The Question of the Gardener 



By Mrs. Francis King, Michigan. 



A book on gardening in its v:ir}-ing aspects could 

 hardly omit mention of that man who must be con- 

 stantly in sight of tlnpse whn garden, the gardener, 

 the paid, the earnest, the almost always the friendly, 

 assistant in our labors with flowers. That charming 

 anonymous Ixxik, which appeared lirst in the iorm of 

 letters to the Times (London), "Studies in (hardening." 

 has a chapter, and a capital one. which I would com- 

 mend, and it is called " I'jehax'ior to Cjardeners." The 

 few paragra|)hs I shall commit to paper on the subject 

 will deal partly with this matter, the employer's atti- 

 tude, and partly with the question of salary or wages ; 

 in the latter case taking the gardener's own standpoint. 



It has often gone to my heart as a worker among 

 flowers to see the misunderstandings which all too 

 frequently arise between an American and his j^ar- 

 dener. And so often this is entirely due to the dilier- 

 ence in temijerament. The average gardener, slow, 

 careful, methodical, cannot but feel the heckling com- 

 ments of his employer wdio wants things done in his 

 way; yet who, in nine cases out of ten, does not know 

 what that way is. The gardener must recognize and 

 resent ignorance, haste, prejudice, and excessive criti- 

 cism, and particularly is this hard to bear because as a 

 rule the gardener loves his work, cherishes his plants, 

 and, to his credit be it said, does this more faithfully 

 and thoroughly than the untrained gardener for whom 

 he labors. 



To take uj) the other siclc, for the employer it should 

 be set down that he may himself be a good amateur 

 gardener, coupling to this an imaginative ingenuity 

 which I like to think a characteristic of Americans ; 

 and the lack of imagination, the dumb devotion to tra- 

 ditional methods of gardening whose outward and 

 visible signs he cannot but observe on each visit to his 

 garden, go hard with him. It has been my lot to see 

 in several cases employer and gardener antagonistic, 

 and the best interest of an estate languishing under 

 such conditions. One must be friends with one's gar- 

 dener. I venture to assert that no great degree of 

 success can be reached with flowers unless such is the 

 happy case. Take note of a man's personality, of his 

 temperament, wdien next you have occasion to decide 

 upon the vital figure for your garden. If the candidate 

 be not "simpatico," know that your garden cannot with 

 him be carried happily, successfully along. 



That was a refreshing instance of friendship be- 

 tween master and man shown in an anecdote of the 

 great London flower exhibition, the Chelsea Show of 

 May, 1912, and ])leasant it is to repeat it here: "What 

 a true aristocrat is, was forcibly illustrated the other 

 day by an incident concerning the speech of Sir George 

 Holford, who won the King's prize for orchids at the 

 London show, and who, at the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's dinner later, deprecated the great i)raise 

 given him, saying that his friend Mr. Alexander de- 

 served most of the credit. Mr. Farquhar met him the 

 ne.xt day and complimented him oh that portion of his 

 speech. Sir George said: 'He is my friend; I never 

 think of him otherwise.' The point of this illustration 

 lies in the fact that Mr. Alexander is the baron's gar- 



*Extracts from the chapter on "The Gardener," from Mrs. Francis King*s 

 new book, "The Well Considered darden." Published in these columns 

 by permission of the author and her publishers, Charles Scribner's Sons, 

 New York. 



dener; but the baron never thought of referring to that 

 fact in his s])eech. He spoke of him as his friend." 



'1 his, more remarkable where class distinctions are 

 rigoroiisly observed, has timely bearing upon the rela- 

 tions of master and man in our country, too. But here 

 consideration and respect are not always lacking. . . . 



Gardeners, according to classification given "me by 

 an expert, should be divided into their several grade's 

 as follows: 1. Gardcner-su]jerintendent. 2. Head gar- 

 dener. 3. Working gardener. 4. Coachman gardener. 

 Whose respective duties are: 



1. Has charge of the whole estate and with fore- 

 men and assistants over the different departments of 

 greenhouses, gardens, farm, and so on. 



2. Has charge of greenhouses and gardens only, 

 with foremen and assistants, does no physical work. 



3. Does most of the work himself with laborers 

 and takes care of greenhouse, kitchen garden, and 

 lawn. 



4. Coachman first, gardener at odd times. 



While the immigration laws of the United States 

 classify the gardener as a personal body-servant, and 

 his admission to this country is free from restrictions, 

 in England he is not looked upon as such. He is the 

 gardener in all senses of the word, and in no well- 

 regulated estal:)lishment would the employer take the 

 libery of gathering flowers, fruit, or vegetables with- 

 out the consent of the gardener. Lhifortunatelw in 

 the United States the majority of gardeners are 

 looked upon as inferior to the chauft'eur and the cook. 



The American gardener, or ratiier the gardener em- 

 ployed on some American estates, is the superintemlent 

 of the whole, including the farm and dwelling or man- 

 sion ; his salary in a few cases being equal to three 

 thousand dollars per year, with many privileges. 



i''rom the same authority' t<:) whom I am indebted 

 for the classification of the gardener comes also the 

 following opinion, which I quote verbatim : 



"We are unfortunate in this country, not having 

 botanic gardens and gardens carried on like the Royal 

 Horticultural Society in England, where the young 

 gardener is taught the thorough, practical work of the 

 gardener and goes through all (lepartments, even to 

 the menial work of digging, attending to furnaces, etc. 

 In luigland the gardener has to ]jay an apprenticeshi]) 

 to the head gardener on some estates. After he has 

 served an api)renticeship to the head, he becomes an 

 assistant, then journeyman, then foreman. So he must 

 have at least ten or fifteen years of thorough experi- 

 ence before he becomes head gardener. The trouble 

 with the American gardener is that he is a specialist 

 either in roses, carnations, or orchid growing, and has 

 not the all-around knowledge of the European trained 

 gardener. 



"You cannot get an assistant gardener in this coun- 

 try to-day for much less than fifty-five dollars to sixty 

 dollars per month and board. I mean an assistant in 

 a large garden where they specialize in fruit-trees, 

 rose-growing, carnations, orchids, palms and foliage 

 ]5lants, and kitchen garden. 



"This, you see, is far better than some wages jxaid 

 to head gardeners. I do not think the average wages 

 paid to a gardener in this country would be equal to 

 one hundred dollars per month. In many instances 

 this is the fault of the gardener himself. Most places 

 that 1 knciw of are where gardeners have made them- 



