SECTION I 



General Aspects of Commercial 

 Gardening 



During the past fifty or sixty years horticulture has sprung into a 

 prominent position as one of the leading industries of the United King- 

 dom. Horticulture, unlike its twin sister agriculture, is not represented 

 in Parliament, and the only legislative notice taken of it has been to 

 make its disciples pay rates and taxes on their skill and industry. When 

 we have a Minister of Horticulture, as the French and Belgians have, 

 then perhaps the horticultural trade will receive as much consideration 

 as agriculture does in connection with the rating of the land, and more 

 importance will be attached to it as a national industry. 



Horticulture, as distinct from agriculture, has to deal with the cultiva- 

 tion of all kinds of plants and flowers, fruits and vegetables, both in 

 the open air and under glass. Besides our native hardy fruits, flowers, 

 and vegetables, the horticulturist also has to grow exotics from all parts 

 of the world from the tropics, subtropics, and temperate regions, from 

 the mountains and valleys, and from all kinds of soils and situations. 

 To bring these to perfection necessitates considerable skill, besides great 

 expense. The horticulturist has found out that the rather antediluvian 

 methods of the agriculturist would be of little use to him. He must 

 mix his soils and composts in various ways to suit particular crops, and 

 he must regulate the temperature by means of glasshouses and frames 

 and hot-water apparatus if he is to succeed. This necessitates outlay in 

 other directions, and the timber, glass, and iron trades benefit by his 

 enterprise, as well as many others that supply horticultural sundries. 

 Indeed it is almost impossible to describe the intricate details of horti- 

 cultural practice, and it must suffice to say that they are such as would 

 astonish the average agriculturist. Although both farmer and gardener 

 have to practise the same principles of cultivation for outdoor crops, 

 the gardener, even with these, will devote far more attention to detail, 

 and will spend an amount of money every year in cultivation that the 



farmer would consider exorbitant or extravagant. The farmer leaves 

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