CHAPTER XVII 



THE NEW CITY GARDEN 



THE Garden City might be expected to modify profoundly 

 the city garden, but so far as I have seen there is a 

 tendency for Garden City gardening to fall into two 

 separate sections, each acting independently of the 

 other : the work that is done by the householders, and 

 that which is performed by the city authorities. 



As a case in point take Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, 

 England, where hundreds of householders are working in 

 complete disregard of the operations of the founders, 

 who, to be sure, did not proceed at the outset in a 

 manner calculated to excite enthusiastic emulation. 

 Even at Bournville, which is far more a Garden City 

 than Letchworth, the same independence is noticed. 



In British Garden Cities the same spirit of individualism 

 shows itself which sociologists are familiar with in the 

 streets of the great towns, where " every man's house is 

 his castle." The inhabitants have not the communal 

 spirit. Each concerns himself with the management of 

 his own plot, without regard to the city as a whole. Civic 

 pride is almost wholly wanting. The individual is more 

 sensitive on the point of his personal privileges than on 

 practical- horticultural socialism. 



As one of those who believe that national greatness is 

 more likely to be achieved by raising the status of the indi- 

 vidual (always assuming that the training is of the proper 



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