Cottage Gardens, live Stock of the Cottager, fyc. 167 



why this, or something better, is not done, the root of which may not be 

 traced to ignorance, and that depression of" circumstances and want of per- 

 sonal comforts which preclude taste and the pride of appearances. We do 

 not, therefore, expect much, till a generation arises sufficiently enlightened 

 to know their natural rights, and sufficiently skilful and energetic to assert 

 them, and to cooperate in such a way as to obtain them. All useful 

 knowledge, and all useful food, lodging, and clothing, are surely destined 

 to be common to all men. 



Art. III. On the Extent and Culture of Cottage Gardens with 

 and without Cows, and on Brewing, Baking, and other Points of 

 the Husbandry of the Cottager. By a Practical Gardener. 



Sir, 

 In attempting to digest a plan of cottage economy for a labouring man, 

 its utility will chiefly depend on its simplicity. To accomplish this as well 

 as I am able, I will arrange and consider the departments as they naturally 

 occur in practice, beginning with the man himself, as the primary cause of 

 enquiry, and proceeding in the following order, viz. : — 



1. A Man, Wife, and Three or Four Children ; Cottage and Garden ; 

 making Bread, and brewing Beer ; Provision for a Pig ; Hog-tubs ; Sty, 

 Cesspools, and Pig ; Fowls and Ducks ; Cultivation of the Garden. 



2. A Man, Wife, and Seven to Eight or Ten Children ; a Cow ; Advantages 

 of keeping a Cow ; Ground necessary to keep one, and its Culture ; Rab- 

 bits and Pigeons. 



1. A Man, Wife, and Three or Four Children. — It would be a libel on 

 human nature to suppose that any young man, about to enter the married 

 state, is totally indifferent to the consequences likely to arise from a change 

 of such magnitude. He must naturally expect a young family; and for 

 this young family it is his imperative duty to make a provision. He must 

 expect, likewise, that, year after year, the wants of this family will be con- 

 tinually increasing ; and, consequently, demanding greater and greater sacri- 

 fices, with increasing exertions on his part ; and that these sacrifices and 

 exertions will be required of him, not merely for a short season, but for 

 almost an unlimited, or, at least, an indefinite period. These weighty con- 

 siderations, one would reasonably suppose, would induce any man of ordi- 

 nary prudence to examine into his " ways and means ; " and if his little 

 stock of money is low, as is too frequently the case, let him immediately 

 begin to hoard, week after week, with unremitting care, every sixpence ; for, 

 after all his care, he will still find great difficulty in answering the demands 

 made upon his pocket by such an eventful change. He must provide a 

 cottage, and furnish it ; he must have a garden to produce vegetables for 

 himself and family, with nearly as many more as will keep a pig. With 

 these to make a beginning (and they ought to be considered indispensable) , 

 a poor man may, by great industry and good management (to teach him the 

 latter is the object of these remarks), contrive to rear a family of three or 

 four children, and live with his wife in comparative comfort and respectabi- 

 lity. While, on the other hand, when a man is so unfortunate as to be 

 drawn into a hasty and improvident marriage (and this is too frequently the 

 case), his friends are probably displeased, and unwilling, or, what is more 

 likely, unable, to assist him. Thus he is compelled, being pennyless, to take 

 up his abode with his wife's relations, who are as poor as himself (save a 

 little old furniture, of which he has the use); and here he thoughtlessly 

 spends, year after year, his scanty earnings, without attempting to purchase 

 the few little necessaries to furnish a cottage for himself with, merely because 



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