May 9, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
103 
The World of Gardening. 
By F. W. Buebidge, M.A., F.L.S., F.R.H.S. 
It has been asked why the above title has been chosen for 
this series of little articles on garden ethics. Well, I may say 
because the world of gardening is of a very wide and liberal 
kind. It is a common pursuit open to everyone apart from all 
the class distinctions, and you may find gardeners of all 
nationalities, all faiths, and of all sorts of politics, in almost 
every country in the wide, wide world. As I have said before, 
the land is the bedrock of all men’s lives, in all countriesj and 
land culture, be it farming or gardening, forestry or mining, 
is the prime source of all our wealth and greatness. As Leland 
has it: 
“ Great work is done be ’t here or there, 
And well man worketh everywhere ; 
But great or small, whate’er befall, 
The farmer he must feed us alt.” 
Whatever is destroyed or lost in the world, be it buildings or 
battles, the land remains, deserted, it may be, for the time, and 
impoverished, or unproductive temporarily, but it survives the 
drums and trumpets of twenty dynasties, and, under peaceful 
conditions, becomes a fruitful and flowery Eden once again! 
The land and its products pay for all armies and navies, as well 
as for artificial pomp and ceremonies of all kinds. It was the 
thrifty peasantry of France that paid the indemnity for the 
Franco-German War, as the farmers of England and their 
brethren in South Africa are now paying for the recent Boer 
campaign. It has been proposed that the coming Irish Land 
Bill is to be paid for, in part at least, by British farmers and 
market gardeners, and when “ the man in the street ” asks 
why, many reasons are given, but the real one is that farmers 
and gardeners are unorganised, and, being unable to defend 
their rights and interests, are taxed by politicians and lawyers 
at their own sweet will. 
There are signs, many and varied, that farming in Britain 
is on the decline, and that in the future market gardening and 
fruit culture will supplant our cereal and root crops more and 
more. We pride ourselves on free trade and a free Press, but 
our English land law's in many cases still belong to the time 
of the Middle Ages, and stifle or hinder the skilful cultivator 
from doing his best. If we had free land, or even the liberal 
tenant rights now enjoyed in Ireland, we should soon turn rural 
England into a land of meadows and market gardens, and grow 
ten times the milk and meat, eggs and honey, and fruit and 
vegetables that we do to-day. We should be richer in all ways 
and better able to keep up our Navy and Army, the former 
being really our only safeguard from starvation so long as we 
are obliged to import such a large proportion of our food from 
the colonies and abroad. 
At present not only do' we import milk, meat, poultry, and 
eggs, butter, cheese, and much of our bread-stuffs, but garden 
produce from Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, to the value 
of many millions annually ; Oranges from Spain, Algeria, and 
California; Figs and Raisins or Grapes from Spain, South 
France, Asia Minor, and the Greek islands : Bananas from the 
West Indian islands ; and a Government that subsidises a. 
special line of steamers to cany Jamaica and Barbadoes pro¬ 
duce will do but little to help our own growers here at home by 
Land Bills, or even by the cheapening of excessive transit 
charges on our railways. 
It is unfortunately not the privilege of all of us to get a 
glimpse of the gardens and fruit farms of other countries. Even 
our own Channel Islands are terra incogn ita to many ; and as to 
the fertile gardens of the warmer parts of Europe, the Canary 
Islands, and those of the West Indies, with their tropical or 
sub-tropical produce, it is scarcely to' be thought of, albeit that 
tourist facilities and good hotels now exist, and fares are 
reasonable. "When I read of the British Association organising 
a trip to* South Africa a year or two hence, as it did to America 
and California some few years ago - , I wish our Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society would also organise visits to foreign countries 
eveiy few years at least, even if it could not be done annually. 
Such trips might at first be tried near home, say to the 
Channel Islands, to see Potato or fruit culture; to Valencia— 
the garden of Spain—to see Onions, Melons, Grapes, Oranges, 
Figs by the ton, and many beautiful plants and flowers luxuriat¬ 
ing in open-air heurtas. Many of those who see our Temple 
and Holland House exhibitions would gladly avail themselves 
of an excursion to the great Quinquennial Show at Ghent, held, 
as its name implies, eveiy five years. Our own isles of Scilly 
and the lovely gardens of Devon and Cornwall, known now to 
the few, ought to be known to' the many who live under less 
favourable conditions so far as open-air vegetation is concerned. 
Even " a little tour in Ireland,” north, south, east and west, 
would open many a good gardener’s eyes, and mind also, for 
there are beautiful and well-kept gardens in the country that 
is often supposed to be “ all bog and cabin.” 
A run through the best nurseries and, bulb grounds of 
Holland or those so abundant in the neighbourhood of Paris 
would be especially instructive and enjoyable, as made cheaply 
and conveniently in the company of others interested in the 
development and progress of gardening. Eventually, the 
Apple Edward VII. (See p. 402.) 
success of short voyages to Europe or Northern Africa, say 
Morocco and Algeria, or to Spain and the West Indies, might 
lead to chartering a steamer, or otherwise making a voyage all 
round the world of gardens. What object lessons could be had 
by all who had eyes to see, and ears to hear, and minds alert 
and hungry for information! Fancy what it would mean to 
our gardeners of all kinds, nurserymen, landscape gardeners, 
public park and garden superintendents, and private gardeners 
also, to see the gardens of Italy, or the Orange and Myrtle 
scented gardens of Spain or the sunny Riviera, to say nothing 
of the West Indian islands, or the tropical gardens of Ceylon, 
Penang - , Singapore, or the mountain-side botanical gardens at 
Buitenzorg in Java. It would mean much to our clever Orchid 
growers to see their first epiphytal Orchid “ at home ” on 
its native tree-trunk or bough, or even as healthy and floriferous 
on an Orange or Mango tree in a settler’s garden. In our com¬ 
paratively cool and moist climate we have no idea, of the 
many methods and devices that are necessary in hotter and 
drier lands. Egypt, Algeria, and Spain, even Southern France, 
would show clearly how even the rocky or sandy desert is made, 
by irrigation, to blossom as the rose. Even the garden imple¬ 
ments “and tools of the world would surprise our own prac¬ 
titioners and horticultural sundriesmen. 
