574 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



July 27, J 912. 



GARDENERS AND 

 GARDENING. 



A Gardener's Education. 



The recent conference at the International 

 Horticultural Exhibition on the " Education 

 of a Gardener " appears to have set many 

 minds at work upon this all-important sub- 

 ject. Many and varied are the opinions ex- 

 pressed by writers, and many have criticised 

 the present-day, haphazard system ot ediicat- 

 inff the gardener. It is haphazard ; m f a^t, 

 thire is no system in it. Mr Ha es aptly 

 described it in his paper as " drift Many 

 writers have also come down hard on the 

 purely college-trained man. and doubtleiss 



with good reason. 



While we have had much criticism, we 

 have had no tierious attempt to outline or 

 (■r,nstruct a scheme of training that will be 

 any better than the present method. Now, 

 I think there is very little good done by 

 ciiticism unless something constructive is 

 uLso suggested. We must be very, very 

 careful to what system we adopt it we 

 are to i»riii^- jnactice •and theory closer to- 

 gether. Inhere is, and i>erliaps always will 

 be a U^ndency for practice and science, or 

 theory, to diverge. I think most will agree 

 that Ik impssible for one man to lie 

 cx|Ku-t III practice and also expert in science. 

 The two are so widely different that the 

 thing is impossible. I admit that science 

 and theory might be brought much closer 

 together than they are at present, but that 

 one man can be expert in both I deny. The 

 whole tendency of progress is to separate 

 them. 



It is suggested that there should be some 

 system of examinations, and that a National 

 Diploma in Horticulture should be etstab- 

 lished. An excellent idea, but one which 

 our severely practical friends will regret- 

 One writer has referred to the fact that 

 many gardeners are not too well educated. 

 Now, the establishment of a N.D.H. will 

 bring* an entirely difBerent class of men 

 into the profession, provided it is any- 

 thing similar to the National Diploma of 

 Agriculture. The establishment of a N.D.H. 

 means that gardeners who wish to obtain 

 the honour must go through a college course. 

 Horticulture Ls advancing, so much so that 

 instead of recruits coming solely from the 

 working classes, we shall find the middle 

 classes taking up the profession. ; Tlie estab- 

 lishment of the N.D.H. will mean that only 

 those holding the diploma will be able to 

 secure good positions. The remuneration of 

 these positions may not be very high at 

 present, but the establishment of a criterion 

 of ability will soon alter that, 



W^e have a National Diploma in Agricul- 

 ture, but we do not find the working classes 

 studying for it. llie holders are almost 

 entirely middle-class men, and, what is 

 more, they are mostly University or college- 

 trained. WHiy, the courses at our agricul- 

 tural colleges are arranged entirely for stu- 

 dents studying for the N.D.A. Horticul- 

 turists look askance at college-trained men, 

 yet this diploma for the establishment of 

 which they are clamouring will be gained 

 almost entirely by college-trained men, un- 

 less mean.s are taken to prevent it. This 

 may be rather a nasty pill to swallow for our 

 severely practical friends, but, nevertheless, 

 I believe it to be true, and I cannot say 

 I am sorry. The better educated the men 

 are who enter the profession the better will 

 it be for horticulture. 



It is all very well to sneer at a knowledge 

 of classics, or of mathematics, but to do 

 so is to show that we have not grasped the 

 real meaning of education. It is education 

 that has made the difference between the 

 classes, and this difference is not only that 

 one man has a knowledge of Greek or ma- 

 thematics, w^hile the other lacks it. The 

 difference is something deeper and more diffi- 

 cult to grasp than that, and to deny it is 

 to deny the whole benefits of education . 

 Some say that the distinction between the 



classes is more marked at the present day 

 than it has been before, but it is not. Class 

 distinction was never less prominent, and 

 education is the reason. 



Now it must be admitted that anything 

 which will debar the son of a working man 

 from the honours of the profession of hor- 

 ticulture is not desirable. Most of the great 

 horticulturists are, or have been, the sons 

 of working men, and at the present day the 

 majority of the best positions in the pro- 

 fession are filled by men who began in the 

 humblest or lowest ranks, and have risen 

 to their present status solely through their 

 grit and individuality. Now, if we 

 establish a N.D.H. , and do not devise some 

 means to place the honour within reach of 

 working men's sons, we shall, as I have al- 

 ready stated, find the best positions filled 

 with men from the middle classes. 



Perhaps, as I have already exceeded the 

 space limit, I may be allowed at some date 

 in the near future to give my views as to 

 how the N.D.H. could be established so as 

 to eliminate the disadvantages mentioned 

 above. J. C, ^^\ 



Kingston, Derby. 



NEW HYDRANGEAS. 



The Head Gardener's 



Responsibility. 



"H. C. P/' very truly states that, con- 

 sidering the many and varied qulilifications 

 a gardener should possess ere he can take 

 a responsible position as head gardener, his 

 remuneration is very poor indeed. How are 

 we to raise the status of the rising genera- 

 tion of gardeners? I suggest two things. 

 Firstly, a National Union of gardeners ; 

 secondly, that head gardeners should take 

 more interest in their journeymen. 



