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The Marchioness of Sligo's Garden, Mount Browne, near Guildford 252

Captain Colthurst Vesey's Garden, Lucan, Ireland 256

Rose Garden, Danny, Sussex 262

INTRODUCTION

How often it is that Fate places us amongst people whose characters, pursuits, and tastes we do not know! We hesitate how best to melt that barrier of icy reserve and shyness behind which we English remain frozen. How can we speedily break through the reserve which rises up between us and the stranger near us? There is at least one subject of conversation which usually calls forth a response--it is gardening.

Whether our neighbour be politician, soldier, architect, or painter, he will surely listen with interest to the mention of a garden. He will tell us of some newly-discovered plant, a flower show that he went to see, or he will expatiate upon the beauties of South African bulbs. We may be sure that if he himself is no gardener, he has someone dear to him who is a lover of flowers. After a hard day's work in the City, he will gladly turn his thoughts to the peace and quiet of a walled-in country garden, where the hum of bees and the scent of sweet briar or rosemary bring happiness and contentment.

It is the same with country people, who live in our quiet English villages that are as yet unspoilt by the dust of motors and the noise of holiday-makers. A little chat over the garden wall in the cool of evening, about the luxuriant growth of the peas, the beauty of madonna lilies gleaming white against the dark timber of the cottage, or the special size of this year's roses, will often make a lasting friendship. No make-believe pastime is gardening with them; it is their true recreation. Their lives have been passed amidst fields, trees, beautiful hedgerows, and consequently they look upon these objects as friends. Surely this love of Nature is wholesome both to body and mind, and greatly to be encouraged by all who wish for the well-being of England and her Colonies.

Are we not shown the vast importance of keeping our rural population away from towns? Do we not thus endeavour with every means in our power to improve the cultivation of our land? County Council lectures, flower shows, cottage-garden competitions, Nature-study courses, training colleges are provided for this purpose. But, perhaps, the surest way of all is to make our boys and girls fond of bee-keeping, fruit growing, gardening and all other industries of country life. It is with them that future success lies, and by teaching them to tend small gardens of their own, and compete for prizes in tidiness and artistic arrangement of flower plots, we shall continue a love for the country in future generations. To keep them away from the gloom, squalor, and temptations of large towns is what we all wish to achieve. Well-tilled, wisely-worked farms, orchards, gardens, bring us prosperity; but we gain a love of Nature, too, from contact with such things. This must soften people. It brings us nearer God.

"A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! Rose plot, Fringed pool, Ferned grot-- The veriest school Of peace; and yet the fool Contends that God is not-- Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool? Nay, but I have a sign; 'Tis very sure God walks in mine."

It is not alone amongst our village people that we hope for steady development in the cultivation of our soil. They unconsciously assimilate much from what they see carried out in the vicarage garden, the manor-house orchard, and the large park. These must set the example both in tidiness, artistic arrangement, and well-grown produce. Education in taste, as well as scientific knowledge, is required for the heads of these gardens. We know that in Japan gardening and flower arrangement have attained wonderful perfection. There it is necessary to learn for seven years before a requisite amount of skill is acquired. Not only are artistic effects studied, but flowers are used as modes of expression. Different colours and combinations convey distinct meanings.

Surely we Western races should also look upon a garden as of the same artistic value as a beautiful picture, or a many-coloured, skilfully wrought piece of embroidery? In short, so ancient a craft should be as intelligently and carefully studied as any Fine Art. A garden is a living picture. The painter having found a subject, studies each detail. Surroundings, background, the position it should occupy upon the canvas, what portion is to be accurately depicted, which objects are to be omitted or only faintly indicated: all these points are considered before he takes up his brush. A gardener must do likewise. Sometimes, when ground is not yet laid out, he must do more. He then has to think some years ahead and imagine what this bare piece of meadow will be when plants have grown in it. The lay of the land, the character of the soil, the relation of the house with the garden--all have to be weighed before planting is commenced. Therefore, our gardeners must be artists as well as successful cultivators of plants.

A real artist gardener not only has aptitude for placing right lines, and forming rich, telling colour effects, but he also understands the personality of flowers, the sentiments of colours and scent. A painter's instinct tells him where the varied colours of a mixed border are allowable, and how elsewhere a touch of strong, brilliant colour is wanted to lead again to a shaded path of mystery.

In order to successfully accomplish this Fine Art gardening, which we in England are now ambitious to have, artistic, well-educated, refined head gardeners are needed. From our Colonies, too, comes a cry for skilled and well-instructed "heads." There they have plenty of hands to do mechanical work, numbers of "coolies" to do menial jobs, but they want more intelligent directors and guides to industry. Again, in our schools, we require for the children those who sympathise with school garden work and Nature-study.

