History of the Gardening Profession— Its Progress 



By Arthur Smith 



ll is w ilh sdiiie difikknce thai I xoiiturc to address you 

 u])()ii this subject, more especialh in ijoston, in a state 

 containing perhaps more thoniughly well-managed pri- 

 vate estates than an\- other in the L'nion. i!ut as our 

 association is a national one, 1 consider myself as speak- 

 ing not only to those i)rescnt, 1)ut to all private gartleners 

 through the country. 



There are no doubt several ways in which this subject 

 could be dealt with, but the point of view taken by myself 

 is tliat our work in its real and highest sense requires an 

 education as wide, as deep and as scientific as that which 

 is necessary to fit a man to be, for instance, a qualified 

 physician. A large number of gardeners have this edu- 

 cation and are therefore entitle<l to be looked upon and 

 treated in the fullest sense as professional men. Un- 

 fortunately, however, a much larger number of us have 

 it not and are deficient in that thorough, all-round knowl- 

 edge of, what may be called, the technique of our work. 



.Most of us, I imagine, wish to see our profession ad- 

 vance and this idea causes me to propose taking most of 

 the time given me in dealing with some of our faults, for 

 I believe that there will never be any real advancement 

 if we only meet to pat one another on the back and 

 resolve ourselves into a mutual admiration society, which 

 is too often the practice of horticultiu-al societies. 



If my method ]jroves to be unpo]iular it cannot be 

 helped, and in tliat case 1 must a-k }-on to l)lanie the facts 

 rallier tlian myself. 



At the outset i would suggest tiiat a much wider mean- 

 ing be attached to the word gardener ; in fact, some have 

 thought that a more ofticial recognition be made of the 

 scope of our work, which, in the majority of cases, in- 

 cludes every phase of estate management. Of course, 

 the word itself is good enough for any one ; but there are 

 many gardeners, however, who not oidy refuse to .give 

 themselves much trouble about anything outside what is 

 strictly a garden, but seek to narrow it down still more 

 within itself, causing estate owners to complain of the 

 difficulty in getting men to takie an interest in their 

 estates. This matter will be .•illuded to more at length 

 later on. 



The stateiuent that the first man was a gardener has 

 often been made as evidence of the antiquity of our pro- 

 fe--stoii, and even those who look upon the story of Eden 

 as an allegory nuist admit that the writer of it could 

 not conceive a hajipier condition upon earth than that of 

 living in a garden nor imagine a higher calling than thai 

 of caring for it. 



Casting our eyes down through the ages there is an\- 

 amount of evidence to show that a garden has ahva\s 

 been one of the adjuncts to man's abode where conditions 

 of settled government permitted. 



Time does not allow me to nniltiplv examples, but the 

 VMinderful terraced — sometimes wrongly called "hang- 

 in.g " — gardens of Habylon may be instanced as showing 

 to what a remote period artistic genius in creating land- 

 scape efTccts and love of the beautiful existed. 



.\nother striking example is the amazing engineering 

 skill shown upwards of four thousand years ago in plan- 

 ning and creating the wonderful irrigated gardens (if 

 Egypt whereby veritable (iardens of .\llah were made 

 in the desert. 



In China, India and Persia gardening was a universalh' 

 ]iraclised art in times before the dawn of history. The 

 < ireeks, among whom public gardens were a great 

 feature, copied their style from Persia, and when the 



Roman limpire wa> at the height of its prosperity two 

 thousand \ears ago horticulture was classed among the 

 most honored calhngs. .Main of the most noted senators 

 of that period went to the ."senate literally from the plow- 

 handlcs. Mowers in the greatest profusion were al- 

 ways in evidence at public and private festivals, and the 

 tioddess I'dora held one of the highest positions in the 

 religion of those times, .\mong the most noted writers 

 of tiie ]jeriod were those who u.sed their literary ability 

 in advancing the art of soil cultivation and plant growing, 

 and although the\- did not know anything about the 

 scientific principles underlying their ])ractice, \et the most 

 advanced methods of that day were in many respects no 

 wa_\ behind those of the present: in fact, the majority of 

 farmers in this country tc)da\ dn not farm so well as 

 did those ancient Romans, and nian_\- of the precepts 

 advocated by those writers coukl with great advantage 

 be jiut into practice upon gardens and farms at the pres- 

 ent moment. 



In all times man has. in his desire for the beautiful, 

 added a fiow^er garden to his house and e\-en in the in- 

 terior of .South .\frica I have seen Kaffir huts with a 

 garden around them planted with flowers ; a striking con- 

 trast to thousands of houses in this countrx toda\- with 

 ground around them but no gartleii. 



There is ample evidence to show that from immeniori.al 

 times there have existed private estates with elaborate 

 ornamental grounds, and public parks and gardens which 

 required skilled men for their management and ujjkeep, 

 and apart from this obvious fad ancient writings i>ristle 

 with statements showing th.it our calling as a distinct 



.\RTIiUR SMITH, RE.XDING, P.\. 



