804 



HORTICULTURE 



May 30, 1914 



GARDENERS. 



Editor HoKTiciLTruE: 



With your permission I would like 

 as a professional gardener, to "butt 

 in" upon the correspondence in con- 

 nection with gardeners' salaries espec- 

 ially with regard to the paragraph 

 which appears iu your issue of May 16, 

 under the head of Philadelphia Notes; 

 also to add some thoughts upon the 

 professional situation generally. 



As a member of the executive board 

 of the N. A. G., 1 venture to think that 

 no one upon that board would for a 

 moment entertain any movement hav- 

 ing for its object the degradation of 

 the Association into a labor organiza- 

 tion. Nothing in the present day is 

 more detestable, more devoid of every 

 right principle and more degrading to 

 those connected with it, than trade 

 unionism. It is a movement of tyran- 

 ny unexampled in the world's history, a 

 tyranny which thousands of working 

 men — using the term in its popular 

 sense — would be onlv too glad to throw 

 off. 



A minimum wage has little in its 

 favor in any case, and the idea is cer- 

 tainly out of place when applied to a 

 profession like gardening where it is 

 not the amount of work but knowledge 

 and skill in directing others which 

 make for efficiency. The men calling 

 themselves gardeners who as your cor- 

 respondent states are only receiving 

 fifty dollars a month are no doubt get- 

 ting all, and probably much more, than 

 they are worth as such. And there is 

 also no doubt that were these fifty dol- 

 lar jobs filled by men thoroughly pro- 

 ficient in all branches of their profes- 

 sion at double or treble the salary, 

 their employers would find themselves 

 actually cash in pocket, to say nothing 

 of results. But as long as there are 

 some employers who are ignorant and 

 short-sighted enough to think that a 

 low-priced man, however incompetent, 

 is the cheapest, so long will the fifty- 

 dollar gardeners exist. In this connec- 

 tion a good deal of the fault lies with 

 some of the seedsmen. Any man who 

 has ever bought packets of seed of 

 some firms can get recommended for a 

 position without inquiry into his ante- 

 cedents. This is one of the places 

 where the employment bureau of the 

 N. A. G. comes in. Before a man can 

 get upon its books a very searching 

 and exhaustive investigation is made 

 into his ability and character, not by 

 people who are looking for the man's 

 trade when he gets a job, but with the 

 one idea only of seeing that the man is 

 thoroughly competent to fill the vacant 

 position. 



1 have, however, very strong reasons 

 for believing that the bulk of private 

 estate owners take a different stand 

 upon the matter than onfe of your cor- 

 respondents appears to think. They 

 are not, as a whole, congratulating 

 themselves that they can get men at 

 whatever price they choose to offer, 

 but on the contrary are complaining of 

 the absolute dearth of first-class pro- 

 fessional men with executive and busi- 

 ness abilities and a knowledge of the 

 scientific principles of their profession, 

 expert in all branches of estate manage- 

 ment. It is, I believe, a fact that men 

 of this latter class have little, if any, 

 trouble in getting positions at a rea- 

 sonably good salary. 



Recently a young man wrote to me 

 stating that he was looking for a posi- 

 tion to take charge of a private estate 



but all he could advance in his own 

 favor was that he had given satisfac- 

 tion in the only position he had held 

 in this country, which was three years 

 in a private greenhouse. This very 

 prevalent and narrow idea of the re- 

 quirements of an estate manager is a 

 great blot upon the profession and it 

 is standing in the way of its taking 

 the position to which it should be 

 entitled. Good florists can be easily 

 obtained by the hundred, but among 

 them it would be difficult to find fiv.? 

 per cent, with a thorough knowledge 

 of hardy plants, shrubs and trees. 



Years ago, not after all so very many, 

 wealthy people were contented with a 

 mansion upon, for instance, Fifth Ave- 

 nue, and their only conception of flow- 

 ers was what they bought at the flor- 

 ists. When the idea of a country es- 

 tate in addition began to materialize, 

 the production of these same flowers 

 upon their own place was about as far 

 as their knowledge permitted them to 

 go. supplemented by a few beds of 

 things like geraniums stuck about 

 their lawns. As in those days profes- 

 sional gardeners in the real and widest 

 sense were almost unobtainable in this 

 country, men trained in florists' estab- 

 lishments were the only resource. To- 

 day the better education of estate own- 

 ers has given them wider ideas caus- 

 ing them to require a garden in its 

 real sense. Fortunately for artistic 

 gardening the "bedding out" system is 

 dying out and people are at last be- 

 coming educated to the beauties ot old- 

 fashioned flowers— as hardy perennials 

 are sometimes called — used in a nat- 

 ural manner, and which give variety 

 both of form and color as well as 

 abundance of flowers for cutting dur- 

 ing the greater part of the year, with- 

 out the expenditure of an ounce of coal. 



