30 GARDENING FOK THE SOUTH. 



thrown up with a shovel to the staked line. If more earth 

 is required, the plowing and shovelling must be repeated 

 until a sufficient bank is formed to retain the water. 

 During the first year, occasional breaks in the bank may 

 happen from violent storms, but if well repaired, after 

 the banks become settled, they will rarely be broken over 

 by the accumulation of water, particularly if proper 

 underdrains or surface ditches are provided. 



Size. — A garden should be proportioned to the size of 

 the family, and their partiality for its different products. 

 A small garden with a suitable rotation of crops, and well 

 manured and cultivated, will yield more pleasure and 

 profit than an ordinary one of three times its size. An 

 active, industrious hand can take care of an acre, pro- 

 vided with necessary hot-beds, cold-frames, etc., keeping- 

 it in perfect neatness and condition; or if the plow and 

 cultivator be brought into requisition, as they should be 

 in large gardens, four times that amount can be under 

 his care, provided there is not much under glass. 



If but little room can be allowed near the house, cab- 

 bages, carrots, turnips, potatoes, and the common crops, 

 can be grown in the field, if well enriched, and be culti- 

 vated mainly with the plow. The fruit garden should be 

 in a separate department, as the shade of the trees is 

 very injurious, and the exhaustion of the soil by their 

 roots still more so. Moreover, the heavy manuring re- 

 quired for the vegetables will not do so well for fruit 

 culture. The trees will also be in the way of the cultiva- 

 tors used in working the vegetables. Dwarf pears upon 

 the quince stock are the least hurtful, and may be ad- 

 mitted into the vegetable department along the walks. 



Form. — The form will often depend upon the situation 

 of the garden or the inclination of the ground. When 

 a matter of choice, a square or parallelogram is most 

 convenient for laying out the walks and beds. A parallelo- 



