HORTICULTURE as a PROFESSION FOR YOUNG LADIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 52, 28 February 1873, Page 4

HORTICULTURE as a PROFESSION FOR YOUNG LADIES.

r.. i-Ji . y-s.'V l:( {From Hie Queen.) .. ■ /; _ A very able suggestion of a new profession for gentlemen was made by a correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette a few days since. Referring to the want of m technical knowledge .„ among -amateur lovers of horticulture and persons possessing small gardens, and the great difficulty of the services of an educated, well-infdifnied ' gardener,' he suggests thaii horticulture shall be : raised to the rank of a profession^ 'J'^Jot^ having gardens cannot afford to keep a gardener, and would not have' work for one if they could. They are driven to the precarious assistance of- men who, /with v th,e;;j .smallest- possible : knowledge] 'work at high wages iy. the day. Eventhose who have money enough! and soil enough to * keep a gardener,'. are fortunate if they can get one, at the ordinary wages of a curate, with ,any v^nowledge of his, business. There is ;ki great- want', among middle-class people in the neighborhood of London and other great; citieß; and towns, of an intelligent knowledge of hgrticulture. People would be willing enough to pay for this knb wledge if ttheyf co'uldS^ily ; get it. ; Gur- roses or ■ symptoms of dißease,-and jwejdp s n how : :;tio arrest 'it. ; 'It is easy enough in the ;^;human Bribjeot/iw^e^send^ i; : Wei^frfov- a^mM^ivJh^^Bi^^afie I .:' .nae.di-,'> 'me;:- or ; B^rg^i^(^ ; s oj^iai Jife^jaM' he j^^sjphal^cdp^and ■; ihoaia^we.noi-i^ow.to?^

our horticultural dilemmas ? Why should j we not have our diplomatised horticulturists, to whom we might send to rescue our trees,, .and.^ ,flpw.er| A from.^ disease or i 4eai^.^J;S,uijelyJ it is^^pleasanierf'iicciiiia- j tion to bua roses of £6 V jjiriine'ffijir "trees, i than to cut off human legs or arms, and to ! extirpate .horrid, cancers ? A. thorough , knowledge! of botany and hbrticuHure is not difficult to attain, and is not less ennobling) when attained, than lan equal knowledge i of surgery and medicine. Why then; should these, pursuits not be erected into a "' gentlemanly profession ?'" Why not: indeed ? and why not, also, I begieave to; add, into a ladylike profession ? I place; the suggestion. before the readers of The Queen, as affording a new nnd perfectly ; legitimate opening for the employment of women,. and in a field in which numbers of) ladies already excel, more particularly asi practical gardeners, en amateur, no doubt, but with s skill and taste which are not to be met in men following the profession or business of gardeners except a few at the very top of the profession. Why should we not have our female Pax tons and Kents? Mrs Loudon, instructed no doubt by her : talented husband, imbibed a great taste for and love of the art; and other ladies might find in' horticulture a profession which would be remunerative, and could not detract in itself in any, way from their social status as gentlewomen. Leaving the laying out of landscape gardens and parks to the gentlemen, there is still, in other branches of gardening,- a wide field open, in which ladies thoroughly educated in the science of horticulture and botany : might find, employment, and in which their less fortunate sisters, with ordinary strength, and jess preliminary' training niighfc work. I remember a short time since reading an account of a college or school of horticulture ' for women in America, and it has long been a matter of astonishment to me that, in the present dearth' of remunerative employment for women of the middle class, no one has yet thought of making them "gardeners." The idea was suggested many years ago, in nay hearing, by a well-known literary .gentleman, and was called forth by the universal — and, it now appears, neverending — complaints of the want of knowledge and, lam sorry to add, predatory habits of the numerous jobbing gardeners my mother had had in her employment, I remember that one of my sisters and myself, in utter despair of getting any good work or good result in the way of flowers for effect or fruit for eating, from the coachman gardener and his numerous myrmidons of gardeners by the day, took upon ourselves the entire, superintendence of the greenhouse and outdoor garden. The former was a very large one, the latter a good-sized but suburban piece of ground. We only stipulated for the services of the j man to remove large pots, dig the ground where very heavy, and wash the greenhouse; he was to be entirely under our orders. We went to work with enthusiasm, determined to succeed, and as I a' matter of course we did succeed beyond our hopes. • Of course, if there are women (but I am loth to believe it) so foolish as to be afraid of soiling their hands or complexion by being much out in, the open air, I do not address them. My suggestions are meant for those who look upon the duties of life seriously, and who, being compelled by circumstances to earn their daily subsistence, would find in horticulture not only a remunerative 'but delightful occupation; and if the Pall Mall correspondent be correct in his views, it would pay, He says : "Of ■ course the question, may, suggest itself, will it pay ? I arii quite disposed to think it would. I, for my part, and I have heard others say the same, would often be glad to pay my guinea for a visit from a skilled horticulturist;"- If the want of scientific knowlege among working gardeners, is as great as this, implies, women by taking up the profession, could do no injury, to^ the pther,.: .sex,..; they could oust no one from his place, and would. simply step, into a 4 void,,^filling, up the gaps between the 'shining s iignYs of horticulture and botany and the ignorant, obstinate, jobbing gardener, who very often takes the name of one without any knowledge of the duties, but a great idea of the perquisites of the situation.