How to manage a Garden 



in open competition, and, after catering for his own wants, 

 has had a useful surplus for sale. The secret to all this 

 is deep and thorough digging, and returning to the soil 

 all those parts of the produce not required for food. Well 

 would it be for Britain were such an example multiplied 

 ten thousand times. 



It may seem a curious statement, but it is nevertheless 

 a fact, that the best time to view land which you propose 

 to buy or lease is on a wet day, for then you can the better 

 discover its true character. On a fine day the land may, 

 to a superficial observer, appear crumbling, mellow, and 

 in every way desirable, whereas a few hours' rain would 

 convert it into a mud-pool. In wet weather its good 

 qualities cannot be so easily exaggerated. Better still, 

 however, is it to view the spot on both a wet and a fine 

 day, and to take with you a skilful judge of the growing 

 capacities of land, and let him view a spit of the soil and 

 of the subsoil, not in one, but in various parts. An 

 experienced man will also base his judgment of what is 

 approximately the standard of productiveness on the char- 

 acter of the crops, herbage, or weeds. Further on in 

 this work will be found practical information, founded on 

 experience, of the method of treating different soils in 

 bringing them into preparation for lawns, shrubs, fruit, 

 flowers, and vegetables, for each of which the prelimi- 

 naries are somewhat different. 



Aspect and Shelter. 



The aspect of a plot often makes a great difference in 



the results obtained. On an exposed hillside facing east 

 18 