These, then, are the ambitions of lady gardeners. They do not wish to supplant able, clever men head-gardeners, nor even to compete with them. They do desire, however, to assist as far as their strength allows, by lending intelligence, good taste, refinement, towards securing better cultivation of our great country. What they lack in physical strength they endeavour to compensate by other equally important, yet softer, womanly qualities.

This book has two objects in view. It hopes, by means of practical advice--in fact, by some it may be considered somewhat Spartan counsel--to draw attention to what is required of lady gardeners. The other aim is to show employers what would be gained by appointing them; at the same time to disarm any mistaken illusion which may have arisen that ladies wish to supplant men gardeners. They merely intend to supplement and increase the good work which men are doing for our land.

GARDENING FOR WOMEN

Part I

GARDENING AS A PROFESSION FOR WOMEN

Daughters of many professional men are obliged to earn a living. It often happens that the head of the family, after years of hard work, has to retire owing either to illness or age. His pension is a small one, and it becomes necessary for his daughters, as well as his sons, to make a career for themselves. They have been accustomed, perhaps, to a comfortable home, with a considerable number of luxuries, and the question as to the best method of earning a living must necessarily be a difficult one. In this connection it is, I hope, pardonable to quote a passage from Mrs. Creighton's recent article upon women's education, which created great interest among those concerned with the welfare of young women. She wrote:--"It is tolerably well agreed what men should be; but social conditions which produce a preponderance of the female population and make it impossible for some women, however much they may desire it, to be married, are inconvenient and disturbing to the views of most men.

"The existence of women who, whether they like it or not, are bound to work for their livelihood, is, as a rule, only unwillingly recognised as an exception; the existence of women who claim to have a life of their own is still more upsetting to all ideas of a well-constituted universe."

A somewhat mistaken idea is sometimes held that women who are obliged to follow a definite career are less likely to marry than their sisters who remain at home in quiet surroundings. It is often found, however, that of the daughters, say, of a country clergyman living in some remote corner of England, it is those out in the world as secretaries, companions, or gardeners who do marry. Not only has a wider sphere of life brought them friends, but their knowledge of the world has taught them how to keep them. They have larger interests, broader views, and are therefore happier than their sisters, who remain at home in village surroundings. They should, too, be better helpmates to men leading active lives. If they are sensible, wise, good women, they should not lose by contact with people of different types any of that gentleness and softness which are the chief attractions of a woman.

The choice of a career depends largely upon the character and bringing up of a girl. Unless she is fond of out-of-door life, however, she must not think of becoming a gardener, and she will probably find that her parents look somewhat critically upon this profession. They have an uncomfortable feeling that the head of a private garden is only a kind of servant, and in market, jobbing, or landscape gardening they see a life of constant digging and delving; a struggle to compete with the strength of a working man. The disadvantages--many days of rain and wind, early rising, disagreeable menial jobs--all assume larger proportions to them than the benefits that are to be derived. Parents are perfectly right to point out all these drawbacks to their daughter. They should be fully realised and weighed before she embarks upon such a career. Professional gardening is no child's play. It means at least three years of diligent study and hard work before any considerable remuneration can be sought.

Let the girl who is leaving college carefully view all sides of the question, and, above all, let her wait until she is twenty before she takes any decisive step. Having reached years of discretion, and being full grown and strong in health, the advantages of a gardener's life will probably attract her. If, during her childhood, she has had the care of a plot of ground in the home garden, or has had bees or poultry under her charge, it will be pain and grief to her to leave these pursuits and live in the confinement of a town. The thought of a stuffy London typewriting office, and the long, dark evenings in cheap lodgings, will be repulsive to her. She will miss the wide, open stretches of sky, the coming and going of the seasons. How she will long for a sight of cowslips in the meadows and the fresh, sweet scent of gorse. Perhaps, if she is a governess or companion, she may live in the country and have all these pleasures, but will she fully relish them if she has no freedom? Her evenings may possibly not be her own, and during the day, too, she will have to accommodate her wishes to those of others. The well-known lines of Richard Jefferies will constantly recur to her, and she will see the wisdom of them. "Let us be always out of doors among trees and grass and rain and wind and sun. Let us get out of these indoor, narrow, modern days, whose twelve hours somehow have become shortened, into the sunlight and the pure wind. A something that the ancients called divine can be found and felt there still."

