490 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 1, 1892. 
pro rata to the population at one period of our history than even now. 
However, I think most of you will agree with me in saying it is this our 
own period that has witnessed the great development of gardens in 
their higher scale. Various causes have brought this about. Steam and 
its concomitant extension of commerce having caused a greater 
accumulation of wealth as a whole, and also a greater dispersion of it 
among the whole population has given to more people the means of 
enjoying the pleasures and advantages to be derived from gardens. 1 
venture to think and hope we are not yet at the end of our tether in 
this direction. There is yet room for more gardens both public and 
private. Speaking of public gardens I allude to those open to and 
supported by them. I think I hear some of my hearers say. Where is the 
money to come from ? My reply is, Suppose a few hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of pounds which we now expend in other luxuries were gradually 
diverted into this channel, would the public suffer thereby ? Without 
being at all pharasaical, I must say that the benefits to be derived by so 
doing are manifold. However closely the subject may be examined I 
can see nothing but good therefrom. As to private gardens I would 
includeall kinds—front gardens, backgardens, window gardens, suburban 
gardens, and allotment gardens. Time will not allow me to enter largely 
into the question of exhibitions of all kinds in connection with gardens. 
Suffice it is to say they are of a nineteenth century creation so far as 
I know, and on the whole have done much to increase the pleasure, 
profit, and privilege to be derived from gardens. 
Gaeden Management. 
Here I am more at home, though the command given to the first 
gardener—viz., to “till it and dress it”—has to me a marvellous 
fecundity in it, and seems in a sense to cover the whole ground of 
management. What duty does a gardener execute in his garden to-day 
that cannot be brought under this command ? Tilling may be said to 
include draining, digging, and every other operation for preparing the 
soil for the seed and plants of the expectant crops. To obtain these in 
a satisfactory manner the best seeds should be sown at the right time 
and in the right manner and medium. Dressing would include thinning 
the crops, keeping down what we term weeds, and reaping the 
produce. 
Perhaps here may fitly come in a few remarks as to what is the 
best school for a youth who hopes some day to manage a garden. I 
should decidedly say a moderate sized garden from which good results 
are regularly obtained. It is not wise to be too anxious to get under a 
glass roof at once. Outdoor culture forms the base of all good gardening. 
Once learned it is not easily forgot. How many otherwise deserving 
young men, when describing the garden they are employed in, commence 
by telling of the outdoor garden ? Is it not far more general to hear 
what glass there is and what more is about to be erected 1 I do not for 
one moment wish to speak lightly of what I may term the higher duties 
of a gardener—viz., under glass cultivation—I only want to prove that 
more men fail when appointed as garden managers by knowing less of 
the outdoor portion than the indoor one. I have heard of a gentleman 
saying, when inquiring for a new gardener, “ Send me a man who can 
grow a regular supply of good vegetables. My garden literally smells 
of Pines, but I and my friends cannot live on them alone.” A note¬ 
book in which to record work done, and seen done, should be kept. It 
is well to have the right-hand page clear, for notes on the results of 
those on the left-hand one. Be sure and attend to details, they are the 
base of all sound knowledge. When changing situations endeavour to 
get into one where the practice is somewhat different from the one left. 
Read good books and papers bearing on your profession. They are more 
numerous, more instructively written, and much more easily obtained 
now than in former times. 
After some ten years and upwards of varied experience will come 
the time for looking out for a garden to manage. The first charge is an 
important epoch in a gardener’s life. He should take his bearings well, 
as besides those who employ him the eyes of his confreres will be upon 
his conduct and work. It is welP to pay strict attention to the former 
especially. Never forget it is their means and in the main their time 
you are using. Do not be afraid ignorant people thinking you a mere 
servant. To my mind the motto “I serve” is a noble one, and worthy 
as a crest for the best of men. In every respect always be loyal to your 
employers. If you are found faithful in small things it will be a sure 
passport to further trust. In case you cannot conscientiously give this 
loyal service seek the first opportunity of securing another situation, 
but do not punish yourself in this way too much until you have used 
every fair effort. Of course there are some unreasonable employers as 
well as employed. As a rule the former do not get efficient servants for 
long, nor the latter succeed in life. Find out the wishes of your 
employers as to their requirements from the garden you are managing. 
Try and meet them. Aim at having all things under your care in as 
good condition as the means given will allow of. Do not get shipwrecked 
on the rock of wanting to exhibit the produce grown under your 
management if your employers object. In all probability they will 
allow you this privilege in due time if they find you faithful in your 
duties generally. I once heard an owner of a large garden say that the 
best exhibition table for a gardener was his employer’s table, and his 
gardens and grounds. This may not be the whole truth of the matter, 
but there is. in my opinion, some wisdom in it; anyhow, there will 
always be sufficient who will allow their gardeners to exhibit their pro¬ 
duce, so as to keep np the splendid horticultural exhibitions we now 
have all through the country. This is proved, I think, by their in¬ 
creasing numbers as years roll on. I mentioned the eyes of your 
confreres would be upon you. Try to raise your work to the level of the 
very best of them. Above all things avoid the too frequent plan^of 
insisting to your employers and others what a very ignorant man your 
predecessor was. To my mind this is the worst blot on the fair fame of 
gardeners as a body, who in many ways are noted for the sympathetic 
bond that runs through followers of our ancient craft. 
