214 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND ,  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  4,  1902. 
force  as  to  break  down  all  barriers  which  for  a  time  prevent 
the  needed  reform. 
The  Awakening. 
At  the  present  this  fact  stands  out  clearly,  viz.,  that  with 
all  t  he  excitement  begotten  of  the  race  for  wealth,  city  life 
has  a  great  void,  for  it  does  not  satisfy  the  gardening  instinct 
implanted  to  some  extent  in  every  human  breast.  That  this 
instinct  exists  is  clearly  shown  on  all  sides,  and  under  most 
adverse  conditions.  Sometimes  in  the  slums  of  a  great  city 
it  takes  the  form  of  growing  a  few  p'ants  on  the  window-sill 
or  roof  of  a  house  ;  at  others  by  the  keen  delight  taken  in  the 
parks  and  open  spaces  attached  to  so  many  large  towns,  and 
although  the  latter  attempt  to  bring  the  country  into  the 
towns  is  deserving  of  all  praise,  yet  it  only  partially  satisfies 
the  craving  for  country  life,  and  leads  millions  to  yearn  for 
the  health-giving  power  of  an  outdoor  life. 
In  the  past  our  rulers  have  neglected  to  give  due 
encouragement  or  support  to  those  engaged  in  rural 
pursuits  ;  but  the  need  has  at  last  become  so  apparent  that 
it  cannot  longer  go  unheeded.  Those  engaged  in  rural 
pursuits  lead  the  most  natural — I  might  almost  say  the  only 
natural  life — and  unless  there  is  a  constant  exchange  of  popu¬ 
lation  between  country  and  town,  town  and  country,  the 
stamina  of  the  nation  becomes  undermined,  and  the  decay 
of  the  race  assured.  Under  existing  conditions,  thickly  popu¬ 
lated  country  districts  are  urgently  needed  from  which  to 
draw  supplies  of  vigorous  manhood  to  replace  the  weaklings 
of  the  great  towns ;  and  the  latter,  if  suitable  employment 
could  be  found  for  them,  would  have  a  quickening  influence 
on  village  life,  and  their  descendants  perhaps  show  alertness 
as  well  as  increased  vitality.  The  Garden  City  movement, 
if  it  can  be  brought  into  anything  like  general  use  by  large 
employers  of  labour,  must  also  prove  a  wonderful  power  for 
good  on  both  the  physical  health  and  moral  condition  of  the 
workers,  for  though  the  days  may  be  spent  in  the  factory, 
the  healthy  condition  of  home  life,  and  the  evening  hours 
spent  in  the  gardens,  will  be  a  vast  improvement  upon  the 
conditions  which  prevail  generally  to-day. 
The  awakening !  How  has  it  been  brought  about  1  It 
has  been  dawning  upon  the  nation  for  a  long  time,  but  the 
climax  was  reached  through  the  perils  of  war,  when  the 
stamina  and  hardness  of  country  and  colonial  troops  proved 
the  great  tower  of  strength  in  the  time  of  need,  and  when 
mere  book-learning  and  theoretical  knowledge  and  tacticity 
were  of  little  avail  against  a  foe  trained  by  daily  observa¬ 
tion  to  be  full  of  ready  resource.  The  recent  movement  in 
connection  with  the  teaching  of  Nature  Study  is  evidently 
a  step  in  the  right  direction,  because  its  fundamental 
principle  is  that  it  fosters  in  the  young  a  keen  spirit  of 
observation  ;  step  by  step  they  are  led  on  to  see  cause  and 
effect  from  actual  work  and  experiment.  This  must  be 
infinitely  better  than  cramming  the  young  brain  with  theories 
or  facts  supposed  to  have  been  proved  by  others,  and  by 
interesting  the  young  in  the  real  living  things  of  Nature  a 
far  greater  keenness  must  be  engendered  in  country  pursuits 
than  can  be  imparted  by  the  reading  of  books  alone.  To 
my  mind,  however,  something  more  is  needed  in  the  later 
stages  of  instruction,  viz.,  a  greater  amount  of  real  practical 
work,  in  which  not  only  knowledge  but  dexterity  is  fully  put 
to  the  test. 
In  regard  to  horticultural  pursuits,  it  is  not  the  amount 
of  knowledge  which  any  individual  possesses  which  regulates 
that  individual’s  usefulness  or  probable  success,  but  the  way 
in  which  the  knowledge  gained  will  be  turned  to  the  best 
account,  and  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  man  brimming 
over  with  knowledge  often  accomplishes  practically  nothing 
compared  with  the  results  achieved  by  the  active  individual, 
who  runs  what  he  does  know  for  all  it  is  worth.  We  want  a 
few  men  brimming  over  with  knowledge,  but  we  want  hosts 
of  active  workers  who  will  achieve  much  by  strenuous 
endeavour. 
