THE GARDENER 



good amateur gardener, coupling to this an im- 

 aginative ingenuity which I like to think a char- 

 acteristic of Americans; and the lack of imagina- 

 tion, the dumb devotion to traditional methods 

 of gardening whose outward and visible signs he 

 cannot but observe on each visit to his garden, 

 go hard with him. It has been my lot to see 

 in several cases employer and gardener antag- 

 onistic, and the best interest of an estate lan- 

 guishing under such conditions. One must be 

 friends with one's gardener. I venture to assert 

 that no great degree of success can be reached 

 with flowers unless such is the happy case. Take 

 note of a man's personality, of his temperament, 

 when next you have occasion to decide upon the 

 vital figure for your garden. If the candidate 

 be not " simpatico, " know that your garden can- 

 not with him be carried happily, successfully along. 

 That was a refreshing instance of friendship be- 

 tween master and man shown in an anecdote of 

 the great London flower exhibition, the Chelsea 

 Show of May, 1912, and pleasant it is to repeat 

 it here: 



"What a true aristocrat is, was forcibly illus- 

 trated the other day by an incident concerning 

 the speech of Sir George Holford, who won the 



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