284 
GARDENING FOR SOLDIERS. 
soldier. As the object is to give him occupa- 
tion extra to his professional labour, some 
inducement must be held out to him to era- 
brace the pastime, and nothing seems more 
likely to achieve this aim than the association 
of his industry with his profit. Carefully 
tended, the kitchen-garden yields enormous 
returns upon the outhiy of capital and labour. 
The power of growing such articles as may 
conduce to the improvement of his table and 
impart a relish to his rations, is therefore the 
first recommendation which an introduction to 
the vegetable world will possess in the eyes of 
the soldier. It is rarely that any other esculent 
than the potato, and occasionally the cabbage, 
graces the barrack- board, for the market cost 
of all others is beyond the sum assignable by 
the military regulations to the soldier's mess. 
Let him know, then, that a small fraction of 
his weekly surplus of pay will procure him 
seeds for carrots and turnips, salads, parsnips, 
onions, sorrel, spinach, greens, beans, radishes, 
and an infinite variety of herbs, such as parsley, 
sage, mint, thyme, &c., which a little industry 
will fructify, and he is at once supplied with 
a motive — the lowest and vulgarest, perhaps, 
and yet the most powerful — for taking spade 
and hoe and watering-pot in hand. Tell him 
that the inhalation of the pure air of heaven, 
and the fragrance of the well-tilled earth, will 
keep him out of the hospital, and save him the 
deductions to which weeks and months passed 
in confinement with others afilicted with all 
kiiids of diseases will expose him, and a second 
inducement to rural occupations is furnished ; 
and if to this be added the promise of a small 
bonus upon pre-eminence in horticultural skill, 
the stimulus is complete. 
To the officers the employment of the men 
in gardening comes powerfully recommended. 
It encourages habits of order, cleanliness, 
regularity and industry ; for the soldier-gar- 
dener will soon learn that the earth will yield 
none of her fruits unless her cultivators pos- 
sess these virtues. The necessity for sowing 
many articles in rows, for weeding, watering, 
hoeing, manuring, transplanting, cutting and 
gathering, will evolve all the qualities essen- 
tial to the formation rf a good soldier and 
citizen. The man who v/ill acquire habits of 
attention to drilling his bit of ground, will 
not be indifferent to drilling of a more mili- 
tary character. By way of encouragement, 
the officers' butler or caterer might be in- 
structed to obtain his vegetable supplies from 
the men of the regiment ; and this would, at 
the same time, serve the officers, for the "cost 
would of course be less than that to which 
dealing with the green-grocer might subject 
them. If, in addition to the kitchen garden, 
the men raised flowers, they would have the 
opportunity of offering a bouquet to the wife ' 
of the cajjtain of their company, or of deco- 
rating the little rooms of the married men, or 
improving their own personal finery. Who 
so gay as the orderly with a pink at the 
button hole of his shell jacket ? 
But, perhaps, the most important consider- 
ation connected with the introduction of gar- 
dening into the barracks, would be the with- 
drawal of the men from the ignoble and baneful 
pursuits of the canteen and the grog shop. 
The Government have lately interdicted tiie 
sale of spirituous liquoi'S witinn the barrack 
walls, but the determined toper thinks no- 
thing of a walk, even after a fatiguing parade, 
that takes him to his favourite haunt, while 
others console themselves with superfluous 
draughts of intoxicating beer. Various amuse- 
ments have been devised by the military au- 
thorities to check this tendency to imbibition. 
Regimental libraries, tennis and racket courts, 
gymnastic exercises, fencing, and similar en- 
tertainments are countenanced, and unques- 
tionably ensure a degree of benefit to the 
soldiery. Yet, to the pastime of the garden 
they must all succumb, whether considered in 
reference to the enjoyments they impart, the 
health they bestow, or the personal profit they 
yield. We trust that this brief mention of 
the subject may induce the authorities to give 
it, at least, a portion of their serious attention, 
in view to the soldiers' sharing in tlie general 
scheme of sanitary improvement. 
Having thus said a word in favour of the 
principle of introducing gardening »in to the 
army, we shall, shortly, proceed to point out 
how and where such gardens should be formed, 
the method of management, the funds for their 
support, and such other matters in connexion 
with the plan, as may serve as the basis of a 
proposition to the Ordnance Board and the 
Secretary at War. We desire, in this good 
work, the aid of the mihtary journaHsts, whose 
pages are ever open to the promotion of the wel- 
fare of the troops ; and shall only be too happy to 
strengthen our position by the adoption of such 
suggestions as their experience may supply. 
One word more. It is possible that it may 
be urged as an obstacle to the adoption of our 
proposal, that regiments are locomotive, and 
that the men may, by the calls of service, be 
moved away before they can reap the fruit of 
their horticultural toil. We answer this by 
anticipation. If the plan become universal, 
the troops will only go from one garden to 
another, where, probably, the same products 
will be in a corresponding state of forwardness. 
Should it, however, be otherwise, it will be 
easy to arrange the payment of an adequate 
compensation by the relieving coi'ps, or the 
sale of the expected stock to some market 
gardener, if the barracks are not to be again 
immediately occupied. 
