Tumbledown Farm .9 Acres (give or take an acre or two)

CHAPTER II
The Site

IT must not be supposed that French culture can be profitably carried on anywhere. Soil and climate can be modified and improved, but cannot be altogether ignored. The locality selected for a garden should have a fair amount of sunshine, a pure atmosphere, and a well-drained soil. A moderate amount of cold is much less hurtful than continual dampness, either in the soil or in the atmo­sphere. Large quantities of stable manure should be easily obtainable, and at a low price. Almost unlimited supplies of good water must be readily accessible; and there should be, within easy reach, a population willing to pay a sufficient price for early and high-class produce.

Where it is intended to do this gardening on a large scale, it will be found by far the best plan to engage a French maraîcher to take charge of it for a few years. That calls for a high wage. This being so, his skill should be employed on as large an area as possible, so that the wage paid will be spread over a large output.

8 French Gardening

Two acres is the most that one man, with a good subordinate, can supervise so as to ensure attention to every detail; therefore, two acres is made the basis of calculation for the model French garden for which this book gives plan and estimate. Very successful results could be obtained from a much smaller area if the proprietor was sufficiently experienced to take the management himself; but two acres should be aimed at where a highly-paid expert is in charge.

The directions given here for two acres can easily be modified to serve for a smaller garden. Every detail given can be applied equally well to the twentieth part of an acre.

If possible, select a site near a populous town. It will be found far more profitable to pay high rent for a suitable position than to take cheap land in an out-of-the-way place; and this advice applies, in a greater or less degree, wherever intensive culture is under­taken. A good business man seeks the best possible situation for his purpose; either near to his customers or with good facilities for transit and cheap raw materials. So, too, should a person who engages in French garden­ing. A suitable position is of far greater importance than a few pounds difference in rent.

The garden should be situated so as to afford convenient access to a main road. There will be almost continual carting in and out; and so a place difficult of access would suffer serious drawbacks.

The Site 9

The quality of the soil is not of first importance, as that used in this culture is made by the gardener, the natural soil becom­ing in time merely a base upon which this made soil rests. But when it can be obtained a light friable loam is much to be preferred, especially if much open-air work is to be done; for the natural soil will be used during the first few years until there is sufficient of the made soil.

The drainage must be good. Where this is deficient pipe drains should be laid in, rather close together, so as to enable the water--of which a large quantity is used in the grow­ing season--to pass away freely. Free drainage keeps the whole garden sweeter and warmer than it would be if the subsoil was always full of moisture.

The best position is one of fairly level ground, with a slight inclination to the south or south-west. There should be shelter on all sides to save the hot-beds from the cold winds of spring-which blow out the heat and retard the growth of plants in the frames--and to protect plants in the open beds from high winds, which bruise and break their leaves. When there is no natural shelter a fence should be built all around the garden.

The site should not be overshadowed by high buildings or large trees if it is possible to a void this. Shelter is necessary, but this does not mean the obstruction of sunlight and air; the more air and sunlight vegetables get,

10 French Gardening

To ensure a rapid growth of the plants, water must be supplied copiously from the latter part of April onwards through the summer. Even when crops in the open fields are stunted and yellow for lack of rain, those in the French garden grow vigorously. This is because they are supplied with sufficient water every day. Unless that can be done, this culture should not be attempted.