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PROFESSION OF A GARDENER* 



HE who undertakes the prcfejfton of a gardener, 

 takes upon him felt a work of fome importance, and 

 which requires no fmall degree of knowledge, ingenuity, 

 and indujlry y to perform well. There are few bufmeffes 

 which may not be learned in much lefs time than that 

 of a gardener can poffibly be. 



It often happens, however, that a man who has 

 been very little in a garden, and that only as ^labourer, 

 who can do little more than dig, or put out cabbage 

 plants, will eall himfelf a gardener ; but he only is 

 worthy of the name who having had much practice' m 

 the various parts of horticulture, pofTeffes a genius and 

 adroitnefs, fitting him for making experiments, and 

 for getting through difficulties that the exiiting eircurn- 

 iTances of untoward feafons, &c. may bring him into. 

 He (hould poifefs a fpirit of enquiry into the nature of 

 plants and vegetation, and how far art (in his way) 

 may be made fuccefsfully ufeful, or at leaf! probably fo* 

 The mode of growth, tire pruning, the foil, the heat, 

 and the moifture that fuits particular plants, are not to 

 be underftood without a native tafte, and clofe applica- 

 tion of the mind. " Gardening depends more upon 

 the labour of the brain than of the body." 



There 



