570 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
June  24,  1897. 
me  to;  be  a  wrong  direction.  .  Still  it  is  impossible  to  deny  that  on 
whatever  side  we  look,  whether  we  consider  flowers,  fruits,  or  vege¬ 
tables,  the  last  sixty  years,  and  especially  the  latter  half  of  them,  have 
marked  the  most  decided  progress. 
As  to  the  causes  which  have  contributed  to  this  progress,  I  think  we 
must  lay  down  in  the  first  place  that  horticulture  shares  in  the  general 
advance  which  has  marked  the  latter  half  of  this  century  ;  mainly 
owing  to  the  increased  prosperity  of  all  classes,  and  their  increase  of 
wealth  and  consequent  increased  power  of  spending.  Of  course  I  shall 
Fig.  120. — Conservatory,  Frogmore  ( page  556). 
be  met  by  the  objection  that  one  of  our  chief  industries,  agriculture,  has 
passed  and  is  passing  through  a  period  of  great  depression  ;  I  am  aware 
of  this,  but  it  was  not  the  case  until  within  the  last  few  years,  and  we 
must  bear  in  mind  the  close  relationship  between  it  and  horticulture,  and 
if  there  be  progress  in  the  one  it  must  act  upon  the  other.  In  fact,  do 
not  all  parts  of  the  country  bear  witness  to  the  statements  which  have 
been  made  that  market  gardening  is  entering  largely  into  the  operations 
of  the  farmer,  and  that  consequently  improvements  in  horticulture  must 
work  for  his  good  ?  and  when  the  revenue  of  the  country  has  exceeded 
£100,000,000  it  will  be  idle  to  deny  the  fact  of  increased  prosperity. 
Locomotion. 
All  branches  of  art  and  science  have  shown  a  progress  that  exceeds 
all  that  has  gone  before  them,  while  in  everything  that  tends  to  the 
material  comfort  of  the  people  this  gratifying  change  muBt  be  noticed. 
The  large  sums  that  are  being  expended  in  every  direction  have  greatly 
helped  forward  the  cause  of  horticulture.  A  very  important  factor  in 
this  development  has  been  the  increased  facility  of  locomotion  ;  if  it  had 
not  been  for  this  it  would  have  been  impossible  that  exhibitions  could 
have  been  held  as  they  have  been,  and  that  the  increased  demand  for 
the  productions  of  the  horticulturists,  especially  in  our  large  centres  of 
population,  could  have  been  met.  See  how  the  Daffodils  and  other 
flowers  of  the  Scilly  Isles  are  brought  by  tons  all  fresh  into  the  London 
markets,  and  to  those  of  our  great  northern  towns ;  and  see,  also,  as  I 
have  already  said,  how  the  fruits  which  have  been  gathered  in  early 
morning  are  hurried  off  and  brought  temptingly  fresh  for  their 
consumers.  See,  too,  how  societies  dare  to  invite  competition  from 
persons  living  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  from  where  products  have  to  be 
shown,  and  then  think  of  what  many  others  have  experienced  in  former 
days  when  the  facilities  of  transit  were  more  difficult. 
Many  of  us  can  remember  the  labour,  exhaustion,  and  trouble  in 
those  long-past  days.  We  still  gru.oble  that  the  railway  companies  do 
not  treat  us  as  well  as  they  ought  to  do.  There  are  still  some  annoy¬ 
ances  connected  with  them,  but  I  think  it  is  not  unlikely  that  these  may 
be  remedied,  and  further  facilities  given  for  getting  the  productions  of 
the  gardener  to  an  early  market.  There  is  little  doubt,  I  think,  that  the 
careless  way  in  which  fruit  especially  has  been  gathered  and  packed  for 
market  haB  been  one  great  hindrance  to  the  realisation  of  the  profit 
which  growers  have  a  right  to  expect.  I  believe,  however,  that  of  late 
the  efforts  of  Mr.  George  Monro  and  others,  who  have  pointed  out  how 
this  plays  into  the  hands  of  the  foreigner,  is  leading  to  considerable 
improvement,  while  some  of  the  railway  companies  have  been  giving 
suggestions  which,  if  carried  out,  must  tend  to  the  same  end. 
Literature. 
