614 Summary Vie*w of the Progress of Gardening, 



nation of the Horticultural Society of London to admit no young 

 men into their garden, as journeymen, who have not received a 

 certain degree of school education; and to recommend no jour- 

 neymen from the gardens, to fill situations as head gardeners, 

 who have not been regularly examined as to their physiological 

 and other scientific knowledge, and received a certificate stating 

 the degree of proficiency they have attained. The details of 

 this measure, with our remarks on it, will be found at p. 610'. 

 We consider this as by far the most important step for the im- 

 provement of gardening that has been taken by the Society since 

 its commencement ; and this step, by its immediate influence on 

 the young men who may be candidates for admission into the 

 garden, and by its indirect influence in other places, in conse- 

 quence of the plan being imitated by other societies, will speedily 

 be felt, not only in Britain, but on the Continent, in North Ame- 

 rica, and, in short, throughout the world. 



It has appeared to us that the rules and regulations of the 

 London Horticultural Society adopted in 1826, with reference 

 to gardeners employed in their gardens, had a tendency to de- 

 press, and even degrade, young men desirous of becoming pro- 

 ficients in gardening, rather than to encourage them; and to 

 lower the art of gardening, and the profession of a gardener, in 

 the eyes of the country gentlemen, their employers, rather than 

 to elevate both. In fact, it appears to have been thought by the 

 influential party connected with the Horticultural Society, about 

 the time the garden at Chiswick was commenced, that it was 

 possible to improve the art of gardening without at all improv- 

 ing either the minds or the condition of gardeners ; and that, 

 while the latter were to be kept stationary as far as respected 

 themselves, the productions of the gardens they cultivated were 

 to be greatly increased in excellence, or enhanced in value, by 

 being produced at unusual seasons. We refer, for the grounds 

 of our opinion, to the Report of the Garden Committee^ %ic. pub- 

 lished in March, 1826, an abstract of which will be found in 

 Vol. I. p. 312 — 316. In that Report two conditions only are 

 stated with reference to young men desiring admission into the 

 garden ; viz. first, that the party should be recommended by a 

 subscriber ; and, secondly, that he must be between the ages of 

 eighteen and twenty-six, educated as a gardener, unmarried, and 

 " capable of reading a7id writing moderately well.^' These young 

 men are designated in the regulations as " labourers," and the 

 terms " gardener " and " under gardener " are only applied to 

 the head gardener and the foremen of the different departments. 



It is curious and interesting to look back to the time of the 

 commencement of this Magazine (1826), and to mark the dif- 

 ferent opinions which now prevail amongst the higher ranks 

 respecting'the working classes of society, from what were prevalent 



