WOMEN FOR THE FARM 105 



men, but for the maidservant or secondary-school 

 girl it would seem that farm and not garden life 

 holds out far more suitable prospects ; milking cows, 

 poultry-keeping, dairy work, jam-making, bee- 

 keeping, these are all industries which she is fitted 

 for and can carry on in company with the farmer's 

 wife, who will watch over her moral welfare. In 

 the homely surroundings of a farm-house she will 

 feel at her ease, whereas in a private garden, even 

 if she worked with other women, the men under- 

 gardeners, who must, of necessity, be employed too 

 for hard work, would not welcome in their pro- 

 fession young women of their own sphere of life. 

 They would resent the co-operation of one of their 

 women friends although they would gladly allow 

 a lady to direct their work. Then, again, the 

 accommodation of women in the bothy is another 

 difficulty and unless some special housing arrange- 

 ment can be made in a neighbouring village, the 

 position is one which is fraught with trouble. It 

 would seem therefore that in the interests of their 

 future careers, even in the case of a head gardener's 

 daughter who could live in her own home and work 

 in the garden, it is not advisable to encourage any 

 but educated ladies to become gardeners. Ulti- 

 mate success depends upon higher education and 

 qualities of directorship which do not come easily 

 to maidservants. 



New careers for women always commence by 

 enlisting these unsuitable recruits and it is only 

 after years of patient plodding towards an attain- 

 ment of the right type of worker that the pioneers, 

 who start such openings, are at length partially 



