150 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ ebruary 21,1819. 
whole of the buildings upon the different estates. A re-adjustment of 
tenants’ rights and agreements, in addition to the ordinary work of 
estate management. 
Results.— In 1885 there was a heavy loss upon all the farms in 
hand. In 188G sound practice told so well that there was a considerable 
profit upon one farm, and a remarkable improvement in the returns of 
all the farms. In the following year, 1887, the improvement was so 
great that a fair rent was paid upon all the farms, and last year tangible 
proof of further improvement was forthcoming in a rent considerably 
above the average amount per acre now paid by tenant farmers 
That record of facts affords sufficient testimony of the ability of the 
man by whom they were accomplished. They enforce in a practical 
way the soundness of the teaching of a correspondent on page 127 
last week, who deplores the losses that have been sustained by owners 
of estates by incompetent managers ; and goes on to say, “ But 
necessity is compelling landowners to look much more closely into their 
affairs than they have done before, and the result will be disastrous to 
lawyers, office agents, and their nominees, or I am much mistaken.” 
However able such officials may be professionally, only men who have a 
very real practical knowledge of estate work can show substantial 
improvement and bring neglected and impoverished farms into profitable 
cultivation. This is what Mr. Luckhurst has done ; his work of im¬ 
provement and renovation here is practically ended, and next autumn 
he will seek a fresh field of operations. Nor ought lie have far to seek, 
for there are plenty of estates needing the services of men who have 
proved their ability in the work of restoration, and who have given 
tangible evidence that farming to profit is still possible under skilful 
management. — W. 
GARDENERS’ EDUCATION AND THEIR SOCIAL 
POSITION. 
I AM very glad to see “ H. W. W.” return to the charge ; but he 
is evidently very uncomfortable under the stigma of being a menial 
servant, notwithstanding that he does his best to be happy under it. 
To prevent misapprehension I will at once say that the kind of 
men I have specially in view are as bona fide gardeners as “ H. W. W.” 
himself can possibly be. 1 have looked over the lists to which he has 
referred me, and have to observe that the private gardeners included in 
them are legally classed as “ menial servants.” There are hundreds of 
gardeners in the kingdom who are equally as good in every sense as the 
gardenere who are on the Committees of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, but who, instead of having ‘‘good establishments” to “preside ” 
over, have to take “ Hobson’s choice” and “ manage a garden ” with the 
assistance of from one to six men ; these are the men for whose interests 
I solicit the co-operation of “ H. W. W.” and all others. The few com¬ 
fortable, complacent gentlemen whose noble employers treat them with 
the consideration that all gardeners ought to receive, can sit comfortably 
in their armchairs and mentally exclaim, “ Oh ! I’m all right, let other 
people look after themselves.” But that is not the way to improve the 
class to which they belong, but indicates rather a selfish attitude. 
Certainly my experience differs from that of “ II. W. W.’s ” in re¬ 
spect to land stewards or agents. They are the social equals of lawyers 
or doctors, and I would like to see a member of either profession who would 
presume to treat them as anything less either in public or in private. I 
am writing of bona fide land stewards or agents, and not of gardener- 
bailiffs or butler-stewards. “ H. W. W.” asks me how I know that the 
remarks in “Chambers’ Information for the People” applied to gar¬ 
deners also. I form my conclusion upon that point by the letter and 
spirit of the context, and believe that the writer thereof intended it to 
include the word “ gardener.” or else it was an unintentional omission 
—an accident that occasionally'happens to the cleverest of writers. If 
your^ correspondent is not disposed to accept that, let him read the 
artie’e, and then deny the accuracy of my remarks if he choose ; but 
until he has read the article he is not in a position to say whether I am 
right or wrong. Legally gardeners are still “ menial servants socially 
they, in the majority of cases, rise from the same rank and out of the 
same family as grooms and scullerymaids. Perhaps 5 per cent., or less, 
may occasionally hob-nob with the village doctor, curate, or the least 
proud of the local farmers, and although I know that in some cases a 
real friendship exists between them, yet I also know that in many cases 
it only exists because the servant or gardener is under the mgis of the 
Earl, or His Grace the Duke ; the same man—from some cause beyond his 
control—might be transposed to a situation under a man without a 
title, and who only kept two or three gardeners, would scarcely be 
recognised by his former acquaintance. Gardeners should be raised as a 
class, and there are ways and means of doing it by combined as well as 
by individual exertion ; the two forces working in conjunction would 
effect alterations that at present are deemed impossible. The half-dozen 
gardeners who have a salary of £300 per annum, and a mansionette to 
live in, and fifty men and a “ good establishment ” to preside over, are 
as much “ menial servants ” as arc those gardeners who only receive a 
wage of 23s. per week and a cottage to live in, with two men to “pre¬ 
side ” over. 
