THE HEAD GARDENER.
The gardener, to understand his business well, and to be capable of undertaking the management of a gentleman’s garden and grounds, should not only be perfect in the ordinary business, and the regular routine of digging, cropping, and managing a kitchen garden, but should be also well versed in the nature of soils, manures, and composts, the best methods of propagating plants, shrubs, and trees, the management of the hot-house, green-house, conservatory, hot-beds; and the culture, not only of indigenous, but also of foreign and exotic productions.
The gardener, on first coming to his situation, will endeavour to ascertain the nature and present state of the soil. There are scarcely any of the ordinary esculent or culinary vegetables that will not require, at least, a depth of two spits of well cultivated earth; shrubs and trees much more; and this depth he should accordingly give it by proper digging, trenching, and other means. The sub-strata, or under soil, must also be considered, and articles fond of moisture should be planted where the sub-stratum is of a clayey nature, and will not suffer the moisture imbibed from above to pass off; while those which require warm and dry situations, should be planted where the under soil consists of sand or gravel, and will the more readily absorb the moisture from above.
In small families, or in gardens not exceeding an acre, with a paddock of three or four acres for a horse or cow, it is usual to keep but one gardener, who, at an out-door salary of a guinea a week, performs all the necessary work in the garden, milks the cow, feeds the poultry, and, sometimes, takes care of the horse, his assistant being a jobbing labourer during a few weeks of particular duty. These gardeners generally consist of under gardeners from large establishments, or from market gardeners near large towns; and the only questions which arise between them and their employer, are the difficulties which they feel at first in accommodating the practice on a large scale to that on a small and economical one; but, when reconciled to this, no situation is more independent and comfortable than that of the solitary and accommodating gardener.
Gardeners generally prefer a sandy loam, of a nature not too binding in summer, nor too retentive in winter.
Perhaps the best practical rules that can be given are the following, from the best Treatise on Gardening.
1. Perform every operation in the proper season.
2. Perform every operation in the best manner.
This is to be acquired in part by practice, and partly also by reflection. For example, in digging over a piece of ground, it is a common practice with slovens, to throw the weeds and stones on the dug ground, or on the adjoining alley or walk, with the intention of gathering them off afterwards. A better way is to have a wheelbarrow, or a large basket, into which to put the weeds and extraneous matters, as they are picked out of the ground. Some persons in planting or weeding, whether in the open air, or in hothouses, throw down all seeds, stones, and extraneous matters on the paths or alleys, with a view to pick them up, or sweep or rake them together afterwards; it is better to carry a basket or other utensil, either common or subdivided, in which to hold in one part the plants to be planted, in another the extraneous matters, &c.
3. Complete every part of an operation as you proceed.
4. Finish one job before beginning another.
5. In leaving off working at any job, leave the work and tools in an orderly manner.
6. In leaving off work for the day, make a temporary finish, and carry the tools to the tool-house.
7. In passing to and from the work, or on any occasion, through any part of what is considered under the charge of the gardener, keep a vigilant look out for weeds, decayed leaves, or any other deformity, and remove them.
8. In gathering a crop, remove at the same time, the roots, leaves, stems, or whatever else is of no farther use, or may appear slovenly, decaying, or offensive.
9. Let no crop of fruit, or herbaceous vegetables, go to waste on the spot.
10. Cut down the flower-stalks of all plants.
11. Keep every part of what is under your care, perfect in its kind.
Attend in spring and autumn to walls and buildings, and get them repaired, jointed, glazed, and painted, where wanted. Attend at all times to machines, implements, and tools, keeping them clean, sharp, and in perfect repair. See particularly that they are placed in their proper situations in the tool-house. House every implement, utensil, or machine not in use, both in winter and summer. Allow no blanks in edgings, rows, single specimens, drills, beds, and even where practicable, in broad-cast sown pieces. Keep edgings and edges cut to the utmost nicety. Keep the shapes of the wall-trees filled with wood according to their kinds, and let their training be in the first style of perfection. Keep all walks in perfect form, (whether raised or flat,) free from weeds, dry, and well rolled. Keep all the lawns by every means, of a close texture, and dark-green velvet appearance. Keep water clear and free from weeds, and let not ponds, lakes, or artificial rivers, rise to the brim in winter, nor sink very far under it in summer.
TO SOW SEEDS WITH ADVANTAGE.
This is the first operation of rearing. Where seeds are deposited singly, as in rows of beans, or large ruts, they are said to be planted; where dropt in numbers together, to be sown. The operation of sowing is either performed in drills, patches, or broadcast. Drills are small excavations formed with the draw-hoe, generally in straight lines parallel to each other, and in depth and distance apart, varying according to the size of the seeds. In these drills, the seeds are strewed from the hand of the operator, who, taking a small quantity in the palm of his hand and fingers, regulates its emission by the thumb. Some seeds are very thinly sown, as the pea, and spinage; others thick, as the cress, and small salad.
