VII. 



A CHAT IN" THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



October, 1849. 



EDITOR. We find you, as usual, in your kitchen garden. 

 Admirable as all the rest of your place is, your own fancy 

 seems to centre here. Do you find the esculents the most satisfac- 

 tory of your various departments of culture ? 



Subscriber. Not exactly that ; but I find while the shrubbery, 

 the lawn, the flowers, and even the fruit-trees, are well cared for 

 and made much of by my family and my gardener, the kitchen 

 garden is treated merely as a necessity. Now, as I estimate very 

 highly the value of variety and excellence in our culinary vegeta- 

 bles, I take no little interest in my kitchen garden, so that at last it 

 has become a sort of hobby with me. 



Ed. We see evidences of that all around us. Indeed, we 

 scarcely remember any place where so large a variety of excellent 

 vegetables are grown as here. Artichokes, endive, sea-kale, cele- 

 riac, winter melons and mushrooms, and many other good and rare 

 things, in addition to what we usually find in country gardens. 



Sub. And what a climate ours is for growing fine vegetables. 

 From common cabbages, that will thrive in the coldest climate, to 

 egg-plants, melons and tomatoes, that need a tropical sun, all may 

 be so easily had for the trouble of easy culture in the open air ; 

 and yet, strange to say, three-fourths of all country folks, blessed 

 with land in fee simple, are actually ignorant of the luxury of good 

 vegetables, and content themselves with potatoes, peas, beans and 



