20 THE GARDENING YEAR 



they form a mere drop in the ocean of what will, no 

 doubt, later be done upon a larger scale by others, 

 but they have been undertaken in the hope that 

 each student might eventually be, in however 

 humble a capacity, a guiding influence to others. 



Only educated, thinking, foreseeing men and 

 women gardeners can fully gauge the great results 

 that must surely ensue with the increase of co- 

 operation on the land, and it is for this reason 

 especially that the daughters of professional men, 

 landowners, and women who belong to the upper 

 classes are so especially wanted at this time in the 

 profession of Gardencraft. 



As one by one the new recruits, in the shape of 

 students, are brought into my " Army " office after 

 an interview with the Principal, it is my endeavour 

 to give them some slight perception of the above 

 ideas. Probably they are much too nervous to 

 carry away any recollection other than that of the 

 two little plaster-work cannon that decorate the 

 chimney corner, or perhaps they may recall later 

 the blue and white tiles that the firelight plays on, 

 where Cavaliers and Roundheads brandish swords. 

 No matter what their powers of sight may grasp, 

 if the one idea remains firmly engrained that it is 

 important national work that they are about to 

 enter on. Each in her small and apparently in- 

 conspicuous way is to become one of a co-operative 

 body of willing workers, endeavouring to learn 

 sufficiently, during her two years sheltered within 

 the peaceful hollows of the South Downs, to carry on 

 later independent, useful work for the general 

 good. No one can gainsay that to improve the 



