216 EARLY SUMMER 



through the land, and the staff of lecturing market- 

 gardeners grows more and more critical as crops 

 need thinning and ground has yet to be prepared 

 for sowing. In spite of strenuous activity it is a 

 happy, joyous life, and few who have once tasted 

 its pleasures would willingly change it for any 

 other. More especially is this the case now, for 

 at length, after many years of uphill striving, 

 when it seemed that none would believe in women's 

 work and it was difficult to get the right type of 

 girl to join the profession, a great thing has hap- 

 pened which will once and for all establish women 

 as farmers and gardeners. Her Majesty the Queen 

 has had brought to her notice the work that women 

 are doing in cultivating land, and with that 

 gracious approval which she is wont to show to 

 women- workers, has visited several of their train- 

 ing centres. We, amongst other colleges, have 

 received a gift from part of that sum which the 

 wives of Freemasons presented to Her Majesty for 

 distribution, and not only do I value this as a 

 mark of approval of what is being done here, but 

 I also recognise that the interest thus shown by 

 the Queen will help more than anything else to 

 widen the scope of work that all women-gardeners 

 will do in the future. 



This sense of appreciation in others has oft- 

 times seemed wanting in past years, and the lack 

 of it has dulled sometimes the spirit with which 

 work on the land has been undertaken ; for when 

 carried on with true earnestness of purpose, with- 

 out thought of pleasure or profit, it is but natural 

 that there should be a desire for the support and 



