834 



HORTICULTURE, 



March 14, 190S 



THE PRIVATE GARDENER. 



Adilrrss iiy Koht-rt CiMlg Irofi.re tlie Mii^s:i 



cllllsetts llul-ticllltural Suili-ly. 



Fel)ru;ii-.v I'll, 1!H)(S. 



I use the term "Private Gardener" 

 because it is one in common use and 

 well understood to distinguish one who 

 has charge of a garden or grounds and 

 cultivates vegetables, plants and flow- 

 ers, not to sell, but for the use of those 

 who employ him to do this work. The 

 gardener assists and directs nature in 

 producing everything which grows out 

 of the ground for man's use; for the 

 gratification of his palate, and which 

 .is capable of administering to his sense 

 of beauty. His work is to provide not 

 only food for the body but also "Food 

 for the Soul." We sometimes aee an 

 advertisement in the daily papers like 

 this — "Wanted, a gardener who under- 

 stands care of horses," or "who can 

 milk." Such an advertisement is a 

 sad abuse of the word; what is wanted 

 is a handy laborer, or man of all work; 

 much that I shall say today cannot 

 specially be applied to him. 



The Private Gardener's Part in the 

 Future of Horticulture. 

 I know that my audience includes 

 many that are not gardeners, but I feel 

 that they, in their interest in the sub- 

 ject, will pardon me it the greater part 

 of my remarks are directed specially 

 to gardeners. I choose the subject be- 

 cause 1 conceive that it is one of morev 

 importance than is generally assigned 

 to it and that the private gardener is 

 likely to play a part of continually 

 growing importance in American life. 

 His inlluenoe un the future of Horti- 

 culture is powerful for good or for 

 evil. If he be a capable, energetic and 

 honest man, he will do such work as 

 will make his employer a patron of 

 gardening, and it he be ignorant, care- 

 less and dishonest he will not only 

 ruin himself, but will damage the 

 cause he misrepresents. Allow me to 

 recite a couple of instances occurring 

 in my own neighborhood which illus- 

 trate this point: — 



I was well acquainted with a wealthy 

 gentleman who built new greenhouses 

 and started to improve the grounds 

 surrounding his fine mansion. He was 

 fortunate in securing a fine English 

 gardener, newly arrived in this 

 country; his place rapidly improved 

 under the new gardener's care and 

 after two years' work, when the owner 

 saw he was getting good results, he 

 became greatly interested, and in- 

 vested freely large sums to carry on 

 the improvements and enrich the 

 grounds with plantings of rare and 

 beautiful trees and shrubs; he built 

 additional greenhouses, bought many 

 plants, and also a fine collection of 

 orchids. Everything prospered and 

 was a source of great pleasure to the 

 owner and his friends, when suddenly 

 the good gardener was stricken with 

 an incurable disease and had to give 

 up work. The place was then put in 

 charge of his first assistant, a young 

 man about 26 years old who was 

 given a fine opportunity to make a 

 name for himself, but he could not 

 stand, even a little prosperity; took 

 to drinking and playing the races, and 

 during a spree in which he did not put 

 in an appearance for two days, an 

 accident to the boilers resulted in the 

 entire stock of plants being frozen to 

 death. The owner, who had plenty of 



money to spend in gratifying his 

 tastes, lost all interest in gardening 

 and became a liberal patron of other 

 line arts. His collection of paintings 

 and examples of fine sculpture are 

 known far and wide, but the green- 

 houses are empty, the garden neg- 

 lected, and it is not likely the owner's 

 interest in these will ever be revived. 

 Faithfulness Is Rewarded. 

 Another instance coming under my 

 immediate observation interested me 

 still more; — One of the wealthiest 

 men in the neighborhood of Philadel- 

 phia, retiring from active business, 

 built one of the finest mansions in the 

 State, employed the highest talent in 

 landscape gardening and with a large 

 force of men, in a couple of years had 

 the new place greatly improved. He 

 employed a young German gardener 

 who had previously at a salary of only 

 $60 per month made a good name for 

 himself; gave him entire charge and 

 he worked with such intelligence, in- 

 dustry and honesty, that the employer 

 built for him additional ranges of 

 glass about two years ago at a cost of 

 fifty thousand dollars, and allows him 

 to spend annually a large sum in im- 

 proving the place. Only last summer 

 he took a trip to Europe at his em- 

 ployer's expense with power to pur- 

 chase such rare plants as he might 

 select. His salary is now quite satis- 

 factory to him. Oh! but you say, this 

 was a rare case; perhaps it was, but I 

 am sure at the rate wealth is increas- 

 ing in this country the number of 

 such places will steadily increase. I 

 like to quote Lord Bacon on this 

 point: — -'When ages grow to civility 

 and elegancy men come to build 

 stately, sooner than to garden finely, 

 as if gardening were the greater per- 

 fection." 



