of the trench for that when you dig up the Allyes you may in time reduce them to a foot and a half wide casting the earth upon the quarters and then cutting above a foot large on either side of your aspargus where the earth was heaped up your plants will shoot innumerable roots at the sides of the Alleys You shall plant a third range in the midst between the two which we have named It will be expedient to place them in Crosse squares that the rootes being at a convenient distance they may extend themselves through all the bed Some curious persons put rammshorns at the bottome of the trench hold for certaine that they have a kind of Sympathie with Asparagus which makes them prosper the better but I refer it to the experienced Dressing They will need dressing but three times a year The first when the Arsparagus have done growing The second at the beginning of Winter and the last a little before they begin to peep At every one of these dressings you shall something fill and advance your beds about four fingers high with the earth of your Allyes and over all this spread about two fingers thick of old dung Three years you must forbear to cut that the plant may be strong not stubbed for otherwise they will prove but small And if you spare them yet four or five years longer you will have them come as big as leeks after which time you may cut uncessantly leaving the least to bear seed and that the plant may fortifie During these four-years observing to give them the severall dressings as I have declared your bed will fill and your paths discharged of their mould you may dig them up and lay some rich dung underneath You know that the plants of Asparagus spring up and grow perpetually and therefore when the mould of your Alleyes is all spent upon the beds you must of necessity bring earth to supply them laying it upon the bed in shape like the lid of a truncke otherwise they will remaine naked and perish Cutting When you cut your Asparagus remove a little of the earth from about them lest you wound the others which are ready to peep and then cut them as low as you can conveniently but take heed that you do not offend those that lye hid for so much will your detriment be and it will stump your plant Such as you perceive to produce onely small ones you shall spare that they may grow bigger permitting those which spring up about the end of the season in every bed to run to seede and this will exceedingly repayr the hurt which you may have done to your plants in reaping their fruit SECT III. Of Cabbages and Lettuce of all sorts Cabbage THere are so many severall sorts of Cabbages that you shall hardly resolve to have them all in your Garden for they would employ too great a part of your ground and therefore it will be best to make choyce of such as are most agreable to your tast and that are the most delicate and easiest to boyle since the ground which produces them the water which boyles them renders them either more or lesse excellent Seed We have seede brought us out of Italy and we have some in France those of Italy are the Coleflower those of Rome Verona and Milan The Bosse the long Cabbage of Genoa the curled and others In France we have the ordinary headed Cabbage of severall sorts and some that do not head at all and therefore I think it necessary to treat here particularly of them all as briefly as I can Coleflowers I will begin with Coleflowers as as the most precious Seed They bring the seede to us out of Italy and the Italians receive it from Candia and other Levantine parts not but that we gather as good in Italy and France also but it dos not produce so large a head and is subject to degenerate into the bosse cabbages and Naâ—ets and therefore it were better to furnish one self out of the levant either by some friend or other correspondent at Rome The Linnen Drapers and Millaners of Paris can give you the best directions in this affaire which traffick in those places Linnen Lace and Gloves To discover the goodnesse of the seed which is the newest it ought to be of a lively colour full of oyle exactly round neither shrivled small or dried which are all indications of its age but of a broun hue not of a bright red which shews that it never ripened kindly upon the stalke Sowing Being thus provided with good seede sow it as they do in Italy or France The Italians sow it in cases and shallow tubes in the full moon of August It comes speedily up and will be very strong before Winter when the Frosts come remove them into your Cellar or Garden-house till the Spring and that the Frosts are gone and then transplant them into good mould thus you shall have white very fair heads and well conditioned before the great heats of Sommer surprize them The Italians stay not so long as till their heads have attained their utmost growth but pull them up before and lay them in the Cellar interring all their roots and stalks to the very head ranging them side by side and shelving where they finish their heads and will keep a long time whereas if they left them abroad in the ground the heats would cause them run to seed The French are satisfyed to have them by the end of Autumn keeping them to eat in the Winter not but that being early raised they have some which head about Iuly but the rest grow hard and tough by reason of the extream heat and improve nothing for want of moysture producing but small and trifling Heads and most commonly none at all And therefore I counsel you to sowe but a few