166 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



profession has been throughout all the times of the 

 ancient civilizations most highly thought of. 



So far as I am aware the first attempt to form our 

 profession into an association was in the year 1345, at 

 which date the City of London Guild of Gardeners was 

 established, about which the courtesy of the secretary, 

 Mr. E. A. Ebblewhite, has enabled me to learn many 

 interesting historical details which time will not permit 

 being fully mentioned. 



-\t that period guilds were common both in England 

 and the northwestern part of Europe, this guild of 

 gardeners being the sixty-sixth that was formed in Lon- 

 don, each of them being for a different craft. These 

 guilds were established for the one and all-embracing 

 object of securing the highest possible efficiency in the 

 respective craftsmen, and also to see that no inefficient, 

 unskilled men practiced a craft. As these objects were 

 undoubtedly for the public interest, the guilds had the 

 support of the law, and the guild of gardeners had the 

 power under their royal charter of causing the arrest of 

 all persons carrying on the trade (as they called it) of 

 a gardener without the consent of the guild ; that is, of 

 men who were not skilled craftsmen. At the present 

 day a body with that power would be kept fairly busy in 

 this country. 



Although some of these guilds still exist, the march of 

 time has caused their power to become oljsolete. This 

 guild of gardeners now confines itself to giving a scholar- 

 ship tenable for two years for the purpose of assisting 

 young gardeners in their horticultural studies. Its mem- 

 bers also take an annual outing, which this year was 

 spent in visiting some of the fine old gardens still to be 

 found in P>ance, whicli managed to escape the vandalism 

 of mob law. 



Some people have been ignorant to state that these 

 guilds were practically the same as trade unions. As 

 a matter of fact, the similarity between the two is like 

 that of chalk and cheese. 



Guilds were formed and supported bv men of the high- 

 est principles, by men whose probity was unciuestionable. 

 who possessed wide and high ideals and who sought in 

 every way possible to elevate the standard of craftsman- 

 ship to the loftiest plane. So far at least as the guild of 

 gardeners was concerned, and there is no reason to sup- 

 pose any difference in the case of others, the cjuestion of 

 remuneration was never once made the subject of even 

 discussion, much less action. 



One of the objects of our association is to obtain the 

 recognition of gardening and estate management gen- 

 erally as a profession. A clause in article 1 of our con- 

 stitution reads, "To uplift the profession of gardening 

 by endeavoring to improve conditions within it." Some 

 think that one of the best ways of obtaining improved 

 conditions is to secure higher salaries. In the first place 

 it must be borne in mind that a man who is receiving all 

 the pay he is worth is on the down grade ; and secondly 

 I venture to think that if every gardener's salary were 

 raised 50 per cent, tomorrow, it would not have the eilfect 

 of uplifting the profession by a hair's breadth. If we 

 really wish to benefit ourselves we must go deeper than 

 this.' 



The failure of our profession as a whole to reach the 

 position to which it has the right to aspire is caused 

 by the fact that the rank and file of it do not fully satisfy 

 estate owners' requirements ; in other words, the pro- 

 fession is being held back by the number of incompetent 

 within its ranks. 



You probably think this a very strong statement, and 

 I do not for a moment expect it to be a popular one, but 

 it is one which is certainly warranted by facts within nn- 

 own knowledge, and as regards its popularitv I am not 



in the posUion of a demagogue on the stump for votes, 

 but in that of a man thoroughly convinced of the serious- 

 ness of the disease from which our profession is suffering 

 which recjuires the infliction of pain to place it on the 

 road to convalescence and to cause it to open its eyes 

 to the obstacles in the way of reaching a healthy condi- 

 tion. To know the cause is the first step towards a cure. 



It has happened that during the past twelve years my 

 work has prmcipally been that of starting private. estates 

 in various parts of the countrv from Long Island to as 

 far west as Washington State, and during this period 

 circumstances have given me many opportunities of meet- 

 ing estate owners other than those for whom I have 

 worked upon what may be termed neutral ground. It 

 has thus been possible to learn something of the employ- 

 ers' point of view and to hear statements regarding their 

 difficulties in respect of men whom they have put in 

 charge of their estates, which, together with numerous in- 

 cidents that have come under my own observation, has 

 placed in mv possession many facts which go to support 

 the assertion 1 have made. 



It is, I think, a pity that the word gardener is too 

 often taken in its narrowest, instead of the widest, sense. 

 It should be looked upon as including all phases of estate 

 management, not, as is the extreme position taken Ijy 

 some, that anything outside a greenhouse as being out- 

 side either their interest or study. 



A resident in lioston said to me a year or so ago that 

 it is laniental)le how comparatively few men there are 

 seeking positions to take charge of private estates who 

 know anything about hardy plants. .\ few years ago 

 an estate owner had all his glass pulled down so as to 

 take away any excuse for the continual neglect of his 

 shrubbery, herbaceous borders and other outside work. 

 In another case the estate was shut down entirely on ac- 

 count of the owner Iiecoming disgusted. On an estate, 

 which there is no harm in saying is in Massachusetts, 

 the owner told me that he had been trying for years to 

 get a gardener who was interested in botany and the 

 natural flora of the country with a view to encouraging 

 the growth of native plants in the wilder parts of the 

 grounds surrounding the house, but without success. He 

 remarked how strange it seemed that the average gar- 

 dener should take practicalh- mi interest in hardy plants 

 and wild flowers. 



I do not in any way belittle the value of the florist's 

 side of our profession. Those of us who visited the New 

 York Show last spring must have felt great pride in the 

 splendid exhibits which private gardeners made there, 

 and which, by causing private estate owners to take great 

 interest in it. contributed much to the show's success. 



But why should a professional gardener who is an ex- 

 pert florist stop at that? Why cannot he be as expert 

 in all other branches of estate management ? 



Most estate owners have a different conception of what 

 constitutes gardening than they had even ten years ago. 

 Things horticultural are upon a much higher and more 

 artistic level and will become more so as the teachings 

 of Nature and nature study bear fruit. Employers today 

 require something more than the artificial production of 

 tlie greenhouse and the profession must keep pace with 

 the march of these newer ideas. 



It appears to me to be unreasonable to expect an es- 

 tate owner to pay a large salary to a one-sided man, how- 

 ever expert he may be in one thing, more especiallv if 

 the employer requires more of something else that the 

 manager imderstands little or nothing about, and does 

 not even show himself willing to take the trouble to 

 learn. 



Of course one is not blind to the fact that there are 

 many first class men, men possessing wide and deep pro- 



