NoVEMBEa 16, 1*J11^ 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG 



GARDi:.NERS. 



Not for a long time have I read anything 

 v() cheerfully optimistic as the recent article 

 in the Gardenebs' Magazine on the educa- 

 tion and training of young gardeners, hy 

 Mr, James Hudson, V.M.H.^ and it comes 

 at a moment when cei'tain severely prac- 

 tical men are apt to belittle the advantages 

 of education whei o a gardener is concerned. 

 The article carries weight because it is 

 written hy a gardenei-, an old gardener, and 

 I nmy say one of Britain's most successful 

 •gardeners. The last time I saw the Gun- 



rsbury veteran was at the International 

 Show, when he was putting the finishing 

 lituches to that unique exhibit of fruits 

 which won the admiration of all who saw 

 it. If I mistake not Mr. Hudson then in- 

 formed me that he had been exhibiting for 



the effort that is required in order to tiike 

 advantage of the educational facilities thai 

 are offered at the present day. Now. as 

 in the past, the best men almost always 

 como to the top, and ihv lu\st men in tlie 

 future will be those wlio educate themsel-\ es 

 on the lines laid down h}- Mr. Hudson. 



Let nie support Mr. Hudson in his view 

 that c\cry young gardener should take a 

 pride in his writing, and become comj)etcnt 

 in spelling and composition, because it is 

 in these verv tbini»;s that so many fail. 

 Very often a man's abilities as a gardener 

 are measureil, perhaps wrongly measured, 

 hy a badly-written, badlyKMun])osed, and 

 jucoiTectly-spelt letter of a]>plication. nnd if 

 somegardeners knew that they had lost their 

 chances of obtaining a berth through this 

 failing they would set out to improve them- 

 selves. Not long ago I had to read through 

 alM)ut fifty letters of application from young 

 gardeners for a post that was advertised. 



I farther tnuitend that em])lovcis do not 

 want in these days menial. <*riugiiig. servile 

 individuals as gardeners ; l)Ut mcji who are 

 alert, well-educated, and intelligent j men 

 who know their l)usin(^ss as gardeners, and 

 aie able to express ihemselvi^ in the King's 

 Knglish. 



We hear a gotnl <leal in these days about 

 the desirability of raising th*. status of 

 gardeners; I ask- -who are largely respon- 

 sible for kwping that status down J" The 

 fault dot>s not rest with the niei» who train 

 themselves (an<l. after all. it is a matter 

 of self-training) on ihe lint^s .su*:;'.:<»NtiHl by 

 Mr Hudson, but rat 1km- t Imso \\ \u) have 

 never thought the ellnrl wni ili niakin;i. 



T(M) often, I am afrai<l. it is iiirji wh<i 

 call themselves gar<hMHu\s l bat set out to 

 di&cotu'age begin n<»!s w1hm(^ 4mI u<*a t ion is 

 concerned, ami as a cas,. in point a <-ours(^ 

 of horti<'ult oral msinulion was gi\en r<^- 

 cently in a cei tain jilaee. A hx'al gai<lener 



PLOT or ii.T. EO?K Hiini>H gi i:i:n 



In tlit^ Hnval XiirMMit'>. Portadown. 



half a century, and proposed to finish with 

 the International. If I am corre<*t, it was 

 a fine finish^ worthy of the man. 

 When you hear a gardener of Mr. Hud- 

 ability and reputation regretting 

 that he never had the opportunities 

 tor education that young men have to- 

 day you may depend that there is some- 

 tmng in it; and, mind yon, this regret is 

 confined to gardeners, for successful 

 ^^n in every walk of life express the same 

 ^^s^hj i.e., that they had been given the 



opportunity of learning more when they 

 ^ere young. 



Eyery line of the article written by Mr. 

 Hudson is good, and the whole might well 

 *^taken as a guide by any young gardener 

 ^'no wishes to get on." It'wlll <lo him more 

 S^kkI^ than all the croak in gs of the ]M\ssi- 

 ^*9tie section who have heon saving for 

 }^^rs that gardening is goin<j: to the <logs, 

 ''"hI the end to b^ achieved is not worth 



aiul. but tlio the j)ity of it, some of them 

 might have lieen framed as himiornns <"urio- 

 sities. But, what is perhaps more to the 

 point, the writers of the four best letters 

 were the individuals selec ted for interview. 



I do not think it ir:U;h matters whetlier 

 a voung gardener begins his j^racUcal trani- 

 incr in a large establishment <:r a small on<'. 

 as^long as the training is thorough, but I 

 do think it is good for him to have a year 

 or two in the atmosphere of education, such 

 as an establishment like Kew offers. I do 

 not say that a year or two at Kew neces- 

 sarily makes a man a betti^r gar<len*M- than 

 if he put in that year or two somewluMe 

 else, but Kew is a pulilic scliool where 



<-e]irerned ; its Ul- 



flu(^n<'(^ is broadening; in a word it is edu- 

 cational, and it has the etiect of rubbing 

 off the rough coriuM-s which arc the natural 

 <-onsc<inence of no otIuM* ex|KMii»nc<^ tban 

 tliat oi>tainod in a pri^■ate establislnnent. 



vounir iiaideners ara 



was askeil wliy be did not attend, and he 

 answere: 1 , with a look of disdain, Me 

 attend ; I sb<tuldn*t think of it. I've for- 

 gotten moi',. tlian that man (the teacher) 

 evei- kru'w." And vet that v*M*itable walk- 

 ing cucyclopanlia of horticidtural know- 

 ledge has never aspired to anything above 

 a situation as a single-handed gardener, or 

 rather he has one boy un<ler him, and he 

 <lid his best to ]>ersuade that boy not to 

 go to the cla>:s. 



Unless I have read it wrongly, the train 

 of thought running all the way through 

 Mr. Hu<l>on*s article is --aim high." You 

 may not get all the way. but yon will get 

 on tile road and somewhere m-ar to the 

 goal. I cordially agre,^ that it is gar<leners 

 themselves wlio must rais,^ the serial status 

 of <r;n-diMiing. for no one else can do it. 

 but'^it will iiiit be <b)ne by trades uruonisni 

 atid nieimce so much as by tnlucation and 



.self-im]>rovement. 