upon your first Bed in the Meloniere thinly sowing them thinly in liâ—es four fingers asunder and covering them with the mould Two or three ridges shall abundantly suffice your store Towards the end of April when your Melons are off from their beds and transplanted you may renew your sowing of Coleflowers as you were taught before these will head in Autumn and must be preserved from the Frosts to be spent during the Winter Removing You must stay before you remove them till the leaves are as large as the Ralme of your hand that they may be strong Pare away the tops of them and earth them up to the very necks that is so deep that the top leaves appear not above three fingers out of the ground or to be more intelligible you shall interre them to the last and upmost knot Moreover you must hollow little Basins of about half a foot Diameter and four fingers deep at the foot of each stalk that the moysture may passe directly to the Root when you water them it being unprofitably employed elsewhere Transplanting The just distance in transplanting is three foot asunder
two ranges are sufficient for each Bed But be careful to keep them weeded and dug as often as they require it till the leaves cover the ground and are able to choke the weeds that grow under them If you make Pits in the places where you remove them aud bestow some good Soil as I described in Melons and Cucumbers they will the better answer your expectations for they will produce much fairer heads Cabbage Watring All sorts of Cabbages whatever they be must be carefully watred at first for a few dayes after their planting that they may take the better root which you shall then perceive when their leaves begin to erect and flag no longer upon the ground Sowing All kindes of Cabbages are to be sown upon the Melon bed whilst the heat remains that they may cheq and spring the sooner sowe them therefore very thin in travers lines cross your Melon bed In April you shall sowe fresh upon the same bed and place where your Melons and Cucumbers stood Birds Now forasmuch as the Birds are extreamly greedy to devour their seeds as soon as they peep because they bear the husk of it upon the tops of their leaves I will teach you how you may preserve them Some spread a Net over the Beds sustaining it half a foot above the surface others stick little Mills made of Cards such as Children in play run against the winde with and some make them with thin Chips of Firre such as the Comfit makers boxes are made withall tying to the tree or Pole which bears it some Feathers or thing that continually trembles this will extremely affright the Birds in the day time and the Mice in the night for the least breath of winde will set them a whirling and prevent the mischief Wormes There breeds besides in these beds a winged Insect and Palmer worms which gnaw your seeds and sprouts To destroy these Enemies you should place some small vessels as beâ—r glasses and the like sinking them about three fingers deeper then the surface of the bed and filling them with water within two fingers of the brim and in these they will fall and drown themselves as they make their subterranean passages Large sided cabbages The large sided Cabbages shall not be sowne till May because they are so tender and if they be strong enough to be removed by the begining of Iuly they will head in Autumn To my Gusto there is no sort of Cabbage comparable to them for they are speedily boyled and are so delicate that the very grossest part of them melts in ones mouth If you eat broth made of them Fasting with but a little bread in it they will gently loosen the belly and besides what ever quantity of them you eat they will never offend you Briefly t is a sort of Cabbage that I can never sufficiently commend that I may encourage you to furnish your Garden with them rather then with many of the rest VVhite cabbage Of the White headed Cabbage those which come out of Flanders are the fairest and of these one of the heads produced in a rich mould hath weighed above fourty pounds Those of Aubervilliers are very free and a delicate meate There is another sort of Cabbage streaked with red veines the stalk whereof is of a purple colour when you plant it and they seem to me the most naturall of all the rest for they pome close to the ground and shoot but few leaves before they are headed growing so extreamly close that they are almost flat at top Red cabbage The red Cabbage should likewise have a little place in your Garden for its use in certain diseases Pefumed cabbage There is yet another sort of Cabbage that cast a strong musky Perfume but bear small heads yet are to be prized for their excellent odor The pale tender Cabbages are not to be sown till August that they may be removed a little before the Winter where they may grow and furnish you all the winter long and especially during the greater Frosts which do but soften mellow and render them excellent meat They plant also all those Italian kindes of which the Pancaliers are most in esteem by reason of their perfum'd relish Planting To plant all these sorts of Cabbages the ground deeply trenched and well dunged beneath you shall tread it out into beds of four foot large and within a foot of the margent you shall make a small trench four fingers in depth and of half a foot large angular at the bottome like a Plough-Furrow new turned up In this Trench towards the Evening of a fair day you shall make holes with a Setting stick and so plant your