JODBNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AXD COTTAGE GAEDE^JEE. 



[ Jiunatr a, ItK. 



no allowBiice made (or Uicni. There in, also, a tendency on the 

 part cf B.iue gentlemen to dictate to tlie gardener, and require 

 liim to il ' tilings in direct opposition to his views, and they 

 will lilt listen to any objection wbich he may raise, or take 

 tay of ilio responsibility from him. 



I trust tliftt I may live to bco the day when gardeners as a 

 olses will be bettor remunerated, their acquirements nppre- 

 oiAted, ond iheir oottagee more comfortably built. — \V. E. J. 



[The most of the matter.t to which you iiUudo have already 

 icceiveil .'» Rood deal of atlontion in our columns. Jluch of the 

 hanlHhips of which you oomplaiu would lio oiiietly of use, if 

 they cuiUil bo brought under the uotiee oi those young lads and 

 jontbs iutcnding to bo gardeners. Then, if influenced by these 

 ^l«rd^hips, there should be fewer aspirants after gardening, the 

 Tory soin-city woivld insure better remuneration for those who are 

 «c^ qualiiiod, from having passed tlixough a series of regular 

 instructii'ii. Now, any one who can dig and mow may call 

 himt-. If a gardener, and such mou offer their services at such a 

 low tigiu n as to keep down the general run of wages, and gentle- 

 men and ladies are slow to bud out tiie difference between a 

 good ready workman and a man of science and education. We 

 hare frciiuently stated, that gardening, even now, chiefly offers 

 an inducement to the sons of labourers and liumble mecha- 

 nics, who by perseverance, self-denial, and self-culture, may 

 thus raise themselves in the social scale. It holds out no in- 

 duceme:it to the intelligent well-to-do middle classes, imless 

 they depend on the poetry and romance of the emplovment as 

 a good part of their remimeration for hard work with head and 

 hands. Wo think it is well this should be clearly understood. 

 Employeii: of gardeners will ever do as they like. They will 

 give better wages when they cannot obtain cheaper gardeners. 

 They will ;;ive higher wages, and req\iii'e higher qualifications, 

 when they find, as many are now doing, that one man well 

 paid will be more economical for them than another man under- 

 paid. 



Vi'e will now glance at a few complaints, and but glance. 

 First, There is no necessity for a tivo years' apprenticeship, 

 and ever l-o many years afterwards, before taking any kind of a 

 place. A man %vill learn more, even in a small place, super- 

 intending everything, tliau he is likely to do as an under gar- 

 dener with the charge of one department. Second, We showed 

 lately that the wages of under gardeners are not so much in- 

 ferior to those of mechanics, when constant employment, and 

 the hope of bettering their position are taken into account. 

 Third, The custom of gentlemen wishing to have a man who 

 has been in a situation before, is not confined to gardening, it 

 holds good as to all positions of trust and responsibility ; but it 

 should show the importance of getting into a situation early, 

 though a small one, and thus obtaining a family character. 

 Fourth, We know all about the self-deuial, and it is often hard, 

 and we .sympathise with it all, and from what we see and hear, 

 things are looking better than they did ; but we must expect 

 this self-denial in one shape or other. Make everything com- 

 fortable and you mil have still a greater number attracted to 

 enjoy the comfort, and thus, again, the supply wiU exceed the 

 demand. Where all the young men even now go to, that are 

 sent out from some places, as if they were struck like batches 

 of bedding stuff, passes our comprehension. We do know that 

 a great many leave gardening to look after itself, and try some- 

 thing else. Hold out greater inducements, and there will be 

 still more applicants. Hero is where the great dilemma and 

 difficulty arc to be found, and which stand in the way of the 

 better remuneration which gardeners so much desire, and 

 which will be obtained, as already hinted, when good gardeners 

 are more appreciated. Fifth, There can be no doubt that 

 working much in houses is unhealthy ; but tliis could be much 

 obviated if young men would clothe themselves sufficiently 

 before rushing fi-om a high temperature into a low one. Sixth, 

 As to employers dictating to their gardeners, and having things 

 done their own way, with that we cannot intermeddle. An old 

 nurseryman told a gardener when a young man, " If an em- 

 ployer tells you to plant the branches of a tree in the ground 

 and the roots in the air, do it. Calmly tell him you think it 

 wo'n't answer ; but if he insists carry out his plans." Every 

 employer has a right to decide how he will be served. There is 

 a foolish soreness on this point amongst gardeners. They feel 

 annoyed when they cannot do just as they like. When a" plan 

 is proposed which you feel sure will not answer, state jour ob- 

 jections respectfully, but give the ph»n every justice ; then, 

 however, the employer must take the responsibility of failure 

 or success. This is a dehcate point, but a httle firmness and 

 integrity in carrying oat the proposed plan, will generally be 



sufficient to absolve the gardener if the plan shonld fall. Be- 

 sponsibility can only be associated with the power to regulate. 

