THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



249 



Situated where I am, I have abundant opportunities to 

 Bee and study these rising, active, and inteUigent young 

 men. They are being turned out in such numbers that 

 I wonder what must become of them all. Now, I have 

 noted that nearly all these youths, and their teachers, can 

 talk pleasingly on landscape designs, but that so far as 

 practical gardening is concerned, they know very little 

 indeed. Yet these men are intruding themselves upon 

 those who have forgotten more of horticulture than their 

 new fledged landscape artists know, and in not a few 

 cases are allowed to draw plans, make changes, and sug- 

 gest or even superintend plantings for which they are 

 grossly unfitted. I think I am safe in saying that not one 

 landscape gardener, architect, or artist — choose whatever 

 term you like best — in ten, is competent to draw up plans, 

 suggest proper ])lantings, and see such carried out. 



I will take up another question, one which is of vital 

 importance to everyone. I refer to gardeners' remunera- 

 tions. I know many gardeners are getting too small a 

 salary for the W'Ork they are doing. I know also that 

 others are overpaid for the little they do and produce. 

 I know further that on an average the scale of wages 

 may seem low compared with that secured in other pro- 

 fessions where a comparatively low degree of skill is 

 needed. But conditions have much improved in 25 years, 

 the rate of remuneration has advanced, and I believe the 

 average practical gardener is, on the whole, more appre- 

 ciated than a quarter of a century ago. We must always 

 remember that gardening is more or less of a luxury ; we 

 cannot fix or regulate salaries by any trades union, co- 

 operative or other method : any such efforts would prove 

 disastrous to our profession. 



We can, however, instill in the minds of our employers 

 that confidence, and almost intimate relationship, which 

 should exist between employer and employee. Such noted 

 British patrons of horticulture as the Duke of Portland, 

 Sir George Holford, the Hon. \'icary Gibbs, Sir Jeremiah 

 Colman, and others I might name, look upon, and speak 

 of their head gardeners as friends rather than employees, 

 and are not afraid to say so on public occasions, when 

 both are present. I feel we are approaching in some 

 measure that condition here. Once real confidence exists, 

 wages will regulate tliemselves. Let us do our work so 

 well that our employers will feel that an advance in salary 

 is well merited. All employers are not equally appre- 

 ciative, however ; some there are who give praise grudg- 

 ingly and find fault unstintedly. It is not necessary, 

 however, for any first-class gardener to continue in- 

 definitely with such, for there are many kindly and appre- 

 ciative employers who would not starve the very souls of 

 their employees for want of a few kind words, as some 

 are doing. 



Xow, fellow members, you may not l>elieve it, but I do, 

 that the principal reason why a great many of our mem- 

 bers make no headway, is. because they fall considerably 

 below the requirements of their employers. They don't 

 measure up to their opportunities ; in short, they are 

 stand-pats, and not progressives. I feel also that our 

 profession is retarded, and seriously retarded, by a large 

 proportion of the men within its ranks. There should be 

 a w^eeding out of this incom])etent and undesirable ma- 

 terial. How it can best be accomplished. I cannot say. 

 Many have no right to the name of gardener. Such men 

 should ne7rr be recommended to positions of trust by 

 those who are asked to fill them. 



Co-operation is in the air. and here I can see hopes 

 of much benefit to our craft. The National -Associa- 

 tion of Gardeners is accomplishing a good work, not 

 only for its own members, but the profession generally ; 

 and I advise every gardener not yet a member, to join it. 

 This is the onlv purely private gardeners' national asso- 



ciation in America, and the only one, in my estimation, 

 which can be of real benefit to our members. While we 

 have the friendliest of all feelings for the various trade 

 bodies — I belong to at least five of these myself — and are 

 always willing to help them in every possible way, we 

 must remember that they have their own problems to face. 

 \\'e also have others fully as complex. \\'c cannot in any 

 trade society get tliat sympathy and ready sui)i)ort that is 

 forthcoming in a body largely confined to practical gar- 

 deners; therefore, if we can belong to but one national 

 society, let it be the National .Vssociation of Gardeners. 



.■\s each year rolls (in, our perspective changes, and I 

 want to say that it is changing very fast in favor of out- 

 door horticulture. I am not underestimating the value of 

 greenhouses : they are, however, not of vital imjKjrtance ; 

 many first-class places have little glass, some none at all ; 

 probably these greenhouses are visited a few times yearly, 

 at most. They serve their purpose, but are invariably 

 placed in as inconspicuous a place as ]50ssible, so as not 

 to be a blot on the landscape. 



Now, the outdoor department is ever in view, and more 

 men should equip themselves to handle this part effec- 

 tivel}'. Trees and shrubs, their proper planting and care; 

 hardy herbaceous plants; bulbs, both naturally and 

 formally planted; tennis courts, their formation and care; 

 fruit trees and their care; tree surgery, including both 

 pruning and cement patching ; spraying, now of vast im- 

 portance; proper rotation of farm and garden crops; live 

 stock and their care ; bird protection — our winged aerial 

 fleet is of supreme importance — these are a few subjects 

 we should all be conversant with. 



Then again, do not let us give every moment to our 

 estates ; we need some rela.xation. such as the fraternal 

 orders oiTer us ; but let us, wherever possible, be of some 

 little use to the comnnniity in which we reside ; we can 

 all assist in civic betterment, liv aiding in the home and 

 school garden movement, by encouraging the proper 

 planting and caring of trees on our streets, by helping 

 along the public grounds movements, and in other little 

 ways trying to make conditions more pleasurable for 

 young and old. We will get no salary for this, but there 

 is the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing good 

 to others. 



I have often beard gardeners speak contemjjtuously of 

 book learning, and have even heard some say that thev 

 never read a horticultural paper. Such men are to be 

 pitied — they are never found in the van of progress. Our 

 American horticultural papers may not be all that private 

 gardeners could wish them to be, but they are filling their 

 field acceptably, and every gardener should patronize one 

 or more of them. Their price is low, and none of us are 

 so advanced that we cannot learn something each week 

 if we will do a little careful reading. I wish more gar- 

 deners would send communications to the horticultural 

 press, as is done in Europe ; I am sure the editors of all 

 the papers would welcome such. 



I want to see our noble profession better recognized 

 than it is today, to see its craftsmen more looked up to 

 and esteemed, to see a better feeling existing betvv'een 

 employer and employee. Let us all, therefore, labor 

 unitediv to seek each others' welfare in a better grasping 

 of the needs of our calling, and try to be of special help 

 to those who need our aid the most, and remember that 

 we who are constantly working assiduously in Nature's 

 boundless workshop are working at the same time very 

 close to the great Creator of all life ; therefore let our 

 lives be as harmoniously beautiful and bountiful as are 

 the works of Nature's God. 



Extracts from a paper read before the Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club of Boston, November 17, 1914. 



