HOLLY BUSH NURSERY, CHESNUT LANE, AMERSHAM, BUCKS
Miss M. Agar and Miss M. G. Holmes, directors of this garden, are willing to take ladies as students in simple land surveying and plan drawing. Terms for tuition are £2 2s. per week; and if students live at the nursery, 30s. a week is charged for board and lodging.
Gardening students will probably be admitted shortly, but the garden has not been started long enough to take these at present. Miss Agar is a garden designer. The following are particulars of her nursery garden:—
The Nursery undertakes the laying out, stocking, and up-keep of gardens, and provides seeds, bulbs, plants, shrubs, and all garden requisites.
Skilled gardening labour is supplied at 4s. a day. Yearly or monthly contracts can be made.
Advisory work is undertaken at a guinea for the first visit, and half-a-guinea for subsequent visits; or two guineas a week with all expenses.
Miss A. Bateson, Bashley Nursery, New Milton, Hants, has a most successful market garden, described on p. 73. She sometimes takes students, and her terms are £40 premium for a year’s work without residence; £100 per annum premium with board and residence.
Miss Dixon, F.R.H.S., holding the Horticultural College, Swanley, diploma, and 1st class Horticultural certificate, South Kensington, assisted by Miss Eve, R.H.S., receives students at Elmcroft Nursery, Westergate, Chichester, suitable rooms being provided in the village. The house stands in two acres of ground, four miles from Bognor, and six from Chichester. Both soil and climate are good. There are 300 ft. of glass, in which are grown melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches, strawberries, forced rhubarb and seakale, early vegetables, roses, chrysanthemums, bulbs, etc. Outside are grown roses, sweet peas, violets, and other flowers; vegetables of all sorts, and fruit.
Poultry and ducks are kept, and there is also jam making and fruit bottling.
The produce is chiefly sent to Bognor, Chichester, and Manchester, and private orders are supplied for weekly hampers of vegetables, eggs, and cut flowers.
A man is kept to help with the rough work.
CAPTAIN COLTHURST VESEY’S GARDEN, LUCAN, IRELAND.
FOR MANY YEARS HIS MOTHER, MRS. VESEY, HAS MADE THE GARDEN HER PERSONAL INTEREST.
Photograph by Pictorial Agency.
In 1907 Miss Dixon obtained the R.H.S. Silver Medal for melons, and second prize for fruit, flowers, and jam from the Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural International Union.
Although the following is not a school for instruction in horticulture, I should like to mention it, as young ladies are taught floral decoration and other matters, which may prove of great use to them, if they wish to start job gardening or decoration for themselves.
The Women’s London Gardening Association, established in 1891, undertakes floral decorations of all kinds. Cut flowers supplied regularly by contract, and arranged if desired. Wreaths, crosses, sprays, bouquets, baskets, dinner-tables, receptions, ballrooms, platforms, weddings, etc. Table decorations are a speciality. Jobbing gardening work is also done. Contracts are taken to keep in order, and furnish, gardens, conservatories, window-boxes, balconies, roof-gardens, etc., by the year or season.
Advice is given on the management of country or suburban gardens at reasonable fees. Lawns are sown and kept in order, gravel is supplied, soils, fibre, sand, flowerpots, retail. Seeds, bulbs, etc.
The above is under the management of Mrs. T. Chamberlain, and all communications should be addressed to her at 107, Pimlico Road, Chelsea, S.W.
The nursery is in St. Ann’s Place, Milman Street, Chelsea, and the old wells in it were once in Sir Thomas More’s garden.
Mrs. Chamberlain takes one or two young ladies from time to time, as apprentices or improvers to learn jobbing gardening, florist’s work, or both if desired. Terms for improvers who have already had some training, 10s. per week to start with. The terms for a course, £30. The ladies find their own board and lodging. After three months, Mrs. Chamberlain pays them 2s. 6d. per week, and after six months 5s. per week. For the last quarter of their training, ladies receive 7s. 6d. per week. Sometimes ladies are taken for four months, upon payment by them of £10 10s.
Should it prove desirable, they can, at the end of this time, pay a further sum and remain a year. Pupils are expected to be ready to do anything required, and are not allowed to pick and choose their work.
