July IT. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
271 
is most likely never to see as established plants: 
and why lay himself under any obligation where he 
could not in an open, honourable manner, send a packet 
of cuttings from the premises? Many neighbours would 
be glad to see him, and compare professional notes; 
but he remains doggedly at home, and i3 soon apt to 
become morbid and discontented, merely from his felt 
isolation; and confirmed in that isolation by the 
honourable, mauly feeling, that no visits of his shall 
submit himself, or his return visitors, to the indignity 
of passing through the place in a skulking, clandestine 
manner, because their presence would give offence. 
Is it in human nature, that a man thus cooped up would 
long retain his professional enthusiasm to do every 
thing possible to improve the place, or maintain that 
deep, earnest respect for his employers, without which 
it is next to impossible that he can bend all his energies 
for the promoting their interests, and the carrying out 
of their wishes ? A faithful servant he may be, and he 
must be, if he would not forfeit his own self-respect 
(without which a man is truly poor indeed); but mere 
honest integrity, allied, as in this case it must ever be, 
with industry and attention, can never supply the want 
of emulation and professional enthusiasm. A narrow¬ 
minded contractedness allied to selfishness will here, 
just as everywhere else, meet with its attendant con¬ 
comitants. 
Here is another instance. An employer’s means and 
wishes are such, that he must be satisfied more with the 
merely beautiful and useful, than with the scarce, the 
novel, or the costly. He has proved that the gardener 
is even more anxious to improve the place than he is 
himself, and wisely leaves the matter entirely in his 
hands. He is an honourable fellow, and never says 
he should like to go to such and such a place, if it was 
convenient, but the convenient time is always made. 
When return visits are paid to him, he does not obtrude 
the sight of these visitors upon any of the family 
unnecessarily; would rather take the turn of a walk to 
avoid meeting them directly; but not if that would 
involve any thing of the doing-thiugs-by-stealtli principle. 
The very appearance of wishing to conceal is fearfully 
ominous, and many a reflection as to a gardener’s 
rectitude would never have emerged itself into form, had 
the honest fellow had the boldness to be respectably 
open, and fearlessly straight-forward in all his doings. 
Under such regime the place soon improves. People, 
as a whole, have little disinclination to give, when 
there is the prospect of getting something in re¬ 
turn. So great is the change produced, that the 
tastes and the desires of the proprietors get insensibly 
changed too, and all goes on happily and comfortably. 
Years may have passed since a nurseryman sent a plant 
to the place, but now baskets come with something like 
regularity. The employers may at first grudge the 
expense a little, but they soon find an excuse in prais¬ 
ing their gardener, and saying they must get a few new 
things to please him; and though the real fact is that 
their tastes are so much changed, that they must have 
them to please themselves. I could point to a number 
of places, previously never heard of, that are now places 
of note in their respective neighbourhoods, that have 
risen into celebrity, not so much by the outlay of great 
sums of money, as by the industry and enthusiasm of 
the gardener, and the full confidence reposed in him by 
his employers. Such a man, when he takes a tour, 
travels for a purpose, and is always encouraged, rather 
than otherwise; and his general characteristic is a close 
sticker at home. I lately heard a gentleman say, in a 
playful manner, that “ he thought lie must prevent his 
gardener going out to such and such places in future, 
as he was always engaged in so many fresh plans and 
fresh works afterwards.” I believe that he fully relished 
all the changes ; and, as the best proof that his words 
were to be read backward fashion, I happened to know 
that he paid the whole travelling expenses. 
It is hardly fair to ask me how often I go from home ; 
and I do not think my memory would be good enough 
to serve me, but, as a general rule, I am rather a home 
bird, and, at the present rate of visiting, it would be 
many years before I could accept my present invitations. 
The second personal point is of more importance, and 
as that may be interesting to some others, I may state, 
that 1 make it a settled matter never to leave home for 
any length of time without my employer being cognisant 
of it. Perhaps I may be a little selfish in acting thus, 
for I freely own I could not enjoy myself when away for 
a day, if the thought would be always obtruding itself 
that I might be wanted, or that my absence would 
cause any unexpected inconvenience. There is an old 
axiom, that “ what i6 worth having, is worth asking 
for,” and many disagreeables would be avoided would 
young gardeners especially keep this in mind. 
I knew a good gardener who gave up a good place, 
and lost one of the kindest of employers, because, 
having gone from home a great deal, and without any 
notice, when remonstrated with, and told it would be 
necessary in future that he should inform them when he 
went away, he at once refused to do so. I believe that 
he himself would have made short work with an under¬ 
gardener, who, without consulting him, would have 
taken a day or two every now and then, and thus 
absented himself, however much he might be needed. 
If gone about in a respectable way, there are few em¬ 
ployers who would not allow their gardeners some time, 
less or more, every year, for visiting good places, confi¬ 
dent, that if the gardener did not keep his eyes and 
his tongue in liis pocket, they would ultimately 
reap some benefit, even from the feelings of emulation 
fostered. 
A few other things besides visiting gardens have here 
been introduced; and, perhaps, not wholly without 
use. 
As a class, and considering our social position, gar¬ 
deners can occupy a very fair place for general intelli¬ 
gence; and yet, as a body, we are far behind in re¬ 
cognising our position as servants, and as such, paid 
for contributing to our employers wishes. 
I believe, that three parts out of four of the unplea¬ 
santness between employer and employed arise from 
this fact, partly owing to the obscurity and secrecy 
which formerly hung over many gardening operations, 
and of which none but the practically initiated were 
supposed to know anything; and partly to forgetting 
that circumstances are now changed, and that many 
employers study botany, plant-growing, and general 
gardening, as a pleasant and useful recreation. I would 
be the last to advise; indeed, I should be the very first 
to repel, anything approaching sneaking serfism, or 
crawling subserviency, either as affecting personal con¬ 
duct, or conscientious convictions; and there are but 
few gentlemen who would not spurn such sacrifices 
to gain their favour; but as a class, it might do 
no harm to remember, that while we take a gen¬ 
tleman’s pay, we are bound, in all things lawful, to 
carry out not so much our own as his wishes; and if 
that is associated with an open, straightforward arrange¬ 
ment, as to cuttings given and taken, visits paid and 
returned, nothing left in uncertainty, no occasion for 
even a seeming concealment, then we may confidently 
expect that we shall not be overloaded with discomforts, 
repiuings, or causes of complaints. Not that even all 
this honourable and upright conduct, associated with 
good, general, practical knowledge, will always be suffi¬ 
cient to give satisfaction to employers and comfort to 
ourselves; for if it be true that gardeners sometimes 
forget their duties as servants, it is no less true that 
employers frequently do not perform, or do not know, 
