WOMEN WITH CAPITAL 217 



consideration of those in authority. At length 

 a general acknowledgment of the usefulness of 

 women-gardeners has come ; but now, to make 

 our work complete, we want more recruits for the 

 profession, who, above r all, should belong to the 

 upper classes and possess some capital. Even if it 

 be but £50 or £100 a year, it is helpful, because the 

 expenses of training have to be achieved, and 

 when these are paid for, the woman who has even 

 a small sum to fall back upon can be promised a 

 far more prosperous, independent career upon her 

 reaching an age when the desire of owning land 

 and working for herself, instead of for others, 

 possesses her. 



In the hope, therefore, of making known to 

 town-dwellers how much we want the daughters 

 of Army and Navy officers to fill the splendid posts 

 we have ready for them the moment they are 

 equipped with knowledge, it is decided that we 

 should take a stall at the Chelsea Flower Show. 

 This will be an opportunity for showing what 

 women can grow, how they arrange a stall, and, 

 above all, what women-gardeners look like when 

 they are not working in a garden. This latter 

 point is one that always arouses interest, for 

 people have a suspicion that hob-nail boots and 

 aviation skirts are inseparable from those who are 

 usually at work amongst crops of vegetables. 

 They find their surmises are wrong, however ; for 

 plain straw hats and khaki-coloured coats and 

 skirts of an ordinary shape for town wear are 

 what the students are seen in when they spend a 

 day in London or go to visit other people's gardens. 



