Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-10-26
GARDENS COST MILLIONS.
Extensive Plots of Fruits and Flowers
Belonging to Englishmen
of Wealth.

It has been said that there are score
of noblemen in the United Kingdom who
spend more every year on their gardens
than would pay the official salaries OF
the entire cabinet; and, extravagant as
the statement may appear, it is 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 a
year upward, while there are as many
more which demand between 81 600 and
$4,000 a year for their maintenance.
OF these 10000 British gardens an an
nual sum estimated at over $10,O00,00O
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.
It 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 80
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 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 fl,
trees to act as a screen. paying as much
as $25 for an individual tree. This
little whim cost him nearly 500. 900, but
he considered himself amply rewarded
by seeing his wilderness turned into a
paradise of flowers
In such gardens as these it is quite
usual to employ as many as 20 or 81
men and boys, so that a cabinet min
listers yearly salary may easily so in
wages alone.
1t is said that there are 900 coun-
try houses in Great Britain, each OF
which employs a staff of over so men
of these, 200 employ between 80 and $50
while 60 of them employ over 200; anc
the large majority of all these male
servants are gardeners of one kind OF
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 tC
buy and replace, and-often the most
costly item of all-seeds and plants tc
purchase. Baron Schroeder is credited
with having spent 100000 on his col.
lection of orchids, and Sir Trevor Law.
renee with an expenditure of $4,000
Joseph Chamberlain has 13 elias!
houses, containing, roughly. 6,00(
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 veal
P0nn1 Eooh Mo -.
as we'll as it's name, and it is said that
Mr.. Chamberlain knows every one Of
his floral pets.