2 &A&Kt NURSERY WORK 



Another distinctive feature is that of " Quantities." Where 

 the private gardener thinks in terms of dozens and hundreds, 

 the nurseryman thinks in terms of thousands the gardener 

 knows the limits of his requirements, the nurseryman is ever 

 striving to expand his limits, and his products must keep pace 

 with his expansion. The mind of each habituates itself to the 

 position one within defined limits, the other enormously 

 elastic. 



This matter of expanding quantities, very often without 

 expanding accommodation, has caused many nurserymen to 

 specialise along certain lines, and it is to this development that 

 we owe the almost flawless perfection to be seen in the leading 

 lines poured into Covent Garden and other markets. By pre- 

 ference, or tradition, a nurseryman is keenly interested in certain 

 lines more than in others. He is successful with them because 

 he has a special knowledge of them. He knows to a nicety 

 to what conditions they will best respond, and he knows, too, 

 that H they are up to standard there is a large demand for 

 them. So he lays himself out to supply those conditions by 

 a scientific arrangement of his nurseries on correct lines, and 

 also by the training and employment of highly specialised 

 labour. He builds his greenhouses lofty or low, as circum- 

 stances dictate ; he instals a heating apparatus of the needed 

 capacity, whether for four, six, or eight rows of 4-inch piping ; 

 provides the best method of ventilation according to require- 

 ments, and, in short, leaving nothing to chance, relies upon the 

 smooth working of well-thought-out designs to turn out his 

 produce as regularly and methodically as cotton goods are 

 turned out from the factories. 



Such specialisation is far from general, and chiefly occurs 

 in " market " nurseries. By far the greater number of nurseries 

 grow for a more general trade local, county or even national. 

 They are expected to supply anything from a Double Daisy 

 to an Orchid, from a Quickthorn to a Wellingtonia, from a 

 Strawberry Runner to a finely trained Peach Tree. The best 

 of these nurseries are run in departments, not only for the sake 

 of convenience, but as a modified form of specialisation, and 

 for the more economical and profitable use of specialised labour. 



