| 总结: | <p>The lives of domestic gardeners during Hobsbawm’s long C19th, 1789-1914 are examined. The scope of the thesis is those parts of gardeners’ lives which are relevant to themes in economic and social history, such as education, remuneration, housing, inventions innovation and discovery rather than the gardeners’ daily activities and routines. The importance of gardens and gardening in the economic, social and cultural life of the C19th is established through an analysis of political and literary sources. As part of the domestic domain gardens were under the control of women, who were also concerned in their design and development</p>
<p>The growth in human capital is traced through the opposition to gardeners receiving an education, their limited schooling, their reliance on autodidacticism, the gradual rise of institutions such as mutual improvement societies, the apprenticeship and journeyman systems, and the growth of colleges for female gardeners.</p>
<p>The dismal bothies and cottages in which gardeners were housed led to a campaign for reform by Loudon and Paxton. The gradual improvement in housing is traced, together with the development of ‘Bothy culture’.</p>
<p>Gardeners are established as amongst the healthiest occupational group. An analysis of the cases of the Ealing gardener and Joseph Allen highlights the scope for self-provisioning and the high level of perquisites.</p>
<p>The remuneration of all classes of gardeners is examined, showing the importance of extras such as gratuities, prize money, apprenticeship and journeymen fees, ‘discounts’ on plant and seed supplies. The hours and days worked, entitlement to overtime, holidays and sick pay and the use of ‘characters’ are analysed.</p>
<p>Evidence from probate records and random sampling show surprisingly high levels of wealth on death, great social mobility, Scottish over-representation and high levels of health and longevity.</p>
<p>The contribution of gardeners to invention, innovation and discovery is highlighted through their role in the development of public parks and case studies of the introduction of tea into India by Fortune; of cinchona plants into India by McIvor; of Saunders as head of the USDA; the plant hunters Cross and Weir; the inventors, Fry and Becket; the hybridist, Culverwell and Darwin’s assistant John Scott.</p>
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