Garden Libraries. 



247 



by other nurseries, for the advantage of the masters, as well as the benefit 

 of their workmen. 



No. IV. A Garden Library of the 

 second class has been [established 

 at Northwick Park, by Mr. George 

 Fulton, gardener to Lord North- 

 wick, but we are in hopes, from 

 a passage in the following letter, 

 that we may be able soon to rank 

 it as a library of the first class. 



" Northwick Park, near Moreton in the Marsh, 

 Gloucestershire, Jan. 6. 1827. 



"Sir, — I am much pleased with your sug- 

 gestions respecting Garden Libraries, and I 

 hope they will be adopted by all gardeners in 

 some way or other. I have, in the course of 

 my practice, received many presents of books 

 from my employers, from ladies more particu- 

 larly ; therefore, I think the best way would be » 

 for head-gardeners humbly and respectfully to ' 

 ask gentlemen their masters, for books ; or, 

 jointly with their masters, to supply young gar- 

 deners with whatever books or instruments 

 may seem calculated to be useful for them. 

 I have also found clergymen very good in lend- 

 ing useful religious works, which 1 think ought 

 to be placed on our shelves along with our horticultural ones. Plays and novels, which I have 

 seen young gardeners carry about in their pockets, might be dispensed with until they have 

 learned something of grammar and arithmetic. 



" As my noble and benevolent employer is from home at this time, I cannot state how far he 

 will enter into my views ; but I shall mention the subject to him the first opportunity I have. His 

 Lordship has lately built for me a good house in the garden, and supplied most of the furniture, 

 including a very useful book-case, resting on drawers for seeds and papers, of which I send you a 

 sketch {fig. 65.). The two parts do not require to be fixed to one another, or to a wall, and, being 

 quite portable, they may be placed in any dry room. Curtains of green baize answer nearly as 

 well as folding doors, and are cheaper. Although the above be upon a small scale, still I hope it 

 will be worthy of notice to many of your readers. Below is a list of the books I have put in it. 



" I am, Sir, &c. George Fulton." 



The list referred to contains upwards of two dozen of well-selected 

 volumes, professional and elementary, including Donegan's Greek and 

 English Dictionary, Latin and Greek Grammars, &c, to which we have 

 added, not as of any value, but as a mark of approbation, four volumes 

 from our own shelves, and three from a present of books for garden libraries, 

 made by Mr. J. P. Masey, jun. of Bristol. The circumstance of Lord North- 

 wick having contributed the greater part of the furniture to his gardener's 

 house has our warmest approbation. We have before suggested the idea 

 that it would be better both for masters and their head-gardeners, if the 

 fixtures and principal articles of furniture belonged to the master, and were 

 " taken to" by the gardener at a valuation, and taken from him again in the 

 same manner when he leaves his place ; he paying the difference of value 

 for its use, much in the same way as is now done by tenants on entering and 

 quitting a farm. If this were done, and garden libraries established, the 

 comforts and enjoyments of gardeners would be greatly increased at very 

 little expence to their masters, and that expence not requiring to be repeated. 



For libraries of the second class we can recommend : Hort's Domestic Education for Self- 

 Instruction, 22 vols. 12mo. in a mahogany case, Price 31. 13s. 6rf., as serving as a substitute for a 

 number of elementary volumes. It consists of, Vol. I. Advice to Parents and Tutors. II. to 

 VIII. English Spelling, Reading, Prose and Verse, Grammar, Exercises and Key. IX. English 

 Dictionary. X. Bible. XI. Geography. XII. Arithmetic and Key. XIII. and XIV. History. 

 XV. Sciences and Arts. XVI. Natural History. XVII. to XXI. French Grammar, Exercises, 

 Key, and Reading, Prose and Verse. This work, and The Library of the People, now publishing, 

 will go far towards completing the elementary department of a library of the second class. 



Libra?ies of the third or lowest class, adapted for gardens where there is 

 only one gardener kept, may consist of a few good practical books, and a 

 general Encyclopaedia , or Constable's Miscellany. The Encyclopaedia Bri- 

 ll 4 



