IN THE GARDEN.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16256, 5 July 1918, Page 4

IN THE GARDEN.

(SPECIALLY WRITTEN' FOB "THE PRISS.") (By J. T. Sixciaiß.) WORK FOR THE WEEK. VEGETABLES. Rotation of Crops.—ln a previous article I pointed out to the amateur the advantage of preparing his seedlist as soon as possible. I • draw attention now to the necessity of preparing a careful and well-thought-out plan of his vegetable garden. This is essential, in the first place, in order tnat he may obtain an approximate idea of the quantities of the various kinds of seeds that ho will require, but it is equally important in order that a great gardening principle may be observed— 1 mean tnat of rotation of crops. Let us see what this principle means, a principle that applies to fanning as well as gardening, and what it involves in the drawing up of a plan for a garden. It is true that farm land is easier to treat correctly than are garden plots, because the comparatively straightforward task lies before the farmer ' of dividing up the ground between a few quite different kinds of crops. But if nothing so simple is possible as the "Norfolk rotation" of barley following turnips and being followed by clover and this again by wheat, or by the. "Scottish rotation," in which the following crops follow each other 1 : — Green crops, wheat or barley, clover, oats, potatoes, or beans, wheat, the gardener can at least arrange for a workable system of sucoession by dividing the ground between fibrous-roote,d vegetables, tap-roots, and tubers, and alternating one with the other. This he should do in such a way thatthe same piece of ground does not suffer : needless exhaustion by the same or a similar crop without having time to reI °Thus a piece of ground occupied by a librous-rooted crop, e.g.,. cabbage, may the second year he occupied by potatoes. and the third year by parsnips. The tap-rooted crops, e.g., parsnips, may be shifted on to the plot which during, the first year was planted with potatoes, and be subsequently followed by a fibrous-iooted crop such as cauliflower. This fibrous-rooted vegetable may similarly be followed again oy tubers, and tubers bv tap-roots, to be onca more succeeded by cauliflowers, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, or any other fibrous-rooted subjects. This change or rotation of vegetables goes a long way to check different diseases which attack various crops. It is a great mistake to follow brassicas bv brassicas because that only encourages the spread of club root, and when w© understand that a great number of "resting spores" of this disease remain in the soil for a considerable period, each spore with its latent power of producing an attack of _ clubbing, the urgency of sane methods in cultivation cannot fail to be seen. . J The strongest elements, however, in the soisroce of rotation are to he looked for ia the different positions in the ground which different crops occupy. "Where surface-rooting crops have been permitted to grow for some time, a deeply-rooting crop should be given the opportunity to push downwards ana reach a stratum hitherto little approached by other vegetables. If ground has been exhausted of sulphur by a. crop of cabbages, it may be given a chance to restore the neoessary compounds by allowing it to Ije cropped with beet, after first supplying it with a good dressing of common salt and of potaslx, both or which are required in quantity by the beet crop. Mechanical influences, as well as chemical». have also their share, bo that any crop whose presence makes soilstirring difficult, should be by a, different type of crop, in order that bacterial action may not be hindered. Crops of short duration should, again, j be chosen to succeed those of normally permanent character—as aspara- j gus and seakale, for in such cases the 'demand on certain food substances is an appreciably different one, and, as such, it requires our systematic thought. In the case of cultivators who are tilling virgin grond, and who have to deal with soil which _ has been grass-covered, it will be advisable not to attempt to grow too many kinds of crops during the coming season. It will do far more good if they concentrate on a few, and,' especially on those of the most robust! habit. ,