532 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



July 13, 1912. 



GARDENERS AND 

 GARDENING. 



■ 



It would be interesting to know how 

 many of the vast crowd who visited the 

 Royal International Horticultural Exhibi- 

 tion and admired the many forms of floral 

 beauty thereat displayed, had any idea of 

 the amount of skill and forethought that 

 had 'been expended on their production. It 

 is only on occasions such as these that it 

 is possible to realise the time needed for 

 a gardener to become master of so vast 

 a field of knowledge, and the labour ex- 

 pended in studying the requirements of 

 such a number of subjects. Here we had 

 plants from all parts of the globe, extend- 

 ing from the Tropics to remote parts of 

 the Northern and Southern Hemispheres ; 

 from high altitudes, and from swamps and 

 jungles. 



The proficient gardener has not only to 

 make himself acquainted with the names 

 of numerous genera and species of plants, 

 but he must know the kinds of soil suited 

 to the several species, the position mo-st 

 adapted to their well-beings the proper 

 temperature needed to produce a healthy 

 growth, the various diseases to which they 

 are subject, and the various insect pests 

 that attack them, and also the best and 

 most effectual means of preventing or de- 

 stroying such pests. 



He must be well versed in entomology, 

 ornithology, geology, chemistry, etc. He 

 must be able to draw plans and give esti- 

 mates for the erection of various build- 

 ings ; know the value of various kinds of 

 timber, and how to meavsure the same, and 

 have many other varied qualifications ere 

 he can attain to that exalted position of 

 a head gardener, and receive for all his 

 ability and skill the handsome remunera- 

 tion, may be, of £80 or so per annum! 



One often wonders now there is so much 

 talk about raising the status" of the 

 gardener, how this is to be brought about. 

 It is, unfortunately, too true that many 

 gardeners are not so well educated as they 

 might be, but what inducement is there 

 held out to them to study ? The bothy, 

 though, no doubt, much improved of late, 

 is not even now all that could be desired, 

 and the social life in the country is far 

 different to what it is in towns. Gardeners 

 for the most part are brought up in the 

 rural districts, and the schooling many of 

 them receive in their early days is scant. 

 They are taught to order themselves lowly 

 and reverently to all their betters, and 

 to go to church on Sundays, and all the 

 amusement they get is in the school play- 

 ground. There are few, if any, night 

 .schools at these out-of-the-way places, and 

 when a lad becomes old enough to to 

 work he must put in full time, working 

 from six in the morning until the same 

 hour in the evening, and he is then too 

 tired to do much studying. Few know 

 this better than the writer, who, in his 

 early days, spent weeks together in one 

 of the most dreary bothies in the kingdom. 

 Even in these days when bicycles are so 

 cheap, it requires a great amount of 

 courage and energy for a young fellow to 

 ride from fifteen to twenty miles on a 

 winter's evening in order that he mav at- 

 tend the nearest night school — which is the 

 distance in many parts. How are we then 

 to improve the education and raise the 

 status of the gardener ? 



It is quite useless to think that a man 

 will ever make a good gardener who is 

 brought up in a horticultural college. He 

 cannot obtain the necessary qualifications 



so that the time 



admit it is possible for such students to 

 learn the rudiments of gardening, but 

 unless brought up in a private establish- 

 ment, and taught the requirements of such 

 places, they - will never be able to eive 

 satisfaction. The gardener has not only 

 his employer to please, but there is the 

 cook, the butler, and a host of others to 

 be considered. There is a vast difference 

 between gardening in a private establish- 

 ment and at a horticultural college or 

 other public institution. To be a good 

 gardener one must be qualified in every 

 branch, whether it be in the cultivation 

 of orchids, plants and flowers, fruit and 

 vegetables, or the care of lawns, roads, and 

 woods. So vast a field of work requires 

 much study, one must admit, but unless 

 this can he combined with practical instruc- 

 tion it avails but little. 



Where is there one of our horticultural 

 institutions that contains a collection of 

 orchids, or one whose instructor is well 

 versed in their cultivation ? It is very 

 amusing to find people setting themselves 

 up as experts in horticulture. I noticed 

 one or two such at the Royal International 

 Horticultural Exhibition. One would be 

 interested to learn where they were 

 trained, who were their instructors, and 

 what their success. Writing of gar- 

 deners being educated reminds me of 

 William Cobbett, who once said he did not 

 consider a farm labourer an ignorant per- 

 son if he was able to find the nearest way 

 across a field, thus signifying that though 

 in book learning he mijjht not be very pro- 

 ficient, he was a master in the art of 

 ploughing. It is not always the man who 

 is well versed in classics that is the most 

 practical person. AVhat is the use of 

 Greek, Latin, and French t-o a sailor in 

 an open boat on the sea with a hole a foot 

 square in the boat, and only one piece 

 of board to repair the damage with, and 

 this pieces sixteen by nine inches? It 

 would be far more to his advantage if he 

 could see, at a glance, how he could cut 

 his board to fill the hole. A knowledge of 

 French and Latin does not assuage the 

 wrath of the cook if there be an inade- 

 quate supply of fruit and vegetables at a 

 particular season, neither does it bring a 

 valuable plant back to life that has been 

 lost through a want of knowledge of its 

 requirements. 



