December 23 1S86. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
555 
COMING EVENTS 
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Christmas Day. 
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1st Sunday after Christmas. 
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Bank Holiday. 
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GARDENING. 
ARDENING in its best aspect may be described 
as the highest attainable representation of the 
culture of plants and crops. There can be no 
more important and no more commendable em¬ 
ployment than that. Plants, well grown, contri¬ 
bute powerfully to the sum of human happiness, 
and they embody and display the intelligence of 
man. Crops of the various kinds the gardener 
produces are a main factor in the nation’s wealth, 
because forming an indispensable and recognised element in 
the nation’s food. All those, therefore, who engage in the 
occupation of gardening, and whose chief pride is to excel in 
developing the earth’s resources, and who share in producing 
in its greatest excellence that which is pleasant to the eye 
and good for food, are engaged in a high and honourable 
calling. 
Time was when the exercise of gardening was considered 
as little more than “ a superior pursuit for a rustic.” But it 
is raised to a far higher position now. It is an art, and 
more than that, a science, though all may not agree with 
this ruling. There are persons who regard themselves as 
engaged in a more elevated sphere, looking down with com¬ 
placent assurance on their fellow workers who are “only 
gardeners.” But the artificial barrier that is occasionally yet 
vainly sought to be strengthened is crumbling away, and 
botany and horticulture are now regarded as twin sciences 
by able representatives of both. This has been demon¬ 
strated in a marked way on more than one occasion by those 
distinguished men, the present and ex-directors cf Kew ; and 
gardening i3 now indulged in as a pursuit by many of the 
most scientific and noble individuals of this and other 
countries. 
The most intelligent of our professional gardoners have 
profited by the alliance, and will profit more in the future, 
while they have, in turn, imparted practical knowledge of 
admitted value to their learned associates. This is as it 
should be. Mutual respect for each other, mutual trust, and 
mutual help result in a greater aggregation of sound know¬ 
ledge that cannot fail to be of advantage to individuals and 
the whole community. The so-called “ practical” man who 
laughs at science betrays his own weakness; and the botanist 
and philosopher who regards “ mere gardening” as savour¬ 
ing of a low occupation, sits on a very shaky pedestal, and 
though conspicuous, is not envied in his exaltation. Well 
has one of the most scientific and practical of horticulturists, 
the late Mr. G. W. Johnson, observed :—“ Now that garden¬ 
ing has gained the attention of men of science, the progress 
of horticulture is no longer astonishing. The botanist 
applies his researches to the inhabitants of the garden, and 
the better explanation of their habits. The vegetable phy¬ 
siologist adapts his discoveries to practical purposes by 
pointing out the organs and functions which are of primary 
importance ; and the chemist by his analysis discovers their 
constituents, and is consequently enabled to point out im¬ 
provements which practice could only have stumbled on by 
No. 339.—Vol. XIII., Thibd Series, 
chance, and perhaps during a lapse of ages.” That is the 
true light in which to regard the researches of men of 
science ; but practice is the fruition of their labours, and it is 
that practice, founded on sound principles, which is compre¬ 
hended in the very expressive, well understood, and good old 
term—“ gardening.” 
That same time honoured word is, as near as any word 
can be, the embodiment of perfect culture. The qualifica¬ 
tion is necessary, for “nothing is perfect.” What is de¬ 
scribed, too readily and frequently, as “perfect” to-day is 
excelled to-morrow. Excellence is attainable, relative, and 
should be achieved; perfection is absolute. It is the duty 
of all who are employed in gardening to strive to surpass all 
that has been hitherto accomplished; and then we may rest 
assured that if they succeed it is only a matter of time for 
someone to go a step beyond them. There is thus ade¬ 
quate incentive to urge us on in whatever work we may be 
engaged. Gardening, good gardening, means superiority of 
culture. It is the oldest of occupations—the root, of which 
agriculture is the extension. Never was it more incumbent 
that an ancient craft should be represented in its highest 
form. 
if gardening should degenerate it would be the greatest 
calamity that could happen to this nation. We are passing 
through a social revolution, Gardens, or at least those of 
them ^that are well tilled, are almost the only bright and 
cheering specks of hope that point the way to a better future 
for those engaged in the great “extension”—agriculture. 
But there is no mistaking the clearness of the light that 
well-managed home plots shed over (for the time being) a 
somewhat dreary land. They proclaim unmistakeably the 
remedy, and the only remedy, for what is called “depression,” 
the true interpretation of which in many case3 is 
degenerate culture. This must be reversed before pro¬ 
sperity can come. Artificial aid may mitigate the evil 
of the present stringent times from which landowners, 
occupiers, and labourers are alike suffering; and such aid, 
wherever possible, should be extended, and the more 
promptly this is done the more effectual and economical 
will the action be; but the real remedy, the only sure 
and certain, if rather slow remedy, is higher culture— 
more garden like culture—more fertility in the soil, and less 
weeds to devour it. That is the natural course through 
which improvement must flow, and the removal of whatever 
restrictions created by artificial means, whether by the action 
of law or the establishment of custom, are merely obstacles 
in the stream. 
It is no doubt true, and the truth cannot but be regretted 
by all right miaded men, that the necessity lias arisen for 
not a few owners of land to restrict their expenditure ; and 
gardens and gardeners have had to bear their share of this 
reduction, perhaps in some cases an undue share. The 
limitation of luxuries may not be of serious import, except 
to those who live by their labour in producing them, and the 
opportunity for them to do so is reluctantly withdrawn; but 
it will be a great, a serious, and a far-reaching mistake if the 
cultivable parts of a garden are allowed to degenerate into a, 
wild waste, as in such case there will be nothing lefc to show 
that the surrounding land is capable of restoration, and the 
spectre of despair will then overshadow all. 
The land is losing its fertility because its workers are 
losing their energy or lack the requisite means for its pro¬ 
fitable exercise. There is great danger, perhaps the greatest 
of all dangers, of the establishment of the fallacy that 
because the value of produce is low less must be grown by 
withdrawing the means for producing more. Anything more 
unsound or more uncommercial than such a doctrine it is 
not easy to imagine. The exact reverse is the truth, as 
must be admitted by reflective minds. Under the circum¬ 
stances indicated, profit can only come from increased pro¬ 
duction—a reduction in the bulk of food products being the 
certain road to ruin. But how is the increase to be brought 
No. 1995, —Yol. LXXV., Odd Series. 
