
Page 48 - Cauliflower, it would be the most certain method of obtaining large and early flowers; but as only a part of these crops can be expected to come to perfection before, the approach of winter, the remainder will have to be taken up, laid in by the roots, and covered up with earth to the lower leaves in some sheltered situation, where they will come to more perfect maturity.
Page 129 - It is immaterial whether it be rich or not, the only use of earth here being for spawn to run and mass in. Now lay another course of droppings, and earth them over as above, when past a state of fermentation : then a third course, which, in like manner, earth all over. This finishes the bed, which will be a very strong and productive one if properly managed afterward. " Observe that, in forming the bed, it should be a little rounded, in order that the centre may not be more wet or moist than the...
Page 35 - It should have a large supply of well-rotted dung, three or four inches thick, and then be regularly trenched two spades deep, and the dung buried equally in each trench twelve or fifteen inches below the surface. When this trenching is done, lay two or three inches of...
Page 53 - Cauliflowers are sometimes produced from seed sown in a hotbed towards the end of January, or early in February. Great pains must be taken to have the bed in good condition to receive the seed. When the plants are up, they must have air every mild day, and as they progress in growth, they should have as much air as possible, consistent with their preservation ; but the beds must be kept covered up every night, as long as there is any danger of frost. When the plants are three or four inches high,...

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