Cabbages sinking them to the neck of the very tenderest leaves having before pared off their Tops Place them at a convenient distance according to their bignesse and spreading then give them diligent Waterings which you shall pour into these furrowes only since it would be but superfluous to water the whole bed A man may transplant them confusedly in whole quarters especially the paler sort for the frosts but it is neither so commodious as in beds for the ease of watring them nor for the distinction of their species Be carefull to take away all the dead leaves of your Cabbages as well that they may looke handsomely as to avoid the ill sents which proceed from their corruption which breeds and invites the Vermine Snaile Frogs and Toads and the like which greatly endamage the Plants Seed When their heads and pomes are formed if you perceive any of them ready to run to seede draw the plant half out of the ground or tread down the Stem till the cabbage inclines to one side this will much impead its seeding and you may mark those Cabbages to be first spent For the seeds reserve of your best Cabbages transplanting them in some warm place free from the Winter winds during the greater frosts and covering them with Earthen Pots and warm soyl over the pots But when the weather is mild you may sometimes shew them the ayr and reinvigorate them with the sun being carefull to cover them again in the evening least the frost surprise them Others you shall preserve in the house hanging them up by their rootes about a fourtnight that so all the water that lurks amongst the leaves may drop out which would otherwise rot them That season past bury them in ground half way the stalk ranging them so neer as they may touch each other For those which arive to no head you need only remove them or leave them in the places where they stand they will endure the Winter well enough and run to seed betimes When the seed is ripe which you will know by the drinesse of the swads which will then open of themselves you shall gently pull up the Plant drawing it by the stalks and lay them aslope at the foot of your Hedges or Walls to dry and perfect their maturity but it wâ—ll not be amisse to
fasten them with some small twig of an Ozyer for fear the Winde fling them down and disperse a great deale of the Seeds Season of sowing In August you shall sowe Cabbages to head upon some bed by it self there to passe the Winter as in a Nursery till the Spring when you must plant them forth in the manner I have already taught and by this means you will have headed Cabbages betimes especially provided that you be careful in well ordering them Insects There are several little Animals which gnaw and indammage Cabbages as well whilst they are yet young and tender as when they be arrived to bigger growth as a certain green hopping Flie Snails Ants the great Flea c. The best expedient I finde to destroy these Insects is the frequent watering which chaces them away or kills them For during the great heats you shall see your Cabbages dwindle and pine away every day importun'd by these Animals At the full of the moon every Moneth if the weather be fair it is good to sowe your Cabbages that you may prevent the disorders which these Devourers bring upon them and you may do it without expence by sowing them upon the borders under your Fruit Trees which you must frequently dig and besides the waterings which you must bestow upon your young Plants will wonderfully improve your Trees There are a curious sort of Cabbages which bear many heads upon the same stalk but they are not so delicate as the other When yoâ— have cut off the heads of your Cabbages if you will not extirpate the Trunk they will produce small small sets which the Italians call Broccoli the French des Broques and are ordinarily eaten in Lent in Pease-Pottage and Intermesses at the best Tables Letice There are almost as many sorts of Lettuce as there be of Cabbages and therefore I have ranged them together in the same chapter For such as harden and grow into heads we have the Cabbage-Lettuce and a sort that beares divers heads upon the same stalk The Cockle Lettuce the Genoa Roman and the curled lettuce which pome like Succory Others that grow not so close as a sort of curled lettuce and severall other species Others which must be bound to render them white such as the Oake-leafed the Royal and Roman Sowing Lettuce may be sown all the year long Winter excepted for from the time that you begin to sow them upon your first Bed as I have describ'd it in the Article of Melons to the very end of October you may raise them Transplanting To make them pome and head like a Cabbage you shall need onely to transplant them half a foot or little more distant and this you may do upon the borders under your Hedges Trees and Palisades without employing any other quarter of your Garden During the excessive heat of the year it will be difficult to make them head unlesse you water them plentifully because the Season prompts them to run to seed Those of Genoa are to be preferred before all others by reason of their bignesse and for that they will endure the Winter above ground being transplanted or you may make use of them in Pottage and for that they furnish you with heads from the very end of April For such as do not come to head at all you need only sow them and as they spring to thin them that is extirpate the supperfluous that those which remain may have sufficient soope to spread some