from that which he recommends; I earnestly entreat the reader to impute it to the true cause, namely, my zeal to prevent his being mislead [mifled] by fome miftakes which have escaped that celebrated writer.' The reader muft judge between us, in this, on my fide very unequal conteft.'Mr. Mills farther adds, that the juftice which he owes to the public calls upon him to give reasons for his thinking differently from so established a master.

All this may be very right: but it feems rather fomewhat odd, to set up those fame readers for judges in a controverfy; whom, but just before, he apprehended to be fo extremely liable themselves to be misled by the mistakes of another.

What he calls CHAP. I. (though the only one contained in the whole volume) treats of gardening in general, so far as is profitable to the farmer, and the country-gentleman; and is divided into the following feven fections, viz.

§. I. Of the Kitchen Garden.

6. II. Of the Fruit Garden.

S. III. Of the Orchard.

§. IV. Of the Diftempers of Fruit Trees.

§. V. Of the Culture of the Vine. [In Vineyards.] S. VI. Of the Culture of Olive Trees.

S. VII. Of the Culture and Management of Hops.

Moft readers, we prefume, will be fomewhat furprized at feeing vineyards and olive-yards made part of a fyftem of husbandry; but thofe articles are intended, it feems, for the benefit of our colonies, chiefly; as the advantages which may arife from a proper culture of the vine, and olive-tree, in fuitable parts of our [now] immenfe poffeffions in America, are acknowledged to be very great.

The pleasure or flower garden, being intended folely for ornament and recreation, is very properly omitted in this work; the [profeffed] defign of which is utility.-But

Neither the hufbandman, nor the country gentleman, who prefers utility to show, can set about an easier or more profitable branch of culture, than that of the kitchen and fruit garden, which may very properly be intermixed, and occupy one and the fame fpot of ground, fince they both require a good, deep foil, and nearly the fame expofure: [and] the walls which inclofe the kitchen garden, will be extremely ferviceable for fruit.'

The chief things to be confidered in the choice of a spot of ground for a kitchen and fruit garden are, the fituation, the foil, the conveniency of water, the extent proper to be inclofed, and the manner of inclofing, and laying it out.'

The foil (we are told) should be rich, rather stiff than light, and confiderably deep nor is a moderate degree of moisture any objection, in Mr. Mill's opinion.-The jituation (he fays)

fhould

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fhould be nearly level: because heavy rains would wash away the richest part of the mould, if the declivity were confiderable.

As water is abfolutely neceffary in a kitchen garden, care fhould be taken to provide it, so that it may be come at as easily as poffible: otherwife the plants may fuffer (we are told) for want of it.

The fize of this garden, Mr. Mills very judiciously determines, fhould be proportioned to the wants of the family; but with a much larger allowance of ground than is ufually allotted, in order that the plants may be benefited by stirring the earth between them whilst they grow.'

It fhould be inclofed with a wall, either of brick or ftone; but brick is beft, for the greater conveniency of nailing up the fruit trees which are to be planted against it.'

In the distribution of this garden, care should be taken to lay the walks out fo as to obtain the greatest convenience for sup plying each part with manure and water, and as easy access as poffible to its different quarters, which may be furrounded with efpaliers.'

Mr. Mills declares himself an enemy to that too common practice of sowing peas and beans, for an early crop, on the borders, under a fouth wall, where fruit-trees are planted. This practice is certainly detrimental to the trees; and Mr. Mills thinks it of no great benefit to the above-mentioned crops themfelves.

It is a general opinion, [he fays, p. 20.] that plants fhettered by walls, so as to be defended from nipping winds, and to have the additional warmth of the reflected heat of the wall, are leaft liable to be destroyed by the winter's frofts; for which reafon early crops are commonly fown in borders fo fituated.The fun [he adds] will undoubtedly give greater motion to the fap of plants there, and they may, for this reafon, feem stronger. But if we confider, that the walls yield no protection against the feverity of the night's froft, and that the effect of this froft must be most severely felt by plants whose fap is in the greatest motion; we may rather fear that this situation, instead of being beneficial, may, in fact, counteract the very end propofed. To be fatisfied of this, a friend of mine fowed fome early peas in a border at the foot of a south wall, and at the fame time fome others, of the fame fort, in an open field adjacent to the garden; and he found, that the latter were by much the least damaged by the winter's frofts; nor did he perceive any great difference in the feafon of their blooming.'

In the next page, Mr. Mills points out another error, too common amongft gardeners; which is, letting their plants (of whatever kind) remain on the ground till they have ripened their feeds, and wither; not confidering that whilft a plant is

full

full of fap, it preferves the earth in a loose ftate, probably by means of the moisture perspired from its roots; but yet, when permitted to stand till its feed is ripe, or the plant withers, it then leaves the impoverished earth dry and hard; being itself become entirely void of fap.'

Sect. I. begins with an obfervation, that the Kitchen Garden, if rightly managed, is the inoft useful and profitable spot of ground that either the country gentleman, or husbandman, can cultivate.

• Two effential rules to be obferved in the management of a kitchen garden are, never to crowd the ground with more plants then it is able to nourish properly; and never to let any part of it remain unoccupied, for want of a due fucceffion of crops. By this means the mafter, whom I would advise always to be his own gardener, at least fo far as perfonally to direct and fuperintend whatever is done, may have his table conftantly fupplied with fuch vegetables as he likes beft, no part of his ground will lie useless, and each of its products will be brought to perfection.'

