THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 193 



bought the eight acres, paying therefor twelve thousand dollars, 

 and all this sum he had saved from the sale of the products of 

 his garden since he had imder-drained the land. He found that 

 it paid him weU to under-diain'; and though, from the peculiar 

 nature of the circumstances in which he was placed, he obtained 

 a much larger return from his eight acres in a few years than 

 our farmers may expect to get, yet the fact that under-draining 

 win pay the cultivator handsomely still remains. 



If, then, the subsoil be retentive, do not be deterred from 

 under-draining enough ground to furnish a comfortable garden. 

 If the products are all consumed in the family, the under- 

 draining will pay in the greater ease of cultivation, and the 

 greater satisfaction of producing that which is satisfactory in 

 quantity and quality. If it be desirable to cultivate also for 

 market, the increased returns will soon balance all the expen- 

 diture. There is nothing lost in putting the ground into that 

 condition which is the most favorable to vegetable growth. 

 Hence, in preparing the ground for a garden, it should be 

 thoroughly ploughed and cross-ploughed, and the subsoil well 

 broken up by the subsoil-plough following in the bottom of the 

 furrow at each ploughing. When the ground has been thus 

 thoroughly and deeply broken up, it should be well harrowed, 

 and, if full of lumps, weU roUed, imtil every clod is crushed and 

 the soil made fine and mellow. 



An abundance of manure should be applied to the garden 

 and thoroughly incorporated with the soil. This every farmer 

 should have in abundance iu his cattle-yard, and use with an 

 unsparing hand. If he can conveniently increase the quantity 

 by obtaining the refuse hops from some neighboring brewery, or 

 horn scrapings from a comb manufactory, or the refuse of a pork- 

 packing establishment, he will find them to prove very beneficial. 

 Indeed, the garden is very much benefited by an occasional 

 change of manures. It seems as though, by the constant use of 

 any one manure, the plants failed to derive the proper nutri- 

 ment from the soU, but, by changing from one to another, the 



