142 On the Remuneration of Gardeners. 



alternative of paying the money, going to prison, or marrying 

 the girl; in the simplicity and goodness of his heart he chose 

 the latter. A woe may be pronounced against the gardener 

 who marries so prematurely ; and it would be well, to have 

 written upon the large gates of the Horticultural Society's 

 garden at Chiswick, something like what Dante inscribes on 

 the portal of hell : 



" Lasciate ogni amor voi che entrate," 



or otherwise establish within them one of those " Botteghe 

 che hanno per frontespizio' — Qui si castrano i Ragazzi Giar- 

 diniere a buon mercato ! " 



With respect to master gardeners, to what class of gentle- 

 men's servants, is there so much confided, and so little paid ? 

 Not to mention the general care of the kitchen garden and 

 pleasure ground, it often happens that a gardener has 

 two or three hundred men under his direction for executing 

 improvements. The work of all these men, or their time, he 

 has to measure, or to calculate ; and perhaps 60/. or 80/. a week 

 passes through his hands for their payment ; while he has not 

 more than as many pounds a year for himself. Is there not 

 something very extraordinary in this ? Would any mercantile 

 man or manufacturer consider it safe to entrust so much 

 power in the hands of a man so ill paid, and consequently 

 so exposed to the temptation of dishonesty ? Yet how seldom 

 do we hear of gardeners falling short in their accounts. So 

 rarely does that happen, that I do not recollect of a single 

 instance ; this must be attributed to the high moral character 

 of gardeners, which may be traced in part to the recluse way 

 in which they are brought up, and in part to the nature of their 

 profession ; even Bailiffs, or as you call them, Agronomes, are 

 more apt to deviate from the moral principle than gardeners ; 

 probably from the influence of attending markets, to which, it 

 may be said, every person going as a buyer or seller, goes 

 with an intention to deceive, more or less, the person he may 

 have to deal with. 



However, I am deviating from my purpose, and, I fear, 

 weakening the force of what I have to say. ■- It is briefly this ; 

 one of the richest if not the very richest nobleman in England, 

 has just parted with his gardener upon the subject of wages. 

 This gardener, it was stated where I dined, is among the most 

 intelligent of those of your country ; he went to the situation 

 about seven years ago; and besides doing the common 

 routine of a nobleman's gardens, he laid out an immense 

 park and pleasure ground, from his own designs ; and that in 

 such a way as to give universal satisfaction. The place, in 



