THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



137 



view of the whole subject is simply and briefly 

 this: first, how many oxen are required for the 

 work of the farm, and how many cows for the dai- 

 ry'? That point being settled, if it be desired to 

 fatten cattle for market, I would inquire how many 

 can be grazed, without detriment to the land % And. 

 if the land be in that condition which makes it im- 

 portant to graze it, and trample it, then how many 

 are required for that object 1 By some such mode 

 of reasoning, the question being settled, how much 

 stock should be maintained upon the farm, all will 

 admit that these must be fed, and fed well, with 

 all the straw they can eat, and something better 

 than straw if it is to be had ; and that all the resi- 

 due of the straw, or so much as is necessary, be 

 put under their feet as a receptacle for the manure — 

 for surely the most ardent advocate of the undi- 

 gested theory would not consider the value of the 

 straw impaired by its being saturated with the 

 voidings of stock. I do not think I am acquainted 

 with a farm in this portion of the State where the 

 amount of straw will not feed in the winter (such 

 a feeding as it is) double- or treble the number of 

 stock which can be supported in the summer, with- 

 out great injury to the land. What matters it then, 

 whether a cow furnishes you with an amount of 

 manure of greater value than the straw she eats, 

 if she is to help herself to double pay from the 

 very life-blood of your lands in the summer 1 The 

 question of "wintering" a neighbor's stock (he 

 should be a very near neighbor, or his cattle would 

 rarely get back to him without a good bite of grass 

 to sustain them,) is of such rare occurrence that 

 it is of no moment to the matter in hand ; but I 

 shall never believe that it is any more profitable to 

 feed a cow for her manure than it is to feed a horse, 

 until I see more satisfactory proof of it than has 

 yet been presented to me. The number of a far- 

 mer's stock then, being regulated without the 

 smallest reference to his crop of straw, let him 

 feed them as well as possible, make and save by 

 every means, all the manure he can from them. 

 " Them's my sentiments," though they may not be 

 worth a corner in your paper. 



Very truly yours, 



G. F. H. 



Prom the Horticulturist. 



MANAGEMENT OF SMALL GARDENS. 



One of the finest features in the country 

 towns of America, is that almost every dwell- 

 ing has its garden — small in many cases it may 

 be, but still a garden, and capable of yielding 

 many of the comforts and pleasures of garden- 

 ing. The most active improvers of our day, 

 the men who are really doing most for the dif- 

 fusion of a taste for gardening, are the resi- 

 dents of country towns and villages, with their 

 acre, half acre and even quarter acre lots. 

 Taking this view of the subject, we naturally 

 regard the management of small gardens with 

 much interest, and therefore propose, now and 

 hereafter, to offer a few hints, in order, if pos- 

 sible, to establish more correct views in reoard 

 to the principles which should regulate their 

 formation and treatment. 



From pretty extensive observation, we have 

 come to the conclusion that one of the most 

 serious and prevalent errors in the management 

 of small gardens, is attempting too much. 

 This grows very naturally out of the desire 

 that almost every man feels, to gather around 

 his residence the greatest possible variety of 

 interesting scenes and objects; in other words, 

 to make the most of his limited space. In 

 laying out a garden, the design may be good, , 

 and it may, in the first place, be properly exe- 

 cuted; but no sooner is this done than new 

 trees or plants are fancied, and probably a 

 neighbor's garden suggests some new walk or 

 divisions — and thus one little alteration after 

 another is introduced, until the original plan is 

 effaced, and the whole becomes a piece of patch- 

 work. We have seen many charming little 

 front gardens utterly ruined in this way. Now, 

 the beauty of a small garden, and the pleasure 

 it may afford, lies not in a variety of embel- 

 lishments, but in simplicity and high keeping — 

 few walks and few trees. 



Numerous walks destroy the unity and ex- 

 tent of a small piece of ground, and add very 

 materially to the cost of keeping; and as a 

 regular gardener is seldom employed in such 

 places, the walks become neglected, and grown 

 over with grass and weeds, resembling more, a 

 cattle path than any thing else. The princi- 

 ple, therefore, should be rigidly adhered to, of 

 having only such walks as are absolutely indis- 

 pensable, and these to be kept in the best or- 

 der. A good, well kept walk, is not only a 

 great beauty, but a great comfor,t, whereas no- 

 thing is so useless and ill-looking as a bad or 

 neglected one. In most cases a single walk, 

 and that a foot walk, six or eight feet wide, in 

 proportion to the extent of the ground, will be 

 quite enough. 



The position of the entrance gate and the 

 course of the walk must be determined by the 

 shape of the grounds and the situation of the 

 front door of the dwelling. If the space be- 

 tween the house and the street be narrow — say 

 twenty or thirty feet — and the front door be 

 in the centre of the building, the most conve- 

 nient, and probably the best arrangement, is 

 the common one — having the gate opposite the 

 door, and the walk straight. It would be much 

 better if houses of this kind were so construct- 

 ed as to have the main entrance at one side, so 

 that the ground in front of the principal rooms 

 might be kept in a lawn, embellished with a 

 few appropriate trees. This would be a more 

 agreeable sight from the windows than a gravel 

 walk, and persons approaching the house would 

 not be directly in front of the windows. When 

 the house stands back a sufficient distance, even 



