CROPS AND PROFITS. 167 



upon soil which will not admit of- it, and justify it. 

 If otherwise, my advice is, not to trench, but sell to 

 an amateur. 



How a Garden should Look. 



THE aesthetic element does not abound in the 

 minds of country farmers ; and there is not 

 one in a thousand who has any conception of a gar 

 den, save as a patch (always weedy) where the good- 

 wife can pluck a few condiments for dinner. If you 

 visit one, he may possibly take you to see a * likely 

 yearling, or a corn crop, but rarely to his garden. 

 Yet there is no economic reason why a farmer s 

 .garden should not make as good and as orderly a 

 show, as his field crops. 



A straight line is not greatly more difficult to 

 make than a crooked one. The absurd borders, in 

 deed, where dirt is thrown into line, and beaten with 

 a spade, is a mere caprice, which there is no need 

 to imitate ; but the neatness which belongs to true 

 lines of plants, regular intervals between crops, per 

 fect cleanliness, is another matter ; and is so feasible 

 and so telling in effect, that no farmer has good ex 

 cuse for neglecting it. Effective groupings, again, of 

 dwarf trees and fruit shrubbery, whether in rows, 

 curves, or by gradations of size, give points of inter 

 est, and contribute to the attractions of a garden. 



