The morning times., 1895-07-14
Architecture
in the Garden
A NEW AND PROFITABLE PRO-
FESSI0N FOR WOMEN.
Besides, Every Householder
Should Know How to Plan
and Beautify.

Among the many fields of industry oc-
eupird each year by women that lovely,
9lowcr-bestamed field, the garden, seems TO
have been strangely neglected. And yet
there Is none in which in many respects
she iS by her own nature and Uhat OF the
Industry, more fIrted 10 succeed. and not
only TO succeed IN an industrial sense, but
succeed IN Finding at the same time that
great deslderatum-a congenals delightful
and healthrul occupation.
Perhaps she has been frightened out of
this sphere of labor 10y the spade, but the
spade Is not deadly a weapon as she
might imagine Thousands OF women in
Europe work IN the fields with spade and
hoe and plough and though Americans as
rule profess themselves shocked at this
field labor, the latest and most careful
statistics prove that not only is the death
rate very low IN the communities where
women are employed out of doors, bat that
the sons OF these agricultural mothers when
drafted mo the army are taller and
have better chest and arm measurement
than the sons of the women who stand
behind the counters OF the shops in town,
OF who sit at a sewing machine for nine or
ten hours a day. Digging and forking in
fertilizers, raking, or even driving horse
CultNator is not nearly such heavy work as
mosi people believe, There Is no more
muscular eNeItIon required than is required
20 drive bicycle up hill, or 70 stand upon
Onesfeet all day at acounteroraloom a
WORKING WITH HEAD. NOT HAN DS.
Leaving such questions aside, however,
the work OF a woman in the garden need
not Toe great muscular strain at all. Head
gardeners rarely do the heavy drudgery,
which is accomplished 10y day laborers, and
gardens after being once ploughed and har
rowed. and the manure spaded in in the
spring require very little more of such labor
during the entire season. Planting seeds,
wedding, hOeinE, transplanting, potting,
pruning, clipping and watering are all
work winch any average healthy, well
developed woman can do without strain ur
excessive fatigue and once the garden is IN
order for the season, is all that VIII be re-
Quired. As for the health, pleasure and
Interest of such work as compared with
typewuUing VIII Say-or bookkeeping
OF artificial flOwer-malang, or the like, there
Is simply no comparison. The suggestion
heretofore made as TO women going into
gardening as a business has always pre-
supposed her buying or renting land ana
setting uD for herself as a florist or truck
gardener, Tut such enterprises not only re-
QulTe 90 begin with a capital which the
average woman in search OF living does
not possess. but they also prcsuppOse an
amount OF business experience which is rare
anywhere, but pTcculary rare among the
sex which Is not ordinarily given 4 business
training.
HOW TO LEARN.
Usually woman facing the world with
the heed OF extracting from it a subsistence
for herself has only her two hands. a plen-
tiful ignorance OF most things, and an
earnest desire 10 labor. Fer such a woman
the best advice is 10 seek a place as asSls-
tant either 10 a florist or truck gardener,
OF else assistant TO the head gardener on
some large private place or in park. Her
work IN greenhouses should be quite as
valuable as a mans in potting, watering,
fighting insects, picking and packing flow
erS, vegetables or fruit, transplantIng and
making cuttings: indeed the ordinary quick
witted, deft-fingcrcd girl would find such
duties far easier than learning telegraphy
OF bookkeeping. This would furnish her
winter work, or in summer her duties out
OF doors would be equally light and pleas
amt. BY the careful study OF the methods
of her superior, Of the ways of plants, and
of books upon the subject she might without
difficulty fit herself for the place OF a skilled
head gardener, who is wen paid for his
kno nowiedge, and who does moor scarcely
Eny-mauual labor at all.
~ u ~ - IA Il OE 4-NtDAlLs
For women or intelligence and ambition
there is an excellent future in the profess
siou OF gardcuer, for the planning of parks
aud the laying out OF private grounds is
one Of the hest paid occupations, and it is a
business constantly growing III extent in
this country. the taste for country life
among the wealthy increases, and there Is
.sn ever growing belief in the value and
importance OF parks in The towns For this
tprolessiOn-as III all honorable and we'll
pald Oues-Wlde knowledge and native
ability are required, but these are two
qualities within the range OF women as well
as OF meu, aud there is nothing in the =
ture OF the profession which makes ii uu
suited for women; indeed the wonder is
that they have not heretofore seen its
special adaptahiity TO their needs
Here no manual labor at all is required,
bUl an accurate aud extensive knowledge
OF the nature aud needs of plants is neceS-
sary, a capacity 90 dra W working plans a
nowledEc OF the best methods Of draining,
GOddlng laying down roads and paths, and
a taste Tor design All this can be acquired
by any woman of taste and capacity She
can famiiarize herself with The relative
virtues OF blue stone, gravel and maCadam;
learn he proper grades for the fall OF water.
the best slope for terraces, the distance at
which trees should stand from one another.
aud the proper season for setting. out the
several varieties of hedges She must know
what kind 0f grass grows best under the
heavy shade Of trees; what sort fIourishcs
fn the beating sun, and what kind viii lace
with It's woven roots a steep incline OF
earth She must be aware OF the prefer
enCes Of vines for sunny or shady sides OF
walls, OF the sandy dry soil loved by one
shrub, aud the marshy moisture necessary
for the wcll-lteing Of another. She must be
81 authority on the best method Of treating
. lawn and just how and when pruning j.