December 30, 1880.1 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
587 
STOCK-TAKING. 
of the most universal of customs, and one of 
^ ’ the best—indeed one that is essential to the 
conduct of business and the welfare of families 
consists in what is known as “ stock-taking"’—a 
winding-up of accounts, tracing at the same 
time the causes of failures, if any, and noting 
the elements that have contributed to success. 
There are few people, however humble their cir¬ 
cumstances, who do not in some rude way take a 
retrospective glance over a closing year, and compare 
their present position with their circumstances of twelve 
months previously. Others are more precise; they not only make 
a general comparison of their position now and then, but, by 
a careful system of recording events and the circumstances 
affecting them, they can trace a failure to its source and better 
understand what has been the root of an achieved success 
than could possibly be done by trusting to memory alone. 
In all well-conducted trade establishments the everyday 
events are recorded with accuracy and punctuality, and at the 
close of the year the exact position of the business, its progress 
or decline, its profit and loss, can be determined, together with 
the contributary causes that have produced the results. The 
tracing of failures to their sources is one of the most im¬ 
portant exercises a man can engage in. Dwelling on success 
is pleasant, and mankind are prone to indulge in that practice— 
to rest in the thought of what has been accomplished instead 
of devoting the mind to what has yet to be achieved. 
Stock-taking on a systematic principle is regarded by a vast 
number of people as necessary in large trades, but in the 
small concerns of every man's life it is not thought to be of 
consequence. Nothing can be more erroneous than such an 
idea. No useful work in which a man is engaged can be too 
trivial for notice ; its nature, the objects sought, the means 
employed, and the results attained should be recorded, and 
information of the most practical value and lasting worth 
will be obtained. This applies to workers in every vocation, 
and to none more forcibly than those engaged in the cul¬ 
tivation of the soil—horticulture and agriculture. “ The worth 
of a State in the long run is the worth of the individuals com¬ 
posing it,” is a great truth which should be indelibly impressed 
on the mind of every man who reads these pages ; and the 
remark may be properly and specially applied to the world 
of horticulture. Its character, usefulness, and advancement 
depends on the work of every man engaged in it—on the 
soundness, thoroughness, and accuracy of that work. Societies 
may, and indeed have, done much good, and the teachings of the 
press have been of inestimable value ; but, after all, honest and 
excellent work, which meets in the most satisfactory manner 
the requirements of families at home, is the best teacher, and 
is more effectual, more useful, and more advantageous, re¬ 
garded in a broad aspect, than that devoted to the glitter of 
shows. If showing is the chief object of the owner of a 
garden, it is the duty of a gardener to carry out that object 
assiduously and perseveringly, and he will at the same time 
give private satisfaction—which is essentially in that case a 
“ home requirement ”•—and gain public appreciation. But, on 
the other hand, if showing is the object of a gardener only, 
the employer giving no encouragement to the practice, then a 
mistake is made if the former persists in riding his hobby 
horse, which will sooner or later throw him in the dust. Gar¬ 
dening, then, which from the employer’s point of view has 
been abused, is no longer indulged in, the owner applying his 
wealth to other purposes. By this cause alone—devoting the 
resources of an employer towards an object that has not his 
sympathy, gardening has to a very sensible extent suffered, 
and the means for carrying out the art in its higher aspects 
have in hundreds if not thousands of cases been abridged. 
The prosperity, therefore, of gardening emphatically depends 
on the character of every man individually who is engaged in 
it. Let every gardener, then, take stock of his position and 
arrive at a sound judgment as to the most judicious mode of 
performing his duties. Let him remember that from various 
causes many people are not so rich as they seem, that the 
profits of trade have been minimised and rents curtailed, that 
the luxuries of life are not so readily attainable as formerly, 
and he must be willing to conform to the changed circum¬ 
stances until the recurrence of better times. 
Further, it will be well to recognise the fact that society is 
every day becoming more commercialised. Old customs, good 
as they are, cannot be retained because they are old, and full 
money's worth is in everything expected for money. Many a 
gardener is at this moment uncomfortable because he has not 
the necessary means afforded him for performing his duties as 
he would wish ; but it is certain that many employers are 
equally uncomfortable because they are unable to do what 
they desire in the various departments of their establishments. 
It is unfortunately too true that not a few able, industrious, 
conscientious gardeners have difficulties almost unbearable to 
contend with; they may, however, well consider that, hard as 
they feel their lot to be, there are many still more unfortunate 
than themselves—hundreds of them, who would rush to fill a 
vacancy if created. A gardener’s life is very much of a 
lottery regarded from one point of view. With friends and 
fortune and “ luck,” a man finds himself in a good position 
early in life, while others wait or wander for years before 
their turns come. Still, the true course is to plod on trustfully, 
hopefully ; a man may wait too long and wander too far— 
like an able gardener of the north, who waited for a “ great 
place ” until his savings were nearly exhausted, then went to 
London to seek friends and found himself in a garret near one 
of the great railway termini, and was glad to “ do anything” 
to raise his rent of 6s. a week and find bread for his wife and 
six children. This is an “ owre true tale,” and there are num¬ 
bers of men who have waited and wandered until they could 
wait no longer nor wander farther, and have had to leave the 
ranks of their craft. 
It is not to be expected that those who have been so 
No. 27.— Vol. I. Tumi) SnaiEs. 
No. 1683.—Vox.. LN1T., Cld Sebie 
