8 



INTRODUCTION 



long in the ground. These quarters, however, ought not 

 to be planted or sown, for raising the same crops, two suc- 

 cessive years ; and the warmest soil, or that which is next 

 to the stable, where it is best sheltered from the cold winds, 

 will be the most proper for hot-beds, to promote the growth 

 of early cucumbers, melons, &c." — Dom, Eiicyc. 



A copious supply of water is very essential to a good 

 kitchen garden. Loudon remarks, that " Many kitcben 

 crops are lost, or produced of very inferior quality, for want 

 of watering. Lettuces and cabbages are often hard and 

 stringy ; turnips and radishes do not swell ; onions decay ; 

 cauliflowers die off ; and, in general, in dry seasons, all the 

 cruciferecB become stinted or covered with insects, even in 

 rich, deep soils. Copious waterings in the evenings, dur- 

 ing the dry seasons, would produce that fulness and succu- 

 lency which we find in the vegetables produced in the 

 Low Countries, and in the Marsh Gardens at Paris, and in 

 England at the beginning and latter end of the season. 

 The vegetables brought to the London market, from the 

 Neat's Houses and other adjoining gardens, where the im- 

 portant article of watering is much more attended to than 

 in private country gardens, may be adduced as affording 

 proofs of the advantage of the practice. 



" The contrivance for watering or washing the foliage of 

 the wall trees in Dalmeny garden, laid out by that excellent 

 horticultural architect, John Hay, deserves particular notice. 

 Water is supplied to the garden from a reservoir, situated 

 on an eminence, a considerable height above the garden 

 walls. Around the whole garden, four inches below the 

 surface of the ground, a groove, between two and three 

 inches deep, has been formed in the walls, to receive a 

 three quarter inch pipe for conducting the water. About 

 fifty feet distant from each other, are apertures through the 

 wall, two feet and a half high, and ten inches wide, in 

 which a cock is placed, so that, on turning the handle to 

 either side of the wall, the water issues from that side. The 

 nozles of the cocks have screws on each side, to which is 

 attached, at pleasure, a leathern pipe, with a brass cock 

 and director; roses, pierced with holes of different sizes, 

 being fitted to the latter. By this contrivance, all the trees, 

 both inside and outside the wall, can be most effectually 

 watered and washed in a very short space of time, and 

 with very little trouble. One man may go over the i^ hole 



