GARDENERS 225 



The employer has to explain to his friends that the 

 bedding plants are not his taste. The gardener has 

 to explain to his friends that only in one little part of 

 the garden has he been given a fair chance. Some 

 employers, perhaps, will say that they see no reason 

 for a compromise at all. The garden is theirs to do 

 what they like with. But the gardener, though they 

 pay his wages, is not altogether theirs. They can, 

 of course, get rid of him, and look for one who will 

 do exactly as they like; but they will find it difficult 

 to get him. The good gardener always has tastes of 

 his own; if he had not he would not be a good gar- 

 dener; and his tastes are usually conservative, not 

 merely because he has been trained in an old-fash- 

 ioned school, but also because all men, except the 

 most able, are apt to fall into routine in any difficult 

 work that is the main business of their lives. In the 

 difficult work of a Government office this tendency 

 produces red tape. In the difficult work of the gar- 

 dener it produces the bedding-out system; for gar- 

 dening is very difficult work, much more difficult 

 than the irresponsible amateur is apt to suppose. 

 He plays with just the parts of it which amuse him, 

 and he finds them easy and delightful. He forgets 

 that the gardener has to do many things which are 

 not amusing — that he has to mow the lawn and sweep 

 the paths; to produce fruit and vegetables as well 

 as flowers; and, above all, that he is expected not to 

 fail in what he attempts. It is this consciousness 

 that he must not fail which makes the professional 



