16 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 14, 1886. 
perature a few degrees by nine o’clock,while, if bright, be meets 
it with moderately heated pipes ; but, on the contrary, if the 
fireman runs with half his clothes on, and boots unlaced, at 
seven instead of six o’clock, and finds a temperature of 55° in¬ 
stead of 60°, fierce firing at once commences to raise the heat, 
and just when the pipes are “ burning hot ” the sun is on the 
house and the plants are between two fires. The heat cannot 
be kept down except by extreme ventilation, and this cannot 
be afforded without drying the atmosphere of the house and 
inciting such extreme transpiration from the foliage that 
renders it peculiarly inviting to the attacks of red spider; and 
no one can grow Cucumbers or anything else well, and red 
spider too. Heating is a very important matter, and the 
secret of success may be expressed in three words—be in 
time ; economy then goes hand in hand with efficiency, and 
this combination is a credit to the man by whom it is 
achieved. 
So much, but not too much, having been said on the sub 
ject of heating, there is little space left for that of pro¬ 
tection, and it must suffice to say that not half enough atten¬ 
tion is given to preventing the radiation of heat from glazed 
structures by the use of blinds. Fire is used, and must be 
used to produce heat, but as a rule slight endeavours are made 
to conserve it. Blinds are necessary in summer to keep the 
heat of the sun out of houses, and for that purpose are exten¬ 
sively employed; but while they might be still more profit¬ 
ably used in keeping the heat in the structures in winter, it 
is very seldom we find them thus saving fuel and maintaining 
an equable temperature. In nurseries, and especially on the 
continent, where it is necessary to practise the most rigid 
economy, blinds are drawn over glazed roofs during cold 
nights in winter, as well as on hot days in summer, but there 
is no such general practice in private gardens. If blinds can 
be supported an inch or two above the glass instead of resting 
on it, they are more effectual both in summer and in winter. 
—Experientia docet. 
THE FUTURE OF GARDENING AND 
GARDENERS. 
Mr. Taylor having thoughtfully hoisted the gardeners’ flag 
of distress, we should, I ihink, be lacking in courage and cir¬ 
cumspection if we did not carry it round, exhibit it to our friends 
and neighbours, asking their opinions and advice, so as not only 
to discover what are the real causes which have led to our forlorn 
condition, but also be able the better to realise not only what 
our present position is, but also what are our future prospects. 
The question “ What is to become of our great private gardens 
and our army of professional gardeners ? ” is at this time very 
suggestive and pertinent, but is not very easily answered. 
That private gardens, with a few fortunate exceptions, are at 
the present time under a heavy cloud is unquestionable, and 
while that cloud overshadows them the gardeners’ position must 
remain either unchanged or become even worse than it now is. 
The very fact that the garden and the chief part of its products 
are not essential luxuries to the wealthy classes, although they 
may be their greatest, as they are also their most wholesome and 
en Joyable pleasures, is sufficient cause why the garden should in 
unsettled and adverse times be the first to suffer for want of 
support. For gardens and gardeners to flourish it is highly 
essential that the commerce and trade, as well as the agriculture 
of the country, should be in a thriving and healthy condition. 
Bad seasons and depression in agriculture, however, are not of 
themselves sufficient to account for the continuance of this over¬ 
hanging cloud at the present time, but there are greater, wider, 
and in some respects more deplorable causes, which I imagine 
are not proper subjects for introduction to your columns. 
It may, however, be said with safety and propriety that the 
wealthy classes, as a rule, are not niggardly when times are 
flourishing, when landed and other property is comparatively 
secure, and when there are no disturbing influences prejudicing 
their future stability. At the present time it is not money pro¬ 
bably that is so much required as it is, let us still venture to 
hope, the temporary absence only of that good old English feel¬ 
ing of kindness and good will towards each other, that genuine 
feeling of friendship between the upper and lower classes, for 
which England in the past has been so distinguished, so justly 
proud, and which has undoubtedly contributed in no small 
degree to her prosperity, as well as to her proficiency in the 
science to which we are devoted. In times of difficulty like the 
present masters in their perplexity are too apt to place undue 
pressure on those whom they have engaged to occupy positions 
of trust and responsibility. They somewhat unreasonably 
demand equal, or even increased results at considerably reduced 
expenditure, and the outcome, as Mr. Taylor infers, is too often 
failure, in which the gardener is comparatively the greatest 
sufferer, because he not only frequently loses his position, but 
too often that also which is of more value to him, his character 
as a gardener. This cause of annoyance to the master, and most 
deplorable termination to perhaps, in many instances, a long and 
honourable service on the part of the gardener, might often be 
avoided if the master would only exercise a little more judg¬ 
ment, discretion, and self-sacrifice, by permitting a portion of 
the most unprofitable and expensive part of his garden to be 
converted, for the time being, either into woodland, game cover, 
pasture, or to any other purpose which might be deemed most 
convenient and profitable. 
