78 THE VILLA GARDENER. 



The foregoing is gi\ en as an approximation to the usual space occupied by 

 these crops in gentlemen's gardens ; but, as most families have some parti- 

 cular vegetable for which they have a preference, the space for that kind 

 may be enlarged, and that allotted to some ether, for which they care little, 

 diminished. In case, hovvevei*, the reader may wish to have positive rules 

 laid down, we may suggest tliat e may be planted with peas and beans, / 

 with carrots and turnips, g with onions, and h with cabbages ; the little 

 circles may be gooseberry and currant bushes, and in the border below there 

 may be planted strawberries, or spinach or other leafy plants, or salad plants. 

 If strawberries are planted in the centre, then the spinach and salad plants 

 may be planted in the borders under the walls. 



121. The system of the succession of crops in kitchen-gardens (which is as 

 necessary to be understood as the extent to be allowed to each crop) would 

 take too much space to be discussed here ; but it may be useful to state that, 

 as far as possible, plants of the same natural order, and especially of the 

 same genus, should never follow each other in direct succession ; nor should 

 taprooted plants follow each other in succession, even though of different 

 orders : for example, peas should never follow beans, or kidney-beans, or the 

 contrary ; and carrots should never follow beet. Notwithstanding the 

 soundness of these principles, they i-equire to be taken in connexion with 

 another principle, no less important ; viz., that of expediency. Thus, it 

 frequently happens, from the lateness of the season, that a crop is longer 

 than usual before it is ready to be removed from the ground ; or, from the 

 dryness and warmth of the summer, that a crop is removed sooner than 

 usual. When the siimmer crop is not all removed at the proper time, the 

 winter crop (such as spinach, for example, after a crop of cabbages) might be 

 endangered, if sowing it were delayed ; and, therefore, some ground which is 

 empty, though according to the plan of succession laid down it should have 

 been cropped with something else, must be used for the spinach. When, on 

 the contrary, the crop is ripe, and the ground cleared before the expected 

 time, as it is never desirable to see ground without a growing crop, one may 

 be made to follow, for the sake of covering the surface, that did not enter 

 into the regular course of succession. The grand secret of getting the 

 greatest quantity of culinary vegetables from any given surface of ground 

 is, to have one crop coming forward in the same bed, or compartment, to be 

 ready to succeed that which is about to be removed : and, for this purpose, 

 it is always desirable to grow the crops in drills ; a mode which is also 

 attended with several other advantages, as will be hereafter explained. 



122. On the supposition that only a part of the vegetables consumed hy the 

 family can he grown in the hack garden, the next point is to determine those 

 which it is advisable to grow. This depends on various considerations ; such 

 as those kinds in which the occupier is most curious in his taste ; those 

 which the soil and aspect are best calculated for producing ; those which are 

 dearest in the given locality, &c. : but the most general and influential con- 

 sideration is, the keeping or non-keeping properties of culinary vegetables, 

 after being gathered. All vegetables exposed for sale in markets or shops 

 must necessarily have been gathered some time, and, consequently, deprived 

 of their natural succulency, or even injured by fermentation ; and tliis will be 

 the case, more or less, according to the nature of the vegetable, and the mode 

 in which it is brought to market by the grower, and kept by the seller. For 