transplant them but it is lost labour the Plant being so easily raised Roman lettuce Heading The Lettice-Royall would be removed at a foot or more distance and when you perceive that the plants have covered all the ground then in some fair day and when the morning dew is vanish't you shall tie them in two or three several places one above another which you may do with any long straw or raw-hemp and this at severall times viz. not promiseuously as they stand but choosing the fairest plants first to give roome and ayr to the more feeble and by this means they will last you the longer The first being blanched and ready before the other are fit to bind Blanching If you would blanch them with more expedition you shall cover every plant with a small earthen Pot fashioned like a Gold-Smiths Crusible and then lay some hot soyl upon them and thus they will quickly become white Seed Lettuce-seed is very easily gathered because the great heats cause it to spring sooner up then one would have it especially the earliest sowne Pull them therefore up as soone as you perceive that above halfe of their flowers are past and lay them a ripening against your hedges and in ten or twelve dayes they will be drie enough to rub out their seed betwixt your hands which being clensed from the husks and ordure preserve each kind by it selfe SECT IV. Of Roots Roots Parsenp THe Red Beet or Roman Parsnep as the greatest shall have the preheminence in this Chapter They should be placed in excellent ground well soyl'd and trenched that they may produce long and fair roots not forked for if they do not encounter a bottom to their liking they spread indeed at head but have always a hole in the middle which being very profound renders them tough and full of Fibers to the great detriment of their colour which makes them despised And therefore if to avoid the expence you do not trench your Garden you must of necessity bestow two diggings one upon another as I shall here teach you a diminutive only of trenching You must dig a Furrow all the length of your Bed a full foot deep and two foot large casting the earth all at one side then dig another course in the same trench as deep as possible you can without casting out the mould afterwards fling in excellent Dung fat and rich which must lye about four fingers thick and for this the Soyl of Cows and Sheep newly made after fothering time is past is the best When this is done dig a second trench casting the first mould upon this Compost and lay dung upon that likewise then dig the next and cast Soyl upon that as you did upon the first and so continue this till you have trenched the whole Bed Your last Furrow will be but a single depth for which you may consider of three expedients and take that which best pleases you and which will cost you least to fill or else you may fetch the earth which you took out of the first trench and fill it up even setting your Level on or leaving it void to cast your weeds into where they will consume and become good soyl reserving so much earth as will serve to make the Area of the bed even at every dressing which you give it This manner of good husbandry is what I would have described before in the first section of the former Treatise when I spake of trenching the ground when I promised to shew
August which will hardly come to maturity it were better stay till February and then leave them as the tree will best support it and in such places as you desâ—re they should shoot rubbing off such as peâ—p before behinde and in other unprofitable places This opposes the opinion of many but experience makes me persist in my own SECT VII Of Trees and Shrubs in particular how they are to be governed and their Maladies cured Trees I Thought it requisite to make a Chapter apart to comprehend in particular all that we have spoken in general in the several precedent Sections and that for the avoyding of confusion and to the end that in case there were any thing which might seem difficult to you though I have much endeavoured to render my self intelligible in the simplest terms and the most vulgar that our Language will bear that I might be understood of all and profit them by it I might more perspicuously explain it in particularizing all sorts of fruits which we in France do usually furnish our Gardens withall Pears I will therefore set Pears in the first place as those which of all others bear the most rarity of fruit and are the principal ornament of the walls Contr ' Espaliers and Bushes of a Garden from whence we may gather fruit in their perfection during six moneths of the year at least and for that it is a fruit which one may in great part keep till the new ones supply us again and that without shriveling or any impeachment of their taste a thing which we finde not in any other fruit besides Graffing All sorts of Pear-trees may be graffed after any of the four precedent manners but they succeed incomparably upon the Quince and in the Scutcheon produce their fruit much earlier and that fairer ruddy and of greater size then when they are graffed upon the Free-stock excepting only the Portail which often misses taking upon the Quince and will therefore hit better upon the Free-stock The Summer bon Chrestien and the Vallee are very fit for it and if they have been formerly graffed upon the Quince it is the better for it will render the fruit a great deal more beautiful and fair And in case that any graffed either in Scutcheon or the Cleâ—t upon