Patches are small circular excavations made with the trowel; in these seeds are either sown or planted, thicker or thinner, and covered more or less, according to their nature. This is the mode adopted in sowing in pots, and generally in flower-borders.
In broad-cast sowing, the operator scatters the seed over a considerable breadth of surface, previously prepared by digging, or otherwise being minutely pulverized. The seed is taken up in portions in the hand, and dispersed by a horizontal movement of the arm, to the extent of a semi-circle, opening the hand at the same time, and scattering the seeds in the air, so as they may fall as equally as possible over the breadth taken in by the sower at once, and which is generally six feet; that being the diameter of the circle in which his hand moves through half the circumference. In sowing broad-cast on beds, and narrow’ strips or borders, the seeds are dispersed between the thumb and fingers, by horizontal movements of the hand in segments of smaller circles.
Dry weather is essentially requisite for sowing, and more especially for the operation of covering in the seed, which in broad-cast sowing, is done by treading or gently rolling the surface, and then raking it; and in drill-sowing, by treading in the larger seeds, as peas, and covering with the rake; smaller seeds, sown in drills, are covered with the same implement, without treading.
TO PLANT SHRUBS AND TREES.
Planting, as applied to seeds, or seed-like roots, as potatoes, bulbs, &c. is most frequently performed in drills, or in separate holes made with the dibber; in these, the seed or bulb is dropped from the hand, and covered with or without treading, according to its nature. Sometimes planting is performed in patches, as in pots or borders, in which case, the trowel is the chief instrument used.
Quincunx is a mode of planting in rows, by which the plants in one row are always opposed to the blanks in the other, so that when a plot of ground is planted in this way, the plants appear in rows in four directions.
Planting, as applied to plants already originated, consists generally in inserting them in the soil of the same depth, and in the same position as they were before removal, but with various exceptions. The principal object is to preserve the fibrous roots entire; to distribute them equally around the stem among the mould or finer soil, and to preserve the plant upright. The plant should not be planted deeper than it stood in the soil before removal, and commonly the same side should be kept towards the sun. Planting should, as much as possible, be accompanied by abundant watering, in order to consolidate the soil about the roots; and where the soil is dry, or not a stiff clay, it may be performed in the beginning of wet weather, in gardens; and in forest planting, on dry soils, in all open weather during autumn, winter, and spring.
TO WATER GARDENS.
Watering becomes requisite in gardens for various purposes, as aliment to plants in a growing state, to support newly transplanted plants, for keeping under insects, and keeping clean the leaves of vegetables. One general rule must be ever kept in mind during the employment of watering a garden; that is, never to water the top or leaves of a plant when the sun shines. All watering should be carried on in the evening or early in the morning, unless it be confined to watering the roots, in which case, transplanted plants, and others in a growing state, may be watered at any time; and if they are shaded from the sun, they may also be watered over their tops. Watering over the tops is performed with the rose, or dispenser attached to the spout of the watering-pot, or by the syringe or engine. Watering the roots is best done with the rose; but in the case of watering-pots in haste, and where the earth is hardened, it is done with the naked spout.
Many kitchen-crops are lost, or produced of very inferior quality, for want of watering. Lettuces and cabbages are often hard and stringy; turnips and radishes do not swell, onions decay, cauliflowers die off, and, in general, in dry soils. Copious waterings in the evenings, during the dry season, would produce that fulness of succulency, which are found in the vegetables produced in the low countries, and in the Marsh Gardens at Paris; and in this country at the beginning and latter end of the season.
Watering the foliage of small trees to prevent the insects, and of strawberries, and fruit shrubs, to swell the fruit, is also of importance.
The principal tools used by gardeners are, a light handy spade, a shovel, rake, with iron teeth, hoe, three-pronged fork, dibber, or setting-stick, line and reel, usually called a skillet, wheelbarrow, baskets, trowel, a pair of shears, scythe, hay-rake, hook, ladder, besom, or broom, beater, garden-roller, turfing-iron, hatchet, and hammer. The gardener usually wears a blue woollen apron, which, when he is pruning, he ties up before him, and then serves to hold his nails, shreds, scissors, hammer, and pruning-knife. He should also be provided with a light measuring rod, flat and narrow, painted and divided on one side into feet and half feet, and on the other into yards and half yards; with this he will be able to measure distances, to lay out his beds for sowing and planting, and to measure and lay down his gravel-walks, grass-plats, &c. A table, that will be very useful to him in laying out beds, or any quantity of ground, large or small, will be found in the Appendix.