INTRODUCTION. 



with his own hand, what he wishes to have done. Let them 

 see that you are their master in respect of knowing and being 

 able to perform their work as well as, or better than, themselves, 

 and you will find in them as good servants as are to be met 

 with, perhaps, in any part of the world. They are exceedingly 

 apt in acquiring knowledge ; the retentiveness of their memory 

 is indeed surprising. Several of those, for instance, employed 

 in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens will remember, and, on being 

 asked, be ready immediately to give, the scientific name of any 

 plant in the vast collection there. And this is the more to be 

 wondered at, as to them the meaning of the name being wholly 

 unknown, the name itself cannot be suggested to their minds 

 by any peculiarity of the plant that it denotes. 



Many of the malees, too, about Calcutta are much more con- 

 versant with the scientific names of the plants they have to 

 cultivate than the ordinary run of gardeners in England are. 

 Unfortunately they have been encouraged to attach far too 

 great importance to this kind of knowledge. Those who 

 possess it require higher wages in consequence ; and as far as 

 my experience goes, often prove neglectful, indolent, and 

 cunning. But apt as they are at learning, they have very 

 little judgment withal. Even the apparently simple operation 

 of administering water to a potted plant in exact accordance 

 with its wants, it seems all but hopeless to make them com- 

 prehend indeed, any operation of the garden that requires to 

 be modified according to circumstances, appears to lie almost 

 beyond their capacity. They adhere to one constant uniform 

 routine in all their work, from which they hardly have an idea 

 of deviating, and from which it is only with great difficulty 

 often that they can be brought to deviate. 



In the year 1855 the Agri-Horticultural Society of India 

 established a school in their garden. The boys, under the 

 superintendence of their head gardener, Mr. McMurray, were to 

 work in the garden morning and evening, so as to become 

 acquainted with all the branches of practical gardening, and 

 with the various experiments that are from time to time 

 carried on with plants. In the daytime they were to study in 

 the school under the native teachers writing, reading, arithmetic, 

 mensuration, geography, and the elements of botany, so as to 

 become intelligent gardeners. 



This scheme proved completely unsuccessful, and was aban- 

 doned after a very short trial. It was immediately seen that, 



