252 THE NEW GARDENING 



Chrysanthemums there are many hundreds of varieties. 

 There are hundreds of varieties of Apples and Pears, of 

 Potatoes and Peas. These varieties have their peculiari- 

 ties ; some are best suited by one kind of soil, some by 

 another. Roses do not differ only in colour of bloom. 

 They vary in habit, in period of flowering, in preference 

 for this stock or that, in pruning requirements. 



In face of these facts I say again that gardening is a 

 great subject. The study of plants is a vast and com- 

 plex one. The structure and composition of plants alone 

 might tax the finest mind, yet it is only a side issue of 

 gardening. 



With so multitudinous an array of plants to study, 

 how can the gardener specialize one ? Will not the garden 

 generally suffer if a particular plant is taken up ? Should 

 not the owner of a garden who employs a professional 

 gardener curb any tendency to specialization in his own 

 interests ? 



It might be expected that a garden would suffer by the 

 specialization of one plant, and it generally does in the 

 case of an amateur who manages his own garden ; but I 

 am not prepared to say that the same holds good where 

 professional gardeners are concerned. I have noticed 

 that where one plant is done extremely well others are 

 generally satisfactory. Something, however, turns on 

 the amount of labour available. A working gardener in 

 a place where the staff is insufficient to cope with the 

 ordinary routine should not be encouraged to devote half 

 his own time to Sweet Peas. 



But employers of gardeners might look at specialization 

 in a totally different way. They might consider that the 

 interests of a garden were best served by adding to the 

 staff an expert for any particular plant which it is desired 

 to specialize, working independently of the head gardener. 



