152 GARDENING. 



garden vegetables, and not positively unfriendly to 

 any. The third should have an inclination to the 

 south and east, as this exposure will best secure 

 that temperature both of the earth and of the air 

 which is most favourable to vegetation ; and of the 

 fourth we need only remark, that it is emphatically 

 called the life of plants.* 



The size and shape of this species of garden are 

 not indifferent, but admit no positive rules for their 

 regulation, because depending on circumstances 

 rarely alike in two cases ; the nature of the ground, 

 and the wants or ability of the occupier. On these 

 heads, therefore, we only say that a parallelogram 

 and a square are the forms most approved, because 

 most susceptible of a cheap, and easy, and regular 

 arrangement into beds ; and that two acres\ devoted 

 to the culture of table vegetables will furnish an 

 abundant supply for even a large family. 



With these few preliminary remarks, we proceed 

 to what is more peculiarly the object of this branch 

 of our work, viz., an enumeration of the articles 

 selected for garden culture, and the means best cal- 

 culated for bringing them to that degree of perfec- 

 tion of which they may be respectively susceptible. 



THE ARTICHOKE (Cynara Scolymus). The proto- 

 type of this race is a native of the south of Europe, 

 and rarely to be found in northern climates, except- 

 ing in botanical collections ; the varieties produced 

 by culture are much preferable to the parent plant.f 



* Water impregnated with minerals is not merely useless, 

 but injurious to vegetation. Such is often the water found in 

 wells, and sometimes in rivulets. River and rain water may 

 always be safely employed, as well from their constituent parts 

 as from their temperature. Every garden should have a pond to 

 receive and hold rain water. 



t The author, doubtless, would include potatoes, and esculent 

 garden vegetables of every kind in this estimate. 



% Miller considers the globe artichoke, which he calls the 

 Cynara Hortensis, as a distinct species from the Cynara Scoly- 

 mus, and rests his opinion on the difference between the two 