The following extracts from the report of the
WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL CLUB
will serve to show the scope of its object and work. The club has as its premises the Manor House, Bredon’s Norton, near Tewkesbury, Worcestershire.
There are few more beautiful spots in rural England than the little village of Bredon’s Norton in Worcestershire, nestling as it does at the base of the lofty Bredon Hill and overlooking the fertile valley of the Severn. The club-house stands on a gentle eminence, and from its broad terraces may be viewed some of the most lovely scenery in England. Abruptly behind it rises the Bredon Beacon Hill, of which a great poet wrote:
“Twelve lovely counties saw the blaze
From Bredon’s lonely height.”
The hill is crowned by the remains of a Roman encampment, thrown up, it is said, during the wars of the Romans against Boadicea, the Queen of the Iceni.
The hopeless intellectual outlook of agricultural pursuits dissevered from contact with the foremost thought and scientific experiments of to-day has driven the enterprising progressive workers of both sexes from the land to the towns.
Miss Woodhull, of Norton Park, Bredon’s Norton, near Tewkesbury, who has gone deeply into the agricultural problem, more especially the great need for the extension of intensive culture, has retained a fine old Elizabethan manor house on her estate, which she has renovated and filled with beautiful old furniture for the club.
Since the lighter branches of agriculture have taken such a prominent place on the list of suitable occupations for women, there has been a great demand for some place where the subjects could be studied for short or long periods. Though short courses are held no college as yet has filled this want.
Where a large number of students are together it is necessary to have a certain number of rules which compel them to lead the ordinary college life. In many cases it is not convenient to do this, and so many a woman who sometimes finds she has a week or two at her disposal and would very much like to come to a place of this sort is debarred from doing so.
It is hoped this club will do much to solve the problem of what is to be done with the healthy, energetic unmarried woman of the present day, who has a little capital, and who wishes to live in the country, instead of leading a narrow and restricted life in towns. In Bredon’s Norton in a simple way she can live her own life, have congenial employment, and at the same time add to her income without being cut off from associating with people of her own standing, or debarred from intellectual occupations, which is so often the result if an isolated country life is led devoted entirely to agricultural pursuits.
The result, so far, is satisfactory. The scheme is in its second year, and has earned a right to its recognition by the public. Since January, 1906, several cottages have been secured in the village, and have been made suitable for gentlewomen to reside in. These have all been taken by those who carry on whatever work they are interested in. Some members have taken up half-acre plots, and among other things are growing tomatoes in large quantities.
The club is unique of its kind; while combining opportunities for the higher intellectual pursuits and attracting those who have travelled and read extensively, it enables those who wish to specialise in the lighter branches of agriculture to carry out their work under the following conditions:
1. Members staying at the club will be able to take lessons in gardening, dairy or poultry work, or bee-keeping, for long or short periods.
2. Members who have trained at any of the existing colleges can reside at the club and rent small plots, from half an acre upwards, which will enable them to make a start either in market gardening or otherwise with very little outlay.
3. A horticultural school is carried on in connection with the club. The younger students under the necessary supervision will live in separate houses.
4. Members can attend the higher courses at Cheltenham Ladies’ College.
5. Members who reside in the village or immediate neighbourhood can obtain all meals at the club at a very moderate tariff. This is an important item, as gentlewomen are often deterred from settling in the country on account of the great difficulty of getting anyone to do the necessary cooking and housework; by being able to obtain their meals they are more or less independent of the servant question and manage very well with occasional help.
The library contains standard books of reference in the lighter branches of agriculture, besides a wide range of other subjects, together with the principal English and foreign magazines.
An experienced secretary and typist is at the disposal of members. The telephone is attached to the club; the principal houses and cottages in the village are connected by telephone.
The club house is situated 106 miles from London, 16 miles from Gloucester, 14 miles from Worcester, 14 miles from Evesham, 11 miles from Cheltenham, 11 miles from Malvern, 5 miles from Tewkesbury, and 5 miles from Pershore.
TARIFF
Resident members: breakfast, 1s.; dinner (middle day), 1s. 6d.; afternoon tea, 6d. and 9d.; high tea, 1s.; plain late dinner, 2s. 6d.; supper, 1s. 6d.; cocoa and cake, 3d. Rooms from 1s. 6d. per night. Meals for non-resident members, permanently living in cottages, 15s. per week.
