Foreign Notices : — North America, 6^67 



will be requisite in my green-house, &c. I cultivate no more esculent 

 plants than are required for my own family, and my American collection is 

 under my own care. I keep from twelve to twenty men and boys nearly 

 all the year. My last foreman has settled in the western country on a 

 farm : the one before him was Mr. ****, who is now a master-gardener in 

 good circumstances. Some of my workmen have been with me fourteen 

 or fifteen years, and it is probable they will remain with me as long as they 

 live. It is no less strange than true, that we have few or none of our 

 natives gardeners. Even where brought up in our gardens, they almost 

 invariably prefer the plough and farming-work, and have a strong dislike to 

 weeding, &c. &c. They are generally very dexterous and handy with tools, 

 and can do almost any thing required in the use of them. On the con- 

 trary, the European gardeners who come here are generally unaccustomed 

 to any tools but the spade and hoe, and care but little to learn the use of 

 others. If any alteration is required, or mending wanted, they imme- 

 diately require the assistance of the carpenter or the smith for trifling 

 things that one of our boys could do with a hatchet and knife, if he could 

 not procure other tools. This helplessness renders them the laughing- 

 stock of our workmen; particularly when they assume such importance 

 and consequential airs as they most generally do on their first arrival here. 

 A few years since, a young gardener arrived here from Ireland, without a 

 friend or acquaintance, and having paid his last guinea for his passage. I 

 gave him employment until I procured a very good situation for him at 

 180 dollars per year, and board and lodging. His employer was ** ***, a 

 quaker gentleman, who was much pleased with him, and treated him very 

 kindly. His only care was a small vegetable garden for the use of the 

 family; and, indeed, it was the only branch of gardening for which he was 

 competent. Unfortunately a tavern was too near, and here liquor is too 

 cheap : he soon began to tipple, and neglect his work. He had soon 

 accumulated 100 dollars, and had a crop of fine early potatoes, amongst 

 other things, in the garden. It was Sunday morning, and some friends 

 arrived to dine with Mr. ***, who asked Mr. **, the gardener, if he would 

 dig a few of his fine potatoes for the dinner, as the boy was absent. To 

 this request from the old gentleman, Mr. **, the gardener, replied, swelling 

 with indignation, 'Is it me — me, Sir, a thorough-bred gardener, that you 

 would ask to dig potatoes ? ' ' Surely, friend **,' replied Mi-. ***, ' thee 

 hast toiled to raise them, and it can be no disgrace to dig a few for one 

 dinner ; however, give me the spade, and I will dig them myself.' The 

 next morning he paid him off, and discharged Mr. **. This, Sir, is the 

 manner in which many of your gardeners conduct themselves on their 

 arrival here; and they are very frequently ignorant of their business. 

 Still we are very far behind you in gardening, and willing to learn all we 

 can from such as come here. In this country no white man calls another 

 " master -j-," and land is so cheap that a few years' wages is sufficient to 



■f- In mentioning this term " master," which is obsolete here, I may remark 

 that I never knew a native American who wore livery ; nor would extra 

 wages induce them to put it on. I have frequently made the enquiry, but 

 always found that those in liveries were foreigners. Neither are there in 

 America any steerage passengers in the packet boats ; there is one cabin 

 for the ladies and another for the gentlemen, in which all, whether master 

 or servant, mix on a footing of perfect equality. It is the same as to stage 

 coaches, which have only one fare, and neither the coachman nor any of 

 the servants at the inns receives a farthing from the passengers or customers. 

 All that takes place between man and man in this country is on the prin- 

 ciple of equitable exchange ; there is considered to be no obligation on 

 either side. 



