THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

ONE'S OWN VEGETABLES: There is joy in the heart of every housewife when she proudly informs her guests, "These vegetables grew in my own garden." No imagination is needed to appreciate the freshness and crispness of home grown vegetables. Lettuce, peas, beans, beets, cucumbers, radishes, sweet corn and even onions and potatoes have a far better flavour when picked just before cooking, and we all know the joy of picking ripe red tomatoes washed in nature's dew: bought fruits and vegetables are never good! A well-ket garden with vegetables and fruits can greatly assist in keeping household expenses within bounds. Beauty and utility can be combined. If desired, a hedge of evergreens or a trellis of roses can divide the kitchen garden from the other parts and give it more privacy, although neat beds of growing vegetables are not unattractive. A walk through the country round Shanghai will give us more pleasure if we appreciate the really neat well-cultivated beds of the Chinese farmer. His cabbages, beans, spinach, winter wheat, rape, cotton, and occasionally rye and buckwheat are all neatly planted and cultivated.