MODERN GARDENING 313 



already familiar sight of barrows of fruit being sold at less 

 than one penny a piece was unknown in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury.^ Besides this welcome fruit from the Colonies which 

 cannot be grown here, an immense amount is imported from 

 abroad which, with a little more enterprise, could be raised in 

 the country. Early vegetables are also imported from abroad 

 in great quantities, and it is no doubt a meritorious desire to 

 supply these at home that has led to the sudden craze to 

 embark on the French methods of market gardening. This 

 consists chiefly in growing early crops under bell-glasses on 

 highly manured ground. The soil round Paris where this 

 system pays best is exceptionally rich, but undoubtedly it is 

 a profitable business elsewhere when thoroughly understood. 

 There is no reason why it should not succeed in England when 

 entrusted to experienced hands, which does not always appear 

 to be thought necessary. It requires a large outlay per acre, 

 and extremely hard work of a technical nature. A similar 

 system was in vogue near London a hundred and fifty years 

 ago .2 . 



One characteristic of present-day gardening is the share 

 that women take in it. Thomas Tusser and all the old writers 

 frequently pointed out that the care of the garden was within 

 the department of a good housewife, but the " lady gardener " 

 is the product of the last few years. It was only in 1891 that 

 the Horticultural College at Swanley admitted for the first 

 time a lady student, but by 1896 there were thirty-nine, in 

 spite of a strong prejudice against women taking up the work 

 seriously. In 1903 the college was turned into one entirely 

 for women, and sixty-three students entered. Since then 

 the number of students has fluctuated between sixty and 



^ The Daily Graphic, October 4, 1905, has a headline, " A Procession 

 of Bananas — Half a Mile of Vans." The paragraph gives an account of 

 a special train which took 14,000 bunches of bananas from the cargo of 

 a ship from Jamaica just arrived at Avonmouth. Three hundred men 

 quickly loaded up 100 vans, which started from Paddington to dis- 

 tribute the fruit throughout London and the suburbs. This was in 

 the early stages of the banana trade, which now is established, and 

 creates no excitement in newspaper columns. 



^ See p. 240. 