Another  very  potent  agent  in  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  all 
departments  of  gardening  may,  I  think,  be  fairly  said  to  be  the  great 
increase  in  and  improvement  of  our  gardening  literature.  As  far  as  I 
can  recollect  there  was  but  one  weekly  journal  previous  to  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  the  “  Gardeners’  Chronicle,”  under  the  editorship  of  Dr. 
Lindley.  From  the  well-known  position  of  its  Editor  it  assumed  the 
role  that  it  has  maintained  all  through  its  existence,  as  the  exponent  of 
the  scientific  aspects  of  gardening,  and  its  pages  have  ever  been  open  to 
the  most  distinguished  botanists,  both  home  and  foreign.  The  Journal 
of  Horticulture  can  now  claim  nearly  fifty  years  of  life,  and  shows  no 
sign  of  decrepitude  or  decay.  Originating  in  the  provinces,  it  after  a 
while  flitted  to  London,  where,  under  the  wise  and  firm  hands  of  its  two 
Editors,  Mr.  Johnson  and  Dr.  Hogg,  it  became  one  of  the  most  popular 
of  the  weekly  journals.  The  “  Gardeners’  Magazine,”  a  name  which 
I  believe  was  originally  associated  with  Mr.  George  Glenny,  was  for 
many  yeais  edited  by  the  genial  and  witty  Shirley  Hibberd.  Then  came 
the  announcement  of  a  fourth,  which  took  up  a  distinct  line  of  its  own, 
I  mean  “  The  Garden.”  It  was  founded  by  Mr.  William  Robinson, 
and  from  the  first  waged  war  against  the  extravagances  to  which  the 
bedding-out  system  had  been  carried,  and  was  the  strong  upholder  of 
the  cultivation  of  those  herbaceous  plants  which  now  form  so  great 
a  feature  in  our  gardene.  Its  coloured  plates,  which  are  admirably 
executed,  have  no  doubt  been  a  great  cause  of  its  popularity.  One, 
perhaps,  might  have  thought  that  these  papers  would  have  been 
sufficient  ;  but  no,  from  some  of  the  offices  there  have  issued  a  sort  of 
overflow  paper,  published  at  Id.,  and  thus  teaching  on  all  kinds  of 
subjects  connected  with  gardening  every  week,  reaches  all  classes  of 
the  community,  and  adds,  I  believe,  largely  to  the  progress  gardening 
has  made. 
In  connection  with  this  onward  movement  one  may  allude  to  the 
freedom  with  which  all  gardening  subjects  are  treated  in  these  papers. 
Time  was,  as  some  of  us  can  recollect,  when  if  a  gardener  was  asked  the 
cause  of  his  success  in  some  particular  culture  it  was  very  difficult  to 
get  anything  but  an  evasive  reply  from  him  ;  but  it  is  not  so  now.  If 
success  attends  any  cultivator  he  is  the  first  to  make  it  known  as  widely 
as  he  can,  while  others  are  sure  to  notice  how  he  succeeded.  Thus  the 
encouragement  of  progress  becomes  much  more  widened. 
The  Results  of  Cheap  Glass. 
Another  cause  for  this  progress,  but  of  a  very  different  character, 
has  been  the  taking  off  the  duty  on  glass.  I  am  quite  sure  that  when 
Sir  Robert  Peel  effected  this  fiscal  change  he  had  no  idea  of  the  extent 
to  which  the  community  would  be  benefited  by  it.  The  rich  man  has 
built  his  large  conservatories  and  greenhouses  without  having  the  bug¬ 
bear  of  duty  to  be  paid  before  him  ;  the  market  gardener  has  been  able 
to  co?er  his  acres  upon  acres  with  forcing  houses  ;  the  amateur  hardly 
considers  his  home  would  be  complete  without  a  greenhouse  of  some 
kind,  and  if  one  goes  through  the  districts  round  London  aud  other 
large  towns  where  artisans  most  congregate  he  is  surprised  at  the 
number  of  small  greenhouses  which  are  attached  to  their  humble 
dwellings,  and  in  which  their  owners  take  as  much  pride  as  the  Lords  of 
Chatsworth  and  Trentbam  do  in  their  large  establishments.  Tending  to 
the  same  end,  and  probably  from  the  same  cause,  has  been  the  great 
reduction  in  the  price  of  glass  itself  ;  it  is  not  one-half  what  it  used  to 
be,  and  thus  a  man  of  smsi.ll  means  has  placed  before  him  opportunities 
which  even  his  richer  neighbour  could  not  enjoy  in  times  past.  In 
