1144 STATISTICS OF GARDENING. Part IV. 



object in view ; or, if they form some general notion of acquiring wealth or distinction, 

 they form no plan by which it is to be accomplished ; the consequence is, that such per- 

 sons, after blundering on through their best years, arrive at the end without having gained 

 anything but experience, now of no use to them. When we look round and observe the 

 quantity of misery in the world ; the greater proportion is, or seems to be, the result of 

 a want of plan, or of a bad plan of life. How many parents are unsuccessful in their 

 struggles to maintain a large family ; the result of too early marriage, and a thoughtless 

 and unmeasured procreation ! How many iind themselves arrived at old age, with no 

 other resource for support but charity ; the consequence of want of foresight in expen- 

 diture ! How many are suffering under poverty brought on by their own want of fru- 

 gality, or positive extravagance ; or under disease from excesses and irregularities 

 committed in the hey-day of life ! And how many, among those not born to inherit pro- 

 perty, who, at no period of their life, have any other alternative between hard labor 

 and deficient food, than disease and want ! 



7779. Want of plan may not, in every case, be the cause of all this misery ; because accident enters into 

 life for something, both in the unfavorable as well as the favorable side of the question ; but we have no 

 hesitation in asserting, that want of plan, as a cause of misery, is as ninety-nine to a hundred. Any plan 

 at all, even a bad plan, is better than none ; because those who set out on any plan will, in all probability, 

 sooner discover its errors, if a bad one, and correct them, than those, who set out on no plan, will dis- 

 cover the want of one, and form a good plan. — Plan, in short, is predestination, as conduct is fate. The 

 young gardener, who is just setting out in life, may well tremble at the consequences of proceeding on the 

 journey without the guide of a judicious plan. This plan he must form himself : because he alone knows 

 the nature of his talents and resources ; — all that we can do is to offer a few hints. 



7780. In order to be able to form a plan, it is previously necessary to determine the object to be obtained 

 by it. Happiness is the object of every action of human life, and consists in the gratification of certain 

 wants and desires ; some of these desiderata are peculiar to youth, and others to old age ; but many, as 

 clothing, food, rest, relaxation, entertainment, &c. begin with the earliest, and continue to the latest 

 period of life. All these gratifications are procured by labor; in savage life, by hunting, fishing, and 

 gathering fruits, till the man, no longer able for these labors, is obliged to lie down and die of want': in 

 civilised society they are also obtained by labor ; but here, what is called property exists ; and man, in the 

 vigor of his days, when the supplies of his labor are greater than the demands of his wants and desires, or 

 when he chooses not to gratify the latter to the full extent admitted by the former, can, as it were, em- 

 body a part of his labor to be made use of when he is no longer able to perform it with ease. A man, in 

 this case, is said to arrive at independence; instead of want, as in the case of the savage ; or of beggary, 

 as in the case of the improvident. 



7731. Independence is the grand object which not only a gardener, but every man 

 destined to live by the exercise of his labor or talents, ought to have in view. At certain 

 periods of life, when the imagination is vivid, and health and spirits in their utmost vigor, 

 some may prefer glory, high literary or professional reputation, or even present pleasure ; 

 and it is a noble attribute of our nature to prefer these to mere accumulation of money : 

 but a great warrior, poet, or painter, arrived at old age and want, if the latter be brought 

 on by common improvidence, will not find himself surrounded by many marks of dis- 

 tinction ; and, though it may possibly be some consolation to him, that the three or four 

 letters composing his name will be sometimes pronounced together after he is dead, yet 

 it will not be much. 



7782. The exercise of his profession is the most rational mode in which a gardener, or 

 any person properly educated to one, can pursue independence. Only extraordinary cir- 

 cumstances can justify a change of profession ; in common cases it indicates a want of 

 steadiness of character, or a want of success ; and the latter is commonly attributed to 

 want of skill. It is better, therefore, to pursue unremittingly the profession to which we 

 have been educated, even though we should not be very successful in it, than to risk an 

 infringement on character by adopting another. The practice of gardening, as we have 

 already seen (7377.), is carried on by three different classes, serving, tradesmen, and 

 artist gardeners. The greater number of young men cannot do better than commence in 

 the first branch. To begin in the second, unless an established business is purchased, a 

 partnership in a respectable firm procured, or some situation discovered where there is an 

 effectual demand for produce, would, to a young man without connection, be attended 

 with at least a loss of time, if not with greater losses. As to the third branch, the de- 

 mand is so very limited, that it can never be recommended in a general way. It remains, 

 therefore, for the young gardener to look to the serving branch, as that by which he will 

 the more certainly attain to independence. 



7783. Of serving gardeners, there are two species, with their varieties ; the public 

 gardener and private gardener. The latter is the only species to be recommended in a 

 general way ; but whichever a young gardener adopts, it would be well if he could pre- 

 viously procure himself to be sent abroad for a year or longer, as gardener or collector 

 to some expedition ; or even if he could, at his own expense, visit Amsterdam, Antwerp, 

 Leyden, and Paris. All this he may do at present, proceeding by sea to Rotterdam, 

 either from London or Edinburgh, for less than twenty-five pounds ; and a judicious 

 young man, even though so much devoted to improvement as we suppose our young 

 gardener to have been, ought to have saved that sum by his twenty-fifth year. In times 

 of war it may be more expensive, or impossible. 



7784. Situations. Though it be seldom that a gardener can choose a situation for him- 



