IRISH GAKDENING 



i;i 



TWKT.VK 



pcssiinisti( 

 boid.-riiiiA- 



Business as Usual ^^ 



iiioiiilis ago I'ood economists were 

 ly i)reacliing the public into a state 

 ■iiiij,- on ))anic ; saner and wiser folk were 

 Igating- the policy " business as xisual." 

 twelve months later, the same conflicting 

 opinions seem leading or driving us into a cloudy 

 chaos, which not only gets us no " forrader," but 

 obscures the issue which it is essential to kee]) 

 clearly in view. 



Unfortunately, " bisiness as usual " into which, 

 of course, one reads business more or less under 

 altered conditions, but always on broad business 

 lines with all their interdependent far-rea,ching 

 ramifications, seems being lost sight of, and in no 

 ])haee of work m.ore than that of our own, 

 gardening. No one wants to belittle any praise- 

 worthy efforts to sujjplement our food supplies, 

 but in order to 

 do so is it m-i 

 sheer folly and 

 utter foolish- 

 ness to covmt 

 on any mat- 

 erial increase 

 by saci'ilicing 

 the iiurtst of 

 human plea- 

 sures to the 

 ])ro saically 

 ])ractical ami 

 doubtfu lly 

 ]) ro 11 1 a b 1 v, 

 But what of 

 t h e expense 

 involved in 

 orna mental 

 gar d ening ? 

 we hear some 

 or other short- 

 sighted b u t 

 w o u 1 d - b e 

 e c ono mists 

 asking We 

 may answer 

 that hypothe- 

 tical but still 

 very relevant 

 question with 

 what of the 

 sk i lied pro- 



fesi-ional gardener, a large percentage of the 

 " eligibles " of which class have laid aside the 

 blue apron and donned the khaki, ever and anon 

 adding to the long list on the roll of honour — 

 those who are laying down their lives for King 

 and country, and most of whona we hope to 

 welcome back to " work as usual " ? We do not 

 think, however, this is a consideration likely to 

 count, or even to come into the calculation of 

 selfish and sordid interests, nor, indeed, can we 

 narrow it down to this. 



Broader, iiigher. and nobler views, ; nd a deeper 

 and more iirndy-rootcd thesis than those 

 dominated by class interests nuist prevail from 

 which stronger and healthier growth nuiy 

 emanate pro bono publico. There can be no class 

 I'mality within the confines of our Emiiire's 

 economic life. ,Sur(>ly it is a short-sighted i)olicy 

 which bids us economise in one or other direction 

 and arrests that cii-culation of money w'lich 

 travels thnuigh the main arteries ol tralle to be 



Crocus Impkrati albidus. 



sub.livided into the in liuitesimal vehis of healthy 

 com.mercial life. Surely, too, it is here oxiv 

 powers that be, some of them at least, ai-e setting 

 the country some mean, miserable examples 

 while, forsooth, flaunting the text " business as 

 usual." 



It is a text with high potential aptly and 

 admirably adapted at the moment to pretty 

 well all phases of industrial life when false ideas 

 of econom.y, which mean stoppage in some 

 direction and entailing more or less suffering to 

 many others is daily preached in the lay press 

 which everyone reads, and which the gardening- 

 press, which everyone does not read, is doing its 

 best to counteract. But the public are gulled, 

 like to be gulled, it is said. As an instance of 

 pernicious preaching we have but to tvirn to 

 " golden soil " and within our own area of 

 observation, Dublin, to recount the formation of 

 two " French gardens " wlrch ])roved dismal 



failures. One, 

 indeed, is 

 t e m p t e d to 

 travel even 

 beyond our 

 own province 

 proper, gard- 

 ening, in but 

 even sujieriic- 

 ially nu'ditat- 

 ing on su c h 

 matters of 

 mo nient where 

 liowever we 

 must i)ull VI p 

 with the 

 question of the 

 thre at en e d 

 paralysis of 

 the Bulb in- 

 dustry. The 

 importance of 

 this thriving 

 industry, 

 which in a few 

 short years 

 has reached 

 such gigantic 

 d intensions 

 both in Eng- 

 land and Ire- 

 landi should 

 not be under- 

 U' present outlook of 

 now the season is 



rated, and 

 this brand 

 again with 



believe 

 f Inisinc 

 is dismal in the extreme. 



Pretty well the only reminder we have of the 

 bulb seixson now with us is from the phlegmatic 

 Hollander, whose catalogues are conung to our 

 islands in shoals. He evidently is out lor 

 business as usual. It is, of course, a well-known 

 fact that the head of many a big garden has the 

 order " no bulbs this year," but it is jieriiaps 

 harder to realise that ptiblic bodies are pursuing 

 the same policv of ]jaralysing the bulb trade. 

 One instance is that of— well, a line city with its 

 magnilu-ent ])ublic parks and gardens not a 

 hurdred miles from Edinburgh where the 

 fiat has gone forth •■ No bulbs to be pur- 

 chased." , ,^ , 



AH honour to that Councillor at Harrogate, 

 where th<' allempl was made to follow the same 

 slarviuu lines, who so stoutlv o))i)osed it and 

 • •ained his point in " Ih.' effect of having no 



