KITCHEN-GARDEN, a garden devoted to the cultivation of culinary vegetables, or that part of a large garden which is specially appropriated to this use. As the crops of the kitchen-garden are not generally very pleasing to the eye, care is taken, if possible, that it may not lie within view of the principal windows of a mansion-house, or other wise obtruded on notice. But regard must also be had. in the selection of a situation for the kitchen-garden, to exposure, .shelter, etc., in which it needs and deserves every advantage that can be obtained. Nor, in order to hide it from view, ought it to be so surrounded with trees as to deprive it either of sunshine or of free access of air.
The general remarks made in the article GARDENING as to soil and the preparation of it, manuring, water, gardening operations, etc., are all applicable to the kitchen-garden; a part of which, or a place close beside it, is always allotted to compost heaps and the processes connected with them. The successful cultivation of a kitchen-garden requires constant care and labor. Many crops require frequent digging and hoeing during the period of their growth, W rowth, and the ground must be kept free weeds as perfectly as in the flower garden itself. A rotation of crops is of as much importance in the kitchen-garden as in the farm; cabbages and their congeners. potatoes, leguminous crops, etc., must not from year to year be grown on the same ground. But there are some perennial plants which occupy the same ground for years. as artichoke, asparagus, and sea-kale, and
attention must be paid to this in laying out the garden.
The crops cultivated depend, of course, on climate. It will be enough to enumerate here the most important kitchen-garden crops of Britain, referring for further informa tion to each as a separate head. The capitals indicate those most generally cultivated.
The varieties of brassica OteraCea; KALE, CABBAGE, COLEWORTS, SAVOYS, BRUSSELS SPROUTS, CAULIFLOWER,, BROCCOLI, Kohl-rabi, etc. POTATO, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, TURNIP, CARROT, PARSNIP, RADISH, RED BEET, Skirret, SALSIFY, Scorzonera, BEAN, PEA, KIDNEY-BEAN, SCARLET-RUNNER, ONION, LEER, Garlic, SHALLOT, I{ocambole, Welsh Onion, SPINACH, White Beet, ASPARAGUS, SEA-KALE, ARTICHOKE, LETTUCE, CRESS, MUSTARD, SOITC1, Corn-salad, Endive, CELERY, PARSLEY, HORSE-RADISH, RHUBARB.
• Sweet herbs are to be found in almost all gardens, as thyme, lavender, sage, spear mint. balm, marjoram, savory, etc. The cultivation of the pumpkin, vegetable marrow, and all kinds of gourds, and of the melon and cucumber, is regarded as belonging to the kitchen-garden; which also contains the houses or pits employed for forcing both vege tables and fruits. And the hot-houses in which fruits are grown for culinaryuse, are very generally placed in the 'kitchen-garden. The cultivation of mushrooms, whether in beds or otherwise, belongs to the kitchen-garden.