KITCHEN GAKDENIJfG. 



cultivating consisted in stirring the ground, and rooting out every grass and weed root 

 as it appeared, mulching the neighborhood of each tree at the same time, and renevr- 

 ing it as often as needed. That was his first summer in the country ; but he will be 

 rewarded as surely as a greenhouse protects tender plants through frosty weather. 



The best fruit garden I ever saw in any part of the world, is on Staten Island, 

 belonging to Samuel T. Joxes, Esq., a distinguished merchant of New York. lie has 

 Peach trees as large round the stem as a man's body, all trained in the best manner, 

 and producing beyond all calculation. They are examined twice a year for the worm ; 

 and besides rich manure and careful cultivation, are treated spring and fall with a 

 double handful of guano mixed with plaster. His Pear trees are perfect gems. Such 

 Vergalieus as he has in profusion, produced last year nine dollars a barrel. The bor- 

 ders of his graperies outside the houses are very large, and always look like a newly 

 raked, deeply dug, and blackly manured, new bed. No spear of grass to be seen in 

 the whole garden. The results such as would inspire the veriest dullard in gardening 

 with a love of the subject. Two acres reclaimed from stony ground, furnishing enouga 

 stone to build a thick, high wall around the whole, is brought into perfect cultiva- 

 tion. It does one's heart good to see such care and nicety. I really believe that two 

 acres thus cultivated with head-knowledge and elbow-labor, produces more in actual 

 money value than many a farm of fifty acres that passes in certain neighborhoods for 

 respectable work. We may see many such a garden in Europe, but how very rarely 

 do we meet with it here. A few years hence we may witness other examples, stimu- 

 lated by such success. 



I hold it to be impossible for a gardener to fully understand his business, and produce 

 the proper effects and results, unless he sees for himself what others have accomplished. 

 An observing visitor never leaves a good garden without having learned something ad- 

 vantageous. At Mr. Jones' he will see the ground very rich, and perhaps come to think 

 that "manure is half a gardener;" he will see every thing in order and in its place; he 

 will, if he asks, learn that the whole garden is dug over in the fall, with as much care 

 as in the spring, and left unraked ; and if he don't know it, can ask the reason there- 

 for. One such visit will do more to open a moleish eye than two to a florist's show. 

 Seeing how things are done, is better for a learner than merely seeing the results. 



KITCHEN GARDENING. 



BY THOMAS MEEHAN, GARDENER TO CALEB COPE, PHILADELPHIA. 



I WAS much interested, recently, in the complaint of a brother gardener, that his 

 employer "cared no more for a rare plant than for a bunch of Beets." I merely in- 

 quired, "Does he care for the Beets ?" This gentleman, it seems, did care for "the 

 Beets;" vegetable-growing was his hobby — vegetable superiority his delight. Now, 

 I honor such a man. There is something workman-like about him which I admire. 

 He begins at the right end. He is a true friend to the gardener ; and we shall 

 ably yet hear his place spoken of as one of the most interesting in the land. 



