12 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 3, 1884. 
erection of a suitable building outside and within reasonable distance of 
the workmen’s entrance would involve a greater outlay. That it is 
desirable to provide better lodgings for the young men there can be no 
question, nor do I think there is any doubt that British taxpayers would 
be willing to provide the few hundreds of pounds that would be required 
to carry out the scheme if the facts of the case were laid before them. 
The Journal is therefore doing a good work in ventilating the subject, 
and I trust its columns will be open to a free discussion thereon until 
either the authorities have shown the impracticability of the suggestion or 
it has been carried to a successful issue. I endorse all that is stated by 
“Yeritas,” “ Ex-Kewite,” and “ Experience,” and knowing how power¬ 
less the gardeners at Kew are to help themselves it is a great pleasure to 
6ee their interests are not unobserved or uncared for by the horticultural 
press.—J. U. S. 
In discussing a question of so much importance as the suggestion 
that the young gardeners employed at Kew should be provided with 
residences situated on the establishment, and under the Control of the 
responsible head of the gardens, it is necessary that whatever reasons are 
urged in favour of such a proposal should be deduced from a careful 
consideration of the facts of the case, and with a due regard to the 
nature and object of the establishment itself so far as the youug employ^ 
are concerned. That the subject is worthy of notice no one who has read 
what has already been stated upon it will be willing to deny. My 
knowledge of the establishment at Kew is, however, sufficient to warrant 
the opinion that the practicability of the proposed residences for young 
men is open to serious doubt. Whether what is done in many private 
establishments may be reasonably made use of as an argument in favour 
of the adoption of similar provisions for the young men at Kew, or 
whether the whole subject should be discussed on its own merits, is 
perhaps an open question, though in my opinion the two cases are not 
exactly parallel. So far as I understand the arrangements made for the 
quartering of the young men employed in large private gardens, bothies 
are provided at least as much for the advantage of the employer as they 
are for the employes. Most of such gardens are situated generally in the 
country, often a long way from villages or any houses where suitable and 
convenient lodgings for the gardeners could be found, so that to provide 
residences is an absolute necessity if a number of men are employed. 
Suitable quarters are always one of the first considerations with men 
employed away in the country. 
In such gardens the stoking has to be performed by the under 
gardeners, which necessitates their being near at hand until midnight 
for at least a portion of the year. Again, the number of resident young 
gardeners seldom exceeds half a dozen, of which number perhaps two 
are foremen, holding responsible and semi-permanent positions, and they 
are supposed to exercise a proper influence over their companions in¬ 
doors. These are but a few of the advantages of the bothy system in 
large private establishments. 
In large public gardens, however, the case is totally different, none 
of the above reasons holding good when applied to their consideration. 
There the stoking is performed by men employed specially for such 
work ; suitable lodgings are always within easy reach of the place ; and 
the foremen are generally married men, or at least in a position to live 
in better circumstances than bothy life usually admits of. There is 
another important consideration in connection with the bothy question 
as applied to large public establishments—it has a serious moral side. To 
anyone acquainted with what generally happens when a large number of 
young, often inexperienced, men are housed together, if the supervision 
of such is not strict, and a severe rdgime enforced, the serious aspect 
such a question wears from a moral standpoint will easily suggest itself 
in the case now under discussion. 
A year or so ago I had a conversation with a leading London 
nurseryman on the subject of providing comfortable quarters for young 
gardeners, where they could be looked after, and studious habits en¬ 
couraged ; and I was then informed that it had already been tried and 
had failed completely. One of our most eminent London nurserymen 
did undertake such a beneficent work, but in spite of the greatest 
liberality and care on his part the abuses of the bothy system when 
applied to a large number of young men were so great as to compel its 
abandonment. I suggested stringent rules and proper supervision, but 
was reminded that even young English gardeners loved freedom, and 
such rules would either drive good workmen away or result in much 
unpleasantness. Certainly this evidence went against any plan such as 
that suggested ; and although we are too often made acquainted with 
cases of young raw men coming to London with the best intentions and 
being led astray and ruined by the vices of their surroundings, the pro¬ 
posal to undertake the care and control of fifty young men, who are not 
willing to be slaves to a strict discipline if they can avoid it, is a heavier 
task and a greater responsibility than most men are willing to deal with. 
So much for the bothy system. 
Turning to Kew and the rules that govern the employment of young 
men, and the provisions that are made for their instruction and comfort^ 
it appears to me that as compared with similar men in other large esta¬ 
blishments they have little to complain of. The young men at Kew are 
supposed to have passed through the elementary stages of their profession 
before coming there to obtain an insight into the more scientific 
branches of horticulture. They are moved from one department to 
another, which enables them to gain a wide knowledge of plants, lectures 
on botany and allied science are given, and a good library is provided 
for their use in the evenings. The time they are supposed to stay at 
Kew is not more than a year. From this it will be seen that at some 
sacrifice to the establishment itself Kew is made available to the young 
gardeners of this country for purely educational purposes ; for the fre¬ 
quent changing from one house to another is not considered advantageous 
to the plant collections. 
