414 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



times be sliown with judgment to the opinion of others, especially 

 employers and superiors. Modesty is characteristic of superior ability. 

 Neatness in appearance and a prompt and ready address are always 

 pleasing to employers. Snobbishness and foppery are utterly contemp- 

 tible in the eyes of those whose bread we eat, or who are our superiors 

 in position, and who look at us from an elevated social stand-point. 

 An employer respects his servant for what he can do in return for the 

 money paid, and for his intrinsic worth as a man. We ought all to 

 try and know ourselves and study character in others : sometimes it is 

 safe to take some good and successful man as our model. We would 

 recommend to the young man the reading of some books which per- 

 haps many would condemn, for instance the Kenilworth and Quentln 

 Durward of Sir Walter Scott, the Plays of Shakespeare and the 

 Proverbs of Solomon, to which last we guess no one will object. 



The selection of the right man for the right place is a more difficult 

 problem, we think, than that of education. It is discouraging enough 

 for the young man who has industriously devoted his novitiate in ac- 

 quiring a fund of useful information, to enable him to take his place 

 in a forward position in the profession, to find himself forestalled by 

 another competitor who has few acquired qualifications, except that of 

 having an all-powerful friend. The Royal Horticultural Society are 

 no doubt taking a step in the right direction by the institution of ex- 

 aminations. Those will point the finger of fame to the successful candi- 

 dates in mental acquirements, but there still remains after all the 

 most essential — namely, the practical test. There are many excellent 

 gardeners with but scant mental learning ; on the other hand, there are 

 many who are choke-full of science, who can talk and write by the 

 hour and yard, yet who, if weighed in the practical balance, would 

 certainly be found wanting. The Squire's Gardener. 



— ■^'KdT^^^-^-K— 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOES. 



[The following experiments with Potatoes were conducted under the direction 

 of Admiral Horby, and are very interesting to Potato-growers. — Ed.] 



We give below the results of experiments with fourteen varieties of 

 seed Potatoes. All the varieties were treated alike, and sown in black 

 soil on the Knowsley Cottage Farm. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 

 and 14, were obtained from Scotland. All these are good eating 

 Potatoes, the first particularly so ; and of this kind beautifully shaped 

 single Potatoes have been turned up from 28 to 31 oz. in weight. 



