30 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



sulk, afTect independence, lose interest in their duties, and in the end have to go. 

 As Mr Temple says, promotion according to merit is not generally enough kept 

 in view. It is nothing less than an injustice to treat the good and indifferent 

 alike ; and if merit had invariably its reward at the hands of master-gardeners, 

 beneficial results would soon be genernlly apparent, and empirics would be less com- 

 mon. There are numbers of youths calling themselves "improvers," or "journey- 

 men," who enter a garden apparently under the conviction that they are to be turned 

 out gardeners, as out of a mould, without the slightest effort or exertion on their 

 own part. "We have now and then had to do with such examples — creatures who 

 dabbled at their work as if they had been bred to the tailoring or apothecary- 

 business : who could not write the name of the commonest plant or vegetable 

 correctly from dictation, nor be trusted to put together the vegetables for the kitchen 

 without mistake, and yet never felt it a duty to themselves to open a book in 

 quest of the knowledge they so much needed, though every book necessary for 

 them to read was found ready to their hand, free of cost. I daresay we must 

 expect to meet with such men in the ordinary course of things, but they are 

 only fit to rank as labourers, for they never make workmen or gardeners. The 

 ordinary garden labourer, though he has little more than a day's interest in his 

 work, gets through it conscientiously as a rule, and does it fairly, expecting 

 nothing but his Avage, and giving little trouble to his master. But while express- 

 ing little s}Tnpathy Avith such unworthy examples as we have described, it affords 

 us pleasure to speak of good men who are still to be found for the seeking — 

 sometimes where least expected. More than once we have turned a gardener out 

 of a labourer who showed he had got the right stuff in him. One of the best men 

 we ever had came straight out of a coal-pit, but he took to gardening like a fish 

 to water, and was a better man in twelve months than some are in as many years. 

 He was one of those men who knew how to adhere to " orders " strictly, without 

 thinking he exceeded his duty if he went out of his way (on his own time 

 perhaps) to tie up a plant that had broken loose from its fastening, or remove any 

 unsightly object that might be in the way. We have often known such simple 

 but thoughtful actions — which only show that a man recognises his master's 

 interests as his own— secure a man's promotion and future success. In fact, I 

 have seldom known such men fail to get on sooner or later ; and though master- 

 gardeners are naturally reluctant to part with such, I never knew of an instance 

 in which they were not desirous of jjromoting their interests, as far as lay in 

 their power. We are in the habit of meeting head-gardeners from all parts 

 of the kingdom frequently every year, and often we hear the query, " You 

 haven't a good man you can send us, I suppose "—and, "A man you would like 

 to keep, you know." And so, often enough, some deserving man has a service done 

 him when he least expects it. 



As regards character-giving, young men may rely upon it that the "honest, 

 sober, and industrious" type of certificate will stand them in poor stead if it 

 cannot be backed up privately. Such certificates are little attended to. Perhaps 

 it has been given by a good-natured master, who stated the good points and left 

 the bad ones out; but who would, like an honourable man, give his candid 

 opinion privately, if asked for it, as is invariably the case in these days. A 

 certificate of character is not to be despised, if it is a good one, and is given in 

 the hearty conviction that the individual really deserves it ; but even an unprin- 

 cipled man would have no object in giving a man such a character, unless it was 

 his plain duty to do so. These remarks are penned with the object of impressing 

 on young men how much their destiny lies in their own hands, and that they 

 must rely chiefly upon themselves. No one can make them gardeners unless they 



