. .J annary KJ, j 
JOURXAL OF HORTICULTURE AXD COTTAGE GARDENER 
59 
T he remarks by Mr. AVrigbt on the emigration of gardeners to 
the United States of America and the Dominion of Canada in 
:a recent issue of the Joumal of Horticulture (December 19th, 1889) 
were peculiarly interesting to me. Who is to blame for our over- 
tstocked market ? The manufacturer ! True, gardeners often take 
apprentices with nothing in view except the “almighty dollar,” 
yet they are not wholly to blame, as they frequently have raw 
material put into their hands by proprietors of gardens, out of 
which they are expected to manufacture an article for which there 
is no present or prospective demand. Every individual of ordinary 
mental capacity and the needful practical application may readily 
'become an expert, but as gardens are not so easily manufactured as 
dihe gardeners it follows that there is a glut, and the gardener as 
well as the farmer must, if there is to be national increase, seek 
^resh fields. With the artisan it is different. Skilled labour is 
fully employed because the field enlarges by the production of a 
■cheapened and superior article, but cultivators must seek fresh 
pastures ; in fact, the cultivator is the pioneer of civilisation—the 
maker of trade and commerce. 
Emigration is, indeed, a necessity to the British farmer and 
•gardener. It is practically useless, however, sending a gardener 
abroad who has failed through lack of energy at home, for in 
emigrating to the United States of America it must be borne in 
mind that we have, so far as the States on the Atlantic seaboard 
and the great northern and central cities or seats of trade and 
commerce are concerned, to compete with a people fully equal 
to our own in all essential qualities, and with the advantage of 
being more adaptable, more inventive, more eager to get on, and 
less under the influence of routine and prejudice. If the experi¬ 
ence of one who has passed six years in the United States and 
■Canada mean anything, it is that considerable physical force and 
mental energy are necessary for enduring the strain put upon them 
in what proved “ a struggle for existence.” 
The experience I shall endeavour to give was obtained by an 
individual assumed to possess ample energy and competence as 
.n gardener in good establishments in England—viz., apprenticed to 
a good all-round gardener orchidist in the environs of Liverpool, 
helper in a good all-round establishment in the neighbourhood of 
Darlington, foreman in a marquis’s garden, also with three M.P.s^ 
two of them baronets, ultimately becoming gardener to a baronet^ 
drom whose service came in due course a release. Then came the 
inevitable waiting for a market. A market not being obtainable in 
England, it was resolved to seek one in the United States of 
America, and, following the same lines asMr.Wi'ight traversed with 
his medical friend, I shall keep back nothing except the name 
{which I place in the hands of the Editor as an evidence of good 
faith) of our gardener friend, who furnished the particulars under 
■circumstances that will appear later on. Our “ brother of the 
spade” left England lOfch January, 188-1, in the s.s. Polynesian, 
Liverpool to Philadelphia, nine days to Portland, weather rough, 
head winds, overcast, Portland to Boston on to Stonington by rail, 
from the latter to New York by water, and then on to Philadelphia 
foy rad, these journeys occupying two and a half days, or eleven 
and a half days from Liverpool to Philadelphia. Work was 
obtained the second day after arrival at Philadelphia with a florist, 
n the houses under a foreman at twelve dollars per month and 
board, with promise of advance to fifteen dollars in summer. He was 
quartered with coloured men, which was objected to, with the result 
that our friend was told to leave, and he did so after six weeks’ 
employ. He secured work again readily with an Irish florist, 
jobbing and trimming up plots, twenty cents per hour, no rations, 
and although only promised a few days or a “ leg up,” had five 
weeks’ employment. Failing to obtain heed for the credentials 
taken out—as the Yankee makes a practice of proving his man as 
the Englishman does his horse—a move inland was made, a few 
davs planting Tobacco in Connecticut, three miles from Hartford, 
supplying the needful for the journey to Rhode Island. Three 
miles from Providence work was got at hoeing Yellow (Indian) 
Corn at two dollars per day, where a stay was made over hay, 
Wheat, and Oat harvest, the employer being a dairyman and an 
Englishman. From there a journey was made northward, entering 
Maine the 13th August, finding Wheat, Barley, and Oats harvested. 
He there engaged with a farmer, owner of a 100 acre farm, 
at twelve dollars per month with board and rations. Had to 
learn milking, the stock being eight cows, twenty-nine bullocks, 
thirty-five sheep, three’ hogs, five hundred fowls, and six hundred 
pigeons. Four horses were kept. The farmer worked, the wife 
worked, milking the eight cows before the new hand learned to 
milk, and when he did, found a “mother” in the farmer’s wife. No 
female servant was kept, “ I wis the whole and sole dependant and 
help—a veritable man Friday.” The first work there was cleaning 
Yellow Corn, Potatoes, Turnips, Beans (Haricot or Pea Beans), 
Tomatoes, Squash and Pumpkins (Vegetable Marrows), Melons, 
Cucumbers, Carrots, &c,, housing as matured. Then came the 
getting in of the Maize crop, which does not do well, and is not 
much grown, but is a paying crop for forage, dried and stored as 
hay. Sweet Corn is much grown, paying well, being sold to 
factories for canning. Apple harvest came in due course, there 
being three acres of full grown trees, all choice varieties, Baldwin 
and Cornish Gilliflower being the two best winter varieties for 
dessert, Baldwin of course being equally good as a culinary sort. 
New York Pippin, large, red streaked, culinary or dessert, good, 
fall (autumn) ; Ten-ounce Pippin, large, culinary or dessert, red 
streaked, beautiful ; Seek no Further, red and yellow, good to 
eat and cook, keeping till March ; Northern Spy, Northern Green¬ 
ing, and Golden Russet were fine, the latter very prolific, and keep¬ 
ing sound until May ; Early Harvest, gathered before ripe to 
retain juiciness and flavour : and Red Astrachan, large, very fine, 
gathered or used off the tree are the best early Apples. The ground 
under and between the trees was cropped with Rye, allowed to 
ripen, and valuable for its straw for thatching. 
The trees were standards 24 feet apart ; pruned in winter, well 
thinning the heads with a saw. The Apples as gathered were placed 
in barrels at a cost of twenty-two cents each, and when filled with 
fruit these were worth one dollar each, the sender paying carriage 
to the port. Five barrels were considered a good day’s work 
for a man, the fruit being shaken down, left in the orchard 
to sweat but kept dry. One tree will yield from three to four 
barrels, all picked fruit, refuse being kept for cider, hogs, and cows. 
“Borers” infest the trees, to keep down which the stems were 
white or lime washed, or the insects killed by a red hot iron thrust 
into the holes in spring. All insects that seek to lay their eggs are 
kept from ascending by a broad ring of cotton wool, about 5 feet 
from the ground, with a tin cover to keep it dry and effective. 
Pears are not much grown, as they do not succeed, nor do Peaches 
and Grapes. Cherries do well, as Black Heart and May Duke, they 
with Apple trees being planted in hedgerows, baking a similar 
place there to what timber tress do in England. Timber, or 
rather lumber, is grown on land that is not suited for tillage. 
Plum trees do not succeed. 
In Maine a stay was made of one and a half year, as during 
the preceding winter a desire came, often and strong, upon our 
friend to follow “ his own business ; ” therefore he left the “ best 
No. 500.—VoL. XX., Thibd Series. 
No. 215G.— VoL. LXXXIL, Old Series. 
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