Under this head are included those esculents which are largely eaten as
"vegetables" or as "salads." The more important are treated under their
individual headings (see ARTICHOKE, ASPARAGUS, BEAN, &c. &c.). The
culinary herbs used for flavouring and garnishing are for the most part
dwarf perennial plants requiring to be grown on a rich soil in an open
sunny aspect, or annuals for which a warm sheltered border is the most
suitable place; and they may therefore be conveniently grown together in
the same compartment--a herb garden. The perennials should be
transplanted either every year or every second year. For winter use the
tops of the most useful kinds of herbs should be cut when in flower or
full leaf and quite dry, and spread out in an airy but shady place so
as to part slowly with the moisture they contain and at the same time
retain their aromatic properties. When quite dry they should be put into
dry wide-mouthed bottles and kept closely corked. In this way such herbs
as basil, marjoram, mint, sage, savory, thyme, balm, chamomile,
horehound, hyssop and rue, as well as parsley, may be had throughout the
season with almost the full flavour of the fresh herb.
_Intensive Cultivation._--This name has been applied to the method of
forcing early vegetables and salads during the winter and spring months
in the market gardens in the neighbourhood of Paris. The system is now
popularly known in England as "French gardening." Although a few assert
that it is an old English one that has been discarded in favour of
superior methods, there seems to be little or no evidence in support of
this contention. The system itself has been practised for about 300
years in the "marais" gardens round Paris. At one time these gardens
were in the centre of the city itself, but owing to modern improvements
they have been gradually pushed out beyond the city boundaries farther
and farther. Most of these gardens are small--not more than a couple of
acres in extent, and the rent paid by the _maraicher_, or market
gardener, is very high--as much as L30 to L40 per acre.
The French _maraicher_ does not use hot-water apparatus for forcing his
plants into early growth. He relies mainly upon the best stable manure,
a few shallow frames about 4(1/2) ft. wide covered with lights, and a
number of large bell glasses or "cloches." The work is carried on from
October till the end of March and April, after which, with the exception
of melons, the cultures are carried on in the open air.
The chief crops grown for early supplies, or "primeurs" as they are
called, are special varieties of cos and cabbage lettuces, short
carrots, radishes, turnips, cauliflowers, endives, spinach, onions, corn
salad and celery. To these is added a very important crop of melons, a
special large-fruited variety known as the Prescott Canteloup being the
most favoured.
It is astonishing how much produce is taken off one of these small
intensive gardens during the year, and especially during the worst
months when prices usually run fairly high. The fact that rents are so
heavy around Paris is in itself an indication of the money that is
realized by the growers not only in the Paris markets, but also in
Covent Garden.
During the winter season narrow beds are made up of manure, either quite
fresh or mixed with old manure, according to the amount of heat
required. These beds are covered with a few inches of the fine old mould
obtained from the decayed manure of previous years. In the early stages
seeds of carrots and radishes are sown simultaneously on the same beds,
and over them young lettuces that have been raised in advance are
planted. In this way three crops are actually on the same beds at the
same time. Owing, however, to the difference in their vegetative growth,
they mature one after the other instead of simultaneously. Thus with the
genial warmth and moisture of the hotbeds, all crops grow rapidly, but
the radishes mature first, then the lettuces are taken off in due
course, thus leaving the beds to finish up with the carrots by
themselves. Later on in the season, perhaps small cauliflowers will be
planted along the margins of the beds where the carrots are growing, and
will be developing into larger plants requiring more space by the time
all the carrots have been picked and marketed. So on throughout the year
with other crops, this system of intercropping or overlapping of one
crop with another is carried out in a most ingenious manner, not only
under glass lights, but also in the open air. Spinach, corn salad,
radishes and carrots are the favourite crops for sowing between others
such as lettuces and cauliflowers.
Although enormous quantities of water are required during the summer
season, great care must be exercised in applying water to the winter
crops. When severe frost prevails the lights or cloches are rarely taken
off except to gather mature specimens; and no water is given directly
overhead to the plants for fear of chilling them and checking growth.
They must secure their supply of moisture from the rain that falls on
the glass, and flows into the narrow pathways from 9 in. to 12 in. wide
between each range of frames. As the beds are only about 4(1/2) ft.
wide, the water from the pathways is soaked up on each side by capillary
attraction, and in this way the roots secure a sufficient supply.
Besides an abundance of water in summer there must also be an enormous
quantity of good stable manure available during the winter months. This
is necessary not only to make up the required hotbeds in the first
place, but also to fill in the pathways between the frames, wherever it
is considered advisable to maintain the heat within the frames at a
certain point. As it is impossible to use an ordinary wheelbarrow in
these narrow pathways, the workman carries a specially made wicker
basket called a "hotte" on his shoulders by means of two straps. In this
way large quantities of manure are easily transported to any required
spot, and although the work looks hard to an English gardener, the
Frenchman says he can carry more manure with less fatigue in half a day
than an Englishman can transport in a day with a wheelbarrow.
This is merely an outline of the system, which is now being taken up in
various parts of the United Kingdom, but not too rapidly. The initial
expenses for frames, lights, cloches, mats and water-supply are in many
cases prohibitive to men with the necessary gardening experience, while
on the other hand those who have the capital lack the practical
knowledge so essential to success.
For full details of this system see _French Market-Gardening, with
details of Intensive Cultivation_, by John Weathers (London, 1909).