LIST OF CHARGES
VISITORS
Terms per week, 2 guineas, to include: Breakfast, 1s.; dinner (middle day), 1s. 6d.; afternoon tea, 6d.; supper, 1s. 6d.; room, 1s. 6d. Rooms from 1s. 6d. per night. Meals for non-resident visitors as per charges on tariff card.
WEEK-END VISITORS
From middle day, Saturday, to middle day, Monday, 17s. 6d. (to include breakfast, mid-day dinner, afternoon tea, and supper, also room).
Arrangements can be made for boarding dogs.
The following scheme is in operation under the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. Any woman, of whose qualifications the above department approves, is eligible for the post of instructor under this scheme, which, by permission, I am allowed to reproduce. It will be seen that the actual appointment rests with the local authorities.
Miss Lucy Douglas, in Cavan, is at present the only woman gardener employed under it.
ROSE GARDEN, DANNY, SUSSEX.
THE ROSES ARE PRUNED AND ATTENDED TO BY MISS ALICE CAMPION.
Photograph by Pictorial Agency.
SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION IN HORTICULTURE AND THE MANAGEMENT OF BEES, 1907–8
1. The department are prepared, provided a suitable instructor in horticulture and bee-keeping can be obtained, to approve of the appointment of at least one such person for each county in Ireland. In the case of new appointments no person shall be eligible for the position of instructor in the county of which he is a native, or in which he permanently resides.
2. The department will, as far as possible, assist the county committee in obtaining an instructor, by supplying the names of persons qualified for the post. If a county committee should find it impossible to obtain a person competent to give instruction in both branches the department may sanction the employment of separate instructors for each subject.
3. The remuneration of the instructor shall not, unless in exceptional circumstances, exceed £2 per week, in addition to expenses of locomotion, which include second or third-class railway fare, as decided by the county committee, car hire when necessary, or a bicycle allowance not exceeding 2d. per mile in lieu thereof.
4. The employment of the instructor under this scheme shall not continue beyond the 30th of September, 1908, and is terminable at any time previous to that date by the giving of four weeks’ notice in writing on either side.
5. It will be the duty of the instructor to give demonstrations and, if approved, to deliver lectures on horticultural subjects, such as soils, manures, vegetable, fruit, and flower cultivation, plant diseases, and insect pests—to visit gardens and orchards, and give practical demonstrations on spraying, planting, pruning and grafting of fruit trees—to conduct such experiments and other demonstrations in the spring and summer as may be approved by the department—to select suitable land for this purpose—to supervise the sowing of the seeds and manures, and the keeping of the plots free from weeds—to weigh the produce, tabulate the figures, and prepare a report on the results—to give instruction in the principles and practice of modern bee-keeping—to deal with diseases of bees, plants, and trees—to advise farmers, cottagers, and others interested in land, as to the planting of trees, etc., for shelter and ornament—to reply to letters from those seeking his advice on horticultural and bee-keeping subjects—to report to the department and to the county committee on the progress of his work either weekly or otherwise, as may be required; and generally to give his whole time to the work and to do all in his power to further the interests of horticulture and bee-keeping in the county.
6. The instructor shall report to the county committee on all cases of foul brood which may come under his notice. He may, subject to the consent of the owner of the bees being previously obtained by him, destroy infected stocks by burning them, and shall take all due precautions against the spread of the disease. He must advise in writing the county committee of each case in which stocks are so destroyed, and the county committee may, if they think fit, pay to the owners of such stocks a sum not exceeding 5s. for each stock destroyed, provided that the amount set aside in the county scheme for compensation under this clause shall not be exceeded.
It will also be his duty to report to the county committee the names and addresses of persons in the possession of gooseberry bushes on which he has detected, or has reasonable grounds for suspecting the existence of, American gooseberry mildew.
7. For the purposes of this scheme the county should be divided into circuits. The instructor should work for three or four weeks in each circuit, and give lectures and demonstrations during that time. In cases, however, where an instructor may be employed to give instruction in bee-keeping only it will not be necessary to divide the county into circuits. In such instances demonstrations can be arranged for at centres from which applications have been made through the secretary of the county committee for his services. The instructor will visit gardens, orchards or apiaries in the district, and give such information on practical subjects as the circumstances of the case may suggest.
