December 24, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
553 
24 
th 
* 
25 
p 
Christmas Day. 
26 
s 
Bank Holiday. 
27 
SUN 
1st Sunday after Christmas. 
28 
M 
29 
TU 
80 
W 
CHRISTMAS COGITATIONS. 
^^^^HRISTMASTIDE is here, and is being antici¬ 
pated with mingled feelings—the pleasurable, it 
is hoped, largely predominating. Among the 
incidents of the season are Christmas meetings, 
Christmas greetings, and—Christmas bills, these 
latter sometimes having a sobering tendency 
during a period when joyousness is supposed to 
prevail. Those bills for garden supplies may 
possibly show some diminution this year in more 
than one or two instances, and it is conceivable that more 
or less of disappointment may be experienced accordingly; 
yet it may be safely predicted that some of the accounts will 
be large enough for individuals immediately interested. 
It is not to be expected that the depreciation in the value 
of land, which unfortunately must be admitted, will, whether 
it be temporary or the reverse, have no effect on the expen¬ 
diture that it has been customary to devote to the mainte¬ 
nance of gardens. The exigencies of the times must have an 
impression in the direction indicated. However great the 
desire to indulge in what may be termed the luxuries of horti¬ 
culture, other matters of importance demand attention. It 
were worse than useless to ignore the actualities of the present 
and the prospects and probable eventualities of the future. 
By whatever cause, or combination of causes, induced, it 
must be conceded that we are passing through a social 
revolution. As is inevitable under the circumstances, the 
future of gardening is contemplated with somewhat gloomy 
forebodings by not a few persons : others, and possibly a 
minority, being more sanguine in their forecasts. While 
they may admit a present check to progress, they have no 
fear of any permanent retrogression in horticultural pursuits. 
On the contrary, they are convinced that as year succeeds 
year a greater number of persons engage in gardening both 
as a healthy and enjoyable form of recreation and as an 
important factor in contributing to the comforts and neces¬ 
sities of life. 
There can be no question that gardens have a large, and 
probably a larger share than at any former period, in minis¬ 
tering to the wants of the inhabitants of this country in the 
adornment of their homes and, it may be added, of them¬ 
selves ; and it is equally beyond dispute that garden produce 
in its varied forms figures very prominently among the 
requisites of families at all times, and more markedly and 
especially during such festivities as the one immediately 
approaching. This all gardeners know. The demands on 
their resources may be constantly great, but they are as a 
rule unusually pressing at this particular season of the year, 
and the thoughtful and far-seeing make the necessary prepa¬ 
rations for affording a plentiful supply of whatever may be 
needed, as far as their means permit, for the requirements 
of the time. Without vegetables of the best quality, fruit of 
meritorious character, plants and flowers choice and beauti¬ 
ful, it is impossible the family table or festive board can be 
completely furnished. 
And it is not in the homes of the affluent alone that 
No. 287. — ycii. XI., Third Series. 
garden produce, ornamental as well as useful, is appreciated. 
The extraordinary market supplies show conclusively how 
great the general demand must be, and it i3 certain that the 
number of purchasers is greater than ever it was before. It 
is true the supply is equal to the requirements, and occasion¬ 
ally more than equal, and when that occurs the returns to 
the cultivators are necessarily diminished. This is to the 
advantage of consumers, and the only way in which pro¬ 
ducers can realise even a fair profit under those circumstances 
is by obtaining a greater abundance of produce from a given 
extent of ground or space, placing this in the markets in the 
best possible condition, and at a time when it is most in 
demand, then disposing of it quickly. Small profits and 
large sales will in the future have to be relied on, small sales 
and large profits having practically become obsolete. Some 
enterprising individuals recognise this, and are preparing 
accordingly, in full confidence that they will not be disap¬ 
pointed. Just as the nimble shilling is more potent than the 
slow half-crown in enhancing the proceeds in the form of 
admissions to exhibitions, and on the principle that third- 
class passengers are the chief contributors to railway divi¬ 
dends, so in the matter of commercial horticulture—the great 
number of small purchasers cannot be overlooked, for though 
their individual disbursements may be small the aggregate 
amount is considerable, not to say surprising, in its magni¬ 
tude. There appears to be a great “ levelling downwards ” 
in the taste for flowers, fruit, and vegetables; and in tbe 
future, instead of few and heavy Christmas bills incurred 
in furnishing gardens, it is not unlikely that the amount 
devoted to that purpose will be greatly subdivided. 
Gardens, there can be little doubt, will increase in num¬ 
bers in the future, as will the cultivators of land generally, 
and this impending change, wisely arranged and prudently 
established, can hardly fail to result in an increased demand 
for seeds, roots, and plants. The present condition of things 
cannot be sustained. There must be an end to the sliding 
down of rents for land, that in some instances appear to have 
become as much a fashion as necessity. No man can culti¬ 
vate profitably if the land is master of his capital; the capital 
must be master of the land, whether the extent of it be large 
or small, or a collapse is inevitable sooner or later. 
The chief hope of horticultural prosperity rests more on 
the greater number of individuals that will be induced to 
engage in it than in any Budden return to the past order of 
things. The mercantile community will prove effective 
supporters of horticulture in the future, and the greatest 
expenditure will be in the form of proceeds from trade and 
industrial enterprise. The popular taste for gardens, plants, 
and flowers is, as above intimated, increasing. Orchids, 
Roses, and Chrysanthemums have found their way to the 
business centres, where their merits are discussed, and a 
wholesome rivalry exists among the wealthy frequenters of 
the great marts of industry in surpassing each other in the 
excellence of the produce of their gardens. The mayors and 
corporations of cities and towns are giving their official 
countenance and support to societies established for pro¬ 
moting high culture, and are doing their best to popularise 
horticulture as a pursuit fraught with benefit to rich and 
poor alike. This is a hopeful sign, and all who engage in 
promoting better cultivation in their districts are engaged in 
a most commendable undertaking. There is a greater thirst 
than ever for information on gardening matters, and at no 
period were there so many attentive readers of horticultural 
literature as at the present time. Instruction is sought for 
and eagerly awaited on the cultivation of plants, as well as 
on the management of what is regarded as more useful and 
profitable crops, though so great has the demand become for 
flowers in towns that these, regarded from a commercial 
point of view, are, when well grown, both “ useful and 
profitable.” 
There is little doubt that in the future gardens will not 
be regarded so much as ornamental appendages to homes as 
No. 1943.— Yoi. LXXJIT., Old Series. 
