October 19, 1912 



THt GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



793 



but owing to the low tone in wf_.ch it was 

 read there was a difficulty in catching its 

 purport^ but it appeared to have been pre- 

 pared for reading at the Guildford meeting 

 rather than at the conference. The few 

 delegates who had an opportunity of speak- 

 ing expressed opinions strongly in favour of 

 the admission of ladies, and they had no 

 difficnltv in giving instances where the lady 

 members are a source of much strength. 



Proposed Addition to Wands- 

 worth Park. — As Lady Hensley has in- 

 timateil hei- willingness to accept £3,000 for 

 Glenton House and grounds, a proposal is 

 on foot for the acquisition of the property 

 at this low figure as an extension of AVands- 

 worth Park. A ])ublic meeting has been 

 :alkxl to fully consider the matter. 



Tfrie Botanical MsiSSLzine " for 



October contains illustrations and descrip- 

 tions of several interesting plants. Chamee- 

 dorea glaucifolia, a slender and elegant 

 South American palm, and one that has 

 been in cultivation at Kew for about 40 

 years J is figured, and so are Ceropegia 

 Thorncrofti, a climbing Asclepiad from the 

 Transvaal, with white, puri^le-marked 

 flowers ; Osmanthus Delavayi, a useful 

 hardy shrub, evergreen, and bearing white, 

 fragrant flowers in terminal chisters dm-ing 

 March ; Elsholtzia Stauntoni, an aromatic, 

 hardv Chinese shrub, that bears dense Vero- 

 nica-like spikes of small, rose-purple 

 flowers ; and Furci a^a elegans^ a Mexican 

 plant closely allied to the agaves, and one 

 that carries its green flow^ers on branching 

 spikes that may be as high as 25ft., and Gin. 

 thick at the base. 



Potato Lifters on Strike.^A few 



days ago about 1,000 workers empoycd in 

 lifting the potato crops in East Lothian 

 demanded a rise of 2s. per week^ or a w^age 

 of 20iS. At the time of writing the matter 

 remains unsettled. The demand of the 

 workers does not seem extravagant. 



The Late Mr. Alexander Dean, 



V.M.H.— We learn that the late Mr. A. 

 Dean, whose will lias been "'proved, left 

 £2,071. 



The Largest Vine in Scotland. 



In answer to our request for information 

 concerning the oldest vine in Scotland, a 

 correspondent has sent us a cutting from a 

 Boston (U.S.A.) paper, referrmg to the 

 famous vine at Killin, Loch Tay, Scotland. 

 This vine is about 80 years old, whereas the 

 one at Bearehill is 135 years old. In point 

 of size, however, our Transatlantic contem- 

 porary states that " the vine owned by Lord 

 Breadalbane, and to be seen at Killin, Loch 

 Tay^ Scotland, has now ecli])sed in size 

 everj' other vine in Europe. Planted in 

 1832 in a modest conservatory measuring 

 only 15ft., its glass-house lias now grown to 

 172ft. by 25ft., the outer branches being 

 some 80ft. oflE the main stem, and both 



vme and its little crystal palare are still 

 adding to their inches, the hitter having 

 l)een extended 28 years ago. The ti'unk 

 measures 6ft. in height and 2ft. lOin. in 

 J?irth. The 1912 yield num])erod 2.075 

 bunches, but it was thought l»ost to allow 

 only 500 of them to mature, Thev liave a 

 delifious flavour, and are of the Bla-k Hom- 



burg varietv. 



Like e^■ervthinc: connected 



with this vine, the watering is done on a 

 large scale, 7,000 gallons being giv<'n to it 

 ^it one time, and the performance i e]>eated 

 only twire. or, at the most, three times in 

 the year. By far the most interesting fea- 

 ture of the vin(\ hoAvever, is the determined 

 «^ay in which it has. through manv decades, 

 ^^nght and found freedom for itself through 

 the roaming of its roots. They have been 

 traced to a spot some 750ft.' away from 

 where the main stem is confined in an arti- 

 ncially-ln.;^-tod atmosphere, and its bratn-hes 

 trauird alonjr wires, and tied every t'i'w 

 leet. Free and wild, the roots have worked 



their wav in the direction of the virgin soil, 

 where the rich vellow loam, uncultivated for 

 some 200 vears, lies on either side of some 

 running water, which the roots are found 

 to have crossed. So Nature continues to 

 care for her offspring, independently of 

 what the friendlv hand of man may think it 

 is accomplishing/' 



EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

 OF YOUNG GARDENERS, 



First Essentials. 



It matters not into what s])here of life 

 one's thoughts are directed at the present 

 time, as contrasted with what existed, say 

 50 years back ; everything points ' to an 

 immense advantage in favour of lads at 

 t h e prese n t day, w he n laying the f o u nd a - 

 tion, so to speak, of their future career. 

 Education has advanced by leaps and bounds, 

 this being supplemented by continuation 

 classes and technical training also. Thus, a 

 lad who starts his career as a gardener at 

 t he pr es-e n t time has everything in his 

 favour, as contrasted with what obtained 

 even under the best conditions half a cen- 

 tury back. Speaking personally, let me state 

 here that it is just over fifty years since I 

 left school and first started in my gardening 

 career. I have w^atched the progress of 

 events from that time onwards, and have 

 often wished that I had, at that time, the 

 same advantages that a young man has at 

 the present day. In saying this, I would 

 explain that, in practical work there has 

 not, in my opinion, been such a great ad- 

 vance as there has been on the scientific 

 s:d? of horticult 



In stating this I will give an instance to 

 support my argument. Sixty years ago, 

 when the Chiswick gardens were in their bey- 

 day of popularity, young men were taken 

 into them to be trained as practical gar- 

 deners. I had a brother there at that time 

 who i^ceived lOiS. a week in wages, and 

 who, during the busy season of the year, had 

 to start work at four o'clock in the morning 

 and do a course of lawn mowing with the 

 scythe. There were not then for the young 

 men the immense advantages that now obtain 

 at Wislev, with the laboratorv and other 

 means of scientific research. Then, the 

 young gardener had to exercise his .limits 

 of ingenuity and perseverance if he wished 

 to excel in his prt>fession. It was then mure 

 a question of ** self-help" than otherwise. To 

 instance this, I must still follow my brother's 

 career for two years after he left Chiswick. 