The profession of gardening offers a considerable amount of freedom, the refining influence of poetry and beauty, contact with intelligent, interesting people, and health and happiness to body and mind. These, to an active, out-of-door, young woman are very great advantages. Then, too, there are different branches of the profession, so that a selection is possible as to which best suits her talents. Should she be fond of teaching, she can hold classes in Nature Study or botany; if she has taste and talent for drawing, she can take up landscape gardening. With a small amount of capital to invest, she may start a market garden, with every prospect of success.

There are, too, the higher branches of horticulture, such as the treatment of rare greenhouse plants, hybridisation, cross-fertilisation, and the handling of orchids. All these intensely interesting, intellectual matters require such dainty skill, so much thought, that there is no doubt whatever they are suited to ladies. Many who practise in these branches employ women to execute the minute operations that are so often entailed, because their light touch is better adapted to the purpose than the heavy hand of a man. Few women have up to the present studied long enough to surpass men in these matters, but there is a certain future for them in such work if they persevere in study.

It must be borne in mind that horticulture is still a comparatively new profession for women, and that unless those who enter it strive to give full time and application to learning its details they cannot hope to be successful. Some few failures have occurred already, much to the regret of all keenly interested onlookers. These have been caused by anxiety to earn something before proficient knowledge had been acquired. It is the same, I believe, in all new professions; and it is only now, after many years of striving, that women have attained success as sick nurses, secretaries, and teachers. The first who went into the arena made mistakes, and possibly paved the way for their successors, who noted the causes of failure, and mended their ways. Let us hope that this will be the case in horticulture, for there is no reason why women should not succeed in it. Moreover, we have already some brilliant examples of success. Those who are thinking of taking it up should spare no pains to gain a complete education, for only then, when they are themselves worth something, can they expect remuneration.

THE TRAINING REQUIRED

There are various ways of obtaining the necessary training to be a lady gardener. Both at home and abroad numerous colleges and schools exist where young women are well instructed in all branches of Horticulture. A college course is necessary, but if a girl is not more than twenty years of age it will help her to be apprenticed for a year or two first in a private garden. Should she prefer, it will be better still to spend two years at a small school where instruction is more individual and personal than in a large college. Here the students are few in number, and carefully selected, and it is possible to learn in the same way that the working man learned, when he began as a garden boy. The pupil will be ordered to do menial jobs, such as turning manure, wheeling refuse, sweeping leaves, or mowing a lawn. This comparative drudgery must be gone through in order to understand how to direct others. Even wheeling a barrow full of soil and washing out pots is interesting if the heart be in the profession and there is the wish to succeed.

In a private garden or small school, too, it will be possible to follow the ultimate use the pots are put to, after they are washed, and the reason for each operation will be more easily made apparent than is the case in a large college, where lectures and theoretical classes are sometimes put before practice. When there is a large number of students, too, it is impossible that all should take part in each operation. Personal interest in the garden is apt to be lost sight of, and teaching becomes a "demonstration," where the expert does the work, and the students look on. They cannot thus learn in the only thorough way, by working themselves.

In a college course, hours are often suited to the requirements of expert lecturers, and students are apt to ignore the fixed hours of work observed in a private garden. I have known students to whom it never occurred that it might not be agreeable to the family to hear the sound of raking on a gravel path outside the breakfast room, and who were unconscious of its being an offence against garden etiquette for them to shout remarks to fellow students across the flower beds. Then, too, fixed school holidays, which are necessary in large communities, sometimes interfere with the possibility of seeing certain operations performed.

I therefore strongly advocate a course of manual work, like that of the garden boy, as an introduction to more serious training. This routine work will enable the pupil to understand college lectures, when the time comes to attend them. Theoretic teaching can then be applied to the treatment of soil and plants.

Not possessed of the strength and facility for manual work of a man, the girl student must make up for this deficiency by intelligent reasoning. She should follow closely in the footsteps of science, and have a reason for each operation. What is heard in the chemistry laboratory has to be applied in practice in the garden. When the dismal herbaceous border, upon which so much money has been spent, is seen, the cause of failure will be known. After all the talk, trouble and expense, why does it lack colour? Surely some ingredient in the soil is missing--dress it with lime, put more manure or leaf mould, as the case may be.

I believe that some people imagine that a lady gardener is intended always to remain at work amongst the swept-up leaves and garden refuse! But if her intelligence is not sufficient to make her soar speedily beyond the powers of a ?1 a week man gardener, she had better take up other work, for she certainly cannot compete with him in physical strength.

A course of study for two or three years, such as I have described, is certainly not too lengthy. Each plant, shrub, tree, goes through the same phases once in each year. Although these processes are repeated year after year, they may be subjected to variations of weather and temperature. Different treatment is probably necessary each year. Time only can show this. Books teach much and so also do lectures, but only when supplemented by practical experience, will they make a competent gardener.

