82 
BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 
sities and luxuries of life, finds a source of special enjoy¬ 
ment in the work, as well as a welcome addition to the 
family means, and, to some extent, adds to the resources 
of his country; so that in profitable gardening a national 
end is served when personal and private benefits are 
aimed at only. To be sure, there are people who say 
that a kitchen garden is an expensive affair, for “ the 
cabbages cost five shillings each •” but whether it shall 
be a gain or a loss depends entirely on how it is 
managed. By right management, on either a small or 
large scale, the culture of edibles is immensely profitable, 
as everybody knows who is practically used to it; but it 
is quite an easy matter for folks, who take no real inte¬ 
rest in a garden, or who have foggy notions of econo¬ 
mical tillage, to pay very dear indeed for their luxuries, 
and at last to get tired of the attempt to fill a basket at 
its market value. 
Depend upon it, it is no mean art that enables a man 
to take off potatoes at the rate of five tons to the rood, 
to gather a thousand cucumbers from one vine, and then 
strike cuttings, and go on again without the help of 
seed; or to manage a succession of crops, so that there 
shall always be plenty and variety, and not a single 
waste leaf to cumber the ground. It is not a sordid 
feeling that stimulates a man to cultivate such things as 
shall increase the enjoyments of his family, and prove 
welcome as gifts to friends; and the task of rearing 
handsome crops of eatables, each in perfection at its 
season, and some thrust out of their season, to gratify 
an honourable caprice, is one that has its rewards in 
many ways besides the profit; or, rather, the profit 
