THE KITCHEN OR FARMER's GARDEN. 249 



uous or deficient than in this place. The allotment 

 of the ground must be made so as to give the proper 

 proportion to each variety of plant ; and the situa- 

 tion of each must be arranged so as to secure the 

 benefit of air, light, &c., without which perfection 

 cannot be expected. Reference must also be had, 

 in planting the garden one year, to its probable cul- 

 tivation the next, so as to secure a rotation of plants,' 

 and not have the same variety occupy the same 

 ground for successive years, where it can be avoid- 

 ed. Beds or squares are found the most convenient 

 disposition of the surface, as they may be construct- 

 ed with regularity, and the divisions between them 

 will give easy access to the whole. 



The operation of putting in the seed is usually 

 and best performed by the hand. Some few of them 

 may be planted by the drill sufKciently well, but, as 

 a whole, the hand is preferable. Many of the seeds 

 planted are very small, and such, if planted deep, 

 will not germinate ; and if left Avith the earth loose 

 about them, they will also fail. The depth to which 

 ordinar}'' garden seed should be planted can be 

 much better gauged, and the operation of covering 

 more effectuall)'' performed by the hand than in any 

 other way. If the ground is made sufficiently fine, 

 what some gardeners call a hand drill, or a kind of 

 rake, maybe used, with advantage for making the 

 furrows in which the seed is to be deposited. It 

 consists of a rake-head, longer or shorter as required, 

 into which teeth wide at the head and tapering to 

 the point are inserted, at the distance required for 

 the rows of the vegetable to be sown. A handle, in- 

 serted in the usual way, completes the implement. 

 Two or three of them may be necessary, as some 

 plants demand, in growing, a greater distance be- 

 tween the rows than others, and the teeth of the 

 rake or drill must correspond to the required dis- 

 tance . When the ground is fine and in good order 

 for seed, such a drill, drawn across a bed or plat to 

 II.— U 



