652 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



AUGTTST 24. 1912 



GARDENERS AND 

 GARDENING. 



A Practica.1 Educational 



Foundation. 



The welfare of a gardener, especially with 

 reference to his education, is engaging a 

 good deal of attention, but a spirit of dis- 

 appointment seems to pervade nearly all the 

 oommunications on the subject. It seems to 

 be generally agreed that a diploma in hor- 

 ticulture, if instituted^ would go in most 

 cases to the college-trained men. Few 

 writers, however, go to the root of the matter 

 and endeavour to point a way out of the ap- 

 parent difficulty of the position. 



It seems to me that every ambitious young 

 gardener should have had foul- years' prac- 

 tical experience in a good garden or gardens 

 before being allowed to enter for a college 

 eour?e. This method would give a young 

 man many advantages, and he would be the 

 better able to grasp and adapt his college 

 education because of his practical experience, 

 r have come into contact with several young 

 men who have been college-trained, and, to 

 my surprise, have found them inferior to 

 practical men of similar age. 



('ould not the Royal Horticultural vSoci^ty 

 lead the way by means of co-operation with 

 head gardeners? The latter would be able 

 to point out specially intelligent young men 

 who would profit from a college course, and 

 such young men should be assisted, if neces- 

 sary, to take such a course of training. An 

 arrangement of this kind would eau^e young 

 men to take a keener interest in their work, 

 so that thoy micrht qualify for the special 

 educational eourse. T l>elieve a two years' 

 college cours^^, following four years' practical 

 experience, would work wonders in the educa- 

 tion of garrh'ui'rs. but I am also quite sure 

 that collf^ge-triining alone will not enable a 

 man to manage a private garden of any im- 

 portance, jj E 



Colchester. 



What is a Gardener? 



T?eing much intereste<l in the correspon- 

 (h'uro t hat has been going on in the " G.M." 

 lalely, undor the above heading, I ask the 

 favour of being allowed to make a few re- 

 marks on this all-important subject. 



In the first plaee. what is a gardener, and 

 how did lir o!)taiii that designation? We 

 often hear perMUis styled gardeners who have 

 to feed pigs, clean boots, milk cows, and so 

 forth; others call a man a gardener who 

 simply works as a labourer in a garden, but 

 in my opinion none of these are gardeners, 

 and until we can define what a gardener 

 really is, it is impossible to assign him his 

 right position. Those who are acquainted 

 with gardeners and gardening^ know full welj 

 that we can find more and better qualified 

 men who are unable to procure first-class 

 situations than there are filling them, and 

 this through no fault whatever of their own. 

 I am not making statements without a full 

 knowledge of the subject under discussion, 

 when I say it is not always the qualification 

 of the person that procures him a good 

 berth, but the infiuence he has at his back 

 It would not be difficult to name instances 



where good men have been passed over in 

 favour of those who have been personally re- 

 commended; this being so, I fail to see what 

 use a diploma in horticulture would be. 



Supposing all gardeners were compelled 

 to pass an examination before being en- 

 gaged, it would be interesting to know how 

 many of them would be able to keep their 

 situations. We want to raise the status of 

 the gardener, and how to do so is puzzling 

 the minds of many of us. The other day the 

 writer was asked by an aristocrat to recom- 

 mend him a good gardener; on obtaining 

 particulars I informed him that he could get 

 a good labourer at the wages offered but 

 not a garderier! Here are tho particulars: 

 beven men kept; foreman in houses- glass 



kitchen, and flower gardens, etc. Wages 23s. 

 per week, with house; no firing. Employer 

 to engage all under-men. I could name seve- 

 ral such instances that have come under my 

 notice. It is well known that there are at 

 the present time men filling head positions 

 in some large places^ where from twenty to 

 twenty-five men are employed, whose wages 

 are but <£65 per year. While men can be 

 found to work for such wages it is not 

 diplomas that are so much needed as Trade 

 Unions^ to prevent a man filling such posi- 

 tions for a mere pittance. There are few 

 gardeners in such places rhat work less than 

 seventy hours per week, including Sundays. 

 Seventy hours at 4d. per hour would amount 

 to 23s. 4d. per week — not the waares of 



a 



bricklayer's labourer, yet such men must keep 

 themselves respectable, be fully qualified, 

 have a diploma, pass an examination, and 

 so forth ! 



Now, let us consider how many years it 



takes a man to acquire sufficient knowlecjg 

 to become qualified to fill such a place. I 

 will just state my own personal experience. 

 Years gone by it was the custom to appren- 

 tice young men, and gardeners used to take 

 premiums from them; the greater the repu- 

 tation the place had, the larger the pre- 

 mium ; but the usual figure Avas either £b 

 or £10 down, of 2s. per week stopped out of 

 the pittance received in the way of wages. 

 The writer was in the fortunate position of 

 being able to pay the lump sum, but others 

 had the 2s. per week deducted; and, as the 

 wages paid to youths was 12s. per week, it 

 left but 10s. to keep them. Times fifty years 

 ago were not as they are now, and young 

 fsIOows were compelled to work much longer 

 hours, and a days holiday was unknown. 

