396 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  30,  1902. 
affords  the  workers  in  its  gardens  good  facilities  for  study, 
and  for  becoming  well  grounded  in  the  theory  of  gardening, 
and  no  one  will,  I  think,  venture  to  say  that  the  practical 
instruction  given  is  not  of  the  highest  order.  In  the  great 
national  garden  at  Kew,  and  in  many  other  public  gardens, 
the  valuable  courses  of  lectures  given  are  sufficient — without 
considering  the  many  advantages  for  practical  work — to 
cause  great  competition  in  filling  the  vacancies  which  occur. 
Many  gardeners  of  olden  times  would  have  felt  happy  indeed 
could  such  advantages  have  been  theirs,  and  when  we  also 
consider  the  reasonable  rates  at  which  good  books  can  be 
obtained,  no  one,  I  think,  can  complain  of  the  facilities 
which  exist  for  acquiring  knowledge,  when  compared  with 
those  which  prevailed  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago.  The 
gardening  instinct  among  the  masses  is  also  catered  for,  as 
suitable  lessons  are  given  by  experts  in  connection  with  the 
educational  schemes  of  the  majority  of  County  Councils, 
some  of  which  even  possess  a  good  library  of  horticultural 
books  which  are  circulated  free.  Let  us  also  consider  the 
practical  side  of  the  matter,  because  no  amount  of  theory 
is  of  much  value  unless  it  is  turned  to  practical  account,  and 
in  some  cases  a  sound  theoretical  knowledge  has  the  effect 
of  causing  the  possessor  to  ignore  the  necessity  of  doing  good, 
practical  work.  Fortunate^,  however,  such  cases  may  be 
termed  the  exceptions,  and  under  improved  methods  of 
training  a  knowledge  of  theory  should  prove  an  incentive  to 
the  performance  of  sound  practical  work,  and  when  such 
conditions  universally  prevail,  the  new  era  will  be  in  the 
full  tide  of  prosperity. 
On  the  practical  side  again,  slowly  yet  surely— yes 
let  us  hope  surely — the  question  of  co-operation  and 
cheap  and  rapid  methods  of  disposing  of  perishable 
produce  is  being  tackled  with  vigour,  and  with  the 
advent  of  perfected  and  less  expensive  motors,  out¬ 
lying  districts  will  be  brought  in  direct  communication 
with  large  towns.  Those  who  are  fully  conversant  with  the 
matter  know  well  what  a  stimulating  effect  this  will  have 
upon  many  neglected  localities.  That  important  phase  of 
commercial  horticulture,  viz.,  “  the  fruit  supply  of  these 
islands,  was  dealt  with  at  considerable  length  in  the  pages 
of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  some  months  ago,  when  it  was 
shown  beyond  dispute  that  although  much  has  been  done 
during  the  last  ten  years,  the  work  has  not  been  done  on 
sufficiently  extensive  lines.  The  season  for  planting  has 
now  arrived,  when  great  efforts  should  be  made  to  atone  for 
past  neglect  by  planting  largely  on  suitable  sites,  where  the 
soil  is  favourable.  I  say  this  for  no  sentimental  reason,  but 
because  I  know  there  is  money  to  be  made  in  the  venture, 
and  that,  too,  without  any  risk  of  losing  the  capital  invested 
when  knowledge  and  industry  are  brought  to  bear  upon  the 
work.  There  are  plenty  of  small  farms  and  estates  offered 
for  sale  at  the  present  time,  and  those  who  buy  them  at  their 
present  value,  and  invest  in  fruit  culture  on  the  right  lines, 
will  be  taking  a  wise  step.  There  are  also  many  small 
holders  who  by  the  exercise  of  a  little  tact  might  come  to  an 
arrangement  with  their  landlord  which  would  make  it  worth 
their  while  to  plant  an  acre  or  so.  The  help  of  all  classes  is 
wanted  to  greatly  reduce  the  amount  we  annually  pay  for 
fruit  which  might  be  grown  at  home.  Good  trees  can  now 
be  bought  at  reasonable  prices,  and  if  the  fine  stock  in  our 
nurseries  which  now  awaits  the  “  planters’  hands  ”  could  be 
cleared  out  entirely  during  the  next  five  months,  then  a  new 
era  in  fruit  culture  would  indeed  have  dawned. — Onward. 
