Young Gardeners' Opportunity in America 
By Henry Gibson, New York 
MANY of you are more familiar with the rapid 
progress that has been made in the garden- 
ing world in this country and are therefore 
better able to foretell the prospects of the young gar- 
dener. However being quite a young chap and having 
made pretty good headway since I have been in America 
I will endeavor to give you my version of the opportuni- 
ties of the young gardener. 
My experience and observations for a number of years 
past have led me to believe that opportunity for advance- 
ment in this country is second to none in the world. This 
may not be a very strong assertion when we take into 
consideration the devastating war that is being waged 
between those European countries that have hitherto 
been the leaders in horticultural thought. Yet even had 
Europe been at peace it would have been no exaggeration 
to say that today America offers greater opportunities 
to young men of ability and experience who possess ener- 
gy enough to back up these qualifications. 
Commercially it is claimed that America is but a child, 
and I contend that horticulturally she is yet an infant, 
but a vigorous one. 
Each year new estates are being opened up, and there 
can be no doubt that many more will be developed in the 
near future. To manage these estates and maintain them 
in good condition, young men of experience, ability and 
untiring energy are in demand. I say young men, be- 
cause in this country at the present day in almost every 
line of business there is an unusual demand for young 
men. It may well be called the age of the young man. 
for nowhere does history record such large commercial 
enterprises, being conducted by men so young. Look at 
some of our superintendents and head gardeners, men 
who could not have secured such positions for many years 
to come under the conditions that obtain in most Euro- 
pean countries. 
Take Britain, for instance. A man could not reason- 
ably expect to obtain a desirable position as head gar- 
dener until he is well over thirty years of age. After 
serving his apprenticeship he serves for some years as 
journey man in the different departments until he arrives 
at the position of general foreman. Here he has to re- 
main, it may be for years, before an opportunity of se- 
curing a head place presents itself. In this country it is 
entirely different ; a young man who has ability and ener- 
gy to back him up seldom has to wait very long for a po- 
sition. As soon as his qualifications become known he is 
in demand. 
It is idle folly for the proficient young man of todav to 
sav that he cannot compete favorably with men of older 
experience. Anyone who observes the trend of the times 
will notice that the young man is more than holding his 
own. Only a short time ago the writer heard of a gentle- 
man who had engaged quite a young man as his gar- 
dener. On being questioned why he had selected a young 
man when there were men of older and wider experience 
obtainable, he replied : "Well, I have a young man at the 
head of my business office, he is making good, and I see 
no reason why a young man shouldn't make good at the 
head of my estate. There exists a good deal of rivalry 
among gardeners and the young fellows like to vie with 
the older ones in getting results, and an enterprising 
young man whose heart is in his work will usually get 
there." These gentlemen, are the words of a very en- 
thusiastic estate owner, and are, I believe, a fair expres- 
sion of the sentiments of estate owners generally. 
There is, however, one serious rival that the young 
gardener of today has to compete with in this country, 
and that is the horticultural and agricultural college 
graduate. We are being constantly reminded that the 
college chap is taking the best positions from the garden- 
ers today, yet a careful survey of our estates will scarcely 
bear out this contention. The majority of the best posi- 
tions are still held by men who have graduated from the 
potting bench, the school of experience, and who extend- 
ed their studies with the closest application to the fireside 
universitiy during the long winter evenings. 
It has, of course, been contended that fear of compe- 
tition by the college man is not great since his knowledge 
is more theoretical than practical. If, however, this has 
been the tendency in the past it must be understood that 
the mistake has been discovered and practical training 
is today forming a large part of the curriculum of the 
college course. Numerous cases are to be found where 
under graduates are going out to large estates and com- 
mercial establishments in order to obtain practical expe- 
rience. This, in conjunction with his higher theoretical 
and scientific knowledge is bound to make him the more 
proficient and a most serious competitor. 
To any young men present I would say, heed this 
warning, not that I deprecate the college man, on the con- 
trary I welcome him, not only because he stands for 
progress but because he proves another incentive to spur 
us on to further efforts to increase our knowledge of our 
business, that we may also be progressive and become the 
more fitted to assume the duties of the position we aspire 
to, with satisfaction to our employers and dignity both 
to ourselves and our profession. 
A year or more ago we heard a great deal about cheap 
gardeners and why, through the columns of the horticul- 
tural press. Some contended that the young gardener 
was to blame, others that the horticultural societies were 
the delinquents, and still others that the experienced gar- 
deners themselves were at fault. Of the three it would 
be hard to place the whole of the fault on the proper 
shoulders. If the horticultural societies are responsible, 
then surely the gardeners must be at fault since the so- 
cieties are composed chiefly of gardeners. Personally I 
do not think that any of these are responsible for cheap 
gardeners. My experience of cheap gardeners is that 
they are men whose ideas were a great deal bigger than 
their ability and having lost the goal aimed at selling their 
services at almost any old price to the detriment of their 
more capable and proficient brother. These men are to 
be found in all professions. To the young man who is 
at all discouraged with his prospects, I would say do not 
lose your grip on life, clouds will gather, yet every one 
has a silver lining. Get hold of yourself and determine to 
become as proficient as possible, establish your ability, 
and you will never lose confidence and have to sell your 
services for a mere existence. 
Of course, I realize that to be able to compete favor- 
ably with others and especially the college graduate, re- 
quires a good deal of personal effort. All of us cannot 
have a college training and many are located miles and 
miles awav from anv source of technical instruction of 