 Having served my apprenticeship under one 

 of the most exacting men that ever entered 

 a garden^ I was sent to a nursery to await 

 a change. Going from the north to a London 

 nursery was a change indeed; and after 

 being in the nursery three months, I ob- 

 tained a situation at 16s. per week, and 

 bothy. The earth served for the floor^ and 

 the only entrance to the bothy was by a 

 plank across the stoke-hole, over a tubular 

 boiler. A premium of ^10 and a good recom- 

 mendation had obtained me this. Time wore on 

 and, after several ups and downs, extendinp^ 

 over about fifteen years, I was offered a head 

 gardeners situation. The dwelling-house 

 was a shed at the beck of a north wall^ but, 

 needless to say. I did not go there. 



Some no doubt still believe in the old ap- 

 prenticeship system; but those who have 

 passed through the mill hold different views. 

 Some advocate college training, others ex- 

 aminations in horticulture; but, gentle 

 reader, you may rest assured the finest 

 diploma you can possess is a friend at court; 

 therefor^^r. if you aspire to something higher 



than 23s. p^r week have a friend in vour 

 pocket. Q Vr 



feussex. 



HYPERICUM REPTANS. 



slibjects 



hype 



are suitable 

 u and when 



ch 



NOTES FROM SCOTLAND, 



The Season. 



The inclement weather of late has very 

 materially changed the aspect of the flower 

 department in many gardonSj as ^vell as the 

 excellent prospects in -regard to crops that 

 prevailed but a short time ago. Whether 

 providing an improvement, climaticallj' 

 comes shortly, things in general will -be 

 as bad as many growers at present contem- 

 plate, is, of course, uncertain; but, all the 

 same, much damage has been done wlii 

 no ameliorating influences that may follow 

 can possiibly entirely efface this season. 



Amateur cultivators, especiallyj have just 

 cause to bewail the destruction wrought 

 among their highly-cherished productions, 

 more particularly those of taller growth as 

 some species of herbaceous plants, dahlias 

 and sweet peas. The latter, grown in iso- 

 lated clumps had, owing to the excess of 

 moi.sture, following upon a dry, warm 

 period, and probably over-liberal supplies 

 of nutriment by way of manures, made 

 vigorous growth w^liioh, over-toppiag and 

 extending much beyond the supports, ap- 

 peared most promising while calm weather 

 lasted, but as such in exposed positions 

 were unalble to offer sufficient resistance to 

 strong gales O'f wind many of these have 

 been brought to a recumbent position, 

 which contrasts very adversely with their 

 former erect and trim appearance. 



Roses of the dwarf^groaving types were 

 past their best, as relating to summer 

 bloom, ere the 'worst effects of th.^ s^■()•■!lls 

 were experienced, ibut such gave the finish- 

 ing touch to what may well be described as 

 a brilliant period of inflorescence, as sel- 

 dom, indeed, have finer blooms or greater 

 numbers of them been witnessed. 



In contrast with these large-flowering 

 kinds, it may be remarked how well most 

 of th e ra mbl e r va r i e t ies pa ss 

 periods of inclement weather conditions, 

 even when the growths siway considerably 

 under the influence of strong winds, 

 and, althoug^h some individual blooms may 

 receive damage, others are ready to ex- 

 pand and take their place. 



Bedding-out plants in general have suf- 

 fered severely, and the accustomed colour 

 brightness at this season is conspicuous by 

 its -absence. Owing to the cold nights, 

 growth has been much retarded, and, ex- 

 cept where very close planting out was 

 practised, the beds, as yet, -are not nearly 

 filled. A change to warmth and drier con- 

 ditions may, of course, alter this, and 

 enable the plants to recover and present a 

 prolific display of foliage and .blossom. The 

 usefulness of the Vegonia as a bedding 

 plant is at present very striking, more par- 

 ticularly the small, prof use-flowenog varie- 

 ties, several bedv^ of wliieli show to n^uen 



although in full bloom, 



through 



oopm, 



trail among the boulders of a large rockery 



advantage, for, „ - 



heavy storms of wind and rain .have passed 



leaving them almost mi- 



over them, 



thej are very attractive. H. reptariK is one ^^^.f*^;. 



James Dat. 



the 'best tor this purpose, and lits clear, 

 rich yellow flowers are produced in profu- 

 sion at tihe present time, rendering th- pi mt 

 an (Object of especial beauty. Tliis variety 

 proves quite hardy in our locality, althouo-h 

 in certain districts it may not be so, heimr, 

 in some instances, partially killed back by 

 frosts. Fairly light soil, containing leaf- 

 mould and road grit, suits it very well, but 

 it m'ust ibe pressed firinlly around the roots. 

 Dry weather does not harm the plant, for 

 last season our specimens withstood ' the 

 drought without any ill-efFects, and they 

 are planted rather high up between boul- 

 ders of rock with their growths carpeting 

 the spaces between. J. Gardner. 



Batsford Park Gardens. 



Galloway House, Wigtownshire. 



Potentilla Nepaulensis Will- 



mottiana.— With each succeeding sea- 

 son, the decoratiye value of Potentilla -Ne- 

 paulensis as a border or rock garden subject 

 appreciably increases. The form I t^^}^ 

 favour is known as Will mottiana, which, witii 

 its palmate, rugose leaves of deepest g^^f^ 

 and brilliant rose-carmine flowers, procm^ 

 it a plant of sterling merit when in season 

 during July and August. It is a f^ee-gro^^•- 

 ing subject, succeeding in any good son tnj^ 

 is well drained; it produces^ abundant 

 age, from which ariose stiff, branched steiris 

 so.me 15in. high, on which the flowers 

 borne. It ripens seed fieely, and 1 r<^^^i'^^ 



ing plants are true to the variety.— Thom 

 Smith. 



