. A liberal supply of manure is necessary for a garden; the kinds of manure must be accommodated to the soil and to- the different plants, and must often also depend in part on other circumstances. Care must be taken not to overdose with guano, or indeed with strong manure of any kind, by which plants might be killed rather than nourished. Farm-yard or stable-yard manure ought in general to be subjected to a pro cess of decomposition in heaps before being used; and great advantage is derived from mixing it with other substances to form composts (q.v.). Nor ought any of the weeds and other refuse vegetable produce of the garden to be thrown away or dissipated in smoke, but all should be gathered into some corner appropriated to the purpose, there to decompose and form a heap of vegetable mold, which is for many purposes one of the best manures that can be used. Teat is, in some soils and for some plants, a very useful manure or ingredient in the formation of composts.
A garden ought to be delved or dug with the spade in the end of autumn, except where the presence of a crop prevents, the ground being left very rough, to expose the soil as much as possible to the influences of the weather. When the crops are planted in spring, a very slight stirring of the surface is all that is required. The usefulness of a garden, however, is much increased by making a considerable part of it produce crops even during winter. Greens of various kinds are commonly obtained from the garden during winter, even in the northern parts of Britain; the variety of winter crops in the southern parts is greater; but nowhere is a system of constant cropping so thoroughly maintained as in the market-gardens around London. Of course, constant cropping requires frequent and abundant manuring; and care is taken that each crop is succeeded by one of a completely different Mu d,,a. rule which is indeed always, as far.as possible, to be observed both iu horticulture and agriculture.
In laying out large gardens, fruit-trees trained on espaliers are not unfrequently planted around the borders of plots; in smaller gardens, gooseberry and currant bushes generally occupy this situation, often in addition to a plot entirely devoted to these bushes. Fruit-trees are often also planted as standards in the plots devoted to culinary vegetables. The productiveness Of a garden may certainly thus be increased, as ground duly immured will yield a greater return of different kinds of produce than of one kind, whilst the owner has the additional pleasure of the greater variety; but it is to be remem bered that the roots of trees and bushes spread a long way through the soil, and render it less suitable for many crops.
The implements most necessary in gardening are the spade, fork, rake, hoc, Dutch hoe, garden-line, wheelbarrow, pruning-knife, and watering-can.
The practice of gardening, of course, varies much in different countries, on account of the difference of climate, although some of its rules arc of universal application. Of the history of gardening, little needs be said. We know,little of the gardening of the most ancient nations, except that it was practiced, both for the sake of the produce and for pleasUre, in all the seats of civilization; and that the Greeks borrowed their methods of gardening from the Persians, the Romans in their turn copying from the Greeks. Of the gardening of the Romans, some account has been transmitted to us, from which we know that they had attained no small proficiency in it. During the middle ages, gar dening continued to be sedulously prosecuted in all the more civilized parts of Europe; Charlemagne enacted lawslatich contributed much to its promotion; and even in com paratively barbarous regions it was carried to great perfection by the monks, traces of whose skill and diligence are still to be seen in the vicinity of many a ruined monastery. The practice long prevailed of forming gardens, if situated on a slope, into terraces, and many a fine example of this kind of garden still remains at old country seats. In a few places, also, may be seen remaining specimens of the clipped hedges and fantastically clipped trees and bushes; which, until last century, seem to have been thought the chief ornaments of a garden; other puerile conceits being often associated with them, some of which are not yet entirely exploded, although a green bush in its natural form is uni versally regarded as more beautiful than one made to grow into the shape of a vase or of a peacock. But the history of taste in gardening accords with the history of taste in laying out parks and pleasure-grounds, concerning which, see LANDSCAPE-GARDENING.
The market-gardening of the neighborhood of London is on a scale proportionate to the greatness and wealth of the city; large fields, instead of little plots, are devoted to one kind of crop, awing an illustration it may be mentioned, that from one garden alone 200,000 gherkins (young cucumbers for pickling) have been sent to market in a single day. At Mitcham, near London, and at a few other places in England, Medicinal' plants are largely cultivated. Nurseries are gardens devoted to the raising of young plants, both trees and some kinds of culinary herbs, and of garden-seeds.
The cultivation of the more important garden-plants is noticed under their several heads. See also GREENHOUSE, HOTHOUSE, HOTBED, STOVE, etc.