KITCHEN GARDENS AND ORCHARDS. 



Aspect. 



Extent. 



be made to heighten the effect, dipping wells for watering, tool sheds and fruit rooms 

 which may receive appropriately quaint treatment, walks which may not only aid in 

 forming vistas but may have their surfaces treated in an attractive manner, and, in 

 fact, there seems to be no adjunct to the garden which may not be made pleasant to 

 look upon either from its design or placing, or both. 



These considerations, if fully understood and their potentialities grasped, throw an 

 entirely fresh light on the problem of the placing, design and internal arrangement of 

 this feature, and, if made the most of, will result in a very considerable extension of 

 the pleasure grounds, which, as it is formed by the effective arrangement of material 

 that it will be necessary to supply in some form or other, may be considered to 



be obtained without any added 

 expense. 



Having decided that the con- 

 struction of the kitchen garden as 

 an ornament to the domain is not 

 only desirable but possible, the first 

 question to be settled before com- 

 mencing its construction is- where 

 shall it be placed ? The determining 

 factors in arriving at an answer are 

 of two kinds, practical and aesthetic, 

 and in many cases they will more 

 or less conflict with one another, and 

 thus the result will be a compromise. 

 In those happy instances where the 

 practical requirements are met under 

 the best conditions, there can be 

 no better plan than that adopted 

 at Wych Cross Place in Ashdown 

 Forest (111. No. 280), or at the 

 "Flagstaff" Colwyn Bay (111. Nos. 

 14 and 297), and again in the plan 

 of Little Onn Hall (111. No. 405), 

 in all of which instances the kitchen 

 garden has been so placed that the 

 principal walk gives added length 

 and more pronounced crosswise per- 

 spective to the main terrace walk 

 in front of the house. 



Foremost of the practical considerations is that of aspect, and ground which 

 has a gentle slope to the South, South-east, or South-west is best being sunniest. 

 We must also have shelter beyond that which can be given by the fruit walls either 

 by a hill rising on the North or North-east side, or better still, a wood of well-grown 

 trees ; and a good soil, which however, if it does not already exist may usually be 

 produced artificially. As to the extent of the kitchen garden, with the improved 

 railway and postal facilities which, in case of emergency, will nowadays bring fruit 

 and vegetables from the nearest town in a few hours, it is no longer necessary to 

 lay out huge vegetable gardens such as are still found in many old country demesnes. 

 For a moderate-sized establishment, an acre and a half of kitchen garden would be 

 sufficient, independent of the space allotted to the frame ground and range of glass- 

 houses, while, for a small establishment, three-quarters of an acre of cropping ground 



FIG. 297. CONNECTION BETWEEN PLEASURE GROUNDS AND 

 KITCHEN GARDEN, " THE FLAGSTAFF," COLWYN BAY. 



234 



