498 



ECONOMY IN GARDENING. 



cost a few thousands. But the moment he 

 touches a spade to the ground, to plant a 

 tree, or to level a hillock, that moment 

 his farm is taxed three or four times as 

 heavily as in Europe ; and as he builds in 

 a year, but " gardens" all his life, it is evi- 

 dent that his out-of-door expenses must be 

 systemized, or economised, or he will find 

 his income greatly the loser by it. Many 

 a citizen, who has settled in the country 

 with the greatest enthusiasm, has gone 

 back to town in disgust at the unsuspected 

 cost of country pleasures. 



And yet, there are ways in which econo- 

 my and satisfactory results may be com- 

 bined in country life. There are always 

 two ways of arriving at a result ; and, in 

 some cases, that mode least usually pursued 

 is the better and more satisfactory one. 



The price of the cheapest labor in the 

 country generally, averages 80 cents to $1 

 per day. Now we have no wish whatever 

 to lower the price of labor ; we would rather 

 feel that, by-and-by, we could afford to pay 

 even more. But we wish either to avoid 

 unnecessary expenditure for labor in pro- 

 ducing a certain result, or to arrive at some 

 mode of insuring that the dollar a day, paid 

 for labor, shall be fairly and well earned. 



Four-fifths of all the gardening labor 

 performed in the eastern and middle states 

 is performed by Irish emigrants. Always 

 accustomed to something of oppression on 

 the part of landlords and employers, in their 

 own country, it is not surprising that their 

 old habits stick close to them here ; and, 

 as a class, they require far more watching 

 to get a fair day's labor from them than 

 many of our own people. On the other 

 hand, there is no workman who is more 

 stimulated by the consciousness of work- 

 ing on his own account than an Irish- 

 man. He will work stoutly and faithfully, 

 from early to late, to accomplish a "job" 



of his own seeking, or which he has 

 fairly contracted for, and accomplish it 

 in a third less time than if working by the 

 day. 



The deduction which experienced em- 

 ployers in the country draw from this, is, 

 never to employ " rough hands," or persons 

 whose ability and steadiness have not been 

 well proved, by the day or month, but al- 

 ways by contract, piece or job. The saving 

 to the employer is large ; and the laborer, 

 while he gets fairly paid, is induced, by a 

 feeling of greater independence, or to sus- 

 tain his own credit, to labor faithfully and 

 without wasting the time of his employer. 



We saw a striking illustration of this 

 lately, in the case of two neighbors, — both 

 planting extensive orchards, and requiring, 

 therefore, a good deal of extra labor. One 

 of them had all the holes for his trees dug 

 by contract, of good size, and two spades 

 deep, for six cents per hole. The other 

 had it executed by the day, and by the 

 same class of labor, — foreigners, newly ar- 

 rived. We had the curiosity to ask a few 

 questions, to ascertain the difference of 

 cost in the two cases ; and found, as we 

 expected, that the cost in the day's work 

 system was about ten cents per hole, or 

 more than a third beyond what it cost by 

 the job. 



Now, whether a country place is large 

 or small, there is always, in the course of 

 the season, more or less extra work to be 

 performed. The regular gardener, or work- 

 man, must generally be hired by the day 

 or month; though we know instances of 

 everything being done by contract. But 

 all this extra work can, in almost all cases., 

 be done by contract, at a price greatly be- 

 low what it would otherwise cost. Trench- 

 ing, subsoiling, preparing the ground for 

 orchards or kitchen gardens, or even plough- 

 ing, and gathering crops, may be done very 



