on this continent. The fact of the matter is, our climate is from ten days to two weeks 

 later than that at Burlington ; but six weeks' diflference in two hundred miles, even if we 

 were due north, is rather too much. The good doctor must have been thinking about 

 Pembina. G. S. T. 



Gardeners. By Robert Meston, gr. to Col. A. J. Polk, Ashwood, Tennessee. — In the 

 January number of the Horticulturist, you give your readers a chapter on gardeners and 

 experimental gardens. Much as has been said upon this subject by editors, amateurs, as 

 well as the profession, the first thing to be considered is this : Who are foreign gardeners ? 

 The answer is, they are men of foreign birth, educated to the profession before they emi- 

 grate to this country. Tliese are truly foreign gardeners. Then the question arises, have 

 all the men in this country calling themselves gardeners, been educated as such abroad ? 

 No ; not one-half of them. I must therefore assert, that they are not foreign, but American 

 gardeners ; this is my argument. Your readers may judge whether I am correct or not. 

 Suppose a young man emigrate to this country, bringing no trade or profession with him, 

 and, after some time, he become a landscape or portrait painter, or excels in any of the fine 

 arts, do we acknowledge him as a foreign artist ? The American press will speak of him in 

 terms of praise as an American artist, and justly so, I think. A foreign land gave him bii-th, 

 and America gave him a profession ; therefore, he is an American artist. Now, if this is 

 just and true with the artist, it must be just and true with the gardener ; and, I must say, 

 I think the great majority of gardeners in this country are of American growth. Every 

 good gardener in this country, I am sure, would do all in his power to bring about a better 

 state of things, and would hail with delight horticultural colleges, or experimental gardens, 

 and give his mite for the support of them. Now, as it respects native American gardeners, 

 educated at an Horticultural College or Experimental Garden, which amounts to the same 

 thing, I much question whether one-half of the boys brought up to the profession would stick 

 to it in after life. The complaint has been, in this country, that the foreign gardener has 

 not been educated to suit the times ; therefore, there would be produced a better class of 

 educated men than the present state of horticulture can boast of. Now, we will suppose a 

 boy, of fourteen years' of age, enters one of the above institutions, and remains a student 

 until he has passed his minority ; what is the course of his studies during the seven years 

 (we will suppose the place thoroughly established, where every branch of the profession can 

 be taught), bearing in mind that this boy has a moderate English education before he enters 

 the establishment ? The first thing taught him in the establishment is manual labor ; his 

 hours of vacation from labor would be something like the following : — 



The first problems of geometry and land surveying, agricultural chemistry, botany, vege- 

 table physiology, mineralogy, rural architecture, and landscape gardening ; at least a slight 

 knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, that is, if he wished to become a good bota- 

 nist. These are a few items that are to be stowed away in the memory of a good, practical 

 gardener. Without going into further details on this subject, we will suppose a young man, 

 at the age of twenty-one, with a knowledge of all these things, we should call him a toler- 

 ably well-informed young man ; the next thing is, he offers himself to a nurseryman to work 

 for a dollar per day, or he goes as head gardener to a gentleman ; what are his wages ? From 

 25 to 35 dollars per month. Who are his associates in said family ? Ostlers, cow-boys, and 

 the servant-girls of the house ; he is, in fact, a serving gardener, and is looked upon as one 

 of the servants of the establishment, and this is what he gets after seven years of hard 

 labor, and harder study. Will a young and enterprising native American stand it ? I 

 think not. 



Now, take this same young man, and give him the same amount of education, the same 

 time to study in any of the higlier professions, which will take no longer, and, in fact 