The county committee are alone responsible for the selection of centres for lectures and demonstrations. No work of this nature should be undertaken by the instructor, though it is desirable that he should be consulted.
8. It will be the duty of the county committee to select centres at which the lectures and demonstrations will be given, and to appoint at each centre a local committee, with an honorary secretary, who should select the school and arrange for the hiring, lighting, and warming of the room in which the lectures will be delivered.
In selecting centres the county committee should have particular regard to districts in which lectures and demonstrations may not have been given in previous years.
It will also be the duty of the county committee to undertake the responsibility of seeing that the instructor’s time is fully and usefully employed.
The county committee shall keep a separate account of all expenditure under this scheme, and shall furnish detailed statements of such expenditure as may from time to time be required by the department.
9. Where it is considered desirable to arrange for lectures, the lectures should be given in schoolrooms or other suitable public rooms in the evenings, and should be held in rural centres. Towns and the larger villages should be avoided, as experience has shown that the greatest success attends those lectures which are given in the rural parts of a county. The local committee at each centre should be responsible for appointing a representative chairman for each lecture as well as for the distribution of the short syllabus of the lectures which will be prepared by the lecturer as soon as he is appointed. The local committee should undertake to have posters and handbills, which will be supplied by the secretary of the county committee, effectively displayed and distributed throughout their district. Copies of these posters and handbills should be forwarded to the department at least a week prior to the commencement of each course of lectures. Each lecture should be followed by a discussion, during which persons interested in horticulture and bee-keeping will be invited to ask questions. Where a course of lectures has already been given a new syllabus should be presented.
10. The county committee may purchase fruit, forest and other trees, shrubs, or plants, in bulk, and resell them at cost price, including carriage, to farmers, cottagers and other residents in the county. As, however, it has come to the knowledge of the department that trees and plants infested with disease have been imported into Ireland, it will be necessary for county committees who intend to put this clause into operation to invite from nurserymen tenders for the supply of trees, etc., to be guaranteed free from disease, and before acceptance to submit the tenders to the department for examination. The department may, if they think it advisable, inspect the trees, etc., that are offered for sale, and satisfy themselves that they are suitable and free from disease.
11. The horticultural demonstrations should commence early in autumn and be continued throughout the whole year.
12. In each circuit one demonstration plot may be provisionally selected for the purpose of growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers, and showing improved methods of cultivation, but no new plots shall be selected in a county if a sufficient number of suitable plots have been established in previous years.
Before sanctioning the establishment of a new plot the department will inspect the site with a view to determining the suitability of the land, etc.
(a) In counties in which a sufficient number of suitable plots already exist the committee shall make provision for the continuance of the plots at a cost not to exceed £1 5s. per plot. (See List A on p. 270.)
All requisite labour must be given gratuitously by the owner of the plot, who will be entitled to the produce.
(b) In cases where it is necessary to establish new plots the department will require compliance with the following regulations:—
(1) Plots must not exceed a quarter of an acre in extent, or be less than one-eighth of an acre (quarter-acre plots are recommended).
(2) No new plot shall be established save at a convenient centre adjacent to a main road.
(3) Plots should be selected on sites which are properly fenced. Should, however, any fencing be necessary, the materials (i.e., a sufficient quantity of wire with wooden posts) may be supplied by the committee, provided funds have been allocated for the purpose in the county scheme; the fencing to be put up by the owner of the plot at his own expense. In no case will the department approve of expensive fencing and gates being supplied by the county committee to a plot owner.
(4) The aspect of each plot and the nature of the soil must be suitable for fruit and vegetable growing. Necessary improvements, such as drainage, must be carried out, and when required farmyard manure must be supplied by the plot owner without expense to the committee.
(5) The owner of the plot must sign an undertaking to continue the plot for three years.
(6) The necessary labour must be given gratuitously by the persons providing the plots—the produce to be their property.
The cost of trees, etc., required for planting a new plot must not exceed £3. (See List B on p. 271.)
13. The department’s approval in writing must be obtained before any expense is incurred in connection with the establishment of a plot, and application for such approval must be accompanied in each case by a detailed report from the instructor.
14. No action shall be taken by the county committee towards putting this scheme, or any part thereof, into operation until the sanction of the department has been obtained in writing.