The general heads, under which Mr. Mills ranges the plants proper for the kitchen garden, are, 1, Thofe which are cultivated for their roots. 2, Such as are cultivated for their tender fhoots, heads, or leaves. 3, Legumes. 4, Salleting. 5, Sweetherbs; and, 6, thofe raifed in hot-beds. With regard to the culture proper for these feveral kinds of plants, we cannot pretend to infert it; but muft obferve, that in general the rules prefcribed appear to be, moft of them, very rational. But though our author, in this part of his work, has made very confiderable ufe of Miller's Dictionary, yet he fometimes ftrongly controverts what is advanced by that great mafter in the art of gardening. In proof of this, we refer to the article, afparagus, from p. 55, to 61, inclufive, where he attacks Mr. Miller pretty fmartly, and with fome fuccefs: but the point in controverfy is of no very great importance, and rather too long for our infertion.

Sect. 2. treats of the Fruit Garden. The ufeful and the agreeable [according to Mr. Mills] concur to recommend this branch of cultivation by fo much the more ftrongly, as the plants which appertain to it, being perennials, require only occafional care, little trouble, and hardly any expence.' -(The two laft-mentioned circumftances can fcarce be applicable, we think, to fuch Fruit-trees as are planted against walls; for, furely, the neceflary pruning and nailing them, must be attended with both trouble and expence. It must be owned, indeed, that Mr. Mills is no great friend to the practice of planting against walls, as may appear from the following quotation, in which he prefers Espaliers.)

REV. Nov. 1765.

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• An undoubted advantage which espaliers have over walls is, that thefe laft, being built close and compact, repel the winds, and by that means damage the tender plants that lie within the reach of the repulfion: whereas the former deaden the violence of the winds, which by not dwelling fo long upon them as they do against walls, are confequently less liable to injure the trees, their bloffoms, or their fruit.

It is a general, and I believe I may say an hitherto almost unvaried, practice to plant all the finer fruits against walls, without fufficiently inquiring into the motives for fo doing.'The chief reafon affigned for planting trees againsts walls is, the additional heat procured by the reflected rays of the fun, and the warmth communicated to the wall itself by the fun. This, fay the advocates for this practice, haftens the ripening of the fruit, and exalts its flavour; befides that the shelter of the walls protects trees, natives of warmer climates, from our fevers north and north-eaft winds."

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To this (fays Mr. Mills) I anfwer, that it is a constant obfervation, that all plants brought from a warmer climate to a colder, endeavour to bloom at their ufual feafon, unless prevented by cold. The confequence of this is, that if the early part of the fpring happens to be warm, the bloffoms of fuch trees fwell, and expand themfelvcs: but as we cannot be exempted from froft fo foon in the feafon, thefe bloffoms are nipped in the bud; that is, the first frofty night stops the circulation in them, and they then neceffarily die.-A very fharp froft, even after the early fruits are fet, has the fame effect on their yet tender vefiels; and the owner is furprized to find his fruit fall off, in a few days after, without any feeming caufe; unless recourfe be had to I know not what peftilential quality in the eaft wind, when the fame effect would follow, did the froft come from any other quarter. Hence it is evident, that fruit trees would be benefited, rather then hurt, by preventing their too early bloffoming.

Some gentlemen endeavour to guard against this accident, by fheltering their trees with fkreens, which have a double effect; that of preferving them from the warmth of the fun by day, and that of defending them from the froft by night. But if thefe trees were planted as ftandards, where the air might play freely round them, the motion of the fap would be lefs forward, and the bloffoms would confequently be lefs exposed to the injuries which happen from their coming out too early. They would likewife efcape another great inconvenience which attends their ftanding against walls; namely, the two (too) great inequality of the heat, as increafed by the wall, and the coldness of the night, against which the wall affords no fhelter, otherwife then as it fkreens the trees from the wind.

• Another

F

Another advantage of ftandards, and that no small one, is, that their fruit is more likely to efcape the ravage of thofe numberlefs infects which harbour and breed in every crevice of a wall, and adhere to the branches nailed to the wall. I must add to this, that the many, and fome of thèm large, wounds which are made in trees, in order to make them fpread in a certain ftated form, render them, and efpecially fuch as are apt to gum, much fhorter lived than they would naturally be; which is a à very manifest disadvantage, because the older trees are, while they continue found, the better and higher flavoured is their fruit. Indeed fome trees do not bear either in plenty or perfection; 'till they have attained their full growth; by which time they are often deftroyed by the fometimes neceffary, but more frequently injudicious, ufe of the knife. Now a standard efcapes that danger.

A farther reafon which renders walls the lefs neceffary is, that the fruits planted against them ripen before the fun has acquired its full force in this climate. This is what happens to all our apricots, to most of our nectarines, and to the finest of our peaches for it is well known, that the month of July is our hottest season, and that the heat of that month will therefore the most perfectly exalt the juices and flavour of fruit.'

Our Author has furely miftaken the time when peaches and nectarines are ripe. He is greatly, but we think needlessly, afraid, that fuch of them as are planted against walls fhould be ripened before they can have the benefit of a July fun. Some few forts may perhaps, be ripe in that month; but most of them will require the addition of Auguft, not to fay September, to render them fit for the table, notwithstanding all the advantage they can receive from a common brick-wall..

Mr. Mills, inftead of peaches and nectarines, (as his argument required) gives us an iriftance, that

An apricot tree transplanted some years ago, even into a field, bore fruit, in the very unfavourable fummer of 1763, much higher flavoured than it had ever done against a wall, or Indeed than any tree against the wall had ever borne, in the garden from whence it was tranfplanted; though the field was exactly the fame foil as the garden.'- The fame thing (he fays) happened to a green gage.'

Walls (he allows) may be neceffary for the later peaches: though even a Catherine peach (he fays) will ripen on a standard, in a favourable fituation.'-Credat Judeus Apella!

The Catherine peach, according to Miller, when planted against a wall, and in a good feafon, may be ripe by the middle of September.

Next follow fome very judicious remarks and directions in A a 2 regard