12 



GENERAL FORMATION, &c, OF GARDENS. 



bined with the flower garden, and by 

 the proportion of its extent intended to 

 be occupied with flowers. Other circum- 

 stances have also to be kept in view. 

 Some families, for instance, require a 

 large supply of vegetables, while others 

 do not ; and others prefer growing the 

 general crops of coarser vegetables in the 

 fields, as being supposed of better quality 

 than if they were grown in a highly- 

 manured garden; — and in this they are 

 right. Some, again, require a constant 

 supply all the year ; while others, from 

 various causes, require it at stated periods 

 only. From these remarks it will be 

 manifest that it is no easy matter to de- 

 termine the exact sizes of gardens to suit 

 such a variety of circumstances. 



We may however remark, that, in 

 making a new garden, it is best to err on 

 the safe side, by enclosing rather too 

 much than too little, as the extra expense 

 in the first erection is much less than 

 would be the case were additions found 

 necessary afterwards. There is no incon- 

 sistency, nor any great extra expense, in 

 having a little more ground enclosed than 

 may be barely necessary to afford the 

 general supply, as by this means a regu- 

 lar rotation of cropping may be better 

 carried out, by allowing a portion to lie 

 in fallow, and so be renovated and im- 

 proved for future crops ; and, should cir- 

 cumstances require, this excess is at all 

 times ready to be brought into use. 



The sizes of gardens in this country 

 vary from ^one to twelve acres, enclosed 

 within walls. Some few exceed the latter 

 extent, as the royal gardens at Frogmore, 

 and that at Dalkeith Palace — the former 

 containing thirty-one acres, and the latter 

 twenty. Those at Chatsworth embrace 

 twelve acres, Petworth fourteen acres, 

 Belvoir Castle eight acres, Tottenham 

 Park four acres, Lambton Castle eight 

 acres, &c, &c. From two to six acres 

 may be taken as the general size, exclu- 

 sive of the orchard and flower garden. 

 Marshall, in " Introduction to Gardening," 

 says, " The size of the garden should, how- 

 ever, be proportioned to the house, and 

 to the number of inhabitants it does or 

 may contain. This is naturally dictated ; 

 but yet it is better to have too much 

 ground allotted than too little ; and there 

 is nothing monstrous in a large garden 

 annexed to a small house. Some families 



use few, others many vegetables ; and it 

 makes a great difference whether the owner 

 is curious to have a long season of the 

 same production, or is content to have a 

 supply only at the more common times. 

 But to give some rules for the quantity 

 of ground to be laid out, a family of four 

 persons (exclusive of servants) should 

 have a rood of good working open ground, 

 and so in proportion." 



All gardens should have a slip of 

 ground surrounding the walls, as by that 

 means the latter are made available on 

 all sides. This slip should be enclosed 

 with wire-fencing, or otherwise, so as 

 effectually to exclude hares and rabbits. 

 The next best external fence is undoubt- 

 edly a ha-ha, or sunk fence, with a holly 

 or quick hedge on the top, which, as far 

 as regards security from intrusion, is 

 better than a twelve feet wall, and in 

 damp soils is valuable as tending to the 

 thorough drainage of the ground enclosed. 

 In this slip the coarser kinds of vegetables 

 should be cultivated, and all the smaller 

 fruits, and standard fruit trees, unless 

 where the more systematic arrangement 

 is followed of having the kinds of garden 

 all distinct from each other. 



§ 3. — FOKM. 



Much has been said on the form most 

 proper for a kitchen garden, more especi- 

 ally that part en- 



closed by walls. 



■ I Authors have 



recommended 

 forms of various 

 kinds, which, ac- 



cording to their 



respective opi- 

 nions, have pos- 

 sessed all the 



1 ^ 1 1 lj merits requisite. 



~ The majority, 



however, agree in giving the preference 

 to a square or oblong, figs. 1, 2. The form 



Fig. 2. 



