JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 28, 1883. ] 
531 
necessary to secure good crops, is a mistake. I always think 
the thorough knowledge of his garden possessed by the man 
who has passed the greater part of his working life in one 
place, is a feature at once as noticeable as it is creditable to its 
possessor. With his experience he never attempts to grow 
certain crops in some positions, and he will year after year 
have some vegetable in one particular quarter. When a man 
has had charge of a garden for seven years he may at that 
time be considered a journeyman. It is only after years of 
patience that he can take his place beside the masters. 
As to the management of means, this should always be 
resolved into a question of “ means to ends.” Place the end 
in view before a man, give him the means to reach that end, 
and very few would fail in reaching it. The mistake is, that 
both with employer and gardener there is a want of definite¬ 
ness about what is wanted for a certain sum spent. I think, 
for instance, gardeners have themselves partly to blame for em¬ 
ployers insisting on purchasing seed in 1 ‘ collections.” If the 
seed list is made up carefully, so that economy is practised, not 
in buying cheap articles, but in doing with few sorts, and no 
more of a kind than is fairly sufficient, there can be no saving 
in “ collections.” If, on the other hand, a gardener must have a 
dozen varieties of Unions, half as many of Celery and other 
vegetables in the same way, we have an expensive seed bill 
at once. Again, if you have the opportunity of inspecting a 
series of seed lists, it will be found that the orders for various 
seeds are in the most extraordinary proportions. Here are 
items from one : 2 ozs. of Sweet Peas, 2 of ozs. Golden Feather 
Pyrethrum, and a quarter of a pound of Perilla nankinensis. 
Collections in such cases become weapons of self-defence to 
an employer. 
I will now turn from these questions to other points of 
management, lying very often beyond the power of the 
gardener either to change or to mitigate ; such, for instance, 
as the suitability or the unsuitability of a garden site, which 
once fixed, and the garden in working order, is practically 
unalterable. The wettest, or the shallowest, or the coldest 
spot on an estate is selected with infinite pains by some 
bygone sage, and we, of the present day, like the chieftain 
for his child, “ are left lamenting.” I was requested a year 
or two ago to estimate the approximate cropping value of a 
vegetable garden, and at the same time to give a rough idea 
of the lowest cost it would involve to work it and keep it in 
good condition. What I found was this, and some of these 
figures will be found to be at the least striking. The area 
enclosed was 4-j acres, of which walks covered three-quarters 
of an acre, fruit houses with borders one-third of an acre, 
open quarters and borders for vegetable cropping and small 
fruits less than 2J acres, the remainder of the ground being 
occupied by a system of narrow borders sacred to the culture 
of Apples, with 2 feet alleys round them, the latter reaching 
considerably over a quarter of an acre in the aggregate. The 
corner devoted to the reception of rubbish, soils, and manures 
was so situated as to be on an average for the journey to and 
from the garden just a quarter of a mile off. blow we cannot 
do without walks, and in gardens proportionately more than in 
any form of open field culture, but a case that requires an acre 
set apart for means of carrying and locomotion to every 
occupied by crops, surely is past a paying or necessary 
proportion. But not only was much of these walks and alleys 
lost ground, it was more than lost ; being, in fact, a continual 
drag throughout the busiest months of the year to keep in 
presentable condition. But further, only a comparatively small 
portion was used by workmen, the remainder being kept free 
from traffic to save work in keeping them clean. Possibly the 
per-centage of ground under walk-culture in the above instance 
was considerably above the average. The question is, of course, 
one for proprietors to see to, and they may depend on it that 
all extra work which can be by any means saved, pays not 
only in as far as it saves labour in a direct manner, but 
workmen always work with a keener relish when they find 
there is no wasting of their strength on labour which under 
an enlightened management would be altogether unnecessary. 
A gardener by himself can only save his men in details ; 
backed by his employer, not only can he save in details, but 
the necessity for much of his labour can be saved altogether. 
These thoughts are only a small contribution to a very wide 
subject, which there is every reason to believe that in the 
future, as the struggle for place increases, and as the pur¬ 
chasing power of money narrows ; as men of business habits 
multiply as employers in the gardening community, and bring 
these habits to bear on our craft in all its bearings, will revo¬ 
lutionise much which at the present day is allowed to remain 
as part of a system which, to say the least of it, is not always 
carried on on sound principles.—B. 
PIMELEA ELEGANS. 
Most of the Pimeleas are useful greenhouse plants, easily grown, 
free-flowering, and of graceful habit—all recommendations of great 
value. Pimelea elegans is one of the most distinct species, and 
is deservedly a favourite with many cultivators, as its large heads 
of creamy white or occasionally nearly pure white flowers are 
produced so abundantly that the plant is ornamental in no ordi¬ 
nary degree. Small specimens in CO or 48-size pots flower very 
freely ; and this is an especially useful character, as such plants 
are always in request for conservatory and greenhouse decoration. 
A moderately light compost of turfy loam and peat with a little 
sand is most suitable for this as well as the majority of other 
Pimeleas, and with good drainage water can be supplied liberally 
whilst growth is advancing. It flowers during the spring months 
and continues for a considerable time. The woodcut (fig. 118) 
represents a small branch with a head of the flowers about the 
natural size. 
CcELOGYNE CRISTATA. —If Mr. G-rindrod will read my article again 
on the above plant he will find I do not recommend cutting out 
leafless pseudo-bulbs. What I stated was merely this. “ If the 
plant becomes very crowded with pseudo-bulbs it is best to divide 
it. Some growers recommend cutting the spent pseudo-bulbs out to 
