Ootob p 27, 1887.1 
JOURNAL . OF .HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
353 
27 
Th 
28 
P 
29 
s 
SO 
SUN 
21st Sunday after Trinity. 
81 
M 
1 
To 
Southampton Autumn Show. 
2 
W 
AUTUMN WORK—OLD GARDENERS AND 
NEW. 
HE autumn may be said to be the beginning of 
the gardener’s year, and if lie falls behind 
with his work at this season, or if his prepa¬ 
rations for the next are inadequate, his will 
not be a bed of Roses during the coming 
months. It is customary for proprietors of 
gardens to make changes in the autumn—not 
in respect to routine or improvement only, 
but of those whose duty it is to carry out what is required 
to be done. Gardeners, also, of their own account find 
the advantage of entering into fresh engagements in the 
autumn if they can enter on them soon enough. There 
is, perhaps, no period more favourable for changes of 
managers than the end of August or early September, as 
there is then time to make provision for a supply of early 
produce by autumn sowing, and propagating is also 
done by the person who is responsible for growing the 
plants and the general effect produced by them next year. 
When changes are made late in the year or in spring the 
character of the ensuing season’s work is influenced by 
the action of the “last man,” and the “new gardener” 
cannot be fairly estimated as to capacity till he has had 
a second summer in which to show the results of his own 
forethought and labour, for the work of autumn affects 
materially the results during the summer next succeeding. 
As a rule, when a fresh gardener is placed in charge 
of an establishment, no matter whether it be large or 
small, a great change is expected in the way of improve¬ 
ment. No matter how able the old servant may have 
been, the new one is expected to excel him in every 
department, and in not a few instances more is expected 
than it is in the power of man to produce with the means 
at his disposal. These great expectations are thus not 
realised, and while those indulging in them may not feel 
exacting nor hard taskmasters they are yet disappointed, 
and through lack of knowledge, which they cannot be 
expected to possess, may form an erroneous view of the 
ability of the gardener who had been so highly recom¬ 
mended. The man is judged not by his own work alone, 
but by that which he inherited from his predecessor, and 
which might be different from his own if he had been 
there to lay the foundation of it. 
Not long ago, in passing round a garden of no 
inconsiderable extent, the proprietor pointed disapprov¬ 
ingly to what he considered, and what unquestionably 
was, faulty in some if not most of the departments. 
“The place,” he observed, “has been going steadily 
down for the past three years, and I have quite decided 
to have a fresh man. Look at those Vines,” he con¬ 
tinued, “ the crop is worse than ever, and I must have 
something very different next year.” His new gardener 
No. 383. —Yol. XV., Third Series 
was engaged to enter on his duties on November 1st, 
and it was clear from the tone of the remarks of the 
owner of the Vines that Grapes of exhibition quality w r ere 
expected from them in 1888. In the interest of an 
unknown man it was thought advisable to point out that 
the Vines, which were a dense thicket of growths, and 
the small thin leaves “swarming” with insects to such 
an extent that they were curled as if seared, could not, 
under any possible treatment, be made to do what was 
expected from them so soon. By vigorous and well 
directed action in August in the way of cleansing and 
relieving the overcrowding, also by inciting fresh root- 
action in new soil given in September, some improvement 
in the next crop might have been effected; but even then 
a full crop of superior fruit could not have been produced. 
All competent gardeners know, and owners of gardens 
ought to be told, that it is the condition of the Vines this 
year that governs the crop of the next; and in the case 
in question, when the matter was explained, the real facts 
of the case were to some extent, and it is hoped to a large 
extent, appreciated. 
The flower garden was also certainly not in the 
condition it ought to have been and might have been 
with the resources at disposal. It was expected to 
be fresh at least, if not gay, in the early part of 
the shooting season, or in September and the begin¬ 
ning of October, yet several of the beds had been bare for 
weeks through the wrong kinds of plants having been 
employed—dead hardy annuals and dying Stocks, yet 
not an Aster to be found. The whole of the beds were 
expected to be massed with Pelargoniums and plants of 
that nature next season, yet cuttings were not inserted 
nor provision made’for filling one-fourth of them when an 
early frost had left its deadly impress on the leaves. As 
was pointed out, how was it possible for a coming man 
to do what was relied on, without purchasing at the 
least 10,000 plants to effect the purpose ? Great virtue 
is attributed to the “master’s eye,” but it must be 
trained to be able to judge fairly and suggest effectively. 
The eye had not seen the lack of preparations this autumn, 
and the mind next summer might consequently be un¬ 
able to comprehend the difficulties of the position that 
would be then experienced, or at the least to fully appre¬ 
ciate their true origin and real cause. In the kitchen 
garden also no satisfactory preparations had been made 
for the spring and early summer supply of vegetables; 
and though an able man can do much in raising early 
Cauliflowers and Lettuce under glass he cannot find 
substitutes for Cabbage, Spinach, and Lettuces that 
ought to have been raised outdoors in the autumn. This 
is in no sense a fancy picture, but the accurate record 
of existing facts. 
It is not suggested that all new gardeners are better 
than the old. The very reverse may be the case, and 
instances must be familiar to most persons of experience, 
of owners of gardens acting contrary to their own interests 
in effecting changes without due consideration, or through 
misconception of the circumstances of the case; nor, on 
the other hand, can any assurance be felt that all gar¬ 
deners when approaching the expiration of their term 
and nearing their departure make the same provision 
for the future that they would if they remained to incur 
the responsibility of their own work. Those who ai'e lax 
in this respect err very grievously, for they do injustice 
to themselves, deprive their employer of his rights, 
jeodardise the position of a successor, and bring discredit 
on the craft to which they belong, and from which they 
No. 2039— Yol. LXXYII., Old Series. 
