"There are about a dozen of these gardens, more or less extensive, according to the business or wealth of the proprietor; but they are generally smaller than the smallest of our London nurseries"
About this Quote
The phrasing is clinical but loaded. “More or less extensive” pretends at neutrality, yet the real determinant is “business or wealth,” an economic lens that flattens local meaning into a balance sheet. Gardens here aren’t art, ritual, or ecology; they’re property scaled to capital. Fortune’s comparison to “our London nurseries” smuggles in a second assumption: that Britain’s commercial horticulture is not only larger, but more legitimate - the standard against which cultivation should be judged.
Context sharpens the edge. Fortune was a botanist and plant hunter operating in the mid-19th century, when botany, trade, and state power traveled together. His attention to size and proprietorship reads like reconnaissance: what’s cultivated, by whom, and at what scale? The subtext is that Britain can outgrow, outproduce, and ultimately appropriate. Even the casual “about a dozen” carries a collector’s confidence - the world rendered countable, comparable, and therefore manageable.
It’s the language of observation that doubles as acquisition: taxonomy as soft power, measurement as a prelude to control.
Quote Details
| Topic | Nature |
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| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fortune, Robert. (2026, January 16). There are about a dozen of these gardens, more or less extensive, according to the business or wealth of the proprietor; but they are generally smaller than the smallest of our London nurseries. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-about-a-dozen-of-these-gardens-more-or-97037/
Chicago Style
Fortune, Robert. "There are about a dozen of these gardens, more or less extensive, according to the business or wealth of the proprietor; but they are generally smaller than the smallest of our London nurseries." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-about-a-dozen-of-these-gardens-more-or-97037/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"There are about a dozen of these gardens, more or less extensive, according to the business or wealth of the proprietor; but they are generally smaller than the smallest of our London nurseries." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/there-are-about-a-dozen-of-these-gardens-more-or-97037/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.
