HOUSE AND GARDEN 
SePTEMH'-’R. 
IQ TO 
149 
pered aristocrats of 
to-day's gardens — so 
the old-time utility 
did not mean the grim 
unloveliness whic h 
modern garden meth¬ 
ods have led us to as¬ 
sociate with the word. 
It is just a return 
to this ancient sincer¬ 
ity and simplicity that 
I would urge in the 
development of our 
present - day garden¬ 
ing. This by no 
means implies appro¬ 
val of a potato patch 
adjacent to the en¬ 
trance drive or cab¬ 
bage under the living- 
room windows, but it 
does mean a sane 
restoration of useful 
vegetation — and by 
useful I mean, in this 
instance, of practical, 
material use — to its rightful 
place and dignity. 
We are called a nation 
of suburban dwellers, yet 
there are thousands and 
thousands of s u b u r b a n 
places where a vegetable 
garden is never dreamed of, 
though much time is spent 
— and money, too — in care of 
flowers and lawns and "po¬ 
lite gardening.” Students 
of economics have recently 
pointed out that the enor¬ 
mous waste which this sys¬ 
tem entails is unquestion¬ 
ably one of the causes of the 
high cost of living under 
which American shoulders 
are groaning, and this seems 
more and more reasonable 
the more it is considered. 
Eight plots, 50 x 100 ft., 
are, roughly speaking, equal 
to one acre of land. Re¬ 
serving one-third of such a 
typical plot for the house 
and one-third for lawn and 
as a concession to neighbor¬ 
hood conventionalities, there 
remains a third for garden. 
Multiplied by eight this 
amounts to one-third of an 
acre — and one-third of an 
acre, under the intensive 
farming system, will pro¬ 
duce all the vegetables that 
a dozen people can eat in 
a year. We may consider, 
therefore, that for every 
eight suburban places 
the food of twelve 
persons is sacrificed, 
all because of an ar¬ 
tificial attitude which 
looks shamefacedly at 
a vegetable garden as 
something inelegant 
and vulgar. 
Put all this away 
and let us get at the 
problem of beautify¬ 
ing the vegetable gar¬ 
den, taking as much 
pains with it as we 
would with a Rose 
garden or a garden of 
old - time perennials. 
And to this end let 
us see first what are 
its demands — what 
the culture of vege¬ 
tables absolutely re¬ 
quires, regardless of 
where they are plant¬ 
ed or what they are. 
Undisputed possession of 
well and constantly tilled 
soil is their one imperative 
need. That is, they must 
not be crowded by weeds, 
by other plants nor by each 
other — though really all 
vegetables, by the way, may 
be planted much closer to¬ 
gether than the old-fash¬ 
ioned farmer commonly puts 
them. The chief obstacle 
therefore in the way of se¬ 
curing a pleasing effect 
where vegetables are grown, 
is the amount of brown 
earth necessarily exposed. 
In a flower-garden, where 
masses are thrown together 
luxuriantly and individual 
specimens are not desired, 
the earth is covered, but this 
sort of treatment simply 
cannot be resorted to in 
raising vegetables. Neither 
is a ground cover, no matter 
how low growing it may be, 
permissable, for any plant 
other than the vegetable, 
will steal moisture and food 
which should be its individ¬ 
ual own. 
We have here nothing 
worse, however, than the 
identical problem which con¬ 
fronts the Rose grower, for 
Roses are quite as particular 
about their residence, and 
will brook no intrusion. Yet 
the Rose enthusiast is not 
Mr. A. Radclyffe Dugmore’s vegetable garden, where a brilliant display 
of annuals borders the central walk 
Much may be accomplished by neat borders for the walks and well trimmed hedge 
boundaries 
