OX GARDENERS’ SOCIETIES. 
271 
sess, as it does upon the integrity , assiduity, and well-directed motives 
of those who undertake its official management. If, then, Mr. Burn¬ 
ham admits our last position, his money argument must fall to the 
ground. 
Mr. Burnham, however, is not satisfied with tearing the society to 
pieces, but he must also have a slap at those for which it is more par¬ 
ticularly intended ; and, among other things, tells us, that “ young 
gardeners brought up in gentlemen’s gardens know very little about 
growing good vegetables,” and, as he “ believes, less about cropping 
their ground.” This, certainly, is a very pleasing discovery, which 
Mr. Burnham has had the distinguished honour of bringing before the 
public; and “young gardeners” will surely feel greatly indebted to 
Mr. Burnham for his good opinion of their professional merits. We 
aspirants of the spade are also highly favoured by Mr. B.’s kindly 
pointing out to us the numerous emporiums of consummate horticultural 
wisdom which we undoubtedly were before entirely ignorant of; and 
where many of the favoured of us, from situation, may go, these “ long 
evenings,” to slake our mental thirst by the infallible practices of a 
Bagley, a Dancer, &c., and where “ every gentleman’s gardener who 
is fortunate enough to visit, may contemplate with astonishment” the 
horticultural wonders which our notable London market gardeners 
can produce. 
But, to be serious, Mr. Burnham deserves credit for the open and 
unreserved manner in which he has expressed himself, if not for his 
sound judgment in bringing forward such “ irrelevant matter” to 
blight the dearly-cherished hopes of those who are interested in the 
success of the society: and as Mr. Burnham's objections, when put 
together, are but few, I will endeavour, briefly, to convince him of 
their entire futility, and that they have a directly reverse tendency to 
that which Mr. Burnham intended them to have. 
Mr. Burnham tells us, in very “ strong terms,” of the eminently 
superior mode of kitchen cropping pursued by the London market 
gardeners, and entreats all who have the opportunity to visit these 
gardens, and learn from “ practical observation” that which they could 
not learn “were they members of twenty gardeners’ societies.'’ Now, 
I fully agree with Mr. Burnham in all that he has said relative to the 
excellency of the practical operations of the London market gardeners ; 
as I have had many opportunities of seeing these gardens, and give their 
managers full credit for the superior vegetables which they annually 
produce. But I maintain that their success is more to be attributed 
to the practical knowledge they have acquired of their respective 
gardens, from a long course of years, than from any actual knowledge 
