1873] AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A GARDENER. 101 



in imagination, my snug little sanctum as I recall to memory tlie cruel 

 blasts that would so boisterously blow, even in a southern county, in 

 an exposed position, in blustering [March — as I think upon the cold 

 icy dew that would so persistently present itself upon the green leaves 

 and scanty flowers in this early part of my career. My hard fate, 

 thought I ! 



Ere the dawn of morn had fairly presented itself, my solitary in- 

 dividual self might have regularly been seen in the flower-garden, in 

 front of the mansion, picking the Chestnut and Beech leaves from the 

 last remains of autumn and early spring flowering-plants — from the 

 charming sprigs of evergreens which had been inserted to represent a 

 garden of living beauties. Picture to yourself the desolation, though, 

 after a blustering wind ! Realise my stupidity if you can ! I used to 

 think how puerile to strip the Laurustinus of its beautiful waxy flowers, 

 the Portugal Laurel of its sombre foliage, and the Yew of its churchyard 

 proclivities, to gratify the fastidious taste of the " family" and visitors. 



Those dreaded mornings, when Anemones, Ranunculuses, and other 

 successional bulbs had to be freed from the droppings of surrounding 

 trees, will ever live in my remembrance. Listen to my then specious 

 reasoning ! Why were deciduous trees ever created 1 Why, since 

 they are, do not their leaves fall in May, when they might be gathered 

 up pleasantly ? Oh, my poor fingers ! Would, Mr Editor, that you 

 could raise the shades of Leech to portray them; or rather my full-length 

 portrait, as at such a moment I can imagine it appeared upon paper. 

 But here note the perverseness of human nature. If this, my special 

 occupation before the "family "was down, had at that time been taken 

 from me and deputed to another, I should have desired that the bitter- 

 est furies of ^olus would blast all his efforts. I began to regard this 

 flower-garden (I will give you a sketch of it hereafter, Mr Editor, if 

 you will accept it) as my own peculiar domain. And now I am 

 about to moralise, so there will be an opportunity for you to skip a 

 few lines. Do the apprentices of the present day enter upon their 

 duties so thoroughly as to regard themselves essentials of the estab- 

 lishment] Do they love work for its own sake, flowers for their 

 beauty, their attention to them the instrument for acquiring know- 

 ledge? Do they regard difficulties as the sources of pleasure, from the 

 enjoyment derivable from surmounting them ; inconveniences as 

 necessary hardships, inseparably connected with their selected profes- 

 sion, and only to be smiled at after endurance ? Rather do not too 

 many young men regard the work set before them as the creation of 

 professional tyranny, performing it carelessly, that they may be 

 relieved of it. 



Fond indulgence ! my idol was destined for another's worship. I 