the Quince fortune not to take and that you conceive it to be dead let the stock shoot it will produce wood sufficient which you may clear of all the small branches and at the neer expiration of the winter following you shall earth it up at the ends in forme of a great Mole-hill leaving out the extreams of the branches without cutting them off and they will not fail to strike root the same year provided that you remember to water them sometimes during the great heats and that you do not suffer the rain to demolish the earth about them which must be continnally maintained in its first height and if in the same year you finde any of those branches strong enough inoculate them without any more ado unlesse you will choose rather to stay till the next year and graffe them all together every one of these will be as so many trees to your hand which you may plant in your Nursery the year after they have made their first shoot accurately separating them from the Mother-stock and cutting the ends of their great root aslant Remember to graffe them conveniently high that your tree may have sufficient Stem and all that part which is in earth will abound with small rootâ— If you have any old Quince-trees and would raise young Suckers from them lay some of the branches in the ground and in one year they will be rooted but in case you desire to produce a Tree at once you may effect it as I have already described it The season of Laying these branches is all the Winter long till the Buds begin to spring provided that the earth be qualified Apples Apple-trees challenge the second place and may be likewise graffed after all the four wayes they succeed very well upon the Scion of the Pear-main grafted on Layers of the tree called by the French Pommier de Parradis and in particular the Queen-apple doâ—s wonderfully prosper upon it and is more red within then those which are graffed upon the Free-stock There are some curious persons who graffe the Qâ—een-apple upon the white Mulbery and hold that the fruit does surpasse in rednesse all others that are graffed either on the Free-stock or the forementioned Scion but my opinion is that it is the age of the trees only which imparts that colour to them Plum Plum-trees are ordinarily graffed in Scutcheon and in the Cleft if you have any stocks rais'd from the stones or the Suckers which spring from the Damask-Plum they will yield very good trees and bring abundance of fruit there being no Plum whatsoever which bears so full as the Damask The Wilde-Plum which you shall know by the rednesse of the ends of the branches is not fit at all to graffe upon for it rejects many kinds of fruits and is besides very uncertain to take Your old Plum-trees whose small twigs grow in bundles and puckles may be recovered and made young again by taking off the head of them at the end of winter they will shoot anew and bear fruit the very year following but you must cloame the heads of the wounded branches and refresh the tract of the Saw as I directed you before Abricots Abricots are grafted either in the Stock or in the Bud upon plants springing of their own stones and also upon a Plum-stock but the white Pear-plum and Moyend ' oeuf make a very fair Abricot and much larger then upon any other sort of Plum Peaches Peaches Perses and Pavies are ordinarily graffed by inoculation upon a Peach Plum or Almond tree but I prefer the Plum because they are of longer continuance and do better resist the Frosts and the pernicious winds which shrivel and rust the leaves and the young shoots The white Plum or Poictrons are not at all proper but the black Damask Cyprus and St. Iulian. Such as are budded on the Peach do not last upon the Almond somewhat longer and produce more abundance and much better fruit but there is so much difficulty of governing the Almond-tree in our Climate that one had better content himself with Plum-stocks for the Almond is very impatient of Transplantation and in great danger of perishing if you remove him not the first or second year at farthest after he has made the first shoot and besides you must be sure to place him where he is ever to abide and bud him there without thought of stirring him afterwards The Almond-tree is of all others the most obnoxious to Frosts by reason of his early blossoming all the good in him is this that he never sends forth any Suckers from the Root Cherries Cherries Bigarreaux and the like fruits are better propagated on the small
the Winter Before you remove them soyl the ground very well and then giving it another digging turn the dung into the bottom then taking them out of your Nursery beds cut off their tops and transplant them in quarters two ranges in a Bed and a yard distant making a small Trench or Line as I shewed before concerning removing of Cabbages which I forbear to repeat to avoid prolixity If you would have them abound in fair Cards you must keep them well hou'd Weeded and watred when you perceive they need it Gathering You must not cut them when you gather but pull them off from the plant drawing them a little aside and so you shall not injure the stalk but rather improve those which remain a little time will repair its loss Plant not those for Cards which you shall finde green for they degenerate Sowing You may sowe them all the Summer that you may have for the Pot and to farce such as are tender also at the end of August which you may let stand all the winter as a Nursery and transplant at Spring which