Inheritance part II

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children

Anon

A tangible legacy left to me by my father was a few books on gardening. They provide a reference for the way in which instructional books, books on gardening in particular, were written and understood over the last ninety years.

Knowing George's love of gardening, his family gave him books that reflected his interests. The Wild Garden by Lys de Bray (1978) and beautifully illustrated by the author talks about gardening in Dorset, not far from where he lived in later life. The classic book by Beth Chatto, Garden Notebook (1988), outlines her personal thoughts about gardening in Essex, very close to where George farmed and gardened. The Garden Visitor's Companion by Louisa Jones (2009) reflects his hobby of visiting open gardens well into old age.

The books that give me more pleasure, however, are ones George read in the middle of the last century when he was learning his craft.

Garden Foes (below)

From his father, he inherited The Complete Amateur Gardener by H H Thomas (1924) 'Assisted by experts in Special Subjects With Coloured Frontispiece, 96 Full-page Illustrations from Photographs and Numerous Diagrams in the Text'. The text is written in a no-nonsense, declamatory style that leaves no room for doubt as to how deep to sow beans or which are the 'best' roses. Between some of the pages, there is a very yellowed newspaper article on 'The Greenhouse Cinerarias'. A slim volume of 14 pages published by the Ministry of agriculture and Fisheries in 1930, Some Beneficial Insects, has two most exquisitely painted illustrations, a surprisingly aesthetic touch for a Government pamphlet. Garden Foes by T W Sanders FLS (no date) has a few pages of adverts at the back. You could buy XL Pumps (the best lift and force pumps for the garden) that would pump 280 galls per hour, for £3 4s & 6d.

My favourite 'publication' is a cardboard contraption that is a kind of gardener's ready-reckoner. Two discs twist against each other, the outer showing the names of thirty four vegetables, the inner has windows which give the growing conditions (quality of soil, sowing distance and season, when to harvest etc) appropriate for the vegetable chosen. 

The back reads 'shewing fertilisers suitable for helping growth'. George was an organic farmer, so I am rather puzzled as to why he had a tool describing fertiliser distribution; perhaps he only used the front side of the disc.

Is there anyone out there who knows about this publication? The front of the disc says: In Your Garden, gardening at a glance, recommended by Mr C H Middleton, British Patent No 347324.