432 Professional and general Improvement 



Art. VI. On the Professional and general Improvement of Young 

 Gardeners. By A Young Gardener. 



Sir, 

 It must be pleasing to every reader of your invaluable 

 Magazine, to behold so many persons interesting themselves 

 in the improvement of young gardeners. Youth is, indeed, a 

 learning season ; for then the mental powers are unclouded 

 by those cares which crowd upon maturer years, and unfit 

 the mind for contemplation and improvement : and if this be 

 the case ; if the young can make the most rapid advances in 

 knowledge ; if the season of youth be hurrying on, and, like 

 the morning sun, rapidly passing away ; surely those who 

 are in the morning of life ought to allow no opportunity to 

 pass unimproved ; knowing, as they must, that, if once lost, it 

 will never return. The improvement of every young gar- 

 dener depends much upon himself, and much upon the 

 disposition of others. He has much to do; the field is wide; 

 and, unless he is anxious to cultivate his mind himself, he 

 cannot expect others to drag him forward against his in- 

 clination. Many of the means for improvement are within 

 his own reach, and books, the foundation of knowledge 

 and couch of literature, should be his frequent study. 

 Writing essays on different subjects is also very useful ; as, 

 by this means, he is not only compelled to retire into the 

 chamber of his mind, and excite that which would other- 

 wise remain in a state of inaction, but he is enabled to ex- 

 press himself freely on any subject which may be brought 

 before him. Above all, he should pay particular attention 

 to what is going on around him, in the garden or in the 

 field, in the shrubbery or in the forest. The improvement of 

 every young gardener depends much upon his employer. 

 Not to speak of low wages, which always form a barrier in 

 the way of his acquiring knowledge, the lodges in which he 

 dwells are often so small as to render him very uncomfort- 

 able, and to prevent his fully profiting by the short leisure 

 which is afforded him. Even in the vicinity of modern 

 Athens [Edinburgh], that noble city, whose beautiful build- 

 ings have attracted the notice and excited the admiration of 

 all who have beheld them, gardeners are to be found living 

 in sheds, having only one room, and that of small dimensions. 

 I cannot think that this is altogether the fault of the gentlemen 

 who employ gardeners. I cannot think that those who live 

 in splendid mansions, containing numerous suites of rooms, 

 and who have all the comforts which this world can afford, 

 would consider a small apartment of only a few feet square 



