January 11, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



41 



Neglected Opportunities 



The immortal Shakespeare says '"There is a tide in 

 the affairs of men which taken at the flood, leads on to 

 fortune ; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in 

 shallows and in miseries."' Here is a truth of universal 

 application and nowhere is it more applicable than in 

 our chosen profession of horticulture and agriculture, 

 for do we not daily see gardeners whose life is "Bound 

 in shallows and in miseries"? The tide of opportunity 

 for most of us is in those fifteen golden years between 

 the age of fifteen and thirty; somewhere and sometime 

 during this period we all have a glorious opportunity of 

 improving our knowledge which, sad to relate, is inglo- 

 riously wasted. The general avenue through which the 

 position of head-gardener or superintendent is reached 

 is through the gi-eenhouse, it being the ambition of all 

 young gardeners who start outside to get "in the houses" 

 as it is said, and having got there he generally goes 

 through the grades of improver, journeyman, foreman, 

 superintendent. As this has been the general practice 

 for the last century or two it is a time-honored practice 

 and no one can deny that the results have been, on the 

 whole, very satisfactory, alike to employer and employee. 

 But to get back to the neglected opportunities; it is 

 during those fifteen golden years referred to above that 

 we are mostly guilty of failure to take advantage of the 

 chances offered everywhere of improving our knowledge. 

 At that period we are generally moving from place to 

 place, and here there is a great opportunity to study some 

 fine example of landscape gardening, at another there is 

 a fine collection of evergreens, or herbaceous plants or 

 hardy fruits. Then come the chances of getting an 

 insight into modern methods of poultry handling, or up- 

 to-date dairying, or intensive cultivation of the land, or 

 construction work such as road building, land drainage, 

 or any of the thousand and one things that an estate 

 superintendent is expected to know. There is, on nearly 

 every place, something that is specialized in, something 

 that is done a little better than the average, which the 

 aspirant to a superintendent's position may very profit- 

 ably study and make himself familiar with. Then when- 

 ever it is our good fortune to be situated where we can 

 attend a night school, by all means take advantage of it, 

 because there we can frequently get a little knowledge 

 of chemistry, geology, physics or natural science, all of 

 which will be useful in our work as well as making us 

 fuller men. 



Unfortunately there is a disposition on the part of the 

 greenhouse man to despise the out-door work as beneath 

 his attention, feeling himself to be a step higher than 

 the other employees, but surely he would be wise to ac- 

 quire every scrap of useful information obtainable. 



That men have neglected their opportunities in the 

 past and still got on fairly well I admit, but then they 

 had the field to themselves and even then it was the 

 man who least neglected them that got on the best. Now, 

 however a new aspirant for the plums of our profession 

 has entered the field, and he has entered it very effec- 

 tively, too, for he is gobbling up some of the most desir- 

 able jobs in the country. This is the graduate of the 

 Horticultural and Agricultural Colleges. Some few of 

 these there are, who have had a good practical training 

 in addition to their college course and I can conceive of 

 no better equipped men for their positions, but unfortu- 

 nately these are very, very, few.. And the vast majority 

 with nothing but their college training are usurping the 

 positions of the men who have (many of them) followed 

 the profession from boyhood, simply because the latter 

 refuse stubbornly to take advantage of the chances they 

 have, of fitting themselves for the positions which tliev 



are seeking to occupy. Our employers are almost in- 

 variably men with a college education and with a vast 

 fund of general information, and it must lower their 

 opinion of their superintendent if the latter is unable 

 to talk with an intelligent use of scientific nomenclature 

 in regard to the soil, forestry, stock-breeding and kindred 

 subjects and still more so if there is a lack of that ad- 

 dress and general good manners which do so much to 

 lubricate the wheels of all branches of business but in 

 none more so than in the one under discussion, and there 

 is no need to go to college to acquire it, for it comes to 

 all who do not neglect opportunities to practice it. 



To sum up. Let the young man beware, so as to take 

 advantage of every avenue of learning that might come 

 within his reach ; remembering always, that a strong 

 competitor is in the field and that unless he bestirs him- 

 self to meet the competition, he will find the position he 

 is seeking, occupied by one less able, perhaps, but better 

 prepared. 



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Veronica 



(Continued from page 39.) 



to us in enchanting sentences of glorious spring days on 

 distant sunny Alpine slopes. Similar thoughts arise, 

 when we behold the bright blue of the blossoms of Ver- 

 onica saxatilis, the speedwell of Scotland, or the similar 

 color tints of Veronica prostrata of Germany's mountain 

 regions. As a desirable addition to the aforesaid I men- 

 tion the genuine Veronica orientalis from Persia and 

 southern Russia, with small grayish green leafage and 

 deep blue flowers appearing during May and June. The 

 best white species in this class is the creeping Veronica 

 repens from the Island of Corsica, and in pink we have 

 in Veronica saxatalis rosea a species which promises to 

 meet the requirements. 



The ornamental merit of the taller growing garden 

 species is so well known that at present it does not need 

 special emphasis. Our native speedwell Veronica vir- 

 ginica, characterized by its whorled foliage, is more 

 adapted for the wild-flower garden. Preferable for effect 

 is its white form virginica alba, depicted on our frontis- 

 piece. The speedwell which I treasure most for late 

 summer garden effects is Veronica longifolia subsessilis 

 (syn. V. Hendersoni), a native of Japan, producing long 

 deep-blue flower spikes during August and September. 

 .As agreeable associates for it I mention Cimicifuga, 

 white Phlox paniculata, Platycodon grandiflorum and 

 japonicum and Japanese anemones. The species V. 

 longifolia appears in white, lavender and soft pink varie- 

 ties. V. amethystina, amethyst-blue, 2 feet high, flow- 

 ers in August, while the characteristics of V. incana con- 

 sist of silvery white foliage while V. gentianoides fol. 

 var. has attractively variegated leaves. 



Veronicas are raised from seed and propagated by 

 divisions. As a rule they prefer a rather light and well- 

 drained soil. Some, I have found, do best in open sunny 

 exposures, while for others the half-shady situations prove 

 of better advantage. The Alpine classs requires winter 

 protection of leaves and evergreen boughs as a substi- 

 tute for the heavy snow cover of their native position, 

 while the majority of the taller-growing garden varieties 

 on nature-sheltered grounds, survive the winter without 

 special protection. (~^ . . . (^--y ^j 



Riverton, N. J. <KjOeAyCVUX. </CXnJt4J 