Boston Gardeners' Good Record. 



Before proceeding further it may be 

 well for us to consider that we are in 

 Boston; Boston a city rich in horti- 

 cultural history, has always been 

 foremost in encouragement of advanced 

 gardening. Here in 1829 the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society was In- 

 corporated "For the purpose of en- 

 couraging and improving the science 

 and practice of Horticulture." Ever 

 since, and before that time, Boston has 

 been the foremost American city In 

 Horticulture. In 1822 the first gar- 

 dening periodical. The New England 

 Farmer and Horticultural Journal was 

 founded; followed by Hovey's Ameri- 

 can Garden and Barretts' Horticul- 

 tural Register in 1835; the first green- 

 house in the country, history says, was 

 built in Boston by Andrew Faneuel 

 about the beginning of the 18th 

 Century. And today in the excellence 

 of its parks and private gardens. In 

 proportion to its population It is 

 easily in the front. Those who love 

 gardening in any branch, find In 

 Boston a congenial atmosphere; Bos- 

 ton has been the home and scene of 

 the life work of many famous gar- 

 deners. I look upon Jackson Dawson 

 as the best all arouiiri propagator and 

 plantsman that America has known, 

 and the late Fred. L. Hairis, for nearly 

 half a century at Hunnewell's famous 

 place at Wellesley. was a model for 

 private gardeners to Imitate. 

 Preparing Himself for His Life Work. 



The problem of how a gardener 

 should set about preparing him- 



self for his life work is, in 

 this country, a serious one. In the 

 older countries of Europe, opportuni- 

 ties to acquire a thorough knowledge 

 of all departmepts are plentiful. There 

 are so many estates on which the 

 grounds are admirably planned and 

 planted, and where there are numer- 

 ous houses adapted for propagating 

 and growing everything tor the gar- 

 den; cold pits and cold houses; In- 

 iti mediate liousts and 'stove' houses. 

 with graperies, fruit houses and hot 

 beds, so that a man may get a 

 thorough knowledge of gardening in all 

 branches; and there are many com- 

 mercial places which carry on all lines 

 and where boys may go and learn the 

 business as they grow to manhood. 

 There are only a very few such com- 

 mercial places in America. In this 

 country almost all the trade establish- 

 ments cultivate specialties as roses, 

 tarnations or palms. Nearly all of our 

 good all around gardeners get their 

 training abroad, and it is well for any 

 young man who can get a chance to 

 learn gardening under such a man, 

 either on a large private place or in 

 a park, some of which in the larger 

 cities I am glad to say, have now Urge 

 ranges of glass and grow everything 

 but vegetables, which is a very impor- 

 lant branch and of which I may have 

 a few words to say later. Some of our 

 colleges have now facilities for teach- 

 ing gardening. I wish that all of the 

 colleges would follow the example of 

 Cornell, where they have six green- 

 houses in which students may gain a 

 practical knowledge of plant growth, 

 learn how to prepare soil and manure, 

 and have opportunity to gain a gen- 

 eral knowledge of advanced gardening. 

 Many of the colleges have now a 

 course in forestry, and I understand 

 that young men getting diplomas, if 

 otherwise fitted, can readily procure 

 employment at fair salaries. It seems 

 to me that the time is now ripe for all 

 the leading colleges to build ranges of 

 glass and have courses in practical 

 Horticulture. Graduates from these 

 classes, and otherwise desirable, would 

 have an advantage over uneducated 

 men in securing the best positions. 

 The recent establishment of classes in 

 landscape gardening by the Gardeners' 

 and Florists' Club of Boston, is of 

 great advantage to those near enough 

 to take advantage, and is an example 

 for all similar institutions everywhere 

 to imitate. 



Some Good Books. 

 To the gardener who wants to im- 

 prove himself, books are a paramount 

 necessity. The recorded wisdom of 

 the ages is at your services here. 

 Nicholson's Dictionary of Gardening 

 and Bailey's Cyclopaedia of American 

 Horticulture should be in the posses- 

 sion of every gardener; they describe 

 nearly every plant in cultivation and 

 their cultural notes are of very great 

 value. I will not attempt naming all 

 the good books but cannot refrain 

 from mentioning Jenkin's Art of Prop- 

 agation and Improvement of Cultivated 

 Plants: Professor Taft's Greenhouse 

 Construction; Hunt's How to Grow 

 Cut Flowers; Henderson's Practical 

 Floriculture; Falconer's Mushrooms 

 and How to Grow Them; Elwanger 

 and Reynold's Gardening for Profit; 

 i\Irs. Van Rensselaer's Ait Out of 

 Doors; The Principles of the Har- 



