608 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



■ 



AuGiTST 10, 1912. 



it from the real bee. Then there is the 

 Fly Orchis, whicli is to be found on and in 

 the hedges near the sea coast in Devon- 

 shire ; then the foxglove, which is said to 

 resemble young ladies— they always turn 

 their flowers towards the roadside, they 

 know they have pretty fauces. You will 

 never find these flowers facing the hedge. 

 In the Midlands you will find '^hedges of 

 thorn, brier, rose, bramble, and maple, 

 only to be seen and to be admired and 

 loved." Box hedges are not durable, for box 

 is easily rent from the stem when old, and 

 clipped holly grows no berries, and has a 

 dull look, but it makes the best and most 

 impenetraible of hedges. 



In the outskirts of London, we see in 

 nearly every street the privet planted in the 

 little front garden, and being frequently 

 clipped, it keeps ita leaves all the year 

 round, and is pleasing to the eye. 



In Shakespeare's time, on washing di^ys, 

 the linen was dried on the hedees. and so 



GARDENERS AND 

 GARDENING. 



Does Education Pay 



I w^as not at the conference at the Interna- 

 tional Horticultural Exhibition when the 

 education of a gardener was considered^ and 

 I am therefore unacquainted pexsonally with 

 what may have been discussed. The question 

 of the education of a gardener is as necessary 

 now as ever it was, and with this difference^ 

 thatj under present competition, the better a 

 man is equipped the greater chance he has 



of succeeding. 



When one considers 



the remuneration 



it is to this day in many country places; 

 and, strange to say, in the West of ]^ng- tion he 



offered at the present day for the average 

 gardener, there does not, however, appear 

 very much to tempt young men to qualify for 

 such positions, and it requires a large 

 amount of enthusiasm to induce the embryo 

 gardener to take up the profession when he 

 sees the difficulty men have in obtaining 

 suitable positions. If a young man has started 

 on a gardening career, the best thing he 

 can do is to educate himself for the' 



land, you often see children on their way 

 to school walking on the hedge tops. 



England has many admirable lanes, but 

 none more so than Troutbecks, where these 

 run towards the wilds at the head of its 



glen. 



the 



nana, the beck more or less by your side, 

 flowery meadows stopping its way, and such 

 a tangle of honeysuckle and hawthorn for 

 hedges as the eye loves to bel old, mixed 

 with wild raspberries, white and pink fox- 

 gloves, and lovely ferns innumerable — 

 a scene once seen not soon forgotten. 



Hawthorn 



the road to Oxford, befoi'e reaching Bea- 

 consfield. The only thing to complain of 

 is the almost oppressive scent of the haw- 

 thorn, with the showere of white petals 

 tha-t fall continually and whiten one like 

 a snowstorm. In Suffolk it was a custom 

 that the first farm servant who brought in 

 . a branch of hawthorn in full blossom on the 

 first of May should have a dish of cream 

 for his breakfast. 



Ashurst, in Sussex, is so called from the 

 enclosures being small, and the hedj^e-rows 



wide ; hence 



wood 



ash trees. 



5 J 



the 



Chidham, in the same county, has a curious 

 story, ^for in a hedge-row on the farm of 

 Mr. W^oods was discovered growing a single 

 wheat stalk, which, by careful treatment, 

 became noted throughout England for its 

 productiveness. 



A favourite in our hedge-rows is 

 sweet briar, perfuming the surrounding air, 

 and even when not in blossom exhaling a 

 delicious fragrance. The oak is also found 

 in the hedge-row, and in May tassels of 

 green flowers hang from the twigs; the 

 leaves show a transparent yellow-green, 

 and here and there may be seen the rosy 

 cheek of a swelling white oak apple. 



We never hear of transplanting liedges 

 in these days, yet in the year 1771^ at 

 Swaith, near Barnsley, it was a practice to 

 transplant white thorn hedges of any 

 growth, even to thirty or forty years old. 

 In winter, after cutting, the old hedge was 

 grubbed up, and set pretty deep in a trench 

 where the new hedge was to be made, and 

 did not fai"^ tc grow. 



In the Island of Portland, four 

 from beautiful Weymouth, there are no 

 hedges r Geo, J. Simmons. 



iles 



Begronia Major Hope.— For bed- 

 ding purposes this pleasing pint, double- 

 flowered variety seems to have caught on 

 everywhere, and it plays a part- in many pretty 

 combinations. In conjunction with llyssum 

 maritima and Leucophyta (Calocf^phalus) 



H^rT^ '^H^^-.^ ^^"y attractive bed at 

 Hampton Court. — ^K. 



aims at. Unfortunately, 

 lajority of gardens are somewhat isolate 

 and the opportunities for acquiring other 

 information than is gained in daily practice 

 are limited; but if head gardeners were more 

 ready to assist and encourage those who 

 want to improve themselves, these helps to 

 self-improvement would be easily obtained. 

 I fear there are many gardeners who do not 

 give their young men much encouragement 

 in these things; and^ on the other hand, 

 there are comparatively few young men of 

 the present day who show any great desire 

 for study. I know this from personal know- 

 ledge of young men who have served under 

 me. 



How many young men of the present day 

 trouble to keep a diary of the work which 

 goes on in the garden, whether in their own 

 department or in others? Or if there is a 

 good collection of conifers or other outdoor 

 plants, do they make themselves conversant 

 with the names, habit of growth, and other 

 peculiarities of the trees or plants? What 

 botanical knowledge do they possess to en- 

 able them to recognise the plants they meet 

 with under different conditions of growth? 