15. In all matters of dispute relating to this scheme the decision of the department shall be final.
LIST A
List of Vegetables, etc., Recommended for a Horticultural Demonstration Plot (not exceeding one-fourth acre) already established
ESTIMATED COST ABOUT £1 5s. 0d.
| Vegetables | ||
| Description. | Quantity. | |
| Beans, Broad | 1 | qt. |
| Beans, French | ½ | pt. |
| Beans, Runner | ½ | pt. |
| Brussels Sprouts | ½ | oz. |
| Broccoli | ½ | oz. |
| Cabbage, Early | 3 | oz. |
| Cabbage, Savoy | ½ | oz. |
| Cauliflower | ½ | oz. |
| Carrot | 2 | oz. |
| Celery | 100 | plants. |
| Kale, Curly | ½ | oz. |
| Leek | 1 | oz. |
| Lettuce | 1 | oz. |
| Onion | 3 | oz. |
| Onion, Potato | 1 | st. |
| Parsnip | 2 | oz. |
| Parsley | 1 | oz. |
| Peas | 3 | qts. |
| Potatoes, Early (to be boxed) | 4 | st. |
| Potatoes, Late (to be boxed) | 4 | st. |
| Turnips | 2 | oz. |
| Vegetable Marrow | 1 | packet. |
| Flowers | ||
| Candituft | 1 | packet each. |
| Canterbury Bells | 1 | „ |
| Larkspur | 1 | „ |
| Lupin | 1 | „ |
| Mignonette | 1 | „ |
| Nasturtium | 1 | „ |
| Sunflower | 1 | „ |
| Wallflower | 1 | „ |
| Sweet Pea | 1 | pt. |
| Artificial Manures | ||
| Muriate of Potash | 3 | stone. |
| Nitrate of Soda | 3 | „ |
| Superphosphate | 4 | „ |
LIST B
List of Fruit Trees, Plants and Seeds, etc., Recommended for a new Horticultural Demonstration Plot of One-fourth Acre in Extent
ESTIMATED COST ABOUT £3
| Fruit | ||
| Description. | Quantity. | |
| Apples, Bush on Paradise Stock | 6 | trees. |
| Pears, Bush on Quince Stock | 2 | „ |
| Plums, Bush | 2 | „ |
| Currants, Red | 3 | bushes. |
| Currants, White | 3 | „ |
| Currants, Black | 6 | „ |
| Gooseberries | 12 | „ |
| Raspberries | 24 | canes. |
| Strawberries | 100 | plants. |
| Vegetables | ||
| Beans, Broad | 1 | qt. |
| Beans, French | ½ | pt. |
| Beans, Runner | ½ | pt. |
| Brussels Sprouts | ½ | oz. |
| Broccoli | ½ | oz. |
| Cabbage, Early | 3 | oz. |
| Cabbage, Savoy | ½ | oz. |
| Cauliflower | ½ | oz. |
| Carrot | 2 | oz. |
| Celery | 100 | plants. |
| Kale, Curly | ½ | oz. |
| Leek | 1 | oz. |
| Lettuce | 1 | oz. |
| Mint | 3 | plants. |
| Marjoram | 3 | „ |
| Onion (Autumn-sown) | 100 | „ |
| Onion | 3 | oz. |
| Onion, Potato | 1 | stone. |
| Parsnip | 2 | oz. |
| Parsley | 1 | oz. |
| Peas | 3 | qts. |
| Potatoes, Early (to be boxed) | 4 | st. |
| Potatoes, Late (to be boxed) | 4 | st. |
| Rhubarb | 6 | plants. |
| Sage | 3 | „ |
| Thyme | 3 | „ |
| Turnips | 2 | oz. |
| Vegetable Marrow | 1 | packet. |
| Flowers | ||
| Candituft | 1 | packet. |
| Canterbury Bells | 1 | „ |
| Dahlias | 2 | plants. |
| Larkspur | 1 | packet. |
| Lupin | 1 | „ |
| Mignonette | 1 | „ |
| Nasturtium | 1 | „ |
| Roses | 4 | plants. |
| Sunflower | 1 | packet. |
| Wallflower | 1 | „ |
| Sweet Pea | 1 | pint. |
| Artificial Manures | ||
| Muriate of Potash | 3 | st. |
| Nitrate of Soda | 3 | st. |
| Superphosphate | 4 | st. |