The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-05-18
Out.Door Work for Women.

Gardening is an operation particularly
well adapted to women, as it offers a
healthy, cheerful employment, in which
/ deIicacy of touch, Judgment, calculation
| and expectation are all exercised, with
| out an undue amount of bodily labor.
Nature must be waited upon, encour-
aged, directed and watched to produce
full development of her powers, and
there is growing tendency to elevate
the work of the gardener, and to pre-
/ sent an attractive and interesting field
/ for wOmen's skill and enterprise in this
direction. There are many ladies who
devote their time in spring and summer
to the cultivation of flowers and ferns
in the garden, and in winter take
great deal of interest in their conserva-
tories or greenhouses, in directing and
overseeing their gardens, or take all the
charge themselves, and find great en-
! joyment, as well as health, in the occu-
patton. This pursuit surely presents
many attractions to those who are forced
to depend upon the work of their own
hands for subsistence, and it would be
far more desirable than constant seden-
terry employment, such as sewing.
There are many women who spend
their days in the close atmosphere of a
shop, who would be Mortified at the
thought of digging in the garden and
sowing seeds, planting, wedding and
raking. "Oh, no such an occupation
could not be thought of for me- why,
it would place me on a level with day
labOrer," one exclaims. Z" Not at all, y
1 would reply, but it would give you
fresh air and healthful toll, and brace
up your muscles and nerves, and take
away the rag-baby look they now pos
sess."
With the flowers, early vegetables
could also be raised and sold to advan-
tage. In the vicinity of cities and towns
a market for such commodities can al
ways be found; the supply rarely ex-
ceeds the demand. 1t has been said
| that flowers will grow better under the
kindly care of women, and alOnely lady
with a small amount of money could
| invest a part of it in bedding out plants,
ANIMALS, vegetables and small fruits,
and, with the assistance of a boy of all
work, make quite tolerable support
| Most women to whom such a life would
| be agreeable and desirable possess
enough strength to attend to the work
of experimenting and directing mat
tiers, and the boy could do the digging,
wedding and watering. In England
there are already hundreds of women at
work in nurseries and greenhouses, and
they do all the grating, budding and
re-potting of plants, with quite as much
skill in the handling of them as the male
| operatives possess.
| At the present time flowers are more
sought after than ever before, and if
women would become skilled in 1ori-
culture, they would soon find large
field for their labors; the gains of wOm-
en- gardeners would be of more account
than those of seamstresses and shop
girls. OF course there is work in it, l
have yet to see the occupation that
pays which does not demand head or
hand labor. But the work can be so
arranged as to leave the hottest hours
of the day for rest and leisure.
1t is really surprising that this branch
of labor has not been adopted by wom-
en- for profit long ago, as so many ladies
devote so much of their time to it for
their own qualification. In Germany
and Switzerland women are now taught
the culture of flowers as a profession,
and many women are earning their liv-
ing as gardeners, not only at their own
homes, but also in the employment of
others. Country Gentleman.