- - 1  t - 
Economy. 
(Continued  from  page  319.) 
The  Fuel  Bill. 
Many  a  heated  argument  crops  up  over  this  question,  and 
probably  greater  friction  than  arises  from  any  other  phase  of 
garden  economy.  Not  a  few  of  the  most  generous  patrons  of 
gardening  who  spend  ungrudgingly  in  other  directions  are  apt 
to  regard  the  firing  bill  as  one  which  burns  the  biggest  hole  in 
their  pockets.  Let  but  an  atom  of  coal  or  coke  be  visible  on  the 
ash  heap,  it  is  able  to  kindle  a  blaze  which  a  hosepipe  of 
eloquence  may  fail  to  extinguish.  Much  ado  about  nothing? 
Well,  such  an  apparently  trifling  stumblingblock  may  be  the 
means,  have  been  in  one  instance,  aided  by  a  lamentable  want 
of  tact,  of  tripping  up  a  good  man  and  throwing  him  “out.’* 
However,  most  men  know  the  importance  of  not  om’y  avoiding 
evil,  but  of  keeping  from  all  appearance  of  it;  and  most  men, 
too,  have  doubtless  tried  all  ways  and  means  to  reduce  this  bill 
to  its  lowest  consistent  with  safety  and  good  work,  so  far  as 
existing  appliances  and  local  circumstances  permit.  Neverthe^- 
less,  it  is  a  question  whether  mechanical  ingenuity  has  been 
exhausted  in  horticultural  heating.  Can  those  who  have  the 
most  up-to-date  system  say  that  such  system  is  the  most  perfect 
that  could  be  devised  ?  That  heating  engineers  have  arrived  at 
the  tether  of  their  limits  seems  scarcely  possible  with  the  in¬ 
novations  and  vast  improvements  continually  being  made  in 
other  directions,  only  inasmuch  as  they  seem  well  content  to 
leave  us  pretty  much  as  we  are.  It  remains,  probably,  for 
gardeners  themselves  to  pave  the  way  to  perfection,  as,  indeed, 
gardeners  have  done  to  improvements;  for  instance,  the  late 
Mr.  Stevens,  of  Trentham,  working  on  the  principle  of  the 
Cornish  steam  boiler,  gave  to  the  gardening  world  in  the  boiler 
named  after  that  home  of  gardening  one  of  the  most  powerful' 
heat  circulators  we  have.  But  few,  unfortunately,  have  the 
opportunity  and  privilege  of  carrying  their  ideas  into  practical 
form. 
The  price  of  fuel,  like  the  price  of  labour,  is  governed  by 
circumstances  outside  a  gardener’s  control,  and  like  that  im¬ 
portant  item,,  too,  if  it  cannot  be  wisely  reduced  it  is  always 
open  to  obtain  the  highest  possible  return  for  outlay.  Oh! 
This  means  good  stoking,  some  will  say,  which  we  know  all 
about.  It  does;  all  that,  and  more.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
after  firing  through  a  long  winter  and  dreary  spring,  a  relief 
from  labour  and  expenditure  is  sought  by  letting  out  the  fires; 
yet,  during  sunless  spells  and  low  temperatures  so  oft  prevail¬ 
ing  at  intervals  throughout  the  summer  season,  shovels  of  fuel 
may  save  barrowloads  later  on  in  that  most  unsatisfactory  en¬ 
deavour  to  advance  arrested  growth  in  the  plant  section,  or  to 
obtain  delayed  maturation  in  the  fruit  department.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  a  volume  might  be  written,  as,  indeed, 
volumes  have  been,  on  this  subject  of  heating,  entailing  endless 
discussion  by  savants  on  the  matter,  all  of  which  tends  to  show 
that  finahty  has  neither  been  reached  nor  unqualified  satisfac¬ 
tion  obtained.  With  one  thought  only  over  new  departures  the 
fuel  bill  is  filed,  viz.,  in  suburban  districts  where  gas  is  cheap, 
is  there  no  opening  for  utilising  it  in  horticultural  heating? 
