Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-22
COSTLY ENGLISH GARDENS.
At Least 5000 Involve an Annual Ex-
pense of So, 500 or More Each.


f. ON the Chicago Chronicle.
1t has been said that there are score of
noblemen in the united kindom who spend
more every year on their gardens than would
pay the official salaries of the entire cabi..
net, and, extravagant as the statement may
ap1ear, it is we'll within the limits of the
truth.
Further than this there are, on the best
authority, more than 5000 seats Of the
mighty" or at least of the rich, the gar
dens of which cost their owners anything
almost from $500 a year upward, while
there are as many more which demand be-
tween 81 900 and $500 year for their
maintenance. OF these 1900 British gar
dens an annual sum estimated at over $10,-
ECO is spent for labor alone, and another
round million pounds at least goes in the
purchase of seeds, plants and manures, and
the general upkeep of the gardens and glass
houses.
1t is difficult and, perhaps invidious to say
which are the most costly gardens in Great
Britain, but among them are certainly those
of Trentham hall, Welbeck abbey, Lord
Eutes gardens at Cardiff castle, the world
famous gardens of Chatsworth and those of
the Rothschilds, on which gold has been
lavished ike water.
One gets an impressive idea Of the extent
of such gardens as these when the kitchen
garden at Welbeck covers thirty acres. that
the houses in which peaches, apricots and
nectarines are grown stretch for quarter
of mile, and that to stock them costs as
much as $4,000. When a millionaire sets
his heart on making himself a lordly pleas
ure garden he recks little of the cost.
Not long ago rich man in the north
Of England discovered that one sec
ton of his gardens was rendered useless
through exposure to the keen east wind.
This was not to De tolerated, said the great
nd LaH,n he aaC CT wi
trespassing he planted thousands of Scotch
and Norwegian fir trees to act as screen,
paying as much as SIS for individual trees.
This little within cost him nearly 100000.
but he considered himself amply rewarded
by seeing his wilderness turned into para
disc of flowers.
In such gardens as these 1t is quite usual
to employ as many as seventy or eighty
men and boys, so that cabinet minister's
yearly salary may easily go in wages alone.
1t is said that there are 800 country
houses in Great Britain each OF which en-
ploys staff of over fifty men; of these go
employ between eighty and 100. while sixty
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 furnish. Baron Schroeder is
credited with having spent 100000 on his
collection of orchids, and Sir Trevor Law
renee with an expenditure of $150,O00.
Joseph Chamberlain has thirteen 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 ar
ranged in different houses according to the
time of Towering, that the succession of
exquisite flowers never fails the whole year
round Each plant bears its number as
well as It's name and 1t is said that Mr..
Chamberlain knows every one of his floral