 How many can draw a plan to scale and 

 work It out in practice? Yet these things are 

 necessary m the equipment for a responsible 

 position as head gardener. 



It should be realised by our young men that 

 knowledge acquired can never be taken from 

 them, and the greater knowledge a man can 

 bring to bear upon his work the greater his 

 chances of obtaining his proper position, 

 lact, smart appearance, and good manners 

 are all valuable factors in the struggle for 

 positions. There is also another useful thin^ 

 If a man has to work for his living, and that 

 IS, influence. Many men occupy their pre- 

 sent positions because they are '^sons of their 

 fathers ; probably if they had competed 

 on their merits for the positions they now 

 hold they would have lost the prize. A^ain 

 many men seize their opportunity when 

 offered and are shrewd enough to make the 

 most of It. There appears to be at the pre- 



rrden^i^s:'''"' ""^"'^^ ^^'^^ ^^^^^ 

 Gardening has changed in many ways of 

 late; a few years since a head gardener was 

 engaged for the position he was expected to 

 fill. The employers knew what the en^affe- 

 nient was for and the carrying out of their 

 duties was left to the man engaged Thinr^s 

 worked smoothly, and generally to the 

 mutual benefit of employer and employed 

 Nowadays it does not appear nece^sary^ for 

 the head gardener to know' very much, as too 

 often, the management and control' of ' the 

 erardener is taken out of his hands; he is 

 fold how to carry out certain duties, and so 

 IS reduced to a machine which can be set i 

 motion as desired. 



It is well that the owner of a garden should 

 be keenly interested in it, but it would b- 

 better if the pros and cons were discussed 



between himself and his gardener, without 

 much notice being taken of third persons 

 There should then be that mutual confidence 

 between them so necessary in all undertak- 

 ings, and which is beneficial to both. Under 

 such conditions we should find fewer dissatis- 

 fied gardeners, and a greater incentive to the 

 younger men to interest themselves in their 

 work. Paul T. More. 



A Gardener's Education. 



This topic, which has been so much dis- 

 cuss.ed, proves very interesting to the 

 majority of gardeners, but I do not think 

 it goes much beyond that. The suggestion 

 that there Aould be a National Diploma in 

 Horticulture is a good one, but if such a 

 diploma is established I do not think it will 

 be very beneficial to the average private gar- 

 dener. The possession of a diploma would 

 be of more use to a man seeking a position 

 as horticultural instructor. 



In his remarks on this subject (page 574), 

 "J. C. W." suggests that the diploma would 

 be likely to bring a different class of men 

 into the profession ; but woidd many of the 

 middle-class, which he alludes to, accept 

 situations at the present rate of remunera- 

 tion ? Furthermore, he assumes that the 



establishment of a criterion of ability would 

 soon improve the wages of gardeners. This 



I fail to understand. There are already a 

 large number of well-trained and capable 

 gardeners who are prepared to accept situa- 

 tions at the present rate of pay, and so 

 long as that is so, employers are not likely 

 to pay more, in spite of what the B.G.A. 

 hopes to do, and however good its intentfons 

 may be. I venture to say that the majority 

 of employers do not care whether their gar- 

 deners hold a diploma or not, &o long as they 

 carry out their duties in a satisfactory 

 manner. 



In most cases such a diploma would go to 

 the college-trained man ; but would the latter 

 be capable of taking charge of a large pri- 

 vate garden? I think most readers will 

 agree with me that he would cut a poor 

 figure compared with the man practically 

 trained in garden management. The training 

 afforded by a horticultural college teaches 

 students something about manures, insect 

 pests, and how to grow certain crops, but 

 it by no means teaches the various duties a 

 private gardener is expected to carry out- 

 duties that can only be learned by 

 experience. I do not know that there 

 is a better way of training a gar- 

 dener than by the apprenticeship system, 

 which enables him to accumulate a know- 

 ledge of all branches of his profession; but 

 in addition to practical work, young men 

 should be encouraged and helped to study. 

 They will never regret the time so spent in 

 future years. Personally, I have been for- 

 tunate enough to receive a college educa- 

 tion, but, in addition to that, I have worked 

 my way in different gardens from the very 

 bottom of the ladder. A good education is 

 certainly a considerable help to a gardener, 

 but he cannot obtain a full knowledge of his 

 profession without steady and continuous 

 application to practical work. 



Nous Verrons. 



Thunbergia grandiflora.— For 



a lofty structure where a stove temperature 

 is maintained, this thunber^a can be recom- 

 mended as a vigorous-growing climber, ana 

 one whose large, light blue flowers are borne 

 in great profusion over a lengthened period- 

 It is a native of the East Indies, where it 

 may be often seen festoonin^r for^t trees. 

 — S. W. 



- Hydrangrea paniculata. — The 



large-headed Hydrangea paniculata is grown 

 m immense numbers, both as a hardy shruE> 

 and as a pot plant. For the open ground the 

 typical kind does not, at least to mjr miii^' 

 gain sufficient recognition, and it is very 

 difficult to obtain from nurseries. From tDe 

 variety grandiflora it differs in its 

 vigorous growth richer green leaves, 

 fewer sterile blossoms.— W. 



