116 THE KITCHEN-GARDEX. [CHAP. VI. 



The situation of the kitchen-garden must of 

 course be partly determined by that of the 

 house and offices ; as it should be near the 

 stables for the sake of manure, and near the 

 kitchen offices for the convenience of not having 

 far to carry the fruit and other crops. There 

 should also be a convenient road to it concealed 

 from the pleasure-ground. In small suburban 

 gardens there should always be a convenient, 

 and, if possible, a partially concealed, road for 

 servants to bring in vegetables ; and there 

 should be a little plot of ground for thyme, 

 mint, sage, parsley, &c, very near the kitchen 

 door. 



The surface of a large detached kitchen- 

 garden should be level, or gently sloping to 

 the south or south-east; and there should be 

 no plantations or high trees within a hundred 

 or a hundred and fifty feet, to insure a free 

 current of air, which is essential to the welfare 

 of the crops. The whole of the garden should 

 be well drained ; and a basin for water should 

 be in the centre, open to the air, for the con- 

 venience of watering. A kitchen-garden should 

 never be placed in a valley, as in such a situa- 

 tion it would be damp, and very liable to injury 

 from frost ; and it should not be on the summit 

 of a hill, because it would be exposed to high 

 winds. 



The general form and arrangement of all 

 large kitchen-gardens being alike, it is obvious 

 that they must have been determined by some 

 general principle ; and this principle appears to 

 be utility. The walks are made straight, that 

 the heavy loads wheeled along them may not 



