Novembar 6, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



317 



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1. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN.— No. 1. 



lii?.^- '^^ apology, I think, is needed for entering upon 

 the subject of tlie kitchen garden, because 

 whichever way the matter is looked upon, or 

 whatever view is taken of it, the same result 

 will follow — that is, there is no getting over 

 the fact that this department of the garden 

 is not only the most substantial, but, I think 

 I may add, the most profitable of all depart- 

 ments. It is substantial, because it aftbrds 

 very wholesome food for consumption, which 

 no one can well do without ; and it is profitable, because, 

 if properly worked, its produce is greater and more ser- 

 viceable, according to the outlay of expenditure, than that 

 of the more expensive departments : of course I aUude 

 to the requirements of private establishments. But in 

 taking a wider view of this branch of gardening, and see- 

 ing the enormous acreage around London and most 

 large provincial towns under tillage for vegetables, it is 

 clear enough to the most sceptical that the cultivation of 

 vegetables affords employment to a gooiUy number of 

 the population where they are grown, and is a source of 

 profit to the market gardener ; and last, but not least, it 

 proves that the consumption of vegetables forms no un- 

 important item in the daily food of the inhabitants. Well, 

 now, seeing that it has always been so clearly before us 

 that the cultivation of vegetables is a necessity ; and as 

 much so in a private garden as in any other, there may 

 be reason to complain a little when we associate the 

 rising generation of gardeners with this branch of garden- 

 ing. Of course there are exceptions, but the majority of 

 them have literally shunned the use of the spade ; and the 

 beaWer operations, such as digging and trenching, moving 

 earth for the purpose of making beds and borders, plant- 

 ing, hoeing and stirring the soil, ridging, and the general 

 working of the soil, to say nothing of sowing, transplant- 

 ing, and planting, have received but .slight attention com- 

 pared with the more attractive duties attending plant- 

 growing and other kinds of lighter work under glass. 

 I say that in these days of progress the kitchen garden 

 must not be left in the background, and I fancy that it 

 needs no very extraordinary prophet to foresee that the 

 time is not far distant when the general management of 

 the kitchen garden and tlie produce therefrom will be 

 regarded more as a standard of merit by which a gardener 

 may hope to succeed than it was a few years ago ; and 

 there is now no lack of opportunity to excel in this part 

 of gardening if there is the inclination. 



Amateurs have not been slow to recognise the im- 

 portance of a good garden, and have within the last few 

 years gone into this branch of gardening in riglit good 

 earnest and witli a will that does them credit, and pro- 

 vision for vegetable as well as fruit-growing is constantly 

 springing up among them and around their dwellings, so 

 that one desires to render them some assistance if pos- 

 sible. I therefore purpose writing a series of papers ex- 

 clusively for the u.se of the amateur relating to the kitchen 

 garden, giving directions and opinions upon formiDg it, 



No. «8— Vol. XXV., Nxw Ssaili. 



desirable walls and trees for each of their aspects, making 

 walks, laying-out the quarters, planting trees, and crop- 

 ping, giving any other details that may occur to my mind 

 as I proceed, with the hope that it may prove acceptable 

 to yoiu- readers. — Thomas Eecokd. 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTING.— No. 10. 



CLIMBING PLANTS. 



Of all the really valuable classes of shrubs there are 

 none so little known or cultivated as those which from 

 the freedom of their growth are termed climbing plants. 

 It is, doubtless, a paucity of wall-space that deters so 

 many from the culture of these plants ; there are, how- 

 ever, a variety of uses to which they are applicable, apart 

 from the covering of walls. Pegging-down the long shoots 

 of Roses over the surface of banks and flower beds was a 

 step in the right direction, and Clematis Jackmanni, with 

 its numerous progeny, has become increasingly popular 

 since its value as a bedding pLant has become generally 

 known. Ai-bours, fences, heaps of roots, rooks, and wire- 

 work may all be turned to account for the imrpose, and 

 thereby gain much in appearance and add considerably 

 to the attractions of a garden. Much caution should be 

 exercised when artificial surfaces are prepared, both as 

 to the materials used and the position selected for them ; 

 a rootery standing out upon a lawn would always im- 

 press one as a mi.splaced and incongruous object, but it 

 would not do so if it were placed upon a bold sweep of a 

 shrubbery border, so that the back or higher part of it 

 became merged in the growth of the shrubs. In such a 

 position it might touch the margin or even project some- 

 what upon the lawn ; and the planting need not be con- 

 fined solely to climbers, but should embrace a variety of 

 dwarf-flowering and evergreen plants, so as to render it 

 attractive at all seasons of the year. A mass of Juniperus 

 tamariscifolia might agreeably lend the dense green 

 carpeting of its spreading growth ; the bright pink Erica 

 carnea, the white Heath-liko flower bells of Andromeda 

 floribunda and Pernettya angustifolia, and a host of 

 kindred forms there are, among whicli the trailing growth 

 of Clematis, Honeysuckle, Virginian Creeper, Cotoneaster, 

 and others that are thoroughly hardy might ramble. 

 Pillar Roses, Ivy trained over wire in the form of cones, 

 the wire arches and pendant chains of the rosery, all form 

 prominent and pleasing objects when well managed, and 

 a bank may be made to answer as an admirable substitute 

 for a wall for a collection of choice climbers. 



In arranging plants of this class it is important to mix 

 the evergreen and deciduous varieties so far as is prac- 

 ticable, so as to avoid much of tliat bareness which has 

 such a forlorn appearance during winter. Duo attention 

 sliould also be given to securing an agreeable variety of 

 colour among the flowers. 



Tlio Clematis, from the profusion of flowers which it 

 yields, and its groat and varied beauty, deservedly ranks 

 high in this section. The efl'ect of a vigorous old plant of 

 montana when laden with its thousands of wliite blos- 

 soms is very striking. C. Flanuiiula is another fine wliito 



Mo. 1310.— Vol. L., Old Series. 