On the other hand, the gardener’s bounden duty is to readily 
conform to altered circumstances, and endeavour by every means 
in his power to carry out his master’s instructions, instead of, as 
sometimes occurs, foolishly and uselessly combating what he 
conceives to be the erroneous determinations of his employer. 
It is the acknowledged privilege of those who ‘ pay the piper to 
choose the tune ” This line of action must, I think, be right 
because it is reasonable. ‘ As to what is to happen after the 
next move or two in the same direction,” as Mr. Taylor signifi¬ 
cantly puts it, I know not. I would rather say, “ Sufficient for 
the day is the evil thereof.” True prophets are very rare in these 
days; even our greatest philosophers, who have essayed to fortell 
coming events, have been but false teachers. Let us, ihere- 
fore, not suppose by looking on the dark side only that the next 
move or two will be in the same downward direction, but rather 
let us hope and believe that they will have an upward tendency, 
that better times are coming. After the storm comes the calm, 
after the cloud the sunshine. It is not the first time even in my 
recollection that gardeners have had similar trials to endure, 
although I must admit the present trial is a painful one, and 
must surely prove a severe check to the progress of our ancient 
profession; but that the day will come, I trust soon, when with 
the revival of trade and agriculture, when with a better under¬ 
standing between master and servant, when a better and more 
united, a more affectionate feeling will be manifested between 
all classes throughout Great Britain and Ireland, when everyone 
will be induced to look rather to the performance of his duties 
than to the possession of that which he conceives to be his 
rights, when the servant will be more content with the position 
which Providence has assigned him, and when, on the other 
hand, the master will be less selfish, less exacting, less suspicious, 
more considerate, more just to those in his employ ; when also, 
by the passing of judicious land laws, the owner and the occupier 
will each feel safe to invest his capital with ample security, and 
with every confidence that it will be safe from the intrigues of 
misguided agitators—then, and not till then, I fear, will gardening 
and gardeners again flourish with increased vigour. 
There is no lack of taste for cardening, but the very opposite 
is the case, and while this continues to be so it will eventually 
revive. Unfortunately there are great numbers of excellent 
gardeners and young journeymen at the present time who are 
by this lamentable depression thrown out of employment, as every 
nurseryman throughout the country can testify, many of whom 
are unfortunately simpdy existing rather than living, and for 
their sakes it is very desirable that gardening should revive. 
Never was there a time, perhaps, when the necessity of a 
Gardeners’ National Relief Fund for the unemployed was more 
felt than it is at the present. Had but the wise and timely 
suggestions which emanated from the generous heart of the late 
Mr. T. Speed some years ago, when at a Manchester show, been 
then actively and generally adopted, when gardening was in a 
flourishing condition, there would have been at the present time 
an accumulated fund sufficient to have met the immediate and 
pressing wants of our unfortunate brothers. It does seem 
strange that professional gardeners have never combined gene¬ 
rally to form a special fund similar to that mentioned. While 
every other trade and profession have some such organisation, 
gardeners, although from the peculiar nature of their calling 
they should be far-seeing and provident, and although they are 
acknowledged as a class to be fairly intelligent, temperate, 
prudent, and generous, yet they have hitherto failed to com¬ 
bine nationally for each other’s benefit. It is true there exists 
the “ Gardeners’ JRoyal Benevolent,” the “United Horticultural 
Benefit,” and other local societies, but the funds of these ex¬ 
cellent institutions are wholly or chiefly intended to benefit the 
