THE 



GARDENER, 



OCTOBER 1873. 



— s>.->-.:>j^^6 



HOKTICULTURAIi ENERGY. 



HERE are not many things impossible to human energy." 

 So spoke the Earl of Derby at the banquet of the Man- 

 chester Horticultural Exhibition, in perhaps the most 

 interesting and sensible speech that ever was uttered 

 at any horticultural gathering. We need scarcely tell our readers that 

 we seldom wander into subjects which may be considered only dis- 

 tantly related to horticulture. But the sentence of the noble earl 

 which we have quoted is well worthy the careful consideration of all 

 aspirants in horticulture. Energy, it need scarcely be said, is of vast 

 importance in any walk of life ; and the energetic are sure to make 

 their way and mark, often in spite of difficulties, and always when 

 circumstances are anything like favourable. If such horticultural 

 gatherings as the recent very successful one at Manchester have stimu- 

 lated and advanced the science of horticulture, they have done so 

 mainly by rousing and calling out the energies of individual cultivators. 

 Those superlative examples of fruit-growing which have been exhi- 

 bited on such occasions, we would impress on the minds of our younger 

 brethren, were not the result either of chance or magic. J^o ! They 

 were the result of labour — plodding, continuous, and untiring labour. 

 They were so many splendid results developed from the womb of 

 nature, at the price of well-directed energy : at times, it may be, ex- 

 haustive, and demanding the sacrifices of rest and ease. Who, of the 

 mere uninitiated spectators at Manchester Exhibition, could sum up 

 the amount of energy, skill, and care required on the part of a culti- 



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