Although “ H. W. W.” appears to be in some error as to the legal 
and social position of gardeners, I am quite sure that he is anxious to 
promote their welfare as a class ; and although we do not at present 
appear to see “ eye to eye,” I think we are really much more agreed at 
heart than we are, so far, in our correspondence. I agree heartily with 
his two last sentences, although probably the last sentence is open to a 
construction that he did not intend to apply—viz., every gardener, being 
a gardener, is necessarily reduced to the level of a gardener, be he whom 
or whatsoever he may ; and every gardener being a domestic servant, 
and all domestic servants being “ menial servants ” in the eye of the 
law, all gardeners are “ menial servants,” and the equals of other menial 
servants.—A. Bighter. 
NOTES ON AURICULAS. 
No. 2.— How TO GET A COLLECTION. 
No man can be a successful Auricula grower who has not got 
“ the bite ” deep and strong. When properly “ bitten ” his 
enthusiasm becomes so great that he at once acts upon his reso¬ 
lution to get a grand collection like what he has seen in the 
beginning of May in his friend’s house or frames. But how will 
he set about accomplishing thi3 ? The enthusiast with money can 
go to the market and purchase the varieties he wishes. The enthu¬ 
siast without money can nevertheless succeed well by begging plants 
from his friends, who will be only too glad to give him what they 
can spare. Ho may be longer in forming a collection, but be will 
have much pleasure in adding plants every year, and he will value 
them as true bonds of brotherhood in a common pursuit. The 
enthusiast who can partly go to the market for new varieties and 
partly draw upon his friends, will soon form a good collection, and 
be able to help other growers by gift or exchange. 
He who wants plants must be looking out for them all the year 
round, and his friends will take a note of his requests. Then 
potting time is his harvest, and he gathers in the promised offsets, 
reckoning himself fortunate in his possessions. The beginner 
should never refuse offsets because they are small, nor a variety 
because it is plentiful. A little care will soon make small offsets 
good plants. The longer he grows he will value this advice the 
more. Of course, when he goes to a dealer and pays his money 
down, he will expect to get a plant that will bloom at the proper 
time ; but when a plant is selling at 15s., 20s., or 30s., one is glad 
of a small offset from a friend, and very thankful for the gift, and 
a grower with the proper spirit in him feels a real gratification in 
helping another to an offset of a rare or expensive variety. But, 
as a rule, the beginner who depends wholly upon his friends for 
offsets cannot expect them from the newest or scarcest kinds, He 
may well be satisfied with the old varieties, all of which are worth 
growing, and many of them have not yet been beaten, let two or 
three English growers say what they like about some of the kinds 
recently sent out. 
It is all very well to say, as it has been said, that it is just as 
well to begin with growing the best varieties at once, as a good kind 
only takes up the same room as an inferior kind. The last state¬ 
ment is true enough, but if by the best kinds is meant the newest, 
the dearest, and the scarcest, then I maintain the advice is bad. 
The risks with these plants to an inexperienced grower are many, and 
their loss is serious. The best beginning is with the kinds that give 
offsets freely, and if a plant be lost it cm easily be replaced. There 
are many peculiarities about Auriculas and their culture which only 
experience can give a knowledge of, and until that knowledge is 
acquired it is better not to be rash in buying expensive kinds, If 
the beginner put in his frame two dozen of plants the first year he 
has reason to rejoice. Next year he will have offsets of his own, 
and with other additions from his good-hearted friends his collection 
will soon attain respectable dimensions. 
The beginner, I need scarcely say, must get a frame in which to 
grow his plants, and that need neither be expensive nor fine. The 
Auriculas are not like some “ painted ladies,” they have no pride, 
and will bloom their best in the rudest frame if it give them plenty 
of air and proper shelter from the winter’s storms. A frame with 
shelves, such as florists have in ordinary use, will suit them well ; 
but as the enthusiast’s ardour increases lie will think that he would 
grow his plants better in a house where he could see them everyday 
in the year whatever the weather. A house 12 feet by 8 (and this 
gives a passage of 3 feet, which is narrow enough) would hold more 
than three hundred pots, and these when in bloom at one time make 
a sight which will not soon be forgotten. The house must be put 
up expressly adapted for the Auricula in height, and with proper 
ventilation. With the house you can see in the midst of the storms 
of winter if anything is going wrong with any of the plants, and 
timely care may save some choice variety, whereas with frames only 
you may not be able to see within them for many weeks at a time. 
Here it may be as well to warn beginners against advice which 
lias of late been given by some English wwiters on the Auricula, to 
the effect that most of our old and admired favourites should be 
discarded as not worth growing, and only a few which they consider 
the best kept. The reason assigned for this advice is that “ the 
many” are not up to their standard, and that “the few ” with the 
addition of their seedlings only deserve recognition. What pre¬ 
sumption to ask us to discard the grand old favourites which the 
noted raisers of former years considered worthy of being sent out, 
