Gardeners and Gardening in Russia. 55 



should fail to render our Society one of mutual Instruction, 

 which we will undoubtedly do, when each and every member, 

 following his own taste and inclination, shall lay the result of his 

 researches before the Society, proving that he is alike willing to 

 impart and receive information. It is only from acting thus that 

 the full advantage which such an institution is capable of afford- 

 ing can be realised ; when, mind acting upon mind, the develope- 

 ment of one man's genius animates, enkindles, and expands the 

 genius of his neighbour. Thus acting, we shall likewise be lend- 

 ino; our efforts " to engraft the scattered branches of knowledge 

 upon one living stock ; to make the same vital sap circulate 

 through them all ; to clothe their naked outline with the blos- 

 soms of a new spring;" to expand our own hearts with the senti- 

 ments of truth and benevolence ; to triumph over the natural 

 principle of selfishness ; and, shedding around us a halo of phi- 

 lanthropic love, to prove that, if our abilities were equal to our 

 wishes, there would neither be misery nor sorrow, ignorance nor 

 delusion, in the world. 



Art. II. On the Gardeners and Gardening of Russia. By N. N. 



In reply to your enquiries how the market-gardeners in 

 Russia employ their time during the winter months, I must, to 

 render myself more comprehensible, divide them into two 

 classes. 



The first class consists of gardeners who take care of hot-houses 

 and green-houses where early forcing is resorted to ; and they 

 have continual employment in the management of pines, flowers 

 in pots, and early fruit trees ; they also raise cucumbers, kidney- 

 beans, salads, strawberries, &c., in hot-houses occasionally, even 

 before the commencement of the new year, but most certainly 

 soon after it. Thus this division of gardeners is never without 

 work ; and the out-of-door labourers are discharged till spring. 



The second class requires a more detailed description, because 

 their way of life differs from that of any set of men in England. 

 The greatest part of these gardeners come from the districtof Ros- 

 toff, so that, at a distance from their home, a gardener and Rosto- 

 vite are synonymous terms. A few come from the neighbouring 

 district of Ouglitch ; but so few, that they are lost under the 

 former appellation. 



Generally about the middle of Lent, or towards the beginning 

 of it, they leave their villages ; and such as have property buy 

 horses, and load them with frozen pork, garden seeds, linen, 

 onions, and other smaller articles not worth enumerating, but 

 suited to the part of the empire to which they direct their steps. 

 On arrival at their place of destination, they, in most cases, sell 



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