518 COTTAGE GARDENS ASSOCIATION. 



Act, in which shareholders would receive a fair amount of 

 interest on capital invested. The chief objects I have in 

 view in connection with this movement are recreation and 

 thrift. I seek to provide a "hobby" for the humbler classes 

 of society, employment for their leisure hours, free from 

 the trammels of any one particular school of thought 

 employment that is at once recreative, healthful, and re- 

 munerative. Let me endeavour to show, first, that it is 

 desirable to bring gardening within easy reach of the 

 humbler classes of society ; and secondly, that the project 

 is practicable. 



I. DESIRABILITY OF THE PROJECT. 

 Am I not right in assuming that a "hobby" of some 

 sort is almost necessary to men in every station of life to 

 complete satisfactorily the sum of human occupation. The 

 members of the upper and middle classes of society have, 

 from their means, position, and influence, a power of 

 choice in this respect which the labourer, the artisan, and 

 even the small tradesman do not possess. Can they live 

 on from week to week and year to year performing their 

 work industriously and spiritedly without a "hobby?" 

 Or, if this in some cases be possible, would not the pur- 

 suit of one prove of incalculable benefit to them physi- 

 cally, mentally, and morally ? I think it hardly necessary 

 to bring forward evidence in support of the opinion that 

 it would, and I think further that cottage gardening is a 

 suitable "hobby" for most men in the station of life to 

 which I have referred. It is not only beneficial in its 

 influences on both mind and body, but, unlike many 

 "hobbies," it teaches thrift, and is thus specially suited 

 for their requirements and means, increasing their stores 

 of wholesome food at a small cost. I think also that the 

 subject has an educational as well as a moral, social, and 

 economical aspect. 



In regard to the EDUCATIONAL ASPECT, it seems to 

 me that in view of a further extension of the franchise it 