I  maintain  that  a  strong  feature  in  the  training  of 
gardeners  in  the  past  has  been  the  encouragement  given  to 
close  observation  and  the  practice  of  judging  the  rising  young 
hand  by  the  results  accomplished  rather  than  by  knowledge 
which  was  comparatively  barren  of  results.  This  explains 
why  the  best  private  gardens  in  the  country  have  in  the  past 
been  the  best  training  schools  for  real  gardeners,  and 
although  modem  institutions  offer  some  advantages,  a  long 
course  in  a  good  private  garden  is  yet  necessary  to  the 
making  of  the  highest  type  of  gardener.  Rural  pursuits  have 
undoubtedly  started  on  the  upward  plane,  and  when  greater 
facilities  are  given  for  acquiring  land,  the  wasted  soil  of 
Britain  will  again  yield  bountiful  crops,  and  the  grinding  life 
which  tens  of  thousands  lead  to-day  be  brought  into  greater 
harmony  with  the  ideals  which  prevailed  in  that  garden 
“  eastward  in  Eden.” — H.  D. 
Mutations  of  Seasons. 
The  untoward  nature  of  the  weather  this  season,  parti¬ 
cularly  in  the  northern  part  of  the  British  Isles,  may  well 
occasion  the  resuscitation  of  the  not  uninteresting  question, 
the  deterioration  of  the  climate  of  our  island.  From  rime 
to  time  the  subject  has  aroused  the  attention  of  horti¬ 
culturists,  and  though  perhaps  much  light  has  not  been  shed 
upon  it,  yet  much  useful  information  is  evolved  in  the  inquiry. 
To  many  of  your  readers  the  research  of  the  late  worthy 
Curator  of  Edinburgh  Botanic  Gardens,  Mr.  MacNab,  will 
still  be  fresh  in  their  memories.  There  is  reason  to  think 
that  the  subject  would  occupy  the  attention  of  man  at  a  very 
early  stage  of  his  life  history.  Many  things  lead  up  to  such 
a  supposition. 
One  very  pertinent  fact  is  the  outstanding  characteristic 
attaching  to  the  human  mind  with  respect  te  the  comparative 
values  it  assigns  to  the  present  and  the  past.  It  may  well 
be  said  in  this  connection  that  rve  live  in  the  past  and  only 
breathe  in  the  present.  At  all  events,  fewT  are  unaware  of 
the  fact  that  the  “  good  old  days  ”  are  considered  to  have 
been  always  superior  to  the  present,  or  the  period  succeed¬ 
ing  them,  and,  what  is  still  stranger,  wTe  somehow  fall  into 
the  mistake  of  also  assenting.  It  is  needless  to  expatiate 
on  this  interesting  quality  of  the  mind,  for  all  know  “  distance 
lends  enchantment  to  the  view.”  There  is  no  doubt  what¬ 
ever,  however  beautifully  it  pictures  the  blue  mountain  peaks 
of  the  past,  that  as  far  as  climatology  is  concerned,  the 
memory  is  untrustworthy.  From  what  we  personally  know 
of  the  past  history  of  our  planet,  though  there  have  been 
interruptions,  we  see  nothing  but  that  which  has  the  impress 
of  the  stamp  of  progress  upwards  and  onwards.  And  we 
have  no  doubt  that  instead  of  a  gradual  deterioration  of 
climate  a  gradual  amelioration  is  taking  place  since  at  least 
the  period  when  man  made  his  appearance  on  the  earth. 
A  Celtic  saying  exists  whose  origin  probably  rests  in  the 
mists  of  antiquity,  which  predicts  annihilation  to  the  greater 
half  of  the  British  Isles  by  incessant  rain.  Though  we  place 
but  little  faith  in  traditionary  lore,  yet  in  this  we  cannot 
avoid  thinking  that  the  fact  which  gave  birth  to  the  expres¬ 
sion  is  very  significant  as  denoting  then  much  worse  condi¬ 
tions  than  now  exist.  Without  traversing  beyond  the 
Seventeenth  Century  ample  is  there  recorded  to  show  that 
nothing  approaching  the  serious  nature  of  the  weather 
conditions  the  whole  century,  more  or  less,  contained  has 
been  since  experienced.  Perhaps  the  climax  of  this 
peculiarly  unfortunate  century  was  reached  in  the  period 
elapsing  between  1694  and  1701.  For  seven  years,  in  Scot¬ 
land  at  least,  matters  were  so  very  serious  that  the  earth 
absolutely  refused  to  mature  food  for  man  or  beast.  Nothing 
but  blank  dismay  met  the  hopes  of  the  disconsolate  people 
year  after  year,  while  famine  and  pestilence  were  the  pre¬ 
siding  monarchs  of  the  land. 
Again,  in  the  fifties,  a  not  less  phenomenal  state  of  matters 
held  sway,  and  although  it  did  not  contribute  so  fatally  to 
dearth  and  pestilence,  yet  it  was  serious  enough  to  interfere 
with  the  order  and  regulation  of  food  supplies.  One  year 
was  a  year  of  plenty,  in  some  instances  second  crops  of 
certain  vegetables  being  exposed  for  sale  in  Edinburgh  well 
into  the  months  of  winter.  Such  was  the  abnormal  length 
of  the  summer  that  fruit  trees  blossomed  a  second  time.  Then 
the  following  year  was,  as  would  be  expected,  one  full  of 
disappointments.  This  was,  however,  one  of  those  interrup¬ 
tions  which  we  find  everywhere  in  Nature,  evidently  a 
necessity  in  the  grand  scheme  of  progress,  and  though  we 
poor  mortals  cannot  assign  a  cause  for  them,  we  can  easily 
see  that  she  is  relieved  after  her  travail  and  smiles  upon  us 
with  a  still  more  benign  countenance  than  before. — D.  C. 
