A FEW WORDS ON THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 41 7 



But now for the exceptions. Every mail cannot " locate " hira- 

 B^lf in precisely that position where the best soil is to be found. Cir- 

 cumstances, on the contrary, often force us to build houses, and make 

 kitchen gardens, where Dame Nature evidently never contemplated 

 such a thing ; where, in fact, instead of the rich, deep accumulations 

 of fertile soil, that she frequently offers us in this country, she has 

 only given us the " short commons" allowance of sand or day. 



The two kinds of kitchen gardens among us, which most demand 

 skill and intelligent labor, are those which are naturally too sandy 

 or too clayey. It is not difficult, at a glance, to see how these might 

 be, and ought to be treated to improve them greatly. But we have 

 observed such is the force of habit that nine-tenths of those who 

 have gardens of this description, go on in the same manner as their 

 neighbors who have the best soil, manuring and cultivating pre- 

 cisely in the ordinary way, and then grumbling in quite a different 

 mode about short crops, and poor vegetables, instead of setting about 

 remedying the evil in good earnest. 



The natural remedy for a heavy clay soil in a kitchen garden, is 

 to mix sand with it. This acts like a charm upon the stubborn 

 alumina, and, allowing the atmospheric influences to penetrate where 

 they were formerly shut out, gives a stimulus, or rather an opportu- 

 nity, to vegetable growth, which quickly produces its result in the 

 quantity and quality of the crops. 



But it not unfrequently happens that sand is not to be had 

 abundantly and cheaply enough to enable the proprietor of mode- 

 rate means to effect this beneficial change. In this case, we propose 

 to the kitchen gardener to achieve his object by another mode, 

 equally efficient, and so easy and cheap as to be within the reach of 

 almost every one. 



This is, to alter the texture of too heavy soils, by burning a por- 

 tion of the clay. 



Very few of our practical gardeners seem to be aware of two 

 important facts. First, that clay, when once burnt, never regains 

 its power of cohesion, but always remains in a pulverized state ; and 

 therefore is just as useful, mechanically, in making a heavy soil 

 light, as sand itself. Second, that burnt clay, by its power of attract- 

 ing from the atmosphere those gases which are the food of vege- 

 27 



