gi slmrt €\q\tx m ^arbtncrs anlr (^.vprimtntal €-^m. 



-^^'sSL^^g^. HE topics most in men's minds are often the ones that, 



. 'CAS^--^?'\ f^fjIl/W for some cause or other, are most rarely discussed by 



JJ 'Qf^^l' I II ^ I I the press. Gardeners, is one which is left to itself, 



because this useful class is very naturally sensitive to 



criticism, and does not bear animadversion better than 



other people; and yet it is of great interest to every 



M^ i^o.^'lffi?l;!3? ^s^J person vv^ho has even small premises where fruit, flowers, 



and vegetables are to be grown. How are we to have 



S^ ^^-—'^^^^^^^ ^ succession of gardeners? 



The Horticulturist has had frequent communications 

 in it, written by members of the profession, who were fully alive to the difficulties 

 that exist with both the employers and the employed, and many home truths have 

 they told to both parties. What we now say must be received in the spirit of 

 kindness which dictates it. We of course feel, and have always felt, a deep inte- 

 rest in the subject; difficulties do exist, and will continue till some plan is hit 

 upon for the education of gardeners of American growth ; the more plainly we 

 speak upon the subject, the better it will be for all parties, and the sooner we shall 

 arrive at some profitable result. 



At present, our best florists and gardeners are from abroad ; we have among 

 them not a few who are well educated, and superior to the average of the profes- 

 sion in Europe ; but we hold it as an axiom not to be disputed, that a gardener 

 educated in the climate, and surrounded by the habits in which he is to live, is, 

 cceteris paribus, more likely to succeed, at first entering upon his duties, than one 

 from a different soil. What we want is a " Gardener's College" in every State; 

 or, if the name is too high sounding, call it an " Experimental Garden." Such 

 institutions have succeeded abroad, but here, with proper men at the head of them, 

 men who understand what is going on, and are capable of directing, success is 

 beyond a doubt. Such institutions need not depend on State patronage, which 

 would be the last kind of encouragement we would admit into the management, 

 both because it would insure change of direction and political intrigue, and would 

 imply a government of electioneering spendthrifts. We would have a few intelli- 

 gent neighbors to unite in every section of the country, and purchase in joint 

 stock a suitable piece of ground, near enough to their own property to be within 

 their means of frequent call ; employ the best gardener to be procured, whether 

 native or foreign, and exhibit to their visitors what a garden may become. From 

 it each stockholder could draw specimen plants and trees, true to name, by way 

 of dividend ; the extra produce, both of fruit, vegetables, trees, and plants, should 



YoL. YI.— Jan. 1856. 