will furnish you with Leeks very early red Beets There is a Red Beet if you desire to have of them for Curiosity rather then for use because they produce but small Cards which being boyled lose much of their tincture becoming pale which renders them lesse agreeable to the Palat and to the Eye then the white Seed For the Seed leave growing of the whitest and largest without cropping any of their leaves which you shall support with a good stake lest its weight overthrow it to the prejudice of the Seeds which would then rot in lieu of ripening Two Plants are sufficient to store you amply which you shall pull up in fair weather when by the yellownesse of the colour you shall judge it to be ripe and lay a drying afterwards rub out the seeds with your hands upon some cloth and cleansing it from the husks give it a second drying lest it become musty for being of a spongy substance as the Red Beets are it will continue a long time moyst Orache There is another sort of Beets which is called Oracke very agreeable to the taste it is excellent in Pottage and carryes its own Butter in it self it is raised as the former is excepting only that you may plant it neerer and needs no transplanting 't is sufficient that it be weeded and houed when there is cause Succory There are several kindes of Garden Succories different in leaf and bignessâ— but resembling in taste and which are to be ordered alike Season Sow it in the Spring upon the borders when it has 6 leaves replant it in rich ground about 18 inches distance paring them at the tops When they are grown so large as to cover the ground tye them up as I instructed you before where I treated of Rom Lettuce not to bind them up by handfuls as they grow promiscuously but the strongest forwardest at first letting the other fortifie I remit you thitherto avoâ—d repetition It is in the second Section Art Lettuce where you will also finde the manner of whiting it under earthen Pots Blanching There is yet another fashion of Blanching it In the great heats when instead of heading you perceive it would run to seed hollow the earth at one side of the Plant and couch it down without violating any of the leaves and so cover it leaving out only the tops and extremity of the leaves and thus it will become white in a little time and be hindred from running to seed Those who are very curious bind the leaves gently before they interre them to keep out the Grit from entring between them which is very troublesome to wash out when you would dresse it Remember to couch them all at one side one upon another as they grew being planted beginning with that which is neerest the end of the Bed and continuing to lay them the second upon the first and the third upon the second till you have finished all the ranges I finde likewise two other manners of blanching them for the Wintâ—r The first is at the first frosts That you â—ye them after the ordinary way and then at the end of eight or ten dayes plucking them up couch them in the bed where you raised them from seeds making a small trench cross the Bed the height of your plant which will be about eight inches beginning at one end In this you shall range your plants side by side so as they may gently touch and a little shelving this done cover them with small rotten dung of the same bed Then make another Furrow for a second range in which order lay your plants as before continuing this order til you have finish'd and last of all cover the whole bed four fingers thick with hot soyl fresh drawn out of the Stable and in a short time they will be blanched If you will afterwards cover the Bed with some Mats placed aâ—lant like the ridge of a house to preserve them from the rain they will last a very long time without rotting When you would have any of them for use begin at the last which you buried and taking them as they come draw them out of the range and break off what you finde rotten upon the place or that which has contracted any blacknesse from the dung before you put it into your Basket for the Kitchen Housing A second manner of preserving it is to interre it as before in Furrows of Sand in the Cellar placing the root upmost lest the Sand run in between the leaves and you finde it in the Dish when they serve it You need not here bestow any Dung upon them it is sufficient that the Sand cover the Plant four fingers high and when you take it out for use before you dresse it shake it well the Root upmost that all the Sand may fall out from the leaves Take them likewise as they happen to lye in the Ranges There is a kinde of Succory which hardens of it self without binding which is a small sort but very much prized for its excellence Seed For the Seed leave of the fairest Plants growing and particularly such as you perceive would whiten of themselves and head without tying Let it well mature though it a little over ripen since it is not subject to scatter and fall out as many others are On the contrary when being exceedingly dryed you shall lay it upon the Barn-floor you shall have much adoe to fetch out the Seeds from the heads though you thrash it with a Flail Endive Of Endive or wilde Succory some of it bears a blew Flower others a white it is to be governed like the Garden but with lesse difficulty for you need only sowe it in a small Rill weeding houing and thinning it in due season Blanching Housing To blanch it cover it only with reasonable warm dung and drawing it out at the first appearance of Frost keep it under