WASTED OPPORTUNITIES OF FRUIT-GROWING. 961 



bo much brightness and pleasure, and so well expressed in our village 

 cottage flower gardens and windows and at our village flower- shows, 

 is the direct result of the example given by our wealthy patrons of 

 Horticulture. But on the industrial aspect of gardening as it affects our 

 rural population, Horticulture as yet has scarcely made its influence felt 

 at all. The migration of our country population into the towns in such 

 large numbers of late years has been much deplored by all thoughtful men 

 and women, both in the interests of the people themselves and that of the 

 land. There are many theories advanced as to the cause of this, and the 

 remedies to apply. Most of these, as far as I have seen, are of a nature 

 requiring the enactment of special laws before effect can be given to them, 

 and are therefore more or less of a political character and outside the 

 scope of this paper. But there are other causes at work exercising a 

 powerful influence in determining this unfortunate exodus of our working 

 population from the country to the town — causes which, in my humble 

 opinion, Horticulture is capable of arresting, and not only of arresting but 

 of turning the current the other way and bringing the people back to the 

 country. 



The cause of this exodus must not be looked for in the nature of the 

 work, whether of the garden or of the farm. Husbandry is the most 

 honourable and health-giving of all callings. What then, may we ask, are 

 the causes? I will only mention two, and these, I believe, are amongst the 

 most powerful. One is the extreme poverty of interest associated with 

 their homes, and the other is the low rate of wages usually paid for their 

 labour. 



As bearing on the first cause, I need only recall to the minds of those 

 conversant with the associations surrounding the cottage homes of 

 labourers in purely agricultural districts, their loneliness, their isolation, 

 and the absence of congenial society and sympathy in their lives. What 

 leisure the labourer possesses after working hours are over is usually spent 

 in dull monotony, with no further apparent interest in life than to dream 

 away the hours till bed-time. The bit of garden surrounding his home is 

 as a rule devoted to the growth of potatoes, cabbages, and perhaps a few 

 roots, with possibly an old stunted apple-tree and a few gooseberry bushes, 

 the whole surrounded by a neglected and broken-down fence or hedge. 

 What wonder that the boys and girls who have received a better education 

 than their parents forsake such dull homes for the excitement of the town ? 

 I am speaking thus of the isolated homes of our workers far away f mm the 

 influence and society of their fellows, and there are thousands of these. 

 The condition of things in our country villages is no doubt better in this 

 respect, as a result of healthy garden rivalry and under the influence of the 

 gentry and clergy of the district and of the village garden-shows. But even 

 here not a tithe is done for the comfort and well-being of the labourer's 

 home surroundings that Horticulture properly applied is capable of doing. 



What then, may be asked, are the remedies I would suggest ? It is that 

 every country cottage should have allotted to it at least half an acre of 

 garden land, not necessarily adjoining the cottage, but as near to it as 

 practicable, enclosed by a hedge or a fence. The land should be of fair 

 quality, and if possible near a stream of water. After acquiring this land 

 the first process to take in hand, with a view of as good a yield as possible, 



M 