Now, whether rooms could be provided, or whether they would be 
considered advantageous to young men, even by the men themselves, is a 
doubtful question. It would seem that, apart from cost, private lodgings 
are more conducive to studious habits in a place like Kew, with all the 
advantages of the establishment itself, than any bothy system could be. 
Even if bothies were decided upon, whether the authorities would be 
willing to undertake the serious responsibility attached to the bothy 
system on a large scale seems highly improbable. The question of 
wages is one that concerns labour, and when compared with other large 
establishments Kew stands favourably. 
The statements that have been made with regard to meal times are 
hardly worthy of notice here. Three-quarters of an hour are allowed for 
breakfast, and an hour for dinner, which are quite sufficient time to 
enable the men to walk to their lodgings, if in Kew, and get their meals 
comfortably. If anyone ran twenty minutes each way he could not have 
lived in Kew, or must have run a long way “ round.”— Libeetas. 
The letters that have appeared in reference to this subject have 
so far been favourable to the scheme, with the exception of that from 
“ A Boss ” in the last issue of the Journal (page 547), who seems to 
regard the idea as undesirable. As, however, he is evidently unacquainted 
with the peculiar disadvantages attending the present system of lodging 
the young men at Kew, I will extend my previous remarks in explanation 
of the case, and leave your correspondent and others to judge whether 
there “ is anything to complain about.” 
Without attempting to raise a sensational discussion, such as the 
“ Bitter Cry of Ill-used Gardeners,” or anything of the kind, the facts are 
briefly as follows. In the first place the lodgings are mostly too distant 
from the work, and from twenty minutes to half an hour or more of 
the time devoted to breakfast and dinner is occupied in “ running ” to 
and from the houses. This in itself is a great disadvantage, and one that 
can only perhaps be understood by those who have experienced the evils 
produced by it. Then as regards the lodgings themselves, if they were 
really “ quiet and private,” as “ A Boss ” supposes them to be, study could 
undoubtedly be more readily followed up than in “ a noisy barrack 
room.” Unfortunately, however, the peaceful quietude that would be so 
conducive to study exists only in the imagination. For example, one 
friend of mine had the misfortune to be located with a family including 
seven young children, who “ breakfasted” and “dined” at the same time 
as himself, and during the evening and often until early morning some 
were usually in various stages of trouble, which they expressed in the 
customary harmonious infantile manner. The progress this young man 
made with his studies in his “quiet private lodging” was astonishing; 
happily, however, he secured a fresh location before he was past 
recovery. 
Another instance. A young man of studious habits, one who had 
raised himself high in the estimation of his superiors, occupied a room in 
the upper portion of a house, and immediately below that was another 
lodger who was afflicted with a mania for concertina playing, but whose 
taste for music was undeveloped. The nightly agonies of the would-be 
student can probably be better imagined than described. A creaking 
mangle in frequent use in an adjoining room “ A Boss ” might also con¬ 
sider beneficial, but what would he say to the mental effects produced by 
a piano under the tender hands of a persevering young lady in her teens? 
An intimate friend who enjoyed a strong mind and a robust constitution 
endured this for several months, but he mentions the matter with a 
shudder. These are only a few instances which I could multiply by tens, 
for several of the houses where the young men lodge are the conventional 
Kew “ Tea Houses,” and throughout the summer months the visitors 
occupy so much of the proprietor’s time that the “ lodgers ” have in a 
great measure to look out for themselves, and the noise and bustle con¬ 
tinue until late in the evening. 
But a more important matter in a sanitary point of view is the con¬ 
dition of the rooms, and it is only fair to say that generally they are 
clean. There are, however, serious exceptions, and one row of houses 
has long since gained a sobriquet indicative of the particular kind of 
insect life most abundant there. In another row the lower apartments 
of the houses are below the level of the river at flood tides, and in past 
years have been frequently swamped. Some of these are little better 
than cellars. In one, which was occupied by an excellent young maa 
(now head gardener to an English nobleman), boots, boxes, and every¬ 
thing placed on the floor or in the cupboard became in a day or two 
covered with a thick mould. What visions of rheumatism and allied ills 
does this bring before us ? 
Then as to the expense, it would be quite within the mark to say that 
as a rule these lodgers have to pay 10 per cent, more than the average 
London prices for provisions, and this, be it remembered, out of 16s. per 
week. I should not like to make a general charge against the landladies, 
because a few are, I believe, conscientious, but the majority seem to 
regard the young gardeners who go to Kew as possessing an unlimited 
supply of money, which it is necessary they should assist in dispersing. 
Few leave Kew much better off pecuniarily than they entered it, and in 
my early days I have saved more in a bothy at 12s.~a week in three 
months than I could do at Kew in eighteen months. It is true that most 
of those gardeners who enter Kew do so for the sake of the special know¬ 
ledge to be gained there, but it is hardly in accordance with the traditions 
