KITCHEN GARDENS AND ORCHARDS. 



FIG. 306. 



the roots are put in too deep and without proper arrangement. Instead of this they 

 should be carefully spread out at the top of the border and the soil rounded up over 

 them to a depth of four to six inches. No manure should be placed under the roots 

 but added as a top dressing to induce surface rooting. In stiff clay soils, it is advisable 

 to lay slates or tiles under the brick or stone drainage to prevent the penetration of 

 tap roots into the cold subsoil. 



Paths. \ The paths may be made either before or after the formation and 



planting of the fruit borders, according to the amount of time available 

 before the planting season, for nothing must be allowed to delay 

 the latter work from one season to the next. Only when the garden 

 exceeds four acres in extent will it be found necessary to make a cart 

 road through it, but the walks should vary in width according to 

 their use. The kitchen garden at Dunchurch Lodge (111. No. 295) 

 presents a very typical example, and here the main walks were made 

 nine feet wide and the minor paths six feet, widths which have proved 

 ample. For gardens of an acre in extent the principal path might be as little as 

 six feet six inches broad and the minor paths only five feet. In the kitchen garden 

 it is possible to adopt a form of walk which would not be suitable for the flower 

 garden or terraces, but whatever the material used, it is very important that they 

 should be well made and efficiently drained as they are subjected to hard wear, 

 and a poorly constructed path would soon be cut up by the barrows. A very good 

 plan and one which can be made to look very effective is to lay a narrow band of 

 York stone flag or " granolithic " patent stone along the centre of the path on which 

 to run the barrows and to take, also, most of the pedestrian wear. If, on either side, 

 this strip is backed up by cobble paving with a stone edging to the beds, such as that 

 shown in illustration No. 306, the result may be very good, and has the further 

 advantage that, after a shower, when the flat flags are very wet to the feet, the rounded 

 surfaces of the cobbles lift one out of the water, which runs away between the stones. 

 The gardener may object to the latter material on the score that weeding between the 

 cobbles is tiresome work, but if they are laid in cement, no weeds will grow, while, in 

 other cases, an occasional sprinkling of boiling water, especially if a little weed-killer is 

 added, will completely remedy the evil. In a brick district, paving in red bricks, 

 such as that shown in illustration No. 304, may be very charming if intelligently used, 

 as it will give such a pleasant colour contrast with the greenery, an advantage shared 

 with red shale and burnt ballast, which latter materials, however, have a troublesome 

 way of picking up badly after a frost, that is, they stick to the boots in large heavy 



masses, leaving holes in the path 

 at every step. Even tar paving, 

 which makes a pretty flower 

 garden almost impossible, may 

 often be used in the kitchen 

 garden with success. It should 

 not be used where the area 

 of the paths is exceptionally 

 large, however, or the. emana- 

 tions from the tar may have a deleterious effect of the neighbouring plant life. 



Edgings to All the remarks as to stone, brick or terra-cotta edgings for walks given in Chapter 



beds. IX. apply equally to the kitchen garden, but whichever of these is adopted, it should 



be laid in cement so that it may not be disturbed by digging operations. Grass is not 



suitable for edging ordinary kitchen garden paths unless in those rare instances where 



it can be laid in very broad strips, but it may be used where herbaceous borders line 



FIG. 307. 



240 



