KITCHEN GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 
walls in an undulating form, and with square 
recesses, and again with angular projections, 
but there is no advantage resulting from these 
fancies. Sometimes, where the refinements 
of gardening are carried to a great height, the 
walls are provided with flues, for the purpose 
of warming them ; these flued walls seem ori- 
ginally to have been intended for accelerating 
the trees in the spring, but for this purpose 
they are worse than useless, as they only 
excite them into growth to be cut off by the 
spring frosts. In our cold and variable climate, 
such walls are sometimes useful in the case of 
the more tender fruits, in assisting to ripen 
the young wood towards the end of summer, 
which the coldness and dampness of autumn 
often militates against : this is, however, 
as before remarked, one of the refinements 
of gardening, and is, besides, somewhat ex- 
pensive. 
If walls are not erected, the best substitute 
is a stout close wooden fence, as high as cir- 
cumstances will admit. This will also serve 
as a shelter for fruit trees, but is inferior to a 
wall, as the wood does not absorb heat like 
bricks, and, consequently, its surface not re- 
taining heat like that of the wall, has less 
influence on the growth of the tree : it, how- 
ever, secures to the trees all the advantages of 
shelter. Where gardens are surrounded only 
by hedges, or low open wood fences, the more 
tender fruits must be dispensed with. 
Drainage. — A garden should be well 
drained; and as luxuriant crops of well- 
flavoured vegetables can only be secured by 
a system of deep cultivation, so it is necessary 
that an approach at least to what is called deep 
drainage should be adopted. The main or 
conducting drains should seldom be less than 
five feet deep, and the smaller or collecting 
drains ought to be three or four feet deep, the 
deeper of the two being proper for heavy soils, 
and the shallower for gravelly ones. If the 
garden is small, one main drain along the 
centre will be enough, but where the area is 
considerable there should be two or three of 
these. A proper and convenient outlet must 
be selected, and this will usually be found at 
the lowest point : if the ground is sloping, this 
will seldom present any difficulty, but in cases 
where the ground is level or nearly so, it will 
be necessary to contrive the drains so that 
there may be a sufficient fall to carry off the 
the water. The smaller drains should gradually 
Blope or fall into the larger ones. Tile drains 
are preferable to any others, being more dura- 
ble. The distance between the smaller drains 
will depend on the nature of the soil and 
subsoil ; if the latter is clay, they will re- 
quire to be nearer in proportion, clay being 
retentive of moisture ; but if sand or gravel, 
they may be much farther apart. In ordinary 
clay soils it is desirable to place them at fif- 
teen or twenty feet apart, while in more porous 
soils they may be as much as thirty feet 
asunder. In draining a garden, however, it 
should never be forgotten, that it is best to err 
on the side of providing efficient drainage, for 
there is nothing more certain than that a 
badly drained garden will be an unfruitful one. 
Besides this regular series of drains all over 
the garden, a drain should run along the 
bottom of the whole of the gravel walks, 
communicating at proper and convenient 
places with the main drains. If it be a walled 
garden, and borders for fruit trees are to be 
formed, these too must have a proper series of 
drains, also connected with the main or con- 
ducting drains. 
Preparation of the Soil. — When the drain- 
age is completed, the next thing is to prepare 
the soil, in the first instance, for the reception 
of crops. The details of this operation will 
be various according to the nature of the ori- 
ginal soil. If it be a free deep loam, it will 
require no other preparation than a deep and 
regular trenching, which should be alike per- 
formed over the whole area. Trenching will 
also be necessary whatever the natural soil 
may be, but according to its nature various 
additions or reductions will have to take place. 
Thus, if the soil be close and adhesive, con- 
sisting in great part of clay, it will be proper 
to remove some of the most stubborn of this 
clay, and replace it by coarse sandy soil, 
charred clay soil, or indeed any materials of 
a porous nature ; a mixture of such materials 
may be used, as for instance fine coal ashes, 
small charcoal, road sand, (if silicious,) or 
burnt earth or refuse of any kind. Where 
the soil is a less stubborn kind of clay, a good 
dressing of sandy loam or any sandy earth 
will modify it so as to render it suitable for 
the crops. The quantity of materials to be 
added to the original soil must depend on the 
degree of modification required, or the quantity 
of material within reach ; if the latter be 
abundant, and the soil requires a good deal of 
alteration, from six inches to a fojt in thick- 
ness may be used, either removing or not, as 
may seem best, the same or a less amount of 
the clay. It is seldom that the thorough 
modification of unsuitable soils can be effected 
at once ; it is a work of gradual improvement, 
every opportunity of aiding which should be 
turned to account. Even stubborn soils be- 
come a good deal modified simply by the 
operations of culture, if properly performed ; 
the trenching of the soil frequently, and the 
exposing of the surface in ridges I" the action 
of frost, wind, rain and sun, at different 
seasons of the year, when opportunity oilers, 
are especially efficacious ; and besides this, the 
frequent practice of hoeing deeply during 
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