CHAPTER I. 
THE FORMATION OF THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
f HE first principles to be observed in laying out a kitchen 
garden are so extremely simple, that they may be dis- 
posed of (as principles) in a few words. The ground 
should be rectangular, slightly sloping to the south, divided 
into convenient sized plots, with good walks of sufficient 
width between ; it should be effectually drained ; the soil a 
deep loam ; there should be sheltering plantations on the north 
and east, substantial boundary walls on all four sides, and a 
suitable extent should be screened off by means of hedges or 
walls, to serve as frame ground, and rubbish yard, and a place 
of shelter for pot plants and other nursery purposes. Finally, 
there should be an abundant supply of water, the climate 
should be genial, and especially characterized by an equable 
temperature, not subject to severe frosts in the later days of 
spring, and exempt from the trying times of excessive heat and 
drought by which the summer is occasionally characterized 
in many parts of Great Britain, 'which as a whole, may be 
described as less than perfect for horticultural purposes. 
The amateur need not take alarm at this brief sketch of 
essential primary principles, for vegetables and fruit are pro- 
duced in plenty where none of them can be fully realized, and 
from first to last gardening in this country is a continuous 
conflict with difficulties. We look out of window on one of 
our own kitchen plots, which in shape approximates to a very 
long wedge, or a cross between a parabola and an isosceles 
triangle. From another window we view another plot which 
is of no shape at all, but comes nearest to a rhomboid out of 
joint, the sides and angles violently unequal, so that sym- 
metrical division is impossible. The first piece is embellished 
with a brook that overflows half the ground when extra heavy 
rains occur, and is as dry as dust in a droughty summer ; the 
other piece consists of undrained clay with water at a depth of 
eighteen inches six months out of the twelve, and the whole 
exposed to the bitterest east wind that ever blew in any part 
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