490 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 6,1895. 
particularly the nearest one ; hence by the contiguity of horti¬ 
culture to agriculture—the garden to the farm—relief is sought, 
the rush is made, and overcrowding the result. 
Setting forth a fictional example, founded on facts furnished by 
many a rural locality, illustrating how some gardeners are made, 
we may note a cottage home plentifully bedecked with olive 
branches—a source of pride and anxiety to the worthy parents. 
The time arrives when the eldest of the apple-faced boys should 
be contributing something to the family exchequer, and to get him 
into the squire’s garden is advancing by leaps and bounds over the 
head of father, who has toiled and moiled for years on the farm. 
Our young recruit and his parents arrive, with but little reflection, 
at the conclusion that if he can be enlisted on the staff at the Hall 
gardens, it is but a matter of time when he will attain to a similar 
high position as Mr. Prunewell, the squire’s head gardener, who, as 
everybody knows, takes all the principal prizes at the Hortus-cum- 
Digwell flower shows. Should a fee be required to unlock the gates 
to these Elysian fields, it is cheerfully provided from the rainy day 
fund, which should be as powerful to invoke prospective blessings 
as it is to stave off future troubles. 
Ambition now soars high, and tempts—which the passport if 
provided enables—him to go straight through the glass houses in 
his endeavour to reach the goal. Consequently but little, if any, 
practical knowledge of outdoor work is acquired. So many 
examples may be noted of this way in which gardeners are made 
that it need not be attributed to imagination, although there 
are happily to be found exceptions to this ill-balanced method, 
particularly in North Britain, where the importance of a sound 
drilling in outside work is duly recognised. Having launched 
our apple-faced hero on the sea of life, what more natural, or 
apparently more desirable, than that other developing pippins, 
still dependent on the parent stock, should be sent to the same 
market, irrespective of any consideration of a glut ? 
Now, gardeners—in the fullest sense of the word—are born, 
not made, although it would be presumption in localising their 
birth to any class or condition of life. Given all necessary qualifi¬ 
cations to those who are eventually to rule successfully, these are 
those who by natural right should occupy the position they are 
qualified to adorn. It may be admitted that the majority of them 
do so sooner or later, but they are the class (not the cause) most 
acutely feeling this congestion in their trial by the ordeal of 
waiting. 
Some time since, when this topic was touched on (editorially, 
as far as I recollect), some crumbs of comfort were afforded by the 
deduction (I am not quoting verbatim) that nine-tenths of the 
really good and capable men would find their legitimate level. 
Giving the matter that thought it deserves, the force of this truth 
—and I believe it to be such—is evident. Here is comfort for the 
nine, but what of the tenth? No hope! This fact has to be 
faced. The tenth does not look very formidable on paper, but 
embracing the area of our country the serious proportion it then 
assumes is not to be lightly passed over ; nor is it, as plainly 
evidenced by the space given to this subject from time to time in 
the Journal of Horticulture. 
Apropos of the silver medal which the authorities of the 
Journal are liberally bestowing for an essay on a matter of some 
importance, I would respectfully suggest to them that any expres¬ 
sion of thought which would pave the way for remedial measures, 
either by restricting the supply or increasing the demand, would 
be worthy of a gold medal. Moreover, a practical solution of the 
puzzle initiating a golden age for good gardeners should prompt 
such a medal assuming the dimensions of Captain Cuttle’s his¬ 
torical watch. 
From this point of view—viz , the natural desire of self-preser¬ 
vation as a class, and the protection of that great minority, “ the 
tenth,” with a mitigation of the sufferings of the nine, we must 
charitably look on the other side from whence comes the crush. 
Competition in the field of horticulture is open to all, and the desire 
of each generation to step onward and upward'is not only enforced 
by circumstances but encouraged by education. May the latter 
ever be so ! Not any selfish views may prompt us to shut out these 
considerations, nor fail to acknowledge the worthiness of those who 
bear the burden of agricultural labour. Rather would we, and do 
hold out a helping hand to our hard-working brother by trans¬ 
planting his olive branches into the gardening world, even though 
it be, and undoubtedly is, to our own detriment. 
The decadence of farming has obviously much to do with 
gardening difficulties, and though our farming friends are straining 
every nerve to make two blades of grass or corn to grow in 
the place of one it is only to find that the virgin soil of “ the 
West ” is yielding three minus the handicapping they are subject 
to. But on this side of thd subject it is needless to dwell, unless 
it is to point the moral that relief from this quarter—the supply— 
appears to be remote indeed. 
Those immediately concerned—head gardeners—are so keenly 
conscious of the growing evil that we find them questioning the 
wisdom of training their own sons to follow in their footsteps. 
Although it is their gain not to do so, it can only be generally 
regarded as a loss to the gardening world. And, when we consider 
the moral force a head gardener has to give his son a push in his 
own profession, whilst prudence causes him to nip all horticultural 
tendencies in the bud and shunt him out of it, it clearly points to 
something rotten in the State of Denmark. 
Passing from supply and how gardeners are made, there appears 
to be something to be said on the question of demand. Are there 
to be found here any rays of hope in the gathering gloom ? I 
think there are; but in view of space and dreading the editorial 
secateurs I will at present defer it, and, if permitted, return to it 
under the heading of “ Facing the Fact.”— Invicta. 
FREE GROWTH OF PEACH TREES. 
When first planted in a fresh border Peach and Nectarine 
trees are apt to grow too strongly to be productive, say during the 
next three seasons. Especially is this the case when the grower 
is free with the knife at the winter pruning, and either the finger 
and thumb or the knife during the spring and early summer 
months. There was a time when very few, if any, gardeners 
ventured to lay in sub-lateral or secondary growths in the case 
of trees under glass even, and would have scoffed at the idea of 
saving any on open air trees. All this, however, is being gradually 
altered. 
Instead of removing all the sub-laterals or breaks on the current 
season’s growths, and which only aggravate the evil of grossness, 
the better plan is to remove those straight from the trees and a 
portion of the remainder, leaving only what can be laid in on the 
upper side, and in some cases on both sides of the primary growths 
without undue crowding. I shall perhaps be told that these side 
growths cannot possibly ripen sufficiently to fit them either for 
fruiting purpo.ses or assisting in laying the foundation of a service¬ 
able tree, but not by those who have given the plan a fair trial. 
Where the houses are old-fashioned, that is to say very heavy and 
dark, also indifferently heated, I can appreciate the necessity for 
depending solely on the shoots first formed, but there are not 
many such structures to be seen, the great majority having very 
light woodwork and extra large squares of glass. Of these latter it 
cannot truthfully be said that the wood fails to ripen satisfactorily 
under them. On the contrary, it is sometimes necessary to shade 
lightly in order to prevent premature maturation of wood, and 
early loss of foliage by red spider. 
In these light, and it may be freely ventilated, structures there 
ought to be no hesitation about laying in some of the sub-laterals 
now so freely forming on the stronger growths of young trees, 
as it is certain they will mature sufficiently for all purposes. Fail 
to do this and the chances are still more sub-laterals will be pushed 
out from the fattening laterals, with the eventuality of few or no 
fruit buds, unless it be at the extreme ends, which, if the practice 
is carried out in its entirety, will be cut off at the winter pruning. 
These much-pampered growths are very difficult to deal with the 
following winter, and prune how you will there is every likelihood 
of the breaks from them proving even grosser than the parent 
branch. 
If the trees could be depended on to last one’s lifetime in good 
health and vigour there would be some excuse for taking extra 
