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THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[March, 



The patient and intelligent reader who knows 

 whereof I write, will perceive, from the few spe- 

 cies alluded to, what a rare combination of beau- 

 teous forms unite with the most subtile and exquis- 

 ite perfume imaginable, to gratify the most fastid- 

 ious and refined taste possible, kind Providence 

 has provided for our enjoyment. And while feel- 

 ing thankful for every blessing received, will frankly 

 admit that this fair and flowery world of ours is 

 not the dismal vale of tears the poor, unhappy 

 hypochondriac would fain make us believe. 



Mount Holly, N. J. 



LINES ON DR. WARDER. 



BY J. N. M. 



His was the gentle spirit of the woods. 

 The genius of the tongueless mysteries. 

 Eternally that dwell within the trees. 



The flowers, the grasses, and the bursting buds; 



A member of their secret brotherhoods, 

 He caught the everlasting sympathies 

 Of all the lute-lipped leaves; he held the ke>s 



Of nature's variant moods and solitudes. 

 A Druid gray, his loving life-blood leapt 



In transport tremulous, beneath the power 

 Of beauty and of symmetry that slept 



Within the petals of the frailest flower ; 

 Noblest of all the songless bards, he kept 



His great soul stainless in his Eden-bower. 



PERSONAL EXPERIENCES IN THE LIFE 

 OF A GARDENER. 



BY N. ROBERTSON. 



In looking over the last number of the Gar- 

 deners' Monthly, I notice that a correspondent 

 asks how to establish himself as a landscape 

 gardener, and your appropriate remarks thereon. 

 With you, I say that one of the greatest wants of 

 the day is, proper men at the head of our public 

 parks in cities and towns. This does not arise 

 because such men are not to be had, but, because, 

 when a position of this kind is open, influence has 

 so much to do with the filling of it. Capability is 

 only a secondary consideration, if thought of at 

 all. Examples are not rare of those who go 

 blundering along, leaving marks that show too 

 plainly that they have never studied the first re- 

 quisites of what constitute an effective landscape 

 gardener. Errors are easily made, and their re- 

 pair is costly. A builder can commence his work 

 and carry it into completion in a short time, but 

 a landscape gardener can only lay the foundation 

 of a work which nature has to complete for him 

 in the after years. 



Your correspondent says he advertised re- 



peatedly and failed. I will relate what my 

 advertisement was which placed me in the position 

 I now hold. I may first say that I was born a 

 gardener, for at a very early age my father saw 

 my inclination was in this direction, and had a 

 gardener come and clean a piece of waste land, 

 and lay out a garden for me to spend my leisure 

 hours in. This garden was my great delight. At 

 the age of fourteen I, as most boys do, thought I 

 had had enough of school, and I wanted to be- 

 come a gardener. My father and his family were 

 against it, not that they objected to the profession, 

 but there was plenty to do at home on the farm, 

 and there was no necessity for my leaving the 

 family circle. I had a cousin, a gardener, and to 

 him I went as an apprentice. As he was a bach- 

 elor, and considered crabbed, it was supposed I 

 would not s'ay long with him. I look back with 

 grateful feeling to him, for he spared no trouble to 

 advance me in the art. He being a man who was 

 constantly on the outlook for progressive matter, 

 my five years of apprenticeship were well spent. 

 The custom being to remove to some other place 

 for a change and a variation of experience, I 

 served one year as journeyman, and then was 

 promoted to the whole charge of the place. On 

 the expiration of that year I took it into my head 

 to try a newer country, greatly to the sorrow of 

 my employer, who wanted me to remain. I sailed 

 for Canada, and on my arrival was employed the 

 same day by an elderly lady, who had a large 

 market garden, and employed many hands. 

 There I spent a year and then I was put in charge 

 of the place. 1 can never forget the kindness of 

 this lady to me ; better she could not have been to 

 her dearest child. Another year passed and, am- 

 bitious to make progress faster, I left and tried 

 several places, but was not extra successful, being 

 ignorant of the practical working of them. This 

 period covered several years, during which I kept 

 myself posted in gardening by books &c. It was 

 at this time that my advertisement began. I had 

 bought myself a building lot, and had put up a 

 cottage on the one-half of it ; the rest I kept for a 

 garden, in which I could devote my leisure hours. 

 I was tlien running a store on my own account, 

 and the hours for my garden had to be, for the 

 most part, from four to eight in the morning. 

 Now this little garden was my advertisement, and, 

 in a large part, was the means of my getting my 

 present position. I had it so decorated with 

 flowers &c., that it was a matter of considerable 

 interest to the inhabitants of the city. If any 

 person asked me where I lived, I told them the 



