166 



THE GARDENEB'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



who employ him, ought to be educated up to a 

 higher level. The relation of lawyer to client, 

 physician to patient, clergyman to parishioner is 

 well understood and obeyed. The engineer and 

 the architect have their recognized place, and 

 even the land-surveyor, whose processes and 

 methods can be learned in a year, can assert his 

 right to control his work, and be heeded; but 

 the position of the landscape gardener is wher- 

 ever the caprice or whim of the hour may place 

 him. His employers often have their own no- 

 tions about the laying out of grounds, and it is 

 right that they should have them, as they would 

 have of what is lawful, or healthful, or righteous ; 

 and the wise landscape gardener will note and 

 incor])orate them into his own designs whenever 

 he can do so in justice to his client and himself.. 

 But, " shall I not do what I will with mine own," 

 is too often the exponent of the treatment both 

 he and his work is destined to receive. All who 

 have ever practiced the profession have suffered 

 in this way. Repton wrote, " Of many hundred 

 plans, digested with care, thought, and attention, 

 few were ever so carried into execution, that I 

 could be pleased with my own works." Loudon 

 complains of the nurseryman and jobbing gar- 

 dener pretending to improve the plan of the 

 landscape gardener, "and having, by dint of per- 

 severance and talking got the ear of his em- 

 ployer, the latter is prevailed on, for quiet's sake, 

 to yield to the proposed alterations, and to admit 

 trees and shrubs in such quantities as, in some 

 cases, entirely to destroy the effect which the 

 landscape gardener intended to produce." 



But this opens too wide a field for the close of 

 an article. Suffice it now to say, that the only 

 way through the consequent embarrassments 

 and discouragements, which at times weigh so 

 heavily upon those men who have dedicated 

 their lives to the work of adorning the homes of 

 our beautiful land, seems to be such thorough 

 education and training, as shall enable them to 

 command such respect and confidence from 

 those who would avail themselves of their pro- 

 fessional aid, as will secure to their advice and 

 plans that deference which is now paid to the 

 opinions of men who are in what are called the 

 "learned professions." This process must, of 

 necessity, be slow. " Taste, as it is called, is so 

 universal that every one sets up as a connois- 

 seur." In England this confidence is better 

 established, but it has taken nearly a hundred 

 yeais to secure it. Let us hope that our next 

 Centennial will find that our calling has taken 



its place where it belongs, among those "learned 

 professions." 



[We commend this excellent article to the 

 attention of our readers. After all, the same 

 trouble occurs in all professions ; there are plenty 

 of architects, lawyers, doctors, and what no<^ 

 that are mere botches in their professions, — 

 and yet " get along " very often better than the 

 most deserving. In our profession the only 

 remedy is to educate people as to what good 

 gardening is, — and then educate landscape gar- 

 deners to supply the cultivated taste. Even then 

 the educated and talented landscape gardener 

 must have business tact to make his abilities 

 known, and able to " keep that knowledge before 

 the people."— Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Pomegr.\nate. — The Home Journal of 

 New Orleans, tells us : " The pomegranate is one 

 of the most profitable fruits grown. The trees 

 bear fruit in three years from the cuttings, and 

 will grow on the most ordinary soils without irri- 

 gation. The pomegranate is a delicious fruit, 

 and possesses medicinal qualities of great value. 

 It will bear shipment better than any other fruit. 

 It may be barreled up and sent around the globe 

 in good order." 



The pomegranate is nearly hardy so far north 

 as Philadelphia, and is easily preserved in cellars. 

 The one usually grown is double, and does not 

 fruit. The single one, however, is often seen in 

 northern gardens, and the fruit will often per- 

 fect. 



Chimokanthus fragrans. — The Petersburg 

 Messenger, noticing a bouquet sent by Mr. Bryant 

 of that city in the depth of winter, refers to this 

 remarkably interesting shrub, and it moves us to 

 repeat what we have before said, that it is aston- 

 ishing so sweet a thing should be so little known. 

 The buds, cut off and put in water, will expand 

 in a warm room and fill it with fragrance. 



Festuca viridis for Edgings. — "This pretty 

 herbaceous grass is recommended for edgings, 

 and I can fully endorse all that is said in its 

 favor for that purpose, as I have employed it in 

 that way, and find it most valuable. It is very 

 dwarf, not exceeding 4 inches in height, and is 

 dark green in color. Small pieces of it, put 

 in a line about 2 inches apart, early in the 

 spring, will expand and form a comj-tact line by 

 the autumn, and if not required to be lifted may 



