CHAPTER VI 



PLANTS FOR THE CITY POOR 



** Along the dense-packed cities all, and the teeming wharves and 

 ways — every leaf a miracle." 



A KINDLY K.C. of my acquaintance is always telling us 

 we ought to provide pianos for the poor. " So elevating '* 

 — this is his argument. Mine is, that pianos want too 

 much practising— poor people have no time for it ; much 

 better give them window-boxes and a spade. A taste 

 for gardening raises the most uneducated, and the mixed 

 elements of chance and skill secure perennial freshness, 

 giving a zest to the pursuit that makes it like the best 

 kind of game. 



Mrs. Free, of St. Cuthbert's Lodge, Millwall, is doing 

 an excellent work in encouraging a love of flowers among 

 her poor. About four years ago, through her efforts, a 

 Window-box Society was started. Members (there are 

 now about seventy) pay twopence annually, and in return 

 receive gifts in kind of bulbs and plants. Prizes are 

 awarded for the best display of flowers. Few families, 

 alas ! possess the smallest bit of garden ground, and many 

 have no space for a window-box, but must make the best 

 of a few plants indoors, on a table as near the light as 

 possible. This arrangement, often as I see it, never fails 

 to give a double pang. The first is for the owners, and the 

 second for the plants, that, although taking up more room 

 than ought to be allowed them, are themselves starving 

 for want of air and light. 



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