CROPS AND PROFITS. 167 



upon soil which will not admit of- it, and justify it. 

 If otherwise, my advice is, not to trench, but sell to 

 an amateur. 



How a Garden should Look. 



THE aesthetic element does not abound in the 

 minds of country farmers ; and there is not 

 one in a thousand who has any conception of a gar- 

 den, save as a patch (always weedy) where the good- 

 wife can pluck a few condiments for dinner. If you 

 visit one, he may possibly take you to see a ' likely 

 yearling,' or a corn crop, but rarely to his garden. 

 Yet there is no economic reason why a farmer's 

 garden should not make as good and as orderly a 

 show, as his field crops. 



A straight line is not greatly more difficult to 

 make than a crooked one. The absurd borders, in- 

 deed, where dirt is thrown into line, and beaten with 

 a spade, is a mere caprice, which there is no need 

 to imitate ; but the neatness which belongs to true 

 lines of plants, regular intervals between crops, per- 

 fect cleanliness, is another matter ; and is so feasible 

 and so telling in effect, that no farmer has good ex- 

 cuse for neglecting it. Effective groupings, again, of 

 dwarf trees and fruit shrubbery, whether in rows, 

 curves, or by gradations of size, give points of inter- 

 est, and contribute to the attractions of a garden. 



