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AUGUST 29, 1874.] 
THE GARDENERS CHRONICLE. 
269 
worthy Horticulturists and Botanists. 
OTICE.—A SERIES of. PORTRAI 
NOTEWORTHY 
BOTANISTS is being riaa, in the “ GARDENERS’ 
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. J. Lowe, F.R.S | Jonn Suits (Kew) 
ames McNab. Professor yi ae 
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_ WEDNESDAY, Sept. af 
Gardeners Chronicle. | 
APPOINTMENTS FOR THE ENSUING WE 
TUESDAY, Sept. 1 By sales ¢ Milnes! and Pigeons, at kiii 
Co) Hortic ultural Soci 
al nd Floral Come, 
Exhibiti 
Tav Flonec Show at Great Yarmouth, 
Tuurspay, Sept. Ae Sale of Orchids, Tree Ferns, S ail Specimen 
ra po and use Plants, at Stevens’ 
Sept: 4— Sale of] Dutch Bulbs, at Stevens’ Rooms. 
-e 
Forncuurure is in the crisis of a 
LABOUR DIFFICULTY. Its head has shot 
far i in advance of its hands. ag greatest trouble 
from 
en potency to cope with and smother the 
ae of ignorance in workmen. True, 
Il arts th 
- At one time surgery was far 
of its mechanical instruments. Scarcely 
= arara So- 
ly 
ld on 
h more wonderful for the revelations 
they unfold than ubtle 
chemical research and 
A is so over the wide fields of indus- 
trial art and scientific research—philosophical 
knowledge and mechanical invention, the 
head and the hand, linked together to reveal 
the mysteries of matter, and bend it to our 
purposes 
Horticulture is no exception to the general 
law. It, too, is moved by the forces—the head 
and the atid, and the former cannot rise very 
high or far in ‘the end above what the latter will 
allow. 
it will remain the ‘‘baseless fabric of a vision,” or 
revert to a wilderness of thorns, briars, weeds, 
and rank confusion, worse confounded through 
the wreck of paradise débris 
with the tangled skein 
Ignorance leagued with sloth is ever on the side 
of the wilderness. Paradise has no charm for 
these two monsters that block every avenue of 
life that leads out into a paradise of beauty and 
enty. 
Horticulture, as the child of knowledge 
nd of culture, is perforce obliged to fight 
against ignorance without and within the ranks. 
Of the former we would make no complaint; an 
open foe can be met and mastered, and if any 
portion - society frowns on horticulture we 
know rown is born of.its weakness and 
ignorane’ so we pity them and passon. But 
when helps become hindrances, when those who 
are given to be with us turn out against us, 
when the hand thwarts the head through ignor- 
ance or wilfulness, which is but another form of 
ignorance, then are we bound to seek and find 
a remedy if we would be true to horticulture. 
The evils of unskilled labour are written ow 
more or jess at iee on Baii surface of almost 
Fo 
t 
terre es grave el or Box is marred by the inability 
of the men to keep the Ts even and t 
of the ability of the men to see straight or 
adjust the ground to a nicety between two rows 
of stakes even with each other. A turf slope’is 
ruined for lack of the workmen—in this case their 
master, who had risen from the ta under- 
possible life for grass. it is need- 
less to multiply what may | be called structural 
incompetence ; let us to those ‘that are cultural 
n to the everyday management of 
Bad penik, training, watering, are 
ny of our leading cultiva- 
tors do most of it with their own hands. Then 
pr of ven 
isa stronghold of i igiotahes where extravagance 
and waste run 
minimum of heat is sent forth into our houses 
at the price of a ption. As to 
ventilation—red tape, routine, indifference, turn 
the crank by turns, and recklessly too, with some 
result. Even in 
tools to the least purpose. 
months we have seen men picking off Verbena 
buds for Verbena seed, and stopping Alternan- 
theras that were too low, instead of Iresines that 
were too high; staking Gladioli and Dahlias 
right through their fleshy roots and tubers, 
placing. stakes almost as s inikas one’s wrist 
But probably t 
a | teen 
standing the angle of repose for agile or of | 
other- 
as regards | the ee of semberature : and the ' BS 
riot between fuel and fire, and a | 1 
sewage. The master’s eye went round this late 
syringed 
with clean water above. The trees had formerly 
been mulched, and as they were approached 
the master was delighted at what he put down 
as an exercise of intelligent thought on the 
part of an old workman. Each tree had the 
appearance of a thick mulching of semicircular 
form for a short distance round the stem. It is 
impossible to describe his consternation when 
getting up to the trees he discovered that this 
bole of each tree, the tops of the ia a 
b 
. being covered with the finest 
O 
demanding an explanation, it 
answered the water did not go very well; the 
fork was used to lét it in; and, as for the roots, 
as water, of course, it 
waht aot and found the roots. Where could 
they be if not there?—and, thou 
told to fork the mi gh at ‘all, he wanted to let 
i n hour 
not ruined, gee had taken the labour vn skill 
of years to roduce—covered walls well- 
shaped, ‘il trees, ina borders filled with . 
surface roots, 
It is not needful to multiply examples. The 
end is all too familiar to English gardeners. It 
is not so common in Scotland, where gardens 
are largely worked by the skilled labour of 
journeymen, though even here there are no lack 
of complaints that the journeymen are not what 
they used to be; but in England horticulture is 
largely id ei on bee labouring labourer— 
any ee eae w estates the garden has 
the pick í en; Pe more, 1a 
the lavit oh the fe aes eee the 
infirm, go to the garden. Labour is also be- 
oming more scarce ; have less choice 
than we had. The miserable squabble over a 
shilling a week, and the right of Englishmen to 
join any lawful Union that they think likely ; 
to promote their own interest, has made mat- 
rse for horticulture anc 
will be eastern 
counties and throughout the kikpa i in the 
future than it has been in the past. Hundreds 
of the best labourers have left the country 
rather than relinquish the Union—hun 
more are likely | to follow. . The chances — 
greater om gs inde- | 
pendence. We question if even the higher 
wage that has now become in svitabis will draw 
more manual skill to horticulture. Money can 
purchase bodily strength, es mere working 
power of machinery or of men, but it cannot 
buy nice manipulation ana the careful, loving 
thought that are the bases of man skill in 
horticulture, That skill is a curious compound 
of knowledge and of love, made fit for use 
long and patient practice. At large nurseries 
it may perhaps ser inducements indirecth 
ra 
padis out greater 
