27S 



THE 



GA RDENERS' MA GAZINE. 



ArR »- 30, 1898. 



Leaves from a rambler's Note-book. 



"FLOWER SHOW SKETCHES." 



In the tents at Shrewsbury, the transept of the Crystal Palace at show 

 time, and in fact at all great horticultural gatherings, not the least 

 interesting feature is the gardeners that congregate on these occasions. 

 So wide is the range of human nature interested directly or indirectly in 

 the gentle art that the various grades of gardeners are marked with a 

 distinction somewhat similar to the castes of India. It must be so in a 

 calling having so many degrees under the same heading, and with no 

 clear lines to mark its limit either way. Not long ago I read of an 

 instance where a man described himself as a landscape gardener, and 

 was highly indignant when someone addressed him as a k% jobber," though 

 in point of fact his occupation consisted of looking after the welfare of 

 half-a-dozen villa gardens. The gardener as we find him in novels is a 

 different character, and is generally pictured as a simple easy-going type 

 of humanity, who addresses the heroine of the story as " missy," and in 

 whom the habit of respectfully touching his hat to every stranger 

 in broadcloth has grown to be quite a second nature. Your gardener of 

 fiction may sometimes be drawn from life, but generally I think from 

 copy or imagination. I have met with him in bothy days — in books of 

 course— when the fire of youthful ambition burnt at its brightest, and, 

 shuddering to think that possibly my ardent hopes might end in such a 

 realisation, have thrown down the volume with a disgust that would not 

 have been edifying to the author had he been present. 



Still, we cannot readily determine what constitutes a gardener. There 

 is the worthy who is the general factotum of the unpretentious establish- 

 ment He does not mind being termed " single-handed," because that 

 points to the fact that he does all the work himself, and thereby adds to 

 his credit. But though he fills numerous other offices, such as cowman, 

 poultryman, perhaps groom, and cleans boots and knives, he would 

 resent the idea of being termed an odd man, and has a way of looking 

 down on another man who is only a labourer. He is a gardener, and is 

 spoken of in the drawing-room as the gardener, and therefore has as much 

 right, in his way of thinking, to address himself as such as Mr. So-and- 

 So over at the castle, who walks about and gives orders to the large staff 

 of men under his control. We do not gainsay it, as there is no law on 

 the subject. Both are gardeners, but varying in rank. There is another 

 point to be added. The great Napoleon once remarked that every private 

 in the French army carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack. Some- 

 thing similar may be said of gardening. The various degrees are staves of 

 the ladder. Your single handed man is somewhere not far from the 

 bottom, but there is plenty of room above him for climbing, and many 

 do climb, for some who to-day are not far from the top look back with 

 satisfaction to the time when they were equally proud of being called 

 gardener — though only single-handed. 



Big flower shows are the meeting places of all sorts and conditions of 

 the craft, not only the working element but the patrons, who jostle with 

 each other in the mutual endeavour to see everything. The aristocratic- 

 looking gentleman, who busies himself in taking notes, has doubtless a 

 garden and gardener of his own. You wonder what are the motives for 

 which he interests himself. Pure love for gardening may prompt him, 

 and he has decided to become the possessor of something that takes his 

 fancy. Perhaps he is ambitious, and, feeling disappointed at seeing 

 something which his domain does not possess, decides to have it. Or, 

 may be, his notes are only for future reference, to be used in conversation 

 with the gardener at home. If this be the case, he will pay special 

 attention to the novelties, with the hope of staggering that worthy who is 

 perhaps blessed with the gardener's happy faculty of coming out at the 

 right end of an argument. You won't have to go very far before meeting 

 with the fussy lady, the type of which is common at flower shows, 

 particularly in London during the season. She is usually attended by a 

 companion to whom she refers for the name of everything that attracts 

 her attention, and this is straightway entered in the dainty little book 

 that forms part of her outfit. Her moods vary. At one minute she is in 

 raptures over some beautiful object, and at the next discontent marks 

 her tone. She wonders " Why we can't have flowers like those," and 

 " Why our gardener doesn't grow plants like that." She " Will talk to him 

 when they get home," and so on. Poor gardener ! the flower show is no 

 good institution for his peace of mind, and we do not envy him his 

 office. 



Gardeners themselves are more easy to delineate. The little groups 

 of well-dressed men who converse eagerly together are " heads " from 

 establishments more or less well known. They are talking shop, of 

 course, as gardeners invariably do, and perhaps the last time they met 

 was at a show. At first it is only generalities, state of crops, condition of 

 the weather, and so forth. Then the exhibits come in for their share of 

 criticism or praise, and after the show individually and collectively has 

 been disposed of, the compact of friends who perhaps were bothy mates 

 together years ago, drift unconsciously, yet willingly, into personal 

 matters. Though speaking as a gardener, and writing to gardeners, I 

 think all will readily admit the interest we take in each other's doings. 

 This interest is apparent at flower shows -the meeting place of brothers 



ii 1 a ° ne by one ' if not a11 at once * each member of the group 



tells ot his doings at home, his prospects,' and his fears. Tis a true saying 

 that every heart knows its own sorrow, and the skeletons in gardeners' 

 cupboards are discussed freely at such gatherings. There is Mr. So- 

 and-So, head gardener at some well-known establishment, who, through 

 bis office, is envied by not a few who have never been behind the scenes. 