It has on several occasions been my mis- 

 fortune to have to deal with young men 

 who have been instructed in some of these 

 horticultural colleges. Not a very long 

 time ago one, who had a certificate from 

 the R.H.S., applied for a situation under 

 a friend of mine ; though furnished with 

 these credentials, he was hardly sufficiently 

 advanced either in education or practical 

 knowledge to commence an apprenticeship. 

 We cannot all be Paxtons and Flemings, 

 neither can be all fill places like Trentham 

 and Chatsworth, but we can all strive, 

 and if by chance one should be " facile 



he need not look down on his 



pnnceps 



less fortunate fellows, who, though quite 

 his equal in every respect, have not had 

 good fortune to smile on them when seek- 

 ing to improve their position. 



Gardenin 



cannot be learned in a year 

 it is impossible for those who 

 through 



in such institutions 



or two, anc 



have not gone through a proper tram- 

 ing themselves to teach others, therefo 

 one should dismiss at once the idea of 

 employing horticultural experts who even, 

 though they are versed in all the 

 yet lack the rudimentary training so essen- 

 tial in a sound, practical, business-like pro- 

 fession. Professors there are many. 

 Thoroughly practical men are like stars on 



few and far between. 



THE SMALLER MOCK 



ORANGES. 



When the bulk of spring-flowering shrub, 

 are over the mock oranges come in with a 

 rush, and in the month of June, extending 

 some seasons partially through July, they 

 form one of the most attractive outdoor fea- 

 tures of our garden. In many cases, at least 

 the mock oranges have been this year par- 

 ticularly fine, and I have been greatly struck 

 with the beauty of the large-flowered Phila- 

 delphus grandiflorus, in many unfavourable 

 spots in the gardens and courtyards of Lon- 

 don, where, in some cases, cribbed and con- 

 fined, it has proved independent of all ita 

 surroundings. For limited spaces, however, 

 and, in fact, for massing in large gardens' 

 the various hybrid kinds that have made 

 their appearance within recent years are 

 particularly desirable. The comparatively 

 dwarf habit is caused by the influence of 

 the twiggy growing Philadelphus mlcrophyU 

 lus, introduced from New Mexico about 

 thirty years ago. By crossing with some of 

 the original species and the hybrids raised 

 therefrom, a great number of varieties have 

 been obtained and distributed by MM. 

 Lemoine et Fils, of Nancy, France. The 

 first was the variety Lemoinei, followed by 

 Lemoinei erectus, which last I still con- 

 sider to be one of the best. A double- 

 flowered form of this group, Virginal, was 

 given a first-class certificate this year, and 

 during the present season two varietiee, 

 namely. Bouquet Blanc, and Voie Laetee, 

 have received awards of merit. W. 



ROMNEYA COULIERI. 



Few 



plants are more 

 Oonlteri 



beautiful than 



Romneya Ck)nlteri (Calif ornian Poppy) 

 when well grown, as its silvery-grey foliage 

 is quite as attractive as its large white 

 sweet-scented flowers. I send a photo- 

 graph — [Unfortunately not suitable for re- 

 production.— Ed.]— taken last year, which 

 shows a plant over ten feet high, growing 

 in a warm positioUj sheltered from the 

 north-west, in a rather heavy loam, rich 

 in potash. Unfortunately^ the background 

 detracts from the effect, and prevents the 

 boldness of the plant and its handsome 

 appearance being seen to full advantage. 



Although not hardy in many parts, yet 

 much might be done in some of the more 

 inland and colder localities of the country 

 to secure such a desirable ornamental suh- 

 ject, by planting it in cosy corners, and 

 giving it a certain amount of protection 

 during the winter and spring months. 

 Along the AVelsh coast, the south of Eng- 

 land, and most of Ireland, this plant 

 should luxuriate and multiply without the 

 assistance of shelter, provided it has ^ a 

 fairly strong well-drained loam to grow m. 

 The composition of the soil in which the 

 plant mentioned thrives is rich in potash, 

 but deficient in phosphates and lime. I 

 have seen -some good examples doing well 

 in peat containing a little sand, but their 

 strength of stem, size of flower, and broad- 

 ness of foliage fell short of those of this 

 specimen . Pedestrian. 



a 



a stormy night 



ted 



I 



H. a p. 



Besronia Sutherlandi.— This is 



uberous-rooted. begonia, native of Natal, 

 nd quite distinct from the various South 

 American species. Forming as it ^ 

 large irregularly-shaped tuber of a rather 

 firm texture, B. Sutherlandi pushes up there* 

 from slender reddish stems clothed wnh 

 pointed leaves of a bright green colour witii 

 red veins. The flowers, which are freely 

 b(;rne towards the upper parts of the arching 

 steins, are not large, but conspicuous by 

 reason of their bright salmon-red ^^^}^' 

 This species has not been much employed by 

 th- hybridist but it is one of the parents ot 

 B. Weltoniensis, a favourite of days gone by. 

 " W. 



■s. 



