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H R T I C U L T D R E 



.September 13, 1919 



Young Men and Gardening 



Mr. Edwin Jenkins of Lenox pre- 

 pared ;i very timely and interesting 

 paper for the Gardeners' Convention 

 at Cleveland. It was as follows: 



The profession of gardening is one 

 well worthy of the earnest considera- 

 tion of the youth of America. There 

 are none too high and none too lowly 

 for it. It should be above none, or be- 

 neath none. It is undoubtedly, :he 

 most ancient of man's occupations, it 

 is assuredly honorable, health-giving, ,t 

 is inspiring, humanizing and tends to 

 develop the faculties which are too 

 often allowed to lie dormant in man, 

 particularly the faculties of observa- 

 tion and concentration, both of which 

 are very valuable in any occupat'ci. 

 And above all it develops the aesthetic 

 side of humanity, adding much to the 

 amenity of life. And again, if we 

 must view it from the practical side, 

 the bread and butter side, why! it 

 compares favorably with the average 

 run of occupations in the matter of 

 compensation, viewing compensation 

 in its broadest sense. 



Looking over the field of horticulture 

 throughout the country, what do we 

 find? We find that a great majority of 

 the men following this occupation are 

 foreign born, a majority amounting to 

 perhaps eighty or ninety per cent. 

 This locality (Lenox, Massachusetts), 

 is a great gardening center, yet in the 

 past quarter of a century not more 

 than ten men of native birth have 

 taken up the profession and gone out 

 as skilled gardeners. It is true that 

 up to the past few years, the men com- 

 ing from over-seas have kept the 

 ranks fairly filled, but lately, owing to 

 war and other causes there is a great 

 shortage of assistants or journeymen 

 gardeners. But whether the future 

 immigration of gardeners would amend 

 this shortage or not. it seems eminent- 

 ly fitting that some effort should be 

 made to stimulate and arouse inter- 

 est amongst our own young men, to 

 the end that they would take up and 

 follow this most desirable calling. 



Assuming the foregoing to be grant- 

 ed, some concrete suggestions for the 

 amelioration of the shortage of native 

 born pupils in the profession of gar- 

 dening is in order. 



First, and the prime requisite, is for 

 the present masters of the profession, 

 the head gardeners and superinten- 

 dents to be willing (and to let that 

 willingness be known to the secretary 

 of the N. A. G.) to take one or more 

 pupils each year according to the size 

 of their places. 



Second — Let this organization ap- 

 peal to the patrons of horticulture (our 



employers) to subscribe to a fund 

 which shall be devoted to the prepara- 

 tion of a brochure, or bulletin, gotten 

 up in a style worthy of the cause, and 

 containing handsome reproductions of 

 photographs of flowers, and garden 

 scenery, these views to be accompa- 

 nied by a brief printed sketch, setting 

 forth the many good points of the vo- 

 cation of gardening. Much might be 

 made by a clever writer of the peren- 

 nial pleasure and interest that may be 

 found in sowing of the many seeds, 

 and watching their germination, and 

 subsequent development, of the inter- 

 esting work of propagation in its many 

 forms, such as cuttings, grafting, bud- 

 ding and so forth. The pleasures, the 

 hopes, yea, and the disappointments 

 of hybridization. The chances of mu- 

 tations or sports in plants. 



Something might even be made of 

 the studies in natural history, and ap- 

 plying the same to the control of insect 

 pests and fungoid diseases. The ma- 

 terial side would be, the opportunities 

 of advancement to head gardener, es- 

 tate, park and cemetery superinten- 

 dences, and judging from results, it 

 would appear that the regular garden- 

 er's training is one of the best avenues 

 to success in commercial horticulture 

 or floriculture. 



This bulletin properly prepared, 

 should be circulated among high- 

 school superintendents and principals 

 with an urgent request that it be 

 brought to the attention of pupils, es- 

 pecially those about to graduate. Di- 

 rections should be given, that all in- 

 terested pupils should apply to the 

 Secretary of the National Association 

 of Gardeners, who would always have 

 a list of situations where these pupils 

 may he placed. 



The writer believes that the love of 

 plants and flowers, as well as the de- 

 sire, and ability to cultivate them, is 

 latent in most people, and that it only 

 requires the surroundings, and the op- 

 portunity for them to develop this la- 

 tent ability. This holds equally true 

 of the city boy as it does of the boy 

 brought up in the country. Some such 

 method as here proposed would give 

 many a boy a suggestion at a time 

 when it is most needed, and would 

 possibly be the means of getting some 

 excellent material from the cities, 

 which would otherwise drift to the fac- 

 tory, the mill or the office. 



The writer is fully aware of the 

 crudities and imperfections of these 

 suggestions and merely submits them 

 as tentative, in the hope, and almost 

 certain belief that this convention 



holds many able men who can, and 

 will suggest some more useful schemes 

 for arousing the interest of the young 

 men toward our profession." 



PLANTS UNDER GLASS. 

 Careful thinning must be done to get 

 good results with sweet peas. Of 

 course sowing the seed thinly is 

 economical, both of seed and labor, but 

 at any rate the plants should stand 

 two or three inches apart in the rows. 

 Perhaps you will prefer to start your 

 plants in fiats of sand or loam and 

 transplant them. Many people like to 

 do the work that way. It is better on 

 the whole to use solid beds for the 

 sweet peas than to grow them on 

 benches. They can make a deeper root 

 growth, of course, and longer stems. 

 Well decayed cow manure is perhaps 

 the best fertilizer for sweet peas un- 

 der glass, and it should be well 

 worked into the beds. 



It doesn't pay to be in too much of 

 a hurry to lift the field grown 

 hydrangeas, for then the wood will not 

 be sufficiently mature. After you pot 

 them up give them a good watering 

 and keep them out of doors until 

 frosts threaten. You can keep 

 hydrangeas over winter in any good 

 cellar which is cool but not cold 

 enough for freezing. If- you look at 

 them every two or three weeks you 

 can prevent their becoming dust dry 

 and have them in good condition when 

 spring comes. 



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