CHAPTER IV. 
SELECTING FOB THE KITCHEN GABDEN. 
S ^HE tastes and requirements of households differ so much, 
\ that to offer any general advice on selecting for the 
kitchen garden is of necessity a somewhat difficult task. 
But it must be attempted in the interest of the amateur who 
is anxious to bestow his labour and money to the best advan- 
tage, and has had but little experience to aid him in the making 
and managing of a kitchen garden. Speaking generally, it 
may be said that; the gardener’s business is never fully learnt ; 
that indeed may be said of many other occupations ; but it is 
peculiarly the case in one that takes a different complexion, 
more or less, in every locality, and which is also influenced by 
the march of improvement and by changes of fashion. The 
gardener, however rich in experience, may always learn some- 
thing by observation ; the better for him, for after all a state 
of finality as regards the acquisition of knowledge may be 
considered the equivalent of intellectual death. 
There are two points of primary importance to be kept in 
view always — the capabilities of the garden, and the require- 
ments of the family. As for the first, considerations of the 
soil and the climate will to a considerable extent enable us 
to order the system of cropping advantageously, and avoid 
serious mistakes. But the means at command, or in plain 
English, the money, must be considered also, for many diffi- 
culties may be overcome where expense is a matter of secondary 
importance, that it would be sheer folly to battle with unless 
aided by a sufficient purse. It must be understood then, that 
it is a rare event to find a garden in which all kinds of kitchen 
garden crops, well-managed, thrive with equal luxuriance, where 
only the nice points in management consist in producing good 
supplies of subjects that are in the least degree adapted to the 
local circumstances. A deep, fertile, sandy loam will suit a 
greater variety of vegetables and fruits than any other soil, 
but something good may be scraped off a sheer sand, and 
