18 Conduct of some Master-Gardeners 



not know exactly what is the case in your quarter ; but in 

 Edinburgh the study of botany is prosecuted by all. Old as 

 I am myself, and long accustomed and habituated to another 

 profession and other thoughts, I have begun, some time since, 

 to this delightful study, and have prosecuted it with the greatest 

 ardour ; and this is not the ardour of youth, quick, fiery, and 

 evanescent, which can be called away in a moment, to be fixed 

 on some more attractive objects. With the excellent Com- 

 pendium of Sir J. Smith in my pocket, and my tin boxes slung 

 across my shoulders, many are the rambles I have taken to 

 Pentland Hills, Roslin, and along the shores of our beautiful 

 Firth ; and great is the good I have derived from doing so, not 

 only in the advancement of my botanical studies, but also in 

 strengthening and invigorating my body, and enlivening my 

 mind. The next time you visit Scotland, Mr. Editor, and 

 happen to be in Edinburgh, you must see my Hortus Siccus, 

 which, I flatter myself, is worth looking at: and here I maybe 

 allowed to observe, that although it is not so much the pro- 

 vince of the gardener as of the botanist to gather a Hortus 

 Siccus; yet, in my humble opinion, no gardener should be 

 ignorant either of the proper time and season for collecting 

 specimens, what parts of plants should, in preference to others, 

 be selected, or of the manner of drying and preserving the 

 specimens when collected. The desire which every one who 

 pretends to even the slightest botanical knowledge, now feels 

 to collect a herbarium, points out the necessity of this addi- 

 tional knowledge being acquired by all gardeners ; and, as the 

 labour and study are not great, nor of long continuance, less 

 excuse can be pleaded for ignorance. 



You will, perhaps, allow me, Mr. Editor, in the next Num- 

 ber of your valuable Magazine, to give a very few hints on this, 

 in my opinion, interesting subject. 



I am Sir, &c. W. D. 



Art. V. Remarks on the CoHdiict of some Master- Gardeners to 

 their Journeymen. By R. S. E. 



Sir, 

 I AM a constant reader of your Magazine, ^receiving from it 

 both amusement and instruction. Among the many subjects 

 which it embraces, the relative situations and deportment of 

 masters and journeymen gardeners to each other are occasionally 

 introduced. While I regard with the utmost respect the kind 

 and attentive behaviour of many (I hope a great majority of) 



