GARDENERS AND THEIR EMPLOYERS. 



93 



to welcome him, and to do his best to make the most of the 

 assistance he receives from his employer. 



In numerous cases which have come under my notice it has 

 been a pleasure to observe the mutual respect and good-fellow- 

 ship and the great enthusiasm displayed by master and man 

 when they had jointly contributed to a success. Neither jealousy 

 on the one part nor crass stupidity on the other was allowed 

 to damp the enthusiasm or to mar the gratification they 

 equally enjoyed in the success of their joint enterprise. 



Yet with all this it is a well-known fact that unsatisfactory 

 relations are continually cropping up in defiance of regulations 

 and good resolutions, and when once a chronic state of grumbling 

 and discord sets in between a gardener and his employer, the 

 sooner they part company the better for both. The employer may 

 then get a gardener better suited to his mind, and if the gardener 

 does not find an employer whom he can agree to serve, on just 

 and amicable terms, it is his own fault, or the times must 

 indeed be badly out of joint. I might dwell at considerably 

 greater length on the relations which exist, and those that 

 ought not to exist, between gardeners and their employers, 

 but I must resist the temptation to go further into details. 



There is one point, however, closely allied to my subject, if not 

 exactly forming a part of it, and of first importance to gardeners 

 and their employers, upon which I may be allowed to say a few 

 words before concluding, and that is the supply of properly quali- 

 fied gardeners and the demand for them. It is a common com- 

 plaint among a certain class of the fraternity that " there are 

 too many gardeners." This sort of complaint is by no means 

 confined to the profession of gardening, as every industry by 

 which men live seems to be nowadays suffering from a plethora 

 of aspirants. What is most peculiar in this connection is the 

 propensity to increase the number by many of those who loudly 

 exclaim against the superabundance of gardeners. With rare 

 exceptions, which have little influence on the total number, the 

 rule is that all young lads desiring to enter the profession are 

 engaged, and instructed in the art by a head gardener, generally 

 in a private establishment. Therefore gardeners have the regu- 

 lation of the supply of properly qualified men more completely 

 under their own control than is the case in almost any other 

 profession that can be named. Yet, grumbling as they do at the 



