CHAPTER VI 



KITCHEN-GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



HITHERTO we have mainly considered that part of garden 

 design which has for its object the production of pleasant 

 scenes, of pictures formed by gay flowers, and beauteous 

 carpets and backgrounds of greenery. But utilitarian 

 ends have yet to be served, and fruits and vegetables 

 must be grown to supply our needs. There need be 

 nothing dull or prosaic about the kitchen-garden and 

 orchard, distinct though they be from that which is 

 purely ornamental. The truest garden pictures are often 

 to be found in these seemingly severe and business-like 

 quarters, and these without in any way varying the 

 keynote of utility, which is the chief reason for their 

 existence. 



A foolish prejudice has of recent years been raised 

 against the kitchen-garden, and the designer is often 

 asked to hide it away in some remote corner of the plan. 

 It must be carefully screened away from the gaze of 

 visitors, as though there were something to be ashamed 

 of in being the possessor of a piece of ground, where 

 the best of fruits may be grown, and gathered in the 

 freshest condition. Personally I would rather wander 

 in such plebeian quarters than in many of the tricked- 

 out landscape gardens which excite such wonderment and 

 admiration. Are there not a thousand sights dear to the 

 heart of the nature lover the tender blossoms of the 

 fruit-trees, the drowsy hum of bees, the old-fashioned 

 lavender hedges and reserve borders of mixed flowers 



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