158 THE GARDENER. [April 



knowledge necessary for practical life. And who are there amongst our 

 leading gardeners who have not felt their loss on this point, or are 

 content to let their sons into the world with the meagre elementary- 

 education with which they were compelled to begin their profession *? 

 And although we hnd men amongst gardeners, who for general informa- 

 tion would be no disgrace to any society, and who can commit their 

 thoughts and views to writing with a clearness and force which sur- 

 prise their " betters " — to what do they owe these advantages 1 cer- 

 tainly not to a neglect of theoretical knowledge, nor to the neglect of 

 elementary school education, but, to their honour be it spoken, to their 

 self -tuition and culture, to their self-denial and self-respect and per- 

 severance. Apart from this view of education, it is exceedingly desir- 

 able that gardeners introduced to the management of such gardens as 

 are designated good situations, should be men who have at least such 

 a measure of education as will be one of the means of raising the 

 status of a profession which adds so much to the pleasure, luxury, and 

 civilisation of the whole community. It is much to be regretted and 

 reprobated, too, that men who have so thrown away their opportuni- 

 ties, and neglected themselves so much, that as a consequence they 

 cannot write a note of half-a-dozen lines without in the most grot- 

 esque manner possible violating the commonest and all the rules of 

 grammar, should by some extraneous influence be introduced to the 

 care of first and second rate gardens. These are the men who accept 

 low wages, and hang as a dead weight on the profession. I say. Save 

 our gardens from such men ! I could name cases where the most 

 illiterate men, and unproved gardeners too, are thus succeeding to good 

 places, and on whom what I have said is no libel. 



A word to young gardeners. If you do not acquire the education 

 necessary to play your part well, not merely as an intelligent practical 

 gardener, but somewhat in unison with the age in which your lot is 

 cast, it is your own fault ; and the sooner you give up a profession 

 which requires so much forethought and intelligence, the better for it 

 and for you. You have plenty of spare time. A few shillings can 

 purchase all the books and material which are needed to raise your 

 education beyond contempt, and to pursue the many points of your 

 profession with intelligence. Genius is not necessary. Genius has 

 been described as common sense intensified ; industry and dogged 

 perseverance would make geniuses of most of us. Dr Johnson 

 once said that some men learned more by the tour of Hampstead 

 Heath than others did by the tour of Europe. And why 1 Because 

 the one had acquired the habit of noticing, and the other had not. 

 That is one of the grandest faculties that ever entered a garden. 

 Noticing! while you learn to "wield the ponderous spade " with dex- 

 terity, remember that " elegance, chief grace the garden shows, is the 



