414 



OPERATIONS OF GENEKAL MANAGEMENT. 



dener's principal dependence must be on his own knowledge and experience. 

 Unless he think and act for himself, as if no calendar had been in existence, 

 he will never succeed ; and if this may be said of a professional gardener, it 

 applies still more forcibly to the amateur. 



884. The wages of a gm'dener. — Something may here be expected to be 

 said on this subject, and we shall observe: — 1. That there cannot be a 

 greater mistake than to suppose that the products and enjoyments of a 

 garden, however small, can be obtained without the services of a really good 

 professional gardener; and 2. that all the difference between a garden- 

 labourer, who perhaps can barely read and write, and who can neither 

 spell nor pronounce botanic names, is not above £20 or aESO a-year. No 

 man would think of giving a garden-labourer, to whom he committed the 

 management of his garden, less than a guinea a- week with his lodging, and 

 some other perquisites, such as spare vegetables, fuel, &c. Now, for £70 

 or c£80 a-year, a scientific professional gardener may be engaged ; one who 

 can understand and reason upon all that is written in this volume, as well 

 as carry all the practices described into operation, and who m consequence 

 will elicit more enjoyment from a quarter of an acre than a man who has 

 no scientific knowledge will do from any extent of ground, and means with- 

 out limits. We by no means set down £70 or £80 as adequate wages for 

 such a person ; we know many gardeners who receive £l00, and some J6l50 

 and £200 a-year, with a house, coals, candles, and various other perquisites. 

 We merely state that such is the salary at which a scientific gardener may be 

 engaged at the present time. It is a common notion that it requires a much 

 less skilful gardener to manage a small place than a large one ; but this only 

 holds true where the variety of products required are small in proportion to 

 the extent of the ground on which they are to be grown. If all the kinds 

 of produce are required from a small garden that are required from a large 

 one : if, for example, forcing in all its departments is to be carried on in both; 

 if there are to be small crops in the cottage garden of all those crops which 

 are grown in the mansion garden on a large scale ; then we affirm that a more 

 skilful, experienced, and attentive gardener is required for the latter than 

 for the former. More skill is necessary, because more is required with less 

 means; more experience is requisite, because it is only by experience, joined 

 to skill and knowledge, that success can be rendered tolerably certain ; and 

 more attention is required to watch the progress of favourable or un- 

 favourable circumstances, because, on a small scale, these circumstances are 

 more immediate in their operations, and their results, if unfavourable, are 

 more severely felt. But let us not be supposed to undervalue the 

 garden-labourer. Wherever an amateur is his own head-gardener, there 

 the garden-labourer is his fittest assistant, and far better adapted for his 

 purpose than a professional gardener, whose superior knowledge and skill 

 might discourage him in his operations. The wages of a professional 

 gardener, it must be allowed, are but small, compared with the amount of 

 knowledge and the steady attention which the exercise of his profession 

 requires ; but wages in this, as in every other case, depends on demand 

 and supply, and it would serve little purpose here to discuss the subject of 

 increasing the one or diminishing the other. This much it may be useful to 

 observe, that gardening, when studied scientifically, is a profession which 

 tends to elevate the mind, and confer intellectual enjoyments of a much 

 more exalted character than mere money-making can ever do. This, we 



