In the ' Edinburgh Eeview ' for July 1896, there is an
article called 'Gardens and Garden Craft,' with a long
heading of gardening books, which many people will find
interesting, as I did.
In the November (1896) number of ' The Journal of
the Eoyal Horticultural Society ' is an excellent lecture by
Mr. F. W. Burbidge, the Curator of the Botanical Garden
in Dublin. In the ' Journal ' the lecture is divided into
three parts — called ' Garden Literature,' ' Eeference Books-
on English Gardening Literature,' and ' Garden Libraries/
It is interesting, besides other reasons, as being a some-
what new departure in the lectures delivered before the
Horticultural Society. I strongly recommend those who
care about the subject to read this lecture, as they will
get a great deal of most useful information in a very
condensed form. Mr. Burbidge strongly recommends
garden libraries, in which I entirely agree with him. N o
248 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
large place should be without a room where gardening
books and weekly gardening papers are within easy
access of all the gardeners on the place, and no village
club in England could not afford to take in Mr. Eobinson's
excellent little weekly paper called ' Cottage Gardening,'
which I mentioned before. It costs one halfpenny, and
is full of all sorts of useful information. Surely at village
shows no better prize could be given than the back
numbers (bound) of this most useful publication. Mr.
Burbidge says : ' In America and in Germany the library
seems to be thought as essential to good gardening and
profitable land culture as here with us the seed room or
the tool shed; and in England we are beginning to
perceive the value of technical education, and to recognise
the vital importance of the most recent scientific dis-
coveries relating to our crops and their diseases, and the
soil in which they grow. Private garden libraries, while
most desirable, really form part of a much larger
and wider question. If libraries are essential for the
garden, surely they are even more so on the farm.' Mr.
Burbidge winds up : ' But to form libraries we must have
good and useful books, and I shall give a short list of
those I believe to be the best of their kind ; and one of
the best ways I know of getting the best gardening books
into the best hands is to award them as prizes to the
cultivators and exhibitors of garden produce at allotment-
garden and village flower shows.' With this I most
cordially agree. Then follows a list of thirty-eight books.
Another paper of great interest is on the importance
of British fruit-growing, from a food point of view, by Mr.
Edmund J. Baillie.
249
DECEMBER
Orchid-growing on a small scale — Miss Jekyll's articles in the
* Guardian ' — Winter vegetables — Laver as a vegetable — Advice
to housekeepers — Cooking sun-dried fruit.
Page 147
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
In the ' Edinburgh Eeview ' for July 1896, there is an
article called 'Gardens and Garden Craft,' with a long
heading of gardening books, which many people will find
interesting, as I did.
In the November (1896) number of ' The Journal of
the Eoyal Horticultural Society ' is an excellent lecture by
Mr. F. W. Burbidge, the Curator of the Botanical Garden
in Dublin. In the ' Journal ' the lecture is divided into
three parts — called ' Garden Literature,' ' Eeference Books-
on English Gardening Literature,' and ' Garden Libraries/
It is interesting, besides other reasons, as being a some-
what new departure in the lectures delivered before the
Horticultural Society. I strongly recommend those who
care about the subject to read this lecture, as they will
get a great deal of most useful information in a very
condensed form. Mr. Burbidge strongly recommends
garden libraries, in which I entirely agree with him. N o
248 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN
large place should be without a room where gardening
books and weekly gardening papers are within easy
access of all the gardeners on the place, and no village
club in England could not afford to take in Mr. Eobinson's
excellent little weekly paper called ' Cottage Gardening,'
which I mentioned before. It costs one halfpenny, and
is full of all sorts of useful information. Surely at village
shows no better prize could be given than the back
numbers (bound) of this most useful publication. Mr.
Burbidge says : ' In America and in Germany the library
seems to be thought as essential to good gardening and
profitable land culture as here with us the seed room or
the tool shed; and in England we are beginning to
perceive the value of technical education, and to recognise
the vital importance of the most recent scientific dis-
coveries relating to our crops and their diseases, and the
soil in which they grow. Private garden libraries, while
most desirable, really form part of a much larger
and wider question. If libraries are essential for the
garden, surely they are even more so on the farm.' Mr.
Burbidge winds up : ' But to form libraries we must have
good and useful books, and I shall give a short list of
those I believe to be the best of their kind ; and one of
the best ways I know of getting the best gardening books
into the best hands is to award them as prizes to the
cultivators and exhibitors of garden produce at allotment-
garden and village flower shows.' With this I most
cordially agree. Then follows a list of thirty-eight books.
Another paper of great interest is on the importance
of British fruit-growing, from a food point of view, by Mr.
Edmund J. Baillie.
249
DECEMBER
Orchid-growing on a small scale — Miss Jekyll's articles in the
* Guardian ' — Winter vegetables — Laver as a vegetable — Advice
to housekeepers — Cooking sun-dried fruit.