January 13, 1863. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



LENGTH OF HOT-WATEE PIPING EEQUIEED 

 FOR HEATING. 



Can you kindly inform me whether two lengths of three- 

 inch pipe (each 9 feet), one flow, and one return, would heat a 

 small pit for stove plants ; the pit being 10 feet long, 6 feet 

 wide, 4 feet high in front, 6 feet high at back ? And how much 

 larger could I have the pit, supposing four-inch pipes to be 

 used?— A. B.C. 



[If you use no covering for the glass you need about 40 feet 

 at least of piping for such a stove-pit ; if four-inch pipes the 

 least you could have would be about 30 feet.] 



A FEW WOEDS TO YOUNG GAEDENEES ON 

 EDUCATION AND ATTENTION. 



If gardeners are still wanting in intelligence, it is not because 

 enough has not lately been said of our evident de6ciencies, of 

 the knowledge we ought to possess, and of the education which 

 the young especially ought to receive. It is quite possible to 

 have even too much of a good thing. A man may starve in the 

 midst of plenty. The labourer, who uses well his few volumes 

 may have more intellect and wisdom than his neighbour who 

 possesses a large library. The very range and the extent of 

 accomplishments and attainments may so dwarf the intellect as 

 to render it un6t to concentrate its force on any definite object : 

 nay, the very extent of the fields traversed, if we have not obtained 

 enough of knowledge to show us our own great deficiencies, 

 will have a tendency to make us self-sufficient, and lead us to 

 look- over or contemn the simpler elements of knowledge, 

 -talk ot gardening being a learned profession as much as you 

 please ; make that learning if you will the groundwork for the 

 social elevation of gardeners, but forget not that some acquaint- 

 ance with the higher departments of science will prove no com- 

 pensation for the want of unremitting attention, the want of 

 concentration of purpose to devise, and of activity of hands and 

 ieet to execute. That concentration is seldom thoroughly 

 gained without a substantial grounding in the simpler elements. 



1 was much pleased in reading the other day some statements 

 made by Lord Littleton, when distributing the awards at the 

 Midland Institute at Birmingham, as, after reviewing the 

 studies of the candidates in languages, mathematics, the sciences, 

 natural philosophy, &e., his lordship expressed a hope that such 

 an extended range would not prove detrimental to the acquisi- 

 tion of the very humble but very useful arts of spelling and 

 writing correctly ; and added, to strain the intellectual faculties 

 ot youth is like beating out gold into gold-leaf— in gaining a 

 larger surface strength and solidity are lost. So much was this 

 the case, that it is no uncommon thing to find young men 

 crammed to examination-point in many of the learned ologies, 

 and who yet fail to succeed because unable to read, and spell, 

 and write their own language with anything like ease, correct- 

 ness, and elegance. 



I would respectfully leave it to those who may have even better 

 opportunities than myself of judging, to say whether, as respects 

 these rudimentary elements of education, a number of young 

 gardeners have not great reason to improve themselves, and 

 that before troubling themselves much with higher branches of 

 knowledge, which, without a good grounding in these elements, 

 cannot prove to them sources of much pleasure or profit. So 

 much do I feel on this matter, that could my opinion have been 

 ot any influence, I would have joined that party in our parlia- 

 ment which lately insisted that the obtaining of public money 

 tor assisting education, should be greatly dependant on the 

 proved proficiency attained by the pupils in reading, writing, 

 and arithmetic. I should have done this, not only because these 

 mndamental elements of a good education were often compara- 

 tively neglected from a preference being given to what was 

 more showy and superficial, but also because I have a strong 

 conviction that, to preserve the sturdy independence of the 

 Jtnguah character, the assistance given to education should be 

 conlined to these elements, and then allowing the parent or the 

 pupil to pay for themselves for whatever is wanted in addition ; 

 and this all the more, because equally convinced that the girl 

 and boy that can read, and write, and cipher well, hold in their 

 own hands the keys that will enable them, if disposed, to open 

 all the locks to the great temple of knowledge. 



There can be no question, that gardening as an art and a 

 ■science has made great improvement in this country, and chiefly 



through the intelligence and industry of gardeners. It is just 

 as unquestionable that with a few exceptions there has been no 

 corresponding improvement in the social position of gardeners. 