While ideas of gardening have ad- 

 vanced to a far higher and more ar- 

 tistic level of late years it is to be re- 

 gretted that the profession as a whole 

 has not kept pace with the advance- 

 ment. A member of one of the largest 

 firms in the country supplying private 

 estates with seeds and plants said a 

 few months ago that there is a pos- 

 itive dearth of gardeners who are well 

 up in hardy plants and shrubbery, and 

 that he knew many estate owners who 

 were much discouraged in consequence. 

 It is astonishing that so many of the 

 so-called landscape architects (a class 

 which has recently sprung up like 

 mushrooms and judging from their 

 work, their existence will be quite as 

 ephemeral) are frequently quite as ig- 

 norant. Recently the writer had the 

 opportunity of seeing plans for laying 

 out two estates in neither of which 

 was any provision made for hardy 

 perennials. A few years ago an estate 

 owner, who was sensible enough not 

 to allow his place to be under the bed- 

 ding out system, after repeated efforts 

 to get a reasonable amount of atten- 

 tion to be given to hardy flowers, 

 pulled down practically the whole of 

 his glass as he would rather be with- 

 out flowers in the winter than in the 

 summer. After all it does not require 

 much glass to furnish sufficient cut 

 flowers for an odinary-sized dwelling 

 house from November to April. 



Returning to our muttons, it appears 

 to me unreasonable to expect an estate 

 owner to pay a large salary to a one- 

 sided man however expert he may be 

 in one thing, especially if the employ- 

 er wants more of another which the 



manager understands little or nothing 

 about. Of course one is not blind to 

 the fact there are first-class all-round 

 men who do not receive the apprecia- 

 tion they should. To the average profes- 

 sional man in the real sense of the 

 term, his work is a labor ot love to 

 which he gives his entire self. Many 

 men are discouraged and prevented 

 putting forth their best by the want of 

 encouragement on the part of their em- 

 ployers. A man goes to his work day 

 by day with renewed vigor and energy 

 if he feels that he is appreciated; that 

 his constant striving after more and 

 better results are recognized and that 

 his position as a professional man is 

 acknowledged. This kind of thing 

 goes much further than an increase in 

 salary. No amount of salary will sup- 

 ply the want of appreciation espec- 

 ially when coupled with a policy of 

 petty pinpricks and a constant inculca- 

 tion of the idea that he is nothing 

 more than a servant. 



If the profession wishes to obtain 

 that full and complete recognition to 

 which its requirements and knowledge 

 entitles it. still further steps must be 

 taken to place itself in the professional 

 class by acknowledging the value and 

 necessity of scientific attainments. 

 Men are graduating every year from 

 agricultural colleges who on that ac- 

 count consider themselves fitted for 

 the position of private estate manag- 

 ers. Employers, too. are in many cases 

 urder the impression that a college 

 man is necessarily better than one 

 without college education, and so he is, 

 if all other things are equal, but they 

 are not so. The college man lacks as 

 a rule, practical experience, and gener- 

 ally the man with long practical ex- 

 perience lacks scientific knowledge. 

 Although plenty of instances can be 

 found where college men have fallen 

 down when they have attempted to 

 run either a farm or garden this has 

 not been because of, but in spite of, 

 their college education. To produce 

 the best results practice must be com- 

 bined with science so that a man may 

 have a knowledge of the why and how 

 of what he does. A man with practical 

 experience who will take the trouble to 

 acquire a working knowledge of the 

 scientific principles of his profession 

 can do so with greater ease and apply 

 them with greater benefit to his prac- 

 tise than a man starting to learn these 

 principles without any practical knowl- 

 edge whatever. A practical man is ca- 

 pable, or he should be, which a college 

 student is not, of distinguishing be- 

 tween the facts of science and the 

 theories of scientific men; the latter 

 are frequently wrong, the former 

 never. Whatever value the experienced 

 gardener may himself place upon the 

 knowledge and skill gained through 

 years of study and practical work he 

 must make up his mind that scientific 

 education has come to stay and act ac- 

 cordingly. 



In Britain the profession has also 

 some grounds for complaint in connec- 

 tion with the existence of ignorant and 

 incompetent men calling themselves 

 gardeners, (although not to the ex- 

 tent as here, because there emplovers 

 have more horticultural knowledge 

 themselves) who sometimes manage to 

 get positions upon the smaller places. 

 The profession there are consequently 

 welcoming the initiation by The Royal 

 Horticultural Society of England of a 

 scheme whereby a National Diploma 

 in Horticulture may be gained by those 