 But all is not gold that glitters, and though he be too wise to publish his 

 troubles to the world, there is confidence among that little group of 

 gardeners as they hear of his thirty men being reduced to twenty, and 



the place that he was justly proud of taking the form ^ o 1 

 He knows he will find sympathy, if nothinf more, and even X« is^t" 

 ing. Another of the group has just settled in a fresh place anH a ' 

 mainder are anxious to know how he likes it • u ,i,Lu ' • , ,i ne re 

 expectations, and all the rest of it. ^\^^^^^^ * 



you, but real and genuine flavoured with something that is practicK 

 the mutual exchange of a few plants or cuttings. F^ucai in 



From personal matters they go on to the doings of others w 



ho 



lay 



only be known to them by reputation, and here you have an instant a 

 the freemasonry of gardening. Well-known establishments are hv? 

 words in the craft, and the names of the gardeners are invariably coudE 

 with them till in a more narrow circle they become to be as well known 

 as great men in the world of politics. If a gardener in such a place is 

 about to leave, the flower show lends itself as a fit and proper place for 

 the pros and cons of the case to be discussed. At first it is in a strictly 



confidential manner, that A informs B that So-and-So, of \ 



leaving. ' ' 



" Leaving ! you don't say so ; why he's been there for years ; what's 

 the reason ? 93 



" I hav'nt heard, but I had it on good authority that it is so. Of 

 course it's only private yet, so you won't say anything." 

 " Oh no, certainly not." 



B then tells what he knows confidentially to C, and so the news goes 

 around till everybody interested knows all about it, and wonders how it 

 is that everyone else is acquainted with the fact. 



Vacant places must be filled, and the flower show is a suitable 

 place for the discussion of likely candidates. Here there is not quite the 



same confidence, and A learns from B who is putting in for , 



without informing him that he himself is a candidate. This is diplomacy, 

 which is embued in gardeners as much as in the rest of human nature. 

 In these competitive days good gardeners are as numerous as good places 

 are scarce. This makes men keen for the plums, and the confidential 

 conversations among the little groups of heads mean more than idle talk. 



I have said there are varied degrees of gardeners who congregate at 

 shows, and it is easy to pick them out, There is a pair of friends who 

 are unmistakably gardeners from the interest they take in everything 

 and the visit to the show is to them a red-letter day. There is a distinct 

 country look about them, and you have not to look twice at their horny 

 hands to know that they belong to the working section. Such men 

 belong to the largest element of the gardening world, officiating at single- 

 handed establishments, or where " two or three are kept." Their interest 

 is no half-hearted one, and they think nothing of the trifles that would 

 worry a greater man. Perhaps the flower show holiday has entailed 

 labour out of the ordinary in the shape of being at work by daybreak, 

 doing the watering and putting everything right. Holidays to such men 

 are rare occurrences, and the cost is a consideration, unless the master 

 or mistress be of a generous turn 0/ mind. Though units in the crowd 

 at a big show, such as they can only visit on rare occasions, these men 

 may be lights of a gardening society somewhere, and moving spirits at 

 the local exhibition. The holiday then is a means of education, and tne 

 mental and written notes are for further use when questioned as to »n« 

 was shown at the Palace, Shrewsbury, or elsewhere. The snow aDsorw 

 all interest, and rest assured that what they don't see is hardly wora 

 looking for. Adjournment for luncheon is counted a waste ot time, m 

 instead of this hand wanders to tail pocket, which contains a P ac ^ 

 sandwiches, thoughtfully provided for the excursion by the wife, wnoraj 

 have had some instructions about taking air off, or the time tos>r * 

 Ifanv man thoroughly appreciates a big show it is a gardener v 

 type, and if signs of his appreciation are wanted, follow him w me ^^ 

 his own associates, listen to his description of the exhibition his pra J.ew 



- ' ---3— vowing he could have snowo 



Ask him who was there and it is hundred to one* 



some things and his criticism of others— vowing he could have 



better stuff himself. Ask him who was Lwy «*- imnortant 



. The newspaper says royalty or some other ragjg 

 ere present, bVhe didn't see them," *dn^ant pajc-^ 



doesn't know, 



he went to see the show, and ask him anything about raw y he 

 Don't think that he is discontented with his little garden a ^ 



Not he, for he is gardener enough to know that uc4 

 auer cases. We may in the future have an opportunity « w » 

 a gardener in his own particular sphere, but for the present 10 R 



has seen, 

 alter cases 



Dwarf Kidney Beans. 



Lodge Gardens, p*j» 

 ,r the later part ctm 



very highly the old Mohawk bean as a capital torcer 10. <■ ^ 

 winter. It is odd that this variety seems somewhat to nave, 

 tion and from seed lists. «— *« «*tend with so ma 7j 



, arkty * «* 



rnW botfc tfct 



Ultra, three of the very 



ing ot Canadian vt ~ «j perfection 



6 w> ™,t,W beans ; Sutton s Pertecuo 



Bonum. the best of Smvthe's hybrids, and r * VCT " 1 ^^ t Biockhtfn U* fj* 



wonderfully 



ilst there have been so many new varieties <*> dwarl * 1 . sevcra l in cob£*«* 



Possibly 



flavour 1 

 scarlet or ^ r 2£i 



Wonder iri& Scarlet Runner may" prove acceptable to a outdoort 



no doubt suffer very much as a rule from thick <ow,n £ ' ^ the 

 sown nearer in the rows than six inches to raC ° h !. ve full justk* *** 

 need intervals of twelve inches to enable the plants io i • ^ it* *TZ 



The pods are badly treated also in cooking wh ^"„ th «, be cook* 

 almost into pulp. They should be gathered youn t = . 

 and so served to table.— A. D. 



