1C2 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



to the south-e?.3t, south, or west, might be an advantage ; on no account 

 should it incline to the north. Some gardens, however, are formed on the 

 side of a hill, — the Countess of Bridgewater's, at Ashridge Park, for instance, 

 — and I believe it is very px'oductive. Where it is nearly level, it may often 

 be desirable to give fruit-tree borders a considerable inclination, to get the 

 benefit of the sun's rays, and insure thorough drainage. Borders against the 

 wall may be sloped in directions opposite to those which line the inner side of the 

 walk. These borders have also a good efiect laid on in round ridges. In level 

 kitchen-gardens it is often desirable to throw up sloj^ing banks or zigzag ridges 

 for early and late crops. The south front of such banks, especially if a thatched 

 hurdle or some other check to the wind is placed on the top, is equal to a 

 south border ; and the north side is equally useful for late strawberries, 

 Ealading in hot weather, &c. Such banks are also most usefid for training 

 peas, &c., on table-trastles, within one foot or eighteen inches of the surface. 

 Some of the borders at the side of the walk might also be occupied by ii'on 

 wire for training trees or espaliers, table-trestles, kc. One should be devoted 

 to rasps, planted 3 feet from the walks, and trained to a handrail at the side 

 of the walk, fi-om 3 to 4 feet high. The advantages of this sjstem, on the 

 ground of beauty, doing justice to the young wood, and the facility and pleasure 

 of gathering, must be at once apparent. 



380. The si7c of the kitchen-garden must depend upon the demands upon 

 it, and the mode of culture adopted. It is bad policy to have it too large. It 

 should be kept in the highest state of cultivation, and its productive power.s 

 stimulated to the utmost by liberal dressings of manure. The soil should be 

 trenched at least 4 feet deep, and drained a foot deeper. All the coarse 

 vegetables, such as Jerusalem and globe artichokes, horseradish, rhubarb, &c., 

 should be gTOwn outside the walls, if possible, in a slip by themselves. Herbs 

 should have a border devoted to them, and be grown in beds 3 feet wide. 

 Thus cultivated, the back-garden becomes a source of interest and an object 

 of beauty, and they are easily accessible. But I forbear entering into details, 

 lest I infringe upon the province of others. Suffice to saj", that all I have 

 here adN'ised is as applicable to the plot a fewj-ards square as to the nobleman's 

 garden of 10 or 20 acres ; and that I never could see why the kitchen-garden 

 should not bear the impress of order, design, and high keeping, as much as 

 any other part of the grounds, or why this need interfere with securing the 

 largest amount of produce of the best quality from a given space, which 

 should be the leading object in this department. — D. T. F. 



