58 HORTICULTURE. 



work in the gardens and vineyards ; and they always do the same 

 here when they have land in their own possession. Now in every 

 garden, vineyard, or orchard, there is a great deal of light work, 

 that may be as well performed by the younger members of such a 

 family as by any others. Hence, we learn that the Germans, in the 

 large vineyards now growing on the Ohio, are able to cultivate the 

 grape more profitably than other persons ; and hence, German fami- 

 lies, accustomed to this kind of labor, majr be employed by contract 

 in doing certain kinds of horticultural labors, at a great saving to 

 the employer. 



Another mode of economizing, in this kind of expenditure, is by 

 the use of all possible labor-saving machines. One of our corres- 

 pondents a practical gardener recommended, in our last num- 

 ber, that the kitchen garden, in this country, in places of any im- 

 portance, should always be placed near the stables, to save trouble 

 and time in carting manure ; and should be so arranged as to allow 

 the plough and cultivator to be used, instead of the spade and hoe. 

 This is excellent and judicious advice, and exactly adapted to this 

 country. In parts of Europe where garden labor can be had for 20 

 cents a day, the kitchen garden may properly be treated with such 

 nicety that not only good vegetables, but something ornamental 

 shall be attained by it. But here, where the pay is as much for one 

 man's labor as that of five men's labor is worth in Germany, it is far 

 better to cheapen the cost of vegetables, and pay for ornamental 

 work where it is more needed. 



So, too, with regard to eveiy instance, where the more cheap and 

 rapid working of an improved machine, or implement, may be sub- 

 stituted for manual labor. In several of the largest country seats 

 on the Hudson, where there is so great an extent of walks and car- 

 riage road, that several men would be employed almost constantly 

 in keeping them in order, they are all cleaned of weeds in a day by 

 the aid of the horse hoe for gravel walks, described in the appendix 

 to our Landscape Gardening. In all such cases as these, the pro- 

 prietor not only gets rid of the trouble and care of employing a 

 large number of workmen, but of the annoyance of paying more 

 than their labor is fairly worth for the purpose in question. 



There are many modes of economizing in the expenditures of a 



