1869.] THE EDUCATION OF GARDENERS. 157 



with these matters. If this is not correct, then such men as Knight, 

 Liudley, and Liebig have siDent their strength for nought. 



While holding this doctrine, I am by no means indifferent to the 

 surface-gloss of " dress and keep ; " but for anysake don't let us be 

 degraded by saying that these two words are a " true definition " of 

 gardening. Some places, no doubt, would be improved by a little 

 more of this definition, but we have known some place so " dressed 

 and kept " that there was scarcely any gardening left about them. I 

 may be told, '' Oh ! see what splendid specimens of plants and fruits 

 Mr So-and-so grows, and no one will give him credit for any know- 

 ledge of the functions of plants, or anything else that science teaches," 

 and he is far more celebrated for incessant noise among pots and pans 

 than for anything besides. This, I hold, proves nothing against 

 theoretical knowledge. And though it must be granted that one 

 man seems to have an intuitive knowledge of the requirements of 

 plants, this does not prove that such a man would not be improved 

 by a sound theoretical knowledge of what is involved in his practice. 

 It may prove that nature has endowed one man with a better capacity 

 for the practice of gardening than another — nothing more. And I 

 am persuaded that if we were to look a little more closely into the 

 lives and gardening practice of those who are considered gardeners 

 by intuition, we would find their success to depend on a restless 

 nervous disposition, application, and perseverance ; and who will say, 

 that, if in conjunction with these qualities — without which never man 

 became great in anything — they had just to some extent mastered a 

 little vegetable physiology, chemistry, and natural philosophy, they 

 would not have been saved many a blunder, many a tumbling among 

 pots and pans, and have become better gardeners, still better members 

 of society, and men from whom we would learn more'? The extra- 

 ordinary results effected by sheer industry and perseverance, in con- 

 junction with, or rather as the result of, a love of gardening for its 

 own sake, are no doubt calculated to lead many to doubt if any- 

 thing more be desirable in the make-up of a gardener. Now, I am 

 as deeply impressed as any one can be, as the result of my own 

 observation and experience, that in gardening, as in every other voca- 

 tion, some youths will never shine; but I hold at the same time that 

 it cannot be demonstrated that the garden-loving and persevering rule- 

 of-thumb man would not be improved by a sound theoretical know- 

 ledge of the operations he is called upon to conduct or perform, and 

 all who are aspirants in this humble walk of life cannot neglect such 

 knowledge with impunity. 



This again involves to some considerable extent what is properly 

 termed a school education as a prior training for the mind, and furnish- 

 ing it with the tools and habits of accumulating and applying the 



