1140 STATISTICS OF GARDENING. Part IV. 



may be said to resemble pouring water on ground with a hardened surface, in comparison to pouring it on 

 soil which has been loosened with the spade. 



7749. English grammar and a foreign language are suitable studies to commence with. Another excel- 

 lent aid to forming the mind to precision and accuracy is the knowledge of quantities ; for which reason 

 we would join to the study of languages, those of arithmetic and geometry. These, with a portion of 

 general reading, some species of personal accomplishments, and the requisite professional studies, are all 

 that we would have an apprentice commence with, and this only in a certain order to be afterwards 

 described. 



7750. With respect to personal accomplishments, we would have dancing, fencing, boxing, wrestling, 

 the infantry manual exercise, whist, backgammon, chess, the flute, and violin, attended to as far as op- 

 portunity offered ; considering dancing, boxing, and the violin as the most essential objects. In most 

 country-places these and all the other acquirements may be learned from retired valets, old soldiers, or 

 from some of the servants in a great family, at an easy rate. Swimming and horsemanship should not be 

 neglected if opportunity offers. The acquirement of some knowledge of some or all of these accomplish- 

 ments will occupy very little time ; once attained, they are resources for self-defence, for social entertain- 

 ment, or of relief from ennui when alone. Dancing and the manual exercises are particularly useful as 

 improving the gait, and habituating to good postures both in standing and sitting. To a man who has no 

 other resources for advancement in life than such as are personal, every exterior acquirement is of the 

 utmost importance. — These remarks will to many appear sufficiently extravagant ; but we would ask, 

 whether there is any young man who does not, to a certain extent, possess most of these acquirements as 

 it were accidentally? Why then may he not improve them by art, if opportunity offers; or, if they are of 

 use, why should he not seek occasion both to improve and extend his knowledge in this department. 



7751. In study, as in everything else, much depends on the economy of time ; the march of time is re- 

 gular and constant, and as there is only a certain portion of the twenty-four hours which a gardener can 

 devote to study, everything depends on his employing every moment of that portion. To be convinced of 

 what is lost by delay, let two persons commence walking along a road in company ; then let one of them 

 stand still for half a minute while the other walks on ; at the end of the half minute the distance at which 

 the former will find himself from the latter will be found astonishing. Again, supposing them walking 

 together, and that one, instead of walking along the road with the other, deviates and diverges from it — 

 the distance at the end of half a minute, at which the deviator is found from the one who walked 

 straight on, will be still more astonishing, and is greatly more ruinous, because not only is the time 

 required to return to the direct road equal to that taken to diverge from it, but when returned, the devi- 

 ator will be a whole minute's walking behind the other. These two simple experiments it would be well 

 for two young gardeners to try, in order that the results may make a strong impression on their minds ; 

 and let them ever afterwards think of them when they feel inclined to be lazy or dilatory, or to depart 

 from the line of duty. 



7752. To aid in the economy of time, it is desirable to form some plan of study ; where there is no re- 

 gular plan much time is lost in hesitating what to begin with ; and both lost and misapplied by fatiguing 

 the mind with too long intense application to one thing ; by which means a proportional relaxation is re- 

 quired, and the memory, being irregularly charged, will be less faithful. By a well ordered pre-disposition 

 of studies, the time which would be lost in considering what would be done next is gained, and the one 

 study becomes a relaxation as it were from the other. We shall here suggest a general plan for a young 

 gardener's employment of time during the few years he has to pass previously to becoming master, and 

 leave him to fill up the details in his own way. We by no means offer this plan as the best ; others may 

 be equally good ; but the grand point is to fix on some plan, and to adhere to it strictly. 



7753. Plan of study for languages. We shall suppose the apprentice, and indeed every gardener under 

 thirty, to rise at five o'clock throughout the year ; a necessary habit in the gardener, both for the hot- 

 house fires and for study. He will thus have nearly an hour in summer, and from one to three hours in 

 winter before he goes to work. These we would devote to languages throughout the ten years; on no 

 account would we study anything else at that time, and on no account would we study any language 

 during the rest of the day. Latin and English grammar may be taken on alternate mornings till the 

 latter is acquired ; and afterwards Latin may be taken two mornings, and Greek the third morning. In 

 two or three years the fourth day may be devoted to French ; and in the seventh year, or earlier, accord- 

 ing to circumstances, Latin, Greek, French, German, Dutch, and Italian may be taken in succession, 

 one morning to each. The object being such a knowledge of English as to be able to write it correctly ; 

 of Latin and French to translate them with ease ; and of the other languages to be able to make out their 

 meaning by the occasional help of a dictionary. There is nothing to hinder any person of even inferior 

 organisation, to attain this knowledge in ten years, at the average rate of one and half hour's study every 

 morning. The great thing is not to omit a single morning, unless from illness ; for even in the case of 

 absence from home, or during a journey, a grammar or any polyglot book, such as a Testament or a 

 Commenius, may be carried in the pocket. 



7754. Rigid pursuit of the object in view. If at any time, through business or over-sleeping, but a few 

 minutes can be got in the morning, still these few ought to be applied in the usual channel ; even half a 

 minute is worth something, for in that time a noun may be looked over, or a rule read and reflected on 

 during the walk to the place of working. If no time is left, even while dressing, a dictionary may be 

 opened and a word looked at, and recollected, and even a word per day gained is worth something. 



7755. Progress is gradual. It is impossible to gain any end either in self-improvement or any 

 thing else at once : all art is gained by labor, and nothing is lasting but that which advances by degrees. 

 The independence which even a very moderate knowledge of languages confers on the possessor, whether 

 in general reading, or in reading foreign books, is invaluable, and amply compensates the trouble requisite 

 to acquire them. To any person going abroad for profit or improvement, they are essential. It is a 

 common thing to suppose, that a certain long number of years are requisite to acquire Latin, which may 

 be the case with children who learn it by compulsion, and is more or less the case as to everything they 

 are taught; but with a grown-up and voluntary learner the case is widely different. We have known 

 men in this country acquire one or two languages, after having attained their fortieth year; and the 

 thing is quite common among migrating tradesmen on the Continent. 



7756. Books on grammar. In purchasing the grammars, that of Cobbett or Lindley Murray may be 

 selected for the English ; and for the other languages, any that can be got cheapest ; the last remark will 

 apply also to the dictionaries. To impress rules and words on the memory, read them aloud, sing, or 

 chant them, or write them down. Books in most languages may be had at book-stalls for a trifle ; or by 

 applying to a subscriber to the Bible Society, he will procure a New Testament in any living language, 

 and also in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, for two shillings or half a crown. Used copies of the Janua 

 Linguarum of Commenius, containing Greek, Latin, French, &c. are to be had even cheaper. 



7757. Plan oj study for general subjects. The spare time after breakfast and dinner we would devote to 

 botany for the first three years, and the seven years afterwards to botany and other branches of natural 

 history, gardening, and farming books. Thus the early part of the day is disposed of for the whole ten 

 years : the next thing is to arrange for the evening. For this the arrangements must vary according to 

 circumstances, as it does not all depend on the will of the student ; thus lectures can only be attended, 

 when and where given ; and those who may have undertaken to give instructions in fencing or fiddling, 

 must be received at such evening hours as suits their convenience, &c. We would, however, never break 

 in on the day-studies with these acquirements ; and as far as possible devote two hours at some period of 

 every working-day evening, during the first three years, as follows : of the first evening to drawing plans 

 and architectural subjects ; the second to arithmetic, mensuration, and land-surveying ; the third, to 