 He was fortunate enough to obtain a posi- 

 tion as under-gardener at Dalkeith, when 

 M r. ^IcTntosli was head gardener there. 

 X{)ting his abilities, he took my brother into 

 his office to assist in the preparation of the 



plaurt for Mclntosh'i-. Book of the Gar- 

 den " — a standard work at that time, the rea- 

 son being his knowledge of geometry. On 

 Ibe other hand, the then Duchess of Buc- 

 cUnieli preferred to have him do the indoor 

 deeorat ions rather than any other. I in- 

 staiice tlii> to iiulicate two distinct phi 

 of gardening, and advantages that ac- 

 crued thereto in my brother's case. 



Tlie Last Year (or Two) of 



School Life. 



I have eonti'iitlr:! lor many years past 

 tliat a lad's last vt^ar (or two) at scIkjoI 

 should be diree/ lhI into groove.s that will 

 best aid liim in after life. The |)re-.^iit-day 

 methods of large classes, I admit, does not 

 often favour this. Thus, when a lad has 

 inade up his mind wdiat shall be his fut 

 career, and th- better will it be for the lad 

 if he does this, I speak from experience, his 

 energies should be concentrated on wlint will 

 he most likely to assist him in after life. In 

 my own case, T applied myself to learning 

 French and otlu^r liranchcs of education 

 likely to a>si.^1 \w i ii gardening or «^tate 

 work. This embraced the elements of geo- 

 metry, and a good g^rounding in land sur- 



veying, followed after I left school by 

 practice in the last-named, as well as in 

 timber measuring and estate w^ork generally. 

 I owe all these acquirements to my father, 



under whom I first worked. A lad who starts 

 actual work with some technical knowledge 



to assist him has an advantage over his 

 fellows. This gathers rather than diminishes 

 as years go by. The lad should l>e grounded 

 in what I have alreadv stated, and also 

 havo some elementary knowledge of botany 

 and chemistry. 



Subsequently, when lie can, in his spare 

 time aftermards, follow^ up these aids to his 

 future suctx^ss in his profession, he will find 

 it easier to apply himself thereto. One other 

 great essential — in fact, there are two, writ- 

 ing and spelling. Every young gardener 

 t^llou]d take a pride in his writing, and 

 do his be«t lx>th to write a letter plainly, and 

 the plant names upon labels so that they can 

 be easily read. Correct spelling is also inost 

 est*ential, but methinks that sufficient at- 

 tention and care is not given to this, or to 

 writing either. Coni{>osition will also stand 

 a lad in good stead, and will passibly, with 

 good writing, secure him a ]>osition in after 

 life against competitors who fail in thesie 

 essentials. I know this to be a fact. 



The First Start in Garden Work. 



A great misconception exists as to the 

 best way of commencing a gardening career. 

 Many think that it is better to .start in some 

 well-known garden of repute. With this 

 view I totally disagree. It is much better 

 to make the start in a small but well-kept 

 garden, such, for instance, as where only 

 three or four hands are employed for all 

 the work. Here a lad w'ill have to assist at 

 almost everything that has to be done, and 

 in a manner, so to speak, have to rough it. 

 This will be a good training for him. In 

 pport of this, I well rememl>er being told, 

 when a young tnan myself, by a gardener 

 who had won his position, that he owed more 

 than he could express to the insight into 

 general garden work that he gained when 

 employed as garden boy, with only one man. 

 Here he had, I know\ to walk two miles to 

 his work every morning, and the same back 

 to his home at night. 



A little of everything, and that well done, 

 is infinitely better than a superfluity, and 

 that badly managed. A lad can grasp the 

 several points in a well-kept small garden 

 better than in a large one. In the latter he 

 must, necessarily almost, be confined to one 

 department of work. Later on this will fol- 

 low as a matter of course, but it should be 

 when he is better equipped. A young gar- 

 dener should never be ashamed to own that 

 he started his career in a small garden 

 where he may have had to do what might 

 be termed menial work. In later life he 

 will assuredly value all ^he useful hints 

 he gained in his early career. 



The Advantag:e of an Early 



ining:. 



I have outlined somewhat the line that 

 should be followed from the last vear at schooi 



I found this in my ow^n case to be invaluable. 

 As a comparison in another sphere of life I 

 would quote the eas? of the expert mathema- 

 tician, one who has taken high honours at 

 his college or university. This fits him for 

 taking up the higher grades of physics and 

 of science generally. So it is in the ca.^e of 

 a young gardener, not on tjuite th.^ same 

 lines, of course, or in such a high degree. 

 A young gardener who is well equipped in 

 the theory, as well as in the jiraetice of hor- 

 ticulture, hac> a far b-ttcr ehance of success 

 when he enters ior any oi' the examinations 

 now provided for young and aspiring gar- 

 deners. The mere fact of reading up for 

 these examinations is a great boon, and 

 greater still will it W if he ])asses them suc- 

 cet^sfully. (1 >]:eak, Mr. Editor, from ex- 

 perience in this.) It will broaden his mind 

 and thus also his reasoning powers. He mav 

 not .see it in that light at the time, but it 

 will dawn ui)on him later in life. 



.Tas. Hudson, V.M.H. 

 (To be continued.) 



