July 6,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
5 
mence to break, the bug is sure to again show itself, and no remedy 
then acts so well as careful and continual watching, killing every 
insect that puts in appearance, endeavouring to prevent the pest 
obtaining a hold on the young leaves and growths, for once the 
enemy does this it is much more difficult to keep down. The 
strict vigilance should not be relaxed all through the growing 
period of the Vine. After the Grapes are cut until all the leaves 
have fallen the Vines should be systematically and periodically 
looked over in order that this pest can be eventually exterminated. 
If the above hints are carried out with great patience, constant 
watchfulness, and a strong determination to conquer, I feel sure 
even the worst infested houses may in time be cleared of this 
intolerable nuisance.—G. H., Alton Towers. 
CAMPANULA ALPINA. 
This dwarf and very floriferous species was introduced into England 
as far back as 1806 by Mr. Loddiges from Austria, As its specific 
name indicates it is a true alpine, and is found in several varieties of 
colour, from steely blue and bright blue to the usual warm purple tint, 
which is so usual in the genus in the Swiss Alps, and Schneburg in 
Austria. Furnished but very sparsely with a rosette of simple leaves, 
a pyramid of bells spring from the crown like a fountain, and maintain 
the plant in full beauty for several weeks. In its native haunts the 
roots penetrate far down among the crevices of the rocks to the cooler 
and more moist depths, and for such a small plant are very stout and 
long, acting as a storehouse for the accumulated products of the leaf 
energy. It is surprising that the small and scanty foliage of this and 
similar alpine species are able to provide such a wealth of flowers 
in the spring. This is due to the greater energy of light in the purer 
altitudes in which the plants grow, where the leaf is able to do the 
work for which surfaces three times their extent would be required in 
more lowly regions, where the air is laden with particles which intercept 
the sun’s rajs. Bright sunshine and a cool run for the roots suits this 
plant. Our engraving (fig. 1) has been prepared from a sketch made 
at Kew. 
GARDENERS’ SITUATIONS. 
Whilst we hear from time to time suggestions as to the 
improvement of the status of the gardener, too little is heard of 
the gardener’s most pressing need, the finding him a situation. 
My own experience in this locality of the ease with which a good 
man gets out of work and the difficulty he finds in returning to a 
situation, leads me to infer that the range of opportunities for 
gardeners is seriously narrowing. Naturally it seems strange that 
such should be the case, but I regard it as being due chiefly to the 
undoubted fact that the incomes of the wealthier classes who 
employ gardeners have, because of failures in business and trade 
depression, arising from fatuous speculation and other causes, have 
been seriously diminished, and they have therefore had to discharge 
gardeners, or at least materially reduce their establishments, in 
consequence. 
It is all very well to assert that examinations and other forms 
of competition might eventuate in the reduction of the too 
numerous body of gardeners, and thus enable all engaged in the 
vocation to find situations ; but there is no proof whatever that the 
public would prefer the examined to the non-examined article. 
Still farther, no examination could prevent any number of good 
or ill-trained gardeners coming into the field as they do now. 
If parents could see that gardening was a somewhat dwindling 
vocation, that is in its purely luxurious aspect, that pay must 
always be small relatively, because gardeners have no cohesion, and 
also that no precautionary measures can prevent overcrowding, 
and would divert their boys into other better-paid vocations, the 
evil would in time right itself. So much, however, seems difficult 
to expect, and therefore we shall have to see myriads of very good 
men, very able, practical men, wasting their best days in search of 
employment, and finding nothing but that which is of the most 
menial nature. 
When that eminent gardener Mr. Malcolm Dunn reads his 
paper on the interesting subject of “ Gardeners and Their 
Employers,” which he purposes doing, at the Drill Hall on the 
28th August, I trust he will not forget the case of the too many 
gardeners who have no employers, and have been eagerly seeking 
them for a long time. He might, perhaps, also give his views 
on lady girdeners now in course of manufacture. Very sad 
indeed is the position of a man who has perhaps for ten or 
twenty years held a good situation as head gardener, and dis¬ 
charged his duty well, then finds that because of death or some 
other cause over which he has no control is suddenly thrust 
upon the world. He thinks a situation must soon turn up; ho 
is well known, he has many friends about on the look-out for 
him. He advertises, too, as all do, and yet finds that weeks, 
months, and years pass, and still nothing turns up. In the 
meantime his saved and hard-earned cash is gone, and he is thus 
compelled to accept any common work that may come in his way. 
Alas ! all his practical knowledge, acquired after many years’ 
experience, knowledge worth that found in a hundred examina 
tions, is useless to him as a wage earner. The only capital he has 
is found in physical strength, and when that fails then comes the 
workhouse. In the majority of cases vacancies are filled by young 
men, who take less wages than their predecessors received; the 
experience of age and reputation of years is disregarded; the 
practical man, whose life so far has been one long lesson in 
experience, is thrust aside, and his place taken by young men, who 
in their turn will be presently thrust aside also when a few years 
older. 
It was the realisation of this sad state of things that induced a 
ITG. 1. —CAMPANULA ALPINA. 
member of the Committee of our local Gardeners’ Association 
recently to propose that a register of members out of situations bo 
kept, and that it be Iccally advertised, or always open for inspec¬ 
tion at an available place in the town. That register shows a 
proportion 10 per cent, of really good men out of work on the entire 
membership,and if that is the exact proportion of the gardeners of the 
kingdom, there must then be an immense number indeed wanting 
situations. This too, let it be remembered, not in the middle of 
winter, but in the summer. Of course the Association is far from 
including all the gardeners of the district. I could wish it did, but 
were such the case the register would then I am sure be proportion¬ 
ally large. I cannot say whether any good is likely to result from 
the experiment, but at least we do in that way so much as is 
possible for men now practically without spare means. Let the 
wealthier part of the public know that gardeners may soon be 
found if they will buv examine the register. 
Gardeners out of place nearly always advertise themselves for a 
time, but it is expensive, and they soon have to give it over. The 
weekly appeal for work becomes productive presently of that hope 
deferred which maketh the heart sick. I have seen some very 
generous aspects of the gardener here in helping others who 
through months of inactivity have got into very low water, but 
that sort of thing never can be very enduring, as those who help 
are so poor themselves. Th? matter referred to is one of a very 
