108 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



talk which he would have Uked a much larger audience to have 

 heard. He said that the private gardener of the future would 

 need to be a very much better educated man than he was today. 

 The majority of the craft in charge of estabUshments today lacked 

 the opportunities for scholastic training which were now open to 

 them. He believed that a course in horticulture, including botany 

 and chemistry, as well as landscape gardening, at one of our agri- 

 cultural colleges would be needed in addition to the more practical 

 training at trade or private establishments. Some of our brightest 

 men, especially commercial men, were sending their sons to Durham, 

 Cornell, or Amherst today. He understood that the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College would ask for $17,000.00 this year for new 

 ranges of glass to make their plant more up-to-date horticulturally. 



The varied duties outside of those of a horticultural nature 

 required of present-day gardeners had been referred to. Too many 

 men preferred to remain in a rut when by a little persistent study 

 they could easily broaden the scope of their learning and thus fit 

 themselves for much better places. Strictly horticultural places 

 were far less proportionate to their number than in Europe. Here 

 a man should learn something of electric and gas lighting, water 

 supplies for the estate, and also have a fair knowledge of agri- 

 culture and arboriculture and the various et ceteras incidental to a 

 place. 



There was also no reason why this same person should not 

 interest himself in the affairs of the community in which he resided, 

 thus benefiting the community and himself at the same time. 



In England where horticulture was on a higher plane than it had 

 yet reached in America the private gardener on a large estate was 

 a very esteemed person. Such prominent patrons of horticulture 

 as the Duke of Portland and Lord Aldenbarn had stated in public 

 speeches that they looked upon their head gardeners more as 

 friends than servants, and, indeed, when it is remembered how 

 much good advice such a man can give when it comes to large plans 

 for improvement or additions there is no reason why even in America 

 he should not reach a similar status. If intelligent, courteous, 

 and always gentlemanly, feeling as much interest in the place as 

 though it were his own, surely there are employers who will appre- 

 ciate such men. 