The intending girl-gardener should make up her mind from the beginning that she must spend money on a three years' course of training. It should be taken in the way that best suits the individual case; there need never be regret for the money spent upon it. It is only by skill and knowledge that employment will eventually be secured.

Therefore the beginner should do some practical work in a garden, and cram botany, chemistry, and physics into her head. When she has a free day, or if other opportunity occurs, visits should be made to other gardens. Then it will be possible to learn the names and habits of new plants, and, by studying a different treatment of them, the powers of observation will be increased.

After college training an effort should be made to get a subordinate paid post, for whatever branch of Horticulture it is decided to specialise in. No attempt should be made to superintend a large garden until, as they say of children, the student has learned "to feel her feet."

I propose to give a short account of the different branches available from which a selection can be made. It will be convenient to divide them into two classes:--

A. Which require training and education only:--

B. Which requires capital as well as training and education:--

Market Gardening.

LANDSCAPE GARDENING

This wide field of study is one which women are well suited to, provided they have brains and good taste. In order to be really successful, imagination is required, as well as other qualities that are needed by an ordinary head gardener. No amount of study or training can adapt an inartistic woman to this profession, but given artistic feeling, the power of conveying her ideas to her employers and to those working for her, great possibilities are within reach. Many fail, perhaps, by a headstrong desire to carry out their own plans; they do not regard sufficiently the views and wishes of those for whom they work. A considerable amount of tact is necessary, in order to obtain the confidence of the owner of the garden. Having ascertained his requirements, and made these the centre of the scheme, the woman-gardener's imagination should help to fill in all details.

I assume that the candidate for such a position has had a good general education, and is well grounded in botany and botanical geography. It is necessary that she should be able to draw, and a knowledge of simple plane geometry and geometrical drawing is essential. She must be able to make a sketch plan showing the proposed alterations with their measurements. In some cases, where the employer is not himself a draughtsman or does not read a ground plan easily, the lady gardener may find it useful to have recourse to a different system for conveying her meaning to him.

I have seen a rough model made in cardboard to represent the house, and real soil used to surround it, with little twigs placed here and there in imitation of trees or hedges. This is a somewhat childish means of experimenting upon future alterations, but in cases where the owner is undecided or unable completely to grasp the effect which will be attained by moving soil, or planting trees, the model may be exceedingly useful. The soil can be so easily shifted from side to side with the hands, a tree planted here, a dividing hedge placed there, until the desired effect is attained. Then, too, it may convey well to the contractor the exact amount of labour that he will have to expend.

Another way of conveying ideas for proposed alterations is by means of a "prophetic drawing." That is to say, if a rose arbour is to be made, a sketch, with finished details of what it should look like two years hence, when the roses have climbed to the summit of the pergola, may influence the owner in his decision to put the matter in hand. It is important that all these methods of conveying intentions should be studied.

A slight acquaintance with geology will be useful in forming rock work. Most of these subjects, together with surveying, can be learnt at a Municipal School, but the more thoroughly they are acquired the better.

Methodical habits are essential. So many women, compelled to earn a living, fail in this. They do not note expenses carefully; they are not business-like in rendering an account of wages paid out; and they do not trouble to obtain estimates of work to be done. The education of women is much at fault in these respects, but certainly, until this lack of business qualities is replaced by methodical ways, we shall be considered the reverse of helpful.

It will greatly assist the young gardener if visits are paid to many gardens, both private ones as well as market gardens. Small cottage gardens or wayside hedgerows should not be despised; much can be learnt by looking at both. The plants that are natural to the climate and soil are at once detected in this way, and knowledge is obtained as to what will most speedily lend itself to an effect of foliage or colour. Often, the chance arrangement of a large mass of gypsophila with bright coloured nasturtiums interwoven with its feathery flowers, or pansies springing up between an old paved path, may give ideas for a large garden. The "Traveller's Joy," and blackberries, that grow so rampantly on chalk, will make a pergola look clothed before a rarer plant could grow three feet up it.

If possible, a trip abroad should be taken; it would give fresh ideas, if the fields of mauve autumn crocuses in France, or the terraces and vineyards of Italy, could be seen. There are so many different ways of building pergolas, training creepers, and tying vines to posts. If we adopt some of these foreign styles in England it gives a touch of Italy to our tame English gardens. Copious notes should be made of all that is seen, and the knowledge thus acquired can be readily applied to designs for gardens here.

All books on landscape gardening, new and old, must be studied; many old-fashioned plans of mazes and beds can so easily be used or adapted to modern grounds, and with some knowledge of architecture, it will be easy to place the right design near a house.

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