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CULINARY GARDENING. 



BOOK I. 



The form, which is determined by the walls, is best calculated 

 for the general purposes of horticulture when it is that of a pa- 

 rallelogram. Though, if the production of wall fruit were the 

 prime object, an oval form, with its long diameter from east to 

 west, would be preferable; as it would contain the smallest quan- 

 tity of wall hid from the sun, and at the same time a consider- 

 able portion of it would be always exposed to the south. But as 

 all forms, except the square kind, derange the regulation of the 

 quarters, and consequently would be particularly troublesome 

 in digging and cropping, they are generally and very properly 

 disregarded, except in some kinds of flower gardens, where 

 fruits are cultivated upon the walls*. The outer inclosure or 

 boundary of a garden may either be a sunk fence and hedge, 

 or a sunk fence and low wall. Between that and the garden 

 wall, a space of from forty to ninety feet should be reserved for 

 common crops in the north side of the garden, and for early 

 ones on the south. In several cases, a shrubbery may occupy 

 a part of this space toward the plantation, forming a phalanx 

 of varied vegetation, from the lowest shrub at the walk's edge, 

 to the tops of the forest trees. This will make a very complete 

 shelter, and have an agreeable appearance at most seasons. 



* Frequently, however, when flower gardens which are to have fruit upon the 

 walls are formed, ignorance of culture, and want of ingenuity in the Designer, in- 

 duce him to be content with common forms, as in that mass of deformity called a 

 flower garden at Valley field, and also that at Douglass Castle. 



