Retrospective Criticism. 623 



OrcMdece § MalaxidecB. Of Dendrobium speciosum, a superb spe- 

 cimen, " one of five produced upon the same cluster of stems, in the 

 garden of the Rev. Mr. Huntley of Kimbolton, Huntingdonshire, is figured 

 in the Botanical Register for September, t. 1610. Dr. Lindley observes, 

 that this species is very common in collections, but that it seldom flowers. 

 " This," he adds, " is owing to the weakness of the specimens, compared 

 with what is natural to them in their own country. It is not enough to 

 keep their leaves green and plump, it is also necessary that the plants 

 should grow rapidly, and to at least twice the size we are accustomed to 

 see them : then, and then only, will they yield their stately and beautiful 

 racemes of pale yellow wax-like blossoms." 



Art. III. Retrospective Criticism. 



A Mistake by the Conductor resjjeciing the Wages of the Assistant Gar- 

 deners em-ployed in the Gardens at Woburn Abbey, (p. 455.) — Sir, On 

 looking over the last Number of your Gardener's Magazine, I perceive 

 the following passage, inserted at p. 455. : — " The last time we were at 

 Woburn Abbey, the wages of the journeymen gardeners there were 9s. a 

 week." I am at a loss to conceive how you could possibly make such a 

 mistake ; as the wages of the journeymen gardeners employed at Woburn 

 Abbey were from 12^., 14s., \Qs., 18s. to 20s. a week, exclusive of lodging, 

 milk, vegetables, &c. I must therefore beg that you will have the good- 

 ness to take the earliest opportunity of correcting your former statement ; 

 as, in fact, there is not a labouring man employed in the gardens here, 

 whose wages are even as low as 1 Is. 6d. per week throughout the year, 

 which sum they have not been under during the last thirty years, but fre- 

 quently above it. I remain. Sir, yours, &c. — J. Forbes. Woburn Abbey 

 Gardens, August 7. 1833. 



Pecuniary Disabilities of Working Gardeners. — Sir, In looking through 

 your Magazine for October, Vol. VIII. p. 521., I observed " Horticultural 

 Jottanda of a recent Continental Tour by Robert Mallet, jun., Esq." He 

 says that the pecuniary difficulties of young gardeners are not so great as 

 may be imagined : " An attentive young man could and ought to have 80/. 

 by the time he is 24 years of age." Certainly Mr. Mallet never has been a 

 journeyman gardener ; or, at least, if he had, he certainly had more than 9s. 

 or 10s. a week (that being the general wages in Scotland), that he could 

 imagine other men could save so much at so early an age. If, like some of 

 our live stock, we could live by suction, we should, no doubt, soon be able 

 to accumulate the said 80/. He speaks of our going to France, Italy, and re- 

 turning through Germany, Belgium, and Holland, and to provide ourselves 

 with carpet bags, magnesia, detonating pistols, military uniform, and what 

 not. Supposing all this provision to be made previously to starting, I think 

 the hard-earned 80/. would be nearly expended in purchasing all this 

 grandeur before we left our am highland hills. I do not mean to say any 

 thing for or against the utility of such a tour ; but I should be obliged to 

 Mr. Mallet, or any of your correspondents, if they would communicate the 

 new way (at least new in this part of the country) by which a young gar- 

 dener can save the money requisite for the purpose. If he or they will, 

 and I can succeed in practising it, I shall certainly become a tourist. I am. 

 Sir, yours, &c. — W. B., a young Gardener and constant Reader. Perth- 

 shire, March 24. 1833. 



The List of Plants from Provincial Nurserymen : Mr. Henry Laundy's 

 Rejoinder to Messrs. Jeffries and So7i's Reply, p. 493., and to that of Mr. John 

 Smith, p. 494. — I am unable to conceive how Messrs. Jeffries and Son see 

 that any saving of expense results from the insertion of lists, when the par- 



