960 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WASTED OPPORTUNITIES OF FRUIT-GROWING IN 

 ENGLISH VILLAGES. 



By Mr. Owen Thomas, V.M.H. 



[Read at the Horticultural Club, Jan. 13, 1903.] 



That the power and usefulness possessed by Horticulture in influencing 

 the national life and prosperity of Great Britain are much greater than it 

 receives credit for, is, I think, undoubted. That influence has been ex- 

 pressed and demonstrated in many ways, but I think it has been more 

 particularly expressed during the past century in what may be called two 

 distinct forms of gardening. One may be called the luxurious and orna- 

 mental, and the other the commercial and utilitarian. The expression 

 of the former is seen in the creation and embellishment at enormous 

 cost of thousands of beautiful gardens scattered through the British Isles. 

 These range in size and importance from the princely and palatial gardens 

 of hundreds of acres to the more modest surroundings of suburban homes. 

 This development of the higher art of gardening has been made possible 

 by the encouragement of our royal, noble, and wealthy houses, and by the 

 genius, industry, and perseverance of the past generation of British 

 gardeners, the combination resulting in the possession by England of 

 gardens and parks which are the admiration and the envy of the whole 

 world, and are one of her most cherished possessions. 



The development of commercial gardening has been equally as great 

 as that of ornamental, and much of its success can undoubtedly be traced 

 to the influence upon the nation exercised by the older and more luxurious 

 art which in its train has called forth the creation of our great nurseries 

 and seed-houses, and the hundred and one other industries it has brought 

 forth and fostered into prosperity. 



To our towns and cities Horticulture has been a liberal benefactor, as 

 witness our beautiful parks and gardens, which, as recreative and educa- 

 tional places of resort for the teeming thousands of our crowded towns, 

 are now deemed by many as indispensable to the public welfare as are 

 our schools and other educational institutions. Indeed, to our town 

 population Horticulture has been prodigal in its lavishness of good things. 

 In the neighbourhood of large towns throughout the kingdom it has been 

 the means of establishing, upon hundreds if not thousands of acres, glass- 

 houses in which to grow the choicest of fruit, flowers, and vegetables for 

 their sustenance and delectation. 



Seeing then the immense and beneficent power Horticulture has 

 exercised in the development of the higher and commercial aspects of 

 gardening in this country, it may not unreasonably be asked — What has 

 Horticulture done during this long time for the rural working population 

 of England ? The answer, I am sorry to say, must be practically, " Very 

 little indeed." Iam far from ignoring the fact that the love of flowers, so 

 deeply rooted in the hearts of our working people, into whose life it brings 



