The Colfax chronicle., 1904-11-19
GARDENS COST MILLIONS.
Extensive Plots Of Fruits and Flowers
Belonging to Englishmen
of Wealth.

| 1t has been said that there are q score
of noblemen in the United Kingdom who
spend more every year on their gardens
than would pay the Official salaries ol
the entire cabinet; and, extravagant al
the statement may appear, it u well
within the limits of truth.
Further than this, there are. on the
best authority, more than 5000 seats
of the mighty" or. at least, of the
rich. the gardens of which cost their
owners anything almost from $500 q
year upward, while there are as many
more which demand between 81 900 and
| $4,000 year for their maintenance.
OF these 10000 British gardens an an
nual sum estimated at over $1,000, 900
is spent for labor alone, and another
round million pounds at least goes in
the purchase of seeds, plants and ma
nures, and the general upkeep Of the
gardens and glass houses.
1t is difficult, and, perhaps invidious,
to say which are the most costly gar
dens in Great Britain, but among them
are certainly those of Trentham hall.
Welbeck abbey, Lord Bute's gardens
at Cardiff castle, the world-famous gar
dens of Chatsworth and those Of the
Rothschilds, on which gold has been
lavished like water.
One gets an impressive idea of the ex-
tent of such gardens as these when the
kitchen garden at Welbeck covers 30
acres. that the houses in which peaches,
apricots and nectarines are grown
stretch for quarter Of a mile, and that
to stock them costs as much as $4,000.
When a millionaire sets his heart on
making himself lordly pleasure gar
den he recks little Of the cost
Not long ago a rich man in the north
of England discovered that one section
Of his gardens was rendered useless
through exposure to the keen east wind
This was not to be tolerated, said the
great man. and to keep the eastern
Winds from trespassing. he planted
thousands of Scotch and Norwegian fir
trees to act as a screen. paying as much
as SIS for an individual tree This
little whim cost him nearly 100000, but
he considered himself amply rewarded
by seeing his wilderness turned into a
paradise of flowers.
In such gardens as these 1t is quite
usual to employ as many as 20 or 80
men and boys. so that cabinet min
ister's yearly salary may easily go in
wages alone.
1t is said that there are 900 coun-
try houses in Great Britain, each Of
which employs staff of over so men;
Of these, 200 employ between so and $50;
while GO of them employ over 200; and
the large majority of all these male
servants are gardeners Of one kind or
another.
In addition to the cost of labor, there
are repairs and alterations of houses,
furnaces to be fed, walls built for fruit
growing, nets for protection. tools to
buy and replace. and-often the most
costly item of all-seeds and plants to
purchase. Baron Schroeder is credited
with. having spent 5000, 900 on his COL
lection of orchids, and Sir Trevor Law
renee with an expenditure Of $3.50, 900.
Joseph Chamberlain has 13 glass
houses. containing, roughly. 5000
plants, many Of them of great value
and gathered from almost every part Of
the earth where orchids are to be found.
The plants are arranged In different
houses according to the time of flower
ing, so that the succession of exquisite
flowers never fails the whole year
round. Each plant bears its number.
as well as its name, and 1t is said that
Mr.. Chamberlain. knows every one Of
his floral pets.