Other gardens should be visited as opportunity occurs. Few obser¬ 
vant men can walk round even the smallest garden without learning 
something, if only what to avoid. In your dealings with those under 
your management always try and secure their respect. This can best be 
done by steady consistent treatment all round. Never act as if the 
garden you are managing was especially made for your own autocratic 
will and pleasure. Of course, you are responsible for the results, and 
must have orders obeyed. As a rule respect will gain this end more surely 
than fear. Gardeners’ positions are becoming more onerous in many 
ways; more is expected from them than at one time, and changing 
circumstances are tending to shorten the means of acquiring them in 
many places. A garden manager who has about him a loyal contented 
staff can make matters meet and tie much better than one who has a 
sullen disorganised one. One way of assisting in gaining the respect of 
those under you is to take a sympathetic interest in their general welfare. 
I have no wish to be egotistical when I say that all through my own 
twenty-seven years’ experience as a garden manager this has been one of 
my most pleasant duties. 
Be courteous and civil to all those about the place you reside in who 
may not have direct dealings with you. While taking every oppor¬ 
tunity of giving a helping hand to them in any legitimate way do 
nothing that would commit you in your employer’s eyes. Many other¬ 
wise good garden managers fail in their dealings with those about them. 
Always endeavour to produce from your charge as much profit, pleasure, 
and privilege as is possible, and I have no fear but that in due time you 
will receive your leward in the shape of a good conscience, a comfortable 
home, and the respect of those whose gardens you have to manage. 
HEREFORD FRUIT SHOW. 
On Wednesday, November 23rd, a long felt want was supplied in the 
purely agricultural county of Herefordshire, in the establishment, under 
favourable circumstaoces and with pronounced success, of an Apple and 
Pear Exhibition, to which was seasonably coupled the now fashionable 
and universally grown Chrysanthemum. Not that this is the first effort 
in Hereford in this direction, for it will be in the pleasing recollection 
of many of the readers of the Journal of Horticulture how some years 
ago a series of fruit exhibitions were held under the auspices of the 
Woolhope Club, with a view (1st) to substitute in the place of the 
worthless varieties in the Herefordshire orchards really good marketable 
produce, and (2nd) to supply typical specimens for the magnificent 
work, the “ Herefordshire Pomona.” 
The former praiseworthy object, the Exhibition last week so success¬ 
fully inaugurated, hopes to continue ; indeed, it surpassed the expecta¬ 
tions of even the most sanguine, no less than 3700 dishes being staged, 
every portion of the large Shire Hall being filled with plates of even, 
clean, and well-coloured specimens ; ia a year, too, when we recollect 
the proposed International Fruit Show was postponed owing to the bad 
prospects of a good season in the early spring, there can be but little 
doubt of the Exhibition becoming a regular institution. 
Surely this should be the case in a county like Hereford with its 
deep and rich soil, capable of supplying all Great Britain with its 
27,000 acres of orcharding if only properly planted and tended. Here 
a remark may be added as apposite, made at the Committee luncheon 
by the Vice-Chairman of the Hereford County Council, that august 
mouthpiece of the people, and one would like to think, with its power 
present and prospective, the friend of the landed interest, and all sorts 
and conditions of men : That tenant farmers (and I may add here that 
my remarks, as in the case of the Exhibition I report, lead up mainly 
to their interests) would do well to plant such good bearers aud quality 
fruits as the Golden Winter Pearmain (the speaker called it Prince’s 
Pippin), despatching the best to market (more Americans, presumably!) 
and keeping back the “ cullings ” for the mill. 
Apropos of cider fruit, a new departure has been made in the 
schedule of prizes, the number of plates being wisely restricted to twelve, 
which were typically represented by ten small, pretty, mostly cherry- 
coloured specimens of useful varieties, not only pleasant to the eye of 
the on-looker, but prospectively good for a twin national beverage 
(as in the good old days of vore), in healthy rivalry with that kingly 
monopolist—Hops and beer ; instead of, as previously, exhibited 
indefinitely in large numbers of crude many-sized unwholesome non¬ 
descripts, an eyesore on the plate to all the other surroundings, as well 
as, possibly, something more than a doctor’s bill when transmogrified in 
the glass or tankard. 
But to come to details. As a complete list of awards and prize- 
takers would tax the space allotted to this report as well as the 
patience of the general reader, I will only allude to a few of the 
chief features of the Exhibition. The first object to meet the eye 
was the first-prize card of Messrs. Bunyard, with their grand collection 
(Division A, open) of 100 plates of Apples. Viewed in that splendid 
light in our Shire Hall (many a rosarian will well remember), which 
not even these nebulous November days can quite quench, the general 
effect was charming, and well sustained the reputation of the firm and 
