ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CONTENTS

PART I
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Gardening as a Profession for Women[1]
CHAPTER II
The Training Required[7]
CHAPTER III
Landscape Gardening[12]
CHAPTER IV
Jobbing Gardening and Floral Decoration[21]
CHAPTER V
The Teaching of Nature-Study[28]
CHAPTER VI
Some Hints upon Taking Up a Post as Head Gardener[34]
CHAPTER VII
Dress for Lady Gardeners[54]
CHAPTER VIII
Cottage and Food[64]
CHAPTER IX
Market Gardening[70]
CHAPTER X
The Medical Aspect of Gardening for Women[77]
CHAPTER XI
Women Gardeners for South Africa[89]
CHAPTER XII
Italian Pot Gardens: A Suggestion[98]
CHAPTER XIII
For Those who Hesitate to Employ Lady Gardeners[105]
PART II
CHAPTER XIV
Colleges and Schools for Lady Gardeners in Great Britain[116]
CHAPTER XV
Continental Schools and Colleges[160]
CHAPTER XVI
Schools and Colleges in America[209]
CHAPTER XVII
Gardening and Nature-Study in Canada and Australia[232]
CHAPTER XVIII
Training Grounds for Market Gardeners[253]
APPENDIX
Useful Information for Lady Gardeners[273]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TO FACE PAGE
A Pupil in Working Costume, School for Lady Gardeners, Glynde, Sussex[Frontispiece]
The “Walled Garden” at the House of Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley, K.P.[4]
Model by Miss A. C. Sewell of a Children’s Garden, exhibited at the Whitechapel Country in Town Exhibition[12]
The Hanging Gardens, Ratton Park, Sussex[20]
A Page from a Boy’s “Nature-Study” Sketch Book[30]
The Countess Bathurst’s Garden, Pinbury, near Cirencester[36]
The Yew Tree Avenue, known as “the Nun’s Walk,” in the Countess Bathurst’s Garden, Pinbury, near Cirencester[44]
Miss E. Douglas in her Greenhouse at Shedfield Grange, Botley, Hants[48]
Miss Hester Perrin at Work in her Brother’s Garden at Fortfield House, Terenure, Co. Dublin[54]
In the Garden at Fortfield House, Terenure, Co. Dublin[60]
In the Garden at Fortfield House, Terenure, Co. Dublin[64]
Boxing Bulbs for Forcing at Miss Bateman’s Market Garden, Bashley Nursery, New Milton, Hants[74]
The Ruins Gardens, Slougham Place, Sussex[86]
The Yews at Hutton John, Cumberland[92]
An Italian Pot Garden[102]
Italian Orange Pots and Oil Jars[104]
The Ruins, Ratton Park, Sussex[110]
The Cottage, School of Lady Gardeners, Glynde, Sussex[118]
Gathering Roses for Pot Pourri, School of Lady Gardeners, Glynde, Sussex[120]
“Potting”: Students at Work, Reading University[126]
At Work in the Vinery, Studley College for Lady Gardeners[136]
Preparing the Frames at Studley College for Lady Gardeners[140]
Students at the School of Pomology and Horticulture, Marienfelde, near Berlin[166]
School for Lady Gardeners, Holtenau, near Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein[188]
Students at Hastum School, Norway[200]
Students at Work at the Agdatorp School of Gardening, Sweden[202]
Students at Work at the Espenäs School for Lady Gardeners, Sweden[206]
Avenue leading to “Lowthorpe,” Croton, Massachusetts, Mrs. Low’s School for Lady Gardeners[220]
Southern Entrance to “Lowthorpe,” Croton, Massachusetts, Mrs. Low’s School for Lady Gardeners[222]
The Marchioness of Sligo’s Garden, Mount Browne, near Guildford[252]
Captain Colthurst Vesey’s Garden, Lucan, Ireland[256]
Rose Garden, Danny, Sussex[262]

INTRODUCTION

How often it is that Fate places us amongst people whose characters, pursuits, and tastes we do not know! We hesitate how best to melt that barrier of icy reserve and shyness behind which we English remain frozen. How can we speedily break through the reserve which rises up between us and the stranger near us? There is at least one subject of conversation which usually calls forth a response—it is gardening.

Whether our neighbour be politician, soldier, architect, or painter, he will surely listen with interest to the mention of a garden. He will tell us of some newly-discovered plant, a flower show that he went to see, or he will expatiate upon the beauties of South African bulbs. We may be sure that if he himself is no gardener, he has someone dear to him who is a lover of flowers. After a hard day’s work in the City, he will gladly turn his thoughts to the peace and quiet of a walled-in country garden, where the hum of bees and the scent of sweet briar or rosemary bring happiness and contentment.

It is the same with country people, who live in our quiet English villages that are as yet unspoilt by the dust of motors and the noise of holiday-makers. A little chat over the garden wall in the cool of evening, about the luxuriant growth of the peas, the beauty of madonna lilies gleaming white against the dark timber of the cottage, or the special size of this year’s roses, will often make a lasting friendship. No make-believe pastime is gardening with them; it is their true recreation. Their lives have been passed amidst fields, trees, beautiful hedgerows, and consequently they look upon these objects as friends. Surely this love of Nature is wholesome both to body and mind, and greatly to be encouraged by all who wish for the well-being of England and her Colonies.

Are we not shown the vast importance of keeping our rural population away from towns? Do we not thus endeavour with every means in our power to improve the cultivation of our land? County Council lectures, flower shows, cottage-garden competitions, Nature-study courses, training colleges are provided for this purpose. But, perhaps, the surest way of all is to make our boys and girls fond of bee-keeping, fruit growing, gardening and all other industries of country life. It is with them that future success lies, and by teaching them to tend small gardens of their own, and compete for prizes in tidiness and artistic arrangement of flower plots, we shall continue a love for the country in future generations. To keep them away from the gloom, squalor, and temptations of large towns is what we all wish to achieve. Well-tilled, wisely-worked farms, orchards, gardens, bring us prosperity; but we gain a love of Nature, too, from contact with such things. This must soften people. It brings us nearer God.