 This matter has been pretty well ventilated in previous volumes ; 

 and though pressed to suggest some remedy by many who feel 

 they are sinking deeper in a quagmire of difficulty and find they 

 cannot help themselves, I candidly own I can see no effectual 

 remedy. 



A thorough grounding in the profession — a certificate of ap- 

 prenticeship, journeymanship, and foremanshiphave been insisted 

 on ; and also examination by competent persons, and diplomas 

 to be given according to supposed proficiency, have all been 

 recommended as means for elevating the profession, and all have 

 more or less been tried by leading nurserymen, the Horticultural 

 Society, &c, and with little or no avail. In this free country 

 we cannot prevent any man calling himself a gardener ; nor can 

 any restraint be put upon a gentleman as to who he is to employ. 

 It matters not, though the employer suffers greatly iu the 

 end, and his cheap servant turns out a very expensive one. The 

 very frequency of such cases gluts the market, keeps the apparent 

 supply above the demand, keeps wages down to mere existence- 

 point, and causes many a good gardener, whose services other- 

 wise would be eagerly sought for at home, to starve out of place, 

 or resort to emigration as his only remedy. And yet with all 

 this nurserymen tell me, that at times when a first-rate man is 

 wanted, they are frequently at their wits' end where to find him ! 



It may be a satisfaction to our young aspiring friends to let 

 them know as a great secret how it iB that professional and 

 general intelligence, united with propriety of conduct, is not 

 more generally relied upon as a test of fitness. It is simply 

 this, that these qualifications alone will not make a good servant. 

 I am as much convinced as I ever was, that the more intelligent 

 a workman is the more likely will he be to do his work well. But 

 I am more convinced than I was at one time, that the extra 

 success obtained by a gardener of extended intelligence, is not 

 quite so much owing to the general knowledge thus gained as 

 to a generalising power, which enables him to bring that know- 

 ledge to bear upon practical details, and to give an earnest 

 " attention " and constant watchfulness over the minutiae of 

 these details. No acquaintance with " ologies and graphys " will 

 ever compensate for inattention to these details : hence, the plain 

 plodding man whose knowledge is limited, but thorough as far it 

 goes, and who has a veneration for attention to minutise, will in 

 general excel the philosopher who thinks such minutia; beneath 

 his notice. 



Some time ago, I unwillingly overheard two gentlemen speak- 

 ing about their gardeners. Said A, " "What a philosopher of a 

 gardener you have! he seems to know everything." "Philo- 

 sopher, indeed ! " replied B, " I tell you, I never did such a 

 foolish thing as let old C leave me, and just for a few pounds 

 more wages. Then everything was bo nice, and the man so 

 modest and retiring, and respectful to everybody, though some- 

 what independent withal ; and when I had occasion to write to 

 him, he sent me such nice letters, confined so scrupulously to 

 the matters in hand, and so well written that I used to let my 

 visitors see them, and that is how he had so many of my friends 

 after him when there was an inkling he was going to leave me. 

 But for shame, I would give anything to have him back again. 

 You see how I am served, flower-beds weedy and half empty, 

 scarcely anything for the table from out-doors or in-doors ; and 

 instead, bushels of philosophy, giving me learned lectures on the 

 causes of failure — failure coming after failure to furnish materials 

 for a fresh lecture, as if my table were to be supplied with long 

 learned words instead of fruit and vegetables ; and, then, with all 

 this parade of entomological, and phytological, and physiological, 

 and other jaw-breaking 'logicals,' the few letters I have had 

 show too well he never learned to put a single sentence together 

 in decent English. And as for reading, when, because I had forgot 

 my spectacles, I asked him to read a handbill, I was obliged to 

 shut my ears and run ! Philosophy, indeed ! He is a crammer, 

 has had his head crammed with a lot of big words, and these I 

 must eat if I like, instead of vegetables or fruit." 



Why allude to such a dialogue that might have been heard 

 last autumn beneath the arcades of Kensington ? Not to 

 depreciate knowledge — not to damp the aspiration of the young 

 gardener to study and render himself as intelligent as he can — 

 but to show clearly that, as a gardener, this knowledge will be 

 of little use to him unless combined with attention to the 

 smallest practical details ; nay, further, that unless this atten- 

 tion is seen to be generally associated with great intelligence, 



