1869.] UNDER-GARDENER'S DIFFICULTIES. 373 



boy," his wages being 6s, per week, 2s. of which he paid to the head-gardener and 

 Is. for lodgings. F. W. B. does not mention if he boarded him, which I shall sup- 

 pose he did, as he would only have 3s. per week to live upon. How can a head- 

 gardener take from one that is under him 2s. per week to teach a young man ? 

 If this were carried out to a great extent, I think it would be one of the worst of 

 a young man's difficulties that he would have to put up with. F. W. B. tells us 

 that some people object to a young man paying a premium. I certainly must 

 hold with that, because I think that if a head-gardener did his duty to a young 

 man, he certainly would not want a premium from him when he has such low 

 wages. I have at this present time a young man under me of the age of fifteen, 

 but I should not take a premium from him ; and my employer would think that 

 I was not doing my duty if I took from him 2s. per week for what I should call 

 teaching a young man. It is very true that there are too many of those corae-day- 

 go-day sort of men, which makes it bad for others ; but I do not see why a young 

 man cannot take an interest in gardening without paying a premium. To turn 

 out a young man in the world, and see him get on, I think creditable to the head- 

 gardener. But if a young man has to pay for it — I should say dearly— I do not 

 see that he is beholden to the head-gardener. I cannot draw to a close without 

 thanking the Editor for the many kind hints he has given us these last three 

 years, and I do hope this magazine will soon be widely known. 



Respect for the Under-Gardener. 



[We fear the kindness of our correspondent's disposition has led him to take a 

 one-sided view of this question. He must look at it from a purely commercial 

 point, and he will see that the apprentice gardener, like every other apprentice, 

 must in the outset of his career cause a considerable deal of trouble to his 

 instructor, and that such instruction is to him of substantial value, and that he 

 ought not to object to pay for it. The apprentice gardener gets off much easier 

 in this respect than any other we know anything of. In nearly every other trade or 

 profession high premiums have to be paid, either in cash-down, or, what is the same 

 thing in the end, unpaid labour, sometimes for two and even four years ; and 

 well would it be for gardeners as a class if the same regulations were applied in 

 their case. To have a thorough knowledge of horticulture requires as good 

 mental powers, as elaborate study and instruction, and as close application as it 

 does to be a physician ; and who in his senses would ask a medical practitioner 

 to take a young lad of fifteen and make a doctor of him, give his board and 4s. 

 per week, and expect no premium from him, while his services in return would 

 be the washing of bottles or the running of messages for some years ? The real 

 fact is, that the position gardeners occupy is vastly inferior to what it would 

 otherwise have been had rigid rules existed to prevent the introduction into their 

 ranks of men assuming the name of gardener, but having no more right to it 

 than a working navvy has to call himself a civil engineer. The employers of 

 gardeners suffer more from this than legitimate gardeners themselves do. They 

 too often look at the matter thus : They know that a man called a bricklayer can 

 generally lay bricks, a carpenter can make a door or a window, and a gardener 

 aught to be able to manage a garden ; and when they meet with one who has 

 managed to get a high recommendation from some person who is probably no 

 judge of what a gardener should be, and who is willing to take £40 or £50 a-year, 

 is it to be wondered at that they object to pay £80 or £100, though in the great 

 majority of cases they had better have engaged the man at £40 and kept him 

 idle, and paid a proper gardener in addition ? We are quite aware, while saying 

 this, that there are many excellent gardeners who, from the force of adverse cir- 



