VEGETABLE GABDEN 1103 



PAE^ IS 



THE VEGETABLE OR KITCHEN GARDEN 



As the Vegetable and Fruit Garden are usually one and the same thing, it is 

 unnecessary to repeat what has already been said at p. 1029 in regard to soil, 

 situation, aspect, shelter &c., as what applies to one is equally applicable to 

 the other. 



Although some vegetable crops are grown well between bushes and under 

 trees, a good open and sunny situation should always be secured if possible. 

 Indeed, it is important that a large portion of the garden, unencumbered with 

 fruit trees or bushes, except as borders and shelters, should be available for 

 the cultivation of vegetables exclusively, so that the latter may be fully exposed 

 to the beneficial light of the sun. 



The production of first-class vegetables requires as much cultural skill and 

 management as the production of fine flowers and fruits ; and it is a mistake 

 to assume that such well-known vegetables as Cabbages and Carrots, for 

 example, are to be obtained without good cultivation and attention to details. 

 By good cultivation I do not mean the production of large, coarse, and tasteless 

 plants, which one still often sees on the exhibition table, but which happily 

 are gradually becoming more rare. Vegetables are grown not to be looked at 

 but to be eaten. Quality and flavour should therefore be the main points for 

 consideration, and not mere size. 



To secure both quality and flavour at their best, it is essential that attention 

 should be given to the proper time for the cutting of each crop, otherwise the 

 labours of cultivation will have been more or less useless. There is little sense 

 in growing a crop of vegetables and then allowing them to waste by not being 

 gathered when in a proper state of maturity. In the case of fruits no one 

 dreams of allowing them to hang on the trees or bushes long after they are 

 ripe ; and the same principles should govern the treatment of vegetables. In 

 private gardens it often happens that more plants of a particular crop have 

 been grown than are really wanted, and what cannot be eaten is wasted. 

 Sometimes the waste is excessive in more senses than one. Not only are the 

 plants useless when they have passed their best, but the labour involved in 

 cultivating them has been lost. The ground which they occupy has not been 

 properly utilised, and the food which it contained has been absorbed by the 

 plants which ultimately find their way to the rubbish heap. These are points 