 Lastly, The difficulty that a gardener with a large family has 

 in obtaining a good place, ia both true and sad ; but the difB- 

 oiUty is not so great as it was. Gentlemen are beginning to 

 see that there is as much necessity fur a gardener having a 

 house suited to a family, as any, nay more liian any other ont- 

 door servant. They are also finding out that men with families 

 are less given to change. We hope the word incumbrance will 

 cease to be associated with "the olive ])lants " that gather 

 round the gardener's table. Every addition is generally a fresh 

 pledge to renewed exertion and industrj-. Gardeners, in fact, 

 ought always to bo out. door servants. As well give a man the 

 pimisbment of Tantalus at once, as place a spmce young 

 fellow in a housekeeper's room with a number of well-dressed 

 ladies' maids and other female servants, and give him clearly 

 to understand that no married gardener will ever be kept 

 there. 







The above answer to " W. E. J." was in print when we re- 

 ceived a long letter from "An UsDF.n Gabhener " on low 

 wages, miserable lodgings, &c., very well written, but to tho 

 most of which, we are sorry to say, the above is all the 

 answer we can give. We will note the following in addition : — 



First, The alleged disfavour with which such matters are 

 received. The best answer to such an allegation is what wo and 

 others have been permitted to write in these pages for years, 

 and we might even refer to what is said of bothies in the 

 Christmas Number, and, above all, to what is so well said by 

 that gardener's friend, and, we believe, every man's well-wisher, 

 our worthy coadjutor the " Wilishike Kectou." At the same 

 time nothing would be gained by a more frequent repetition of 

 the same complaints. 



Secondly, we are quite as glad as " Ax UxPEit Gardenef." can 

 be of the rise of wages for the gardeners employed in the London 

 nurseries, as, unfortunately, the low wages there acted as a 

 sort of guide for the wages given to under gardeners in the 

 country, a trifle more per week, and lodging, being too often 

 deemed amply sutficient. Tliis is particularly pleasing just 

 now when everything, except bread, is so high-priced. 



It would be out of place to enter into the consideration of 

 the whole system of young gardeners being temporarily em- 

 ployed in a nursei^y. Wo may, however, let out tho secret 

 that, but for patronage and pleasing patrons, the system of 

 emploving young men in nurseries lor short jjcriods, even at 

 low wages, is too often a loss to the nursen-man — so much so, 

 that in some of our large nurseries a yoimg gardener cannot 

 obtain admission except as a groat favour to some large cus- 

 tomer, and some of the greatest of the London nurserymen 

 have told us that it would suit them better to have regular 

 good workmen, acquainted with their work, at good wages, as, 

 by the time the yoimg gardener was becoming useful, he was 

 off to a place, and tho constant changing, even with good fore- 

 men, was always a soiurce of trouble. Looked at in this light, 

 the nurserymen were less to be blamed for low wages when the 

 nursery was merely considered a sort of house of refuge. 



Thirdly, .\.s to head gardeners being chiefly to blame for low 

 wages and miserable lodging-places, we fear that " .^s Usdeb 

 Gakdekei!" will not be convinced to the contrai-y until he finds, 

 when a master gardener, that his representations will he less 

 effectual than he now imagines they would be. No doubt there 

 are head gardeners who, if pretty comfortable themselves, are 

 vei^y careless about the comforts of those beneath them ; but 

 there are many others who leave no stone unturned in order to 

 forward the interests of all with whom they are connected, and 

 many often do mucli with wealthy kind-hearteil employers. 

 But there are many others, to our knowledge, who are equally 

 anxious to promote the comfort of their men, and have missed 

 no opportimity of doing so by their timely representations, 

 and yet have done all in vain. Is it to be wondered at that a 

 lady or gentleman who will part with a gardener who pleaseB 

 and suits in every way for the sake of five or ten pounds 

 a-year, will refuse to give an imder gardener a shiUing or two 

 extra per week ? We can recollect of many instances in which 

 gardeners, by representing they could not find an imder gar- 

 dener for a less sum, have been allowed to give that sum to 

 one or two, but then they had to take labourers for lower 

 wages instead of young gardeners, so that the labour account 

 should not be raised. On the whole, a head gardener may 

 often do much ; but, on the other hand, however much he may 

 (eel, and however much he may try, he will find himself 

 cribbed and confined wherever a greater espenditure is 



