76 BOOK OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN 



tion of thoroughness and individual attention than any- 

 thing else. The French gardener has imagination, and 

 looks upon his small piece of land as a potential gold 

 mine ; we think of the earth as a hard mistress who will 

 cheat us in every way of that we have a right to expect. 

 There are untold possibilities both of pleasure and profit 

 in the smallest kitchen garden, and our greatest need at 

 present is to learn how to make the most of space, so 

 that each foot of ground may be constantly occupied. 



In the first place we must consider the question of 

 design and general arrangement, both with a view to 

 economy of working and suitability for crops. At 

 present many small vegetable gardens are badly planned, 

 space being wasted in various ways. Kitchen garden 

 paths should always be straight, not curved, and a 

 general rectangular plan is preferable to one which is 

 irregular. In laying out a new garden, it should be 

 contrived, if possible, that the length of the vegetable 

 ground runs east and west, so that by cropping across 

 the land the full benefit of sunshine may be secured. 

 Formality, not always desirable in the flower garden, is 

 here not only permissible, but of the greatest advantage ; 

 the simplest plan for small gardens being the division of 

 the ground, by means of a central path with another 

 bisecting it at right angles in the centre, into four large 

 beds in which the majority of hardy vegetable crops will 

 be grown. An outer pathway running parallel to the 

 boundary walls or hedge completes the enclosure of the 

 main beds, and between it and the fence an additional 

 border, on which salads and early things generally can 

 be raised, terminates the elementary design. Fortunate 

 are they whose vegetable garden is already surrounded 

 by good walls, or who can afford to build them ; they 

 are the best of all boundaries, not only for their shelter, 

 but because they may be used as supports for trained 

 fruit trees, always a beautiful feature. Hedges — 



