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SUBURBAN GARDENING. 273 
SUBURBAN GARDENING. 
BY EDWARD W. BADGER, F.R.H.S. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
Of all the varied pursuits which have given pleasure to mankind, or 
filled up leisure hours agreeably, none have been more warmly or 
deservedly praised than Gardening. No part of John Milton’s glorious 
poem is more generally appreciated than his glowing descriptions of our 
first parents’ delightful occupations as they tended the plants which 
adorned the Garden of Eden; and this, apart from the literary beauty of 
the poem, is no doubt to be accounted for by the universality of the 
delight which mankind has in tilling the soil, and cultivating fruits and 
flowers. What greater pleasure can be afforded a child than giving it a 
tiny garden of its own? Many a wearied man of business finds his most 
cherished recreation in the quietude of his garden. No occupation is 
more suitable to the later years of life than the gentler pursuits of 
horticulture; and even when age or infirmity debars from active par- 
ticipation in the work, the results of others’ labours are capable of 
affording the purest of pleasures. Strange as it is, still it is too true 
that we English people, with all our love for gardens and gardening, are 
individually but indifferent gardeners. 
At the request of some of our readers, I have decided to prepare 
some papers on Gardening, and, in doing so, shall endeavour to combine 
practical directions with such references to the principles on which they 
are based as will I hope assist occupiers of small gardens to make good 
use of them. I hope it will not be considered out of place for these 
articles to appear in the ‘‘ Midland Naturalist.” I think I shall be able 
to show that gardening is a pursuit well adapted for our working 
naturalists who are fortunate enough to have a plot of ground attached 
to their houses, and I am quite sure a man will be a better gardener for 
being a naturalist too. I hope to be able to prove that “ rule of thumb” 
gardening processes are less educative, less pleasant, and less profitable, 
than those which are based on a knowledge of the “why” and 
‘‘ wherefore ” of what is done or needs doing. 
Suburban gardening is always more difficult than gardening in spots 
where the air is uncontaminated by smoke and impure exhalations, such 
as prevail in and about populous places. Small gardens surrounded by 
high walls, where sun and air penetrate but feebly, demand much skill 
for their successful management, for they are necessarily heavily bur- 
dened with disadvantages as compared with plots of the same size fully 
open to light and air. Then, as a rule, the smaller the plot the more it 
gets crowded, so eager is the anxious occupier ‘‘to make the best” of 
his limited area; this adds another difficulty, and, in the outset, I would 
desire to point out that the bulk of garden plants, whether such as are 
grown for their flowers, or such as are grown for food, are almost 
invariably allowed too little room for their complete development. 
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