With  present  appliances,  perhaps,  not;  but  given  copper  boilers 
adapted  for  the  purpose,  why  should  not  gas,  which  in  many 
houses  has  abolished  the  kitchen  fire  for  cooking  purposes,  be 
found  as  economical  with  all  the  added  advantages  of  cleanliness 
and,  practically,  automatic  working?  “Oh!  It  wouldn’t 
answer,”  is  the  abrupt  dismissal  by  somebody  of  the  matter. 
But,  my  dear  somebody,  my  answer  is  “not  proven”;  and, 
probably,  the  dreaded  gas  bill  would  compare  very  favourably 
with  the  bugbear  of  a  fuel  bill ;  and,  even  in  gardening,  of  two 
evils  choose  the  least. 
Implements  and  Sundries  Bill. 
How  blest  is  he  who  not  only  is  able  to  do  the  right  thing 
at  the  right  time,  but  has  a  place  for  everything  and  everything 
in  its  place.  Garden  tools  are  not  an  unimportant  item  in  first 
cost  alone,  but  the  vexation  of  spirit  begotten  of  their  abuse 
where  the  want  of  a  system  makes  everybody’s  tools  nobody’s 
care  amounts  to  more  than  can  be  estimated  in  figures,  although 
they  may  be  no  inconsiderable  adjunct  to  the  bill.  It  is  the 
means,  too,  of  utterly  demoralising  good  labourers  and  providing 
openings  for  excuse  from  bad  or  indifferent  ones ;  and  the  nobody 
knows  and  nobody  cares  sort  of  principle  prevailing  is  totally 
unworthy  of  that  good  gardening  all  aspire  to,  but  some  fail  to 
reach.  The  force  of  example  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
auxiliaries  to  law  and  order  in  garden  government ;  hence, 
although  guilty  of  repetition,  a  worthy  Gloucestershire  labourer, 
whose  well  worn  spade,  like  his  own  character,  as  bright  as 
silver,  has  long  since  been  hung  up  in  Time’s  toolhouse  for 
good  and  all,  may  be  again  exhumed,  as  he  has  been  before,  to 
point  a  moral  and  adorn  a  tale.  In  that  model  toolhouse  of  the 
^ong  ago  there  they  hung  his  spade,  his  fork,  and  all  comprising 
his  garden  kit,  conspicuous  among  the  other  sets  of  well  kept 
tools  by  loving  care  bestowed  on  them  after  the  bell  had 
sounded  Cease  labour  for  the  day.  Such  men  as  old  Ephraim 
Gegg,  all  honour  to  his  memory,  and  such  tools — would  there 
were  more  of  them — do  the  best  work.  The  moral  is  obvious*. 
The  method  is  perfect. 
To-day,  compared  with  auld  lang  syne,  some  of  the  most 
necessary  garden  sundries  are  represented  by  valuable  goods 
contained  in  small  parcels;  for  example,  the  virtues  of  a  sack¬ 
ful  of  tobacco  paper  are  now  stored  in  a  pint  bottle  of 
vaporising  compound,  and  those  who  can  compare  the  ancient, 
man-choking,  plant  burning  system  with  the  modern  safe  and 
certain  method  can  regard  it  as  but  little  short  of  a  revolution. 
Still,  there  is  no  lack  of  grumbling  about  expense,  and  how 
necessary  it  is  that  strict  economy  should  rule  their  use.  A 
lock-up  cupboard  in  the'  potting  shed  for  not  only  the  fumi¬ 
gating  equipment,  but  for  all  similar  sundries  in  frequent 
demand,  which  have  the  habit  of  smashing  themselves,  or  the 
trick  of  vanishing  altogether,  is  indispensable  to  thrifty  man¬ 
agement,  and  the  garden  office  or  storeroom  where  all  heavier 
goods  are  tidily  arranged  is  not  less  conducive  to  law  and  order 
than  it  is  to  economy.— Qurz. 
(To  be  concluded.) 