At present, in a great many establishments, 

 a journeyman inside has very little oppor- 

 tunity of learning the rudiments of out- 

 door gardening. His place is inside, and on 

 no aecount must he go into the kitchen gar- 

 den unless sent, which is very seldom. How 

 then are our young men to gain the know- 

 ledge necessary to obtain a head gardener's 

 post? Some head gardeners of my acquaint- 

 ance never worked outside at all in their 

 early days. Why not let the young men 

 take an interest in all departments, and 

 help al'l round occasionally? I know it 

 might be difficult to arrange this in some 

 gardens, but it would encourage those that 

 really take an interest in their work, 

 and enable us to weed out the wasters. 



Consider the second man, or foreman. Let 

 him take his place as second, not as first 

 journeyman or foreman inside only. My 

 idea of that post is that the man should take 

 rank next to the head. How can he improve 

 his knowledge of kitchen garden^ pleasure 

 grounds, and general work outside, if he is 

 always tied to the houses, as so many are? 

 Unless he has had several situations and 

 been given a charge in one or more (which 

 is unlikely), he is lost if the head is ill or 

 called away, and he can look in vain for 

 respect from those supposed to be under him. 



In many places journeymen regard the 

 head gardener as someone to stand in awe of, 

 and they have to be practically their own 

 tutors. Should they desire a change from 

 one department to another, they, through 

 no fault of their own, have to start a long 

 way down the ladder again, and are no better 

 off w^hatever. Among the half-dozen or so 

 large establishments I have been in, only one 

 of the head gardeners made a real attempt to 

 improve the all-round condition of those 

 under him. He was a man among men. 

 Many are in similar positions, I regret to 

 say, who seem to care little or nothing for the 

 improvement or welfare of the young men. 

 Let us then help, and do all we can to lay 

 a good foundation of knowledge, as well as 

 discipline, in those under us. When there 

 is more sympathy between the head gar- 

 dener and his subordinates, then, and not 

 till then, shall we raise the status of gar- 

 deners and gardening. B. W. H. 



Whitley. 



An interesting series of new hydrangeas 

 was shown in the French section of the 



They were exhibited by M. 

 MouUiere, of Vendome, w^ho will be re- 

 membered as the raiser of that white 



heads of 



International. 



huge 



bloom. 



variety, with 

 Madame E. MouUiere, which, first brought 

 forward two years ago, is now extensively 

 grown in this country. 



Of the new varieties shown the following 

 were especially noteworthy : llonsard, a 

 light flow^er, which a markedly pink centre, 

 and the large sterile blooms much serrated 

 at the edges ; La Perle, white, deeply 

 toothed ; President Fallieres, huge heads of 

 bright pink flowers ^ Lilie Moulliere, rich 

 rose flowers, with a light centre ; and Direc- 

 teur Vuillerniet, rich pink, much serrated. 

 Some richly-coloured blue hydrangeas were 

 also exhibited by M. Farjelon. 



Beside these garden varieties one not- 

 able species was shown, and given an Award 

 of Merit. This was Hydrangea Sar- 

 genti, a native of China. It is a robust 

 grower, with very large velvety leaves, 

 curious scale-like hairs on the stems, and 

 widespreading heads of blossoms. The large 

 sterile ones are, however, very few in num- 

 ber, so that it is not particularly showy. 

 The small fertile blooms are bluish. K. 



GENISTA VIRGATA. 



This is one of the most effective of those 

 flowering shrubs that are at their host dur- 

 ing June and July. It attains a height of 

 over tw^elve feet, and is as far through, 



while its bright yellow flowers, produced 

 in racemes at the end of the shoots, render 

 it an especially handsome object. It is per- 

 fectly hardy, and succeeds in almost any 

 situation, excepting where the soil is very 

 wet and heavy, but a position sheltered 

 from the high, winds is desirable. 



This genista is probably seen at its best 

 when planted as an isolated specimen on 

 the grass, where it has ample space to 

 ■develop its dense, bushy habit. It is neces- 

 sary for it to attain a fair size before it 

 displays its full beauty. Like the other 

 members of the genus it is most readily 

 propagated from seeds, and the young 

 plants should be grown in pots in a cool 

 frame until, as good-sized specimens, they 

 are ready to pbnt in their permanent 

 quarters. J. Gardner. 



THE SPANISH BROOM. 



In an}^ selection of flowering shrubs that 

 can be depended upon to maintain a display 

 of blossoms during the latter half of the 

 summer^ the Spanish Broom (Spartium jun- 

 ceum) must be included. It is fairly well 

 known, and cheap, yet at the same time it 

 might with advantage be more often met 

 with than is at the present time the case. 

 This broom is too well known to need any 

 detailed description, therefore it will suffice 

 to say that its comparatively large pea- 

 shaped blooms are of the richest golden- 

 yellow tint, and borne freely on the long 

 deep green rush-like shoots. It will run up 

 to a height of six feet to eight feet or more, 

 and when overtopping a bank of low-grow- 

 ing shrubs it has a very pretty effect. Be- 

 side this, when standing singly so that the 

 long, slender shoots are allowed to dispos-e 

 themselves at will it forms a decidedly 



y * 



graceful specimen. It will succeed better m 

 town gardens than it is generally given 

 credit for. Thit^ broom is readily raised 

 from S2eds, and favourably situated th-e 

 young plants grow away freely. Like most 

 of its allies, the root system consists of a f^"^^ 

 deep descending ones with scarcely any 

 fibres, so that established specimens trans- 

 plant very badly. S. W. 



