GARDENING FOR SOLDIERS. 
233 
saw among hard-wooded plants was Erioste- 
mon intermedium, with flowers thrice the 
size of cuspidatum, and altogether a beautiful 
plant. We do not altogether like the laying 
out of the clumps in the grass, but from the 
incomplete state of the establishment it would 
be premature to condemn. The garden in 
front of the great Palm-house is -pretty and 
consistent, and the arrangements seem calcu- 
lated to preserve the plants, while they afford 
facilities to the public who want to know any- 
thing. There is a man in every house at 
work at something : not that he can do a great 
deal, and keep his eye on the public also, but 
he may at intervals, and in fact does at inter- 
vals, some little work during the hours of ex- 
hibition. One of the most gratifying results 
of this national undertaking is the enabling of 
the poorest person who is clean, and respectably 
dressed, to enjoy a garden that no riches could 
surpass in interest ; and we see the happy effects 
of this in the visits of persons evidently of 
humble condition, who are enjoying the walks 
and paying great attention to the plants, as 
well as evincing their care as they pass 
through the houses. The public cannot ap- 
preciate the luxury of a visit until they have 
seen the establishment as it is ; for it is no 
more like what it was, than Bedford-square is 
like St. James's Park. 
GARDENING FOR SOLDIERS. 
In the mania for class legislation, which 
distinguishes the present age from its prede- 
cessors, it is singular that no one member of 
parliament has made himself conspicuous for 
philanthropic exertions in behalf of a body of 
men to whom we in a great measure owe, not 
only our influence abroad, but the peace and 
security it is our happiness to enjoy at home. 
There are nearly fifty members of the naval 
and military professions in the House of Com- 
mons, and the great majority of the rest of the 
house are more or less connected with the ser- 
vices ; but not more than a fraction of the 
former ever concern themselves with the affairs 
of the army or navy, excepting when the esti- 
mates are discussed — and then only for a part 
of a single night — while the latter never, by 
any chance, turn from their favourite topics 
to bestow, for a time, undivided attention upon 
the welfare of the protectors of the country. 
They apparently deem their duty to soldiers 
and sailors sufficiently performed, if they give 
a silent vote in favour of any measures sug- 
gested by the Secretary at War, or absent 
themselves from the house when a division 
takes place upon a question of financial eco- 
nomy, which they are pledged to their con- 
stituents to oppose. We are loth to put a 
harsh interpretation upon this apparent cal- 
lousness : it may arise from the constitutional 
dislike to a standing force, or from an igno- 
rance which legislators find it too much 
trouble to overcome ; or it may proceed 
from a confidence in the disposition of the 
Commander-in-Chief and the Admiralty to 
originate all benevolent works having refer- 
ence to the services But be this as it may — ■ 
there are some two or three hundred thousand 
human beings serving Great Britain, for none 
of whom the legislature of the country has a 
special thought, and who are rarely included 
in any of the great measures devised for the 
common welfare. Of this number, one hun- 
dred thousand, in round figures, compose the 
British Army, and it is because a means 
suggests itself for benefiting that class, bearing 
peculiarly upon the province of this Magazine, 
that we are induced to treat of what, at the 
first blush, might have seemed foreign to our 
vocation. 
This is emphatically the epoch of sanitary 
legislation. Whatever concerns the health 
and exercise of the public engages primary 
consideration. Draining, ventilation, and the 
appropriation of open spaces to purposes of 
recreative enjoyment, form the subjects of in- 
numerable private and public bills, and occupy 
the attention of various boards, committees, 
and associations. Some portion of the new 
light which has broken in upon Parliament 
has extended its illumination to the Ordnance 
department, in whom abides the duty of con- 
structing, ventilating, and purifying the bar- 
racks of the soldiery. Yet, strange to say, 
one of the most obvious methods of combining 
health, exercise, and profit, with amusement 
and occupation, has been altogether neglected. 
There are many scores of barracks in Great 
Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the 
Colonies, and India. In most of these there 
are barrack-yards and parade-grounds of 
greater or lesser dimensions, where the men 
assemble, perform evolutions, submit to in- 
spection, or stroll about when off duty. But 
where do we find a single strip of ground 
attached to the soldier's dwelling, appropriated 
to the objects of a Garden ? 
To dilate upon the advantages of a garden 
in the presence of our readers, many of whom 
are, we are bound to presume, devotees of that 
source of endless pleasure and grateful toil, 
were a work of supererogation. It behoves 
us, however, to offer to those who, we take it, 
have but little considered the subject, an out- 
line sketch of its many recommendations, and 
with this view we solicit the indulgence and 
patience of the initiated. 
An elaborate garden, comprising some of 
the marvels of the floral world, and the culti- 
vation of the choicest specimens of horticulture, 
is not what we contemplate as suited to the 
