6 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



these methods I will endeavour to explain a little later on. One thing, 

 however, I am grieved about, viz.. that a few people, who would practically 

 not make a success of anything, have been lured by the golden prospects 

 held out to them in certain sections of the Press, into embarking in an 

 attempt to secure, from an outlay of £100 to £200, the comparatively 

 enormous income of £400 or £500 a year. This, too, simply because they 

 may have read a newspaper article, or my book on French gardening. 

 For instance, I have been in communication with engineers, clergymen, 

 and many other professional men who have had long years of training for 

 their particular professions and who cannot make a successful living, 

 but they think that with possibly £200, the amount mentioned in my 

 book as possible, they are immediately going to make a good living 

 without having the slightest idea of the method of work. I asked an 

 eminent surgeon the other day if he thought that by reading a book upon 

 surgery I should be able to operate successfully on any one. He said he 

 would not care about my doing so on him at any rate, and I retorted 

 that neither could a man by simply reading a book become a skilled 

 gardener. 



I am also sorry to see that the public are being asked to subscribe to 

 large ventures of this description. Personally I do not think that French 

 gardening on a large scale is to be advocated. The methods are suited 

 to small gardens ot one to two acres only, and such gardens require the 

 unremitting and assiduous care of the proprietor himself. The name 

 which has been coined for the system, "intensive," is a very apt one, for 

 it is not, and can never be, an extensive one. 



About fifteen years ago it occurred to me that there was no reason 

 why we could not grow lettuces here, just as they did in France, and in 

 conversation with an eminent French seedsman I learnt that it was the 

 variety of lettuce which enabled the French to achieve such seeming 

 wonders. I promptly got some of the seed, giving it to some of my 

 English friends, but it was a failure. Going somewhat further into the 

 subject I found that the seed was not everything, but that the way the 

 plants were cultivated was also an important factor, and the cultivation is 

 somewhat as follows. The French maraicher, and now the English 

 gardener, begins to collect his manure from July onwards, storing it in 

 great heaps. This he keeps until he requires it in December and during 

 that month he collects an equal quantity of fresh manure. 



This is then mixed in equal quantities and spread nine inches deep on 

 the ground, and on the top of this the frames are placed. About six 

 inches of soil is added to the top of the manure, and on this are sown 

 radishes and carrots in January. Lettuces are planted in the frames at 

 the beginning of January, and are cut towards the end of February. 

 Lettuces are not required in this country very early. 



The particular cabbage lettuce grown is one that has never been 

 used in this country, except in the few French gardens now existing. It 

 is quite distinct from any lettuce which we are in the habit of growing. 

 If this lettuce is planted in the spring time, it will immediately run to 

 seed, but if sown in October under cloches, the plants soon come up, 

 and after a few days they are pricked out, twenty-five under a cloche, 

 and left until they are wanted to finally replant in the beds in January. 



