240 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 22, 1861. 
I have a quantity of Pines here, and observing what I have 
never seen before except by scalding, which is not the case at 
this season. Many of the points of their leaves are brown: the 
first appearance is that they look as if they had been dipped in 
hot water, and afterwards become withered. I have some fine 
plants planted out over a hot-water tank, and some in pots 
plunged in a bark-bed, both of which have the same appear¬ 
ance. Both places are heated by smoke-flue; but I have a 
sufficient amount of moisture kept up by damping the path¬ 
ways. The only conclusion I can come to is, that it is either 
caused by bruising the foliage or using Gisliurst Compound 
too strong. I have had Pines under my charge before, and 
have seen a great many, but have never seen the like before.— 
A SUBSCRIBER. 
[We think if the roots are in a good condition that the sequt.1 
will prove that the master was quite right. Under such circum¬ 
stances it is best to allow those circumstances to regulate our 
conduct, and that will be better than acting on a pet system. 
We would have thinned the Yine-rods gradually, and in the 
ensuing season would have selected wood to replace what we 
had taken away, so as to renew the Yines without any loss of 
crop. We suppose you propose inarching the Yines cut down ; 
but if they merely start in April you will not be able to do so on 
their young wood until the middle of June, or the beginning at 
the soonest. You might graft, however, in March, and, if any 
failed, try inarching afterwards. 
The Pine leaves will never recover from a bruise; but in your 
case we should expect either that there was a discharge from 
the flue which nipped the tenderest part, or that the cold had 
been too much for them during one of the recent cold nights.] 
HINTS TO GARDENERS. 
In the following remarks I trust the warnings included therein 
will be taken by my brethren in the spirit they are written in— 
that of a true regard to their interest and welfare. I am now a 
man well stricken in years, and have seen during more than half 
a century of experience, mistakes of various kinds made by 
gardeners ; mistakes that have brought many a once respectable 
man to poverty and degradation. 
I deplore as much as any man the inadequate rewards 
that too many of my fellow gardeners have to endure, and 
I do think that no small blame is due to employers for 
giving low wages to men who have devoted, perhaps, ten 
or twelve years to learning their business. To a mind not 
rightly constituted, and conscious of being underpaid, the 
temptation to make the most of his place is great: hence 
he is always ready to accept gifts, and must give something in 
return, either in the shape of cuttings, plants, or even fruits. 
Another way to eke out his wages, is to take young men and 
a premium with them. I do not say this is absolutely wrong, 
but one bad consequence is, that he must keep the young man 
whether worthy or not, for a time at least, in order to have a 
decent pretext to keep the premium. Then, again, in order to 
increase the number of premiums he recommends his young 
men to situations before they are fit for them, and by so doing 
throws more hands into the market than there is a demand for, 
thus causing a continuance of low-w'ages men. This is a great 
mistake. That there are a great number of gardeners out of 
situation at the present moment is a fact, in proof of which I 
need only refer to the great number of gardeners advertising for 
places, and the very few that are advertised for as wanted. I 
know an instance very lately which proves this melancholy fact 
still more. A respectable nurseryman advertised for a gardener 
for one of his customers, and he assured me that he had received 
no less than one hundred and eighty applications. Now, only 
one could have the situation, consequently one hundred and 
seventy-nine are yet out of place. Let every gardener that reads 
this fact remember that if lie loses his place there are hundreds 
ready to jump at it, however poor it may be, and once out of a 
situation he cannot tell how long he may be before he obtains 
another. 
Now, how is the sad state of things in regard to my suffering 
brethren to be ameliorated ? It is a very grave question. There 
are three methods that, if systematically followed throughout the 
kingdom, would in some degree amend the condition of gardeners 
namely, by training up fewer young men to the profession; by 
such as can afford it emigrating to a country where they are 
wanted; and by turning to some other business. The first 
remedy is, in my opinion, the most important. It is well-known 
to economists that the price of anything is regulated by the 
supply and the demand. If Wheat is scarce the price instantly 
rises ; and so it is with both skilled and unskilled labour. If 
gardeners were less numerous they would be better paid: hence, 
let the head gardener take fewer young men as apprentices 
to train up to be head gardeners, and employ instead more 
labourers, and then very soon the value of gardeners would be 
raised. 
There has been great talk about educating gardeners, and I 
think it very desirable that young men who are learning the 
business should improve their minds by study, and learn all they 
can that may make them better men and better gardeners ; but 
that alone would not increase their salaries if too great a number 
are brought up to the business. Places do not increase so fast 
as to need a greater supply of head gardeners : hence the supply 
is greater than the demand, and a lower price is of necessity the 
consequence. In my young days it was not so. If a good gar¬ 
dener by the death of his employer was thrown out of a situation, 
he had only to state the fact to a respectable nurseryman that 
knew him, and directly he had the offer of two, or three, or more 
places to choose from. Now, if an equally respectable man loses, 
though from no fault of his own, his place, he may go into 
even a London nursery, and may possibly stop one, two, or 
even three years before a place may occur to suit him. But 
if he has a family depending upon his wages for bread, he 
will be tempted, and it is often too truly the case, to accept 
a place at all hazards, at even lower wages. Such a man. 
becomes unhappy in hig poor place, and in many cases it ruins 
him. 
This should not be so. Many employers object to engage a 
gardener with a family. I think this is wrong. A man with a 
number of mouths to fill is the more likely to strive to do his 
duty in order to please his employer and render himself of 
greater value. I do hope this objection to engage a worthy man 
because of his family will be done away with; he is the very 
man that most needs a good place. All this proves my first 
remedy to be necessary in these days—namely, training up fewer 
young men to the business. 
My second remedy to correct this growing evil, is emi¬ 
gration. Young, healthy men in the prime of life who are not 
afraid of work, should emigrate. I know no country where a 
gardener up to his trade can do so well as in Canada. I once 
had a clever fellow of that character under me. He was married. 
I got him a pretty fair place, and he stayed in it till he had saved 
a little money. His children and wife and himself made a family 
of seven persons. His cash just cleared him out to Canada, 
lie had a good bold heart, and went out well recommended, 
but totally unengaged. He arrived at Montreal in April, just as 
the winter was passing away, and immediately obtained work at 
fair wages in a market garden. A gentleman that lived near 
observed this young man and his mode of doing his business. 
He offered him higher wages to enter into his employment as 
bead gardener. The young man accepted his offer, and the 
gentleman placed his garden entirely in his hands. This young 
man laid it out anew, put up more glass, and so improved the 
place that his wages were advanced again, and he is now reaping 
the reward of his labour and the spirit he displayed in emi¬ 
grating. I give this instance of success because I know it to be 
true. He writes that any good gardener may do quite as well, 
and that the demand for them is great. Another instance has 
come under my knowledge. A young man—my foreman, in fact, 
went out some fifteen years ago to the United Slates. He ob¬ 
tained a place immediately, and, being careful, he saved money 
and laid it out in land. He is now an extensive market gardener 
near Philadelphia. 
Here, then, are two countries where there is room for our 
surplus stock of gardeners. Let more go out and they will not 
only benefit themselves but their brethren that they leave behind 
them. I w'ould not advise a man to go out to a newly-settled 
country like New Zealand, for instance, expecting to obtain 
employment as a gardener. There he must become a farmer 
or a farmer’s assistant, for gardening is yet in its infancy. I 
have no doubt he would find employment in the more settled 
parts of Australia. That country within a few years has made 
rapid strides, and is now in many places well peopled, and 
wherever there is a large population there the produce of the 
garden will be in request, and there men that are gardeners 
mdeed will meet with situations.—T. Appleby. 
{To be continued. 
