THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Januaet 29, 1861. 
255 
PINE APPLE LEAVES DISFIGURED. 
It may be interesting to you, and your subscriber who com¬ 
plains of the injured Pine Apple leaves in last week’s Number, 
at page 239, to have any opinion so as to assist in ascertaining 
the cause. I here note mine, but with due respect to the answer 
given him. From -what he describes, I think it was a sudden 
spurt of too much flue heat given in the past severe weather. 
If his Pines had not been accustomed to much fire heat, and he 
had to apply strong fires to keep them safe from frost, they 
-would be the easier affected. Probably, he finds the leaves that 
stand off horizontally affected more than those upright in the 
centre of the plant. He may be able to say that his flues are in 
sound order ; yet, that is not a guarantee for the prevention, as 
hot-water pipes, if worked by a smart boiler, have the same power 
but in a milder form. If your subscriber has the means at hand 
he may try to satisfy himself, by taking a healthy plant from a 
pit that is heated with fermenting materials and low temperature, 
and place it in the hottest end of a stove where a strong fire heat 
is kept up ; in which case, the extreme sudden change would, in 
all probability, cause a similar injury as that which he describes. 
Pine Apple leaves that have suffered from cold or frost, I never 
observed to turn brown, but always white or yellowish-white. — 
A. McKelyie, Stevenstone. 
A PACKET OF SEEDS SAVED BY AN OLD 
GARDENER* 
THE LATE ME. EDWAED BECK. 
A moeenfel interest attaches itself to the publication of this 
re-issue of a very clever and witty jeu d’esprit, inasmuch as, 
when it was passing through the press, its lamented author had 
passed away from this eartlily scene to that land which during 
his lifetime he had ever kept in view; and in Edwaed Beck 
the floricultural world mourns over one who, whether as a man 
or as a florist, was an honour to the craft to which he was so 
warmly attached. With him religion was no matter of mere 
creed, but a moving principle of everyday life ; and though far 
removed from him in my views (as a clergyman of the Church 
of England), both in matters of church discipline and belief, yet 
one has, I hope, charity enough to honour a real love of truth, 
though it be in the sombre garb and quaint phraseology of the 
Quaker. All who knew him will, I believe, recognise in the 
statements of this book the impression of his own character. His 
shrewd and accurate knowledge of human nature, his appreciation 
of the salient points and difficulties of any position, his rigid 
demand for unquestioning submission to his orders, and at the 
same time the kindliness with which he entered into the wants 
of those whom he employed, are manifest in the portrait he 
draws of the squire, no less than are the energy of his character 
and the religious convictions which ever guided him in life. 
To the horticultural world Mr. Beck was known best as a 
successful exhibitor of Pelargoniums and a raiser of new seed¬ 
lings. He commenced their growth as an amateur; but the 
natural energy of his character, which made him do thoroughly 
whatever he did at all, led him on so far that he passed as an 
exhibitor from the class of amateurs to that of growers for sale, 
and it became a matter of business as well as recreation. The 
floricultural world was the gainer; for he quite set an example 
by the tidy manner in which his plants were sent out, and by 
giving only such stuff as really was creditable. Of course, some 
kinds would be better growers than others, but each plant sent 
out was good of its kind ; and I well remember the astonishment 
which a nurseryman in Dublin, who had been in the habit of 
receiving plants, continually expressed when his first basket 
from Islewortk was opened. Of late years he had again become 
the amateur, his former gardener becoming a prosperous nur¬ 
seryman in the neighbourhood; and, consequently, the amount 
of glass which he used was considerably diminished. He still, 
however, continued to raise seedlings, and year after year shared 
with Messrs. Forster and Hoyle the honour of introducing new 
varieties to the public; and while his Refulgent, Fairest of the 
Fair, The Bride, Meteora, Sappho, and others of older date 
etill bear their names on the scroll of established favourites, 
some newer ones make their appearance for the first time. 
Amongst them is one “ The Gem of Roses,” which, though it 
may not meet all the requirements of the florist, will, owing to 
* A racket of Seeds save l ly an Old Gardener. Second edition. Lon¬ 
don : Chapman & Hall. 
its great refinement and its pleasing tint of colour, be a favourite 
with the general public, and even more so than many more 
highly extolled flowers. Such, I believe, was its raiser’s own 
estimation of it; and although, like many men, he often erred 
in judgment, looking upon his own children as prettier and 
better than they really were, yet he never wilfully declared that 
to be good which he knew or believed to be bad. - 
The experience of one naturally shrewd and observing, and 
who had the opportunities of which as a sailor, captain of a 
merchant ship, and large employer of labour he enjoyed (for 
such successively was Mr. Beck), could not but be large and 
valuable ; and some of that experience he has embodied in the 
interesting little book the title of which heads this article, and 
which appeared originally in the “ Florist,” a periodical at one 
time under his able and wise management. Under the fictitious 
autobiography of a gardener of the old school, he gives us his 
ideas of what a good gardener ought to be and what a bad one 
is ; and those who are writing and saying a great deal about the 
education of gardeners would derive no little advantage from 
the perusal of this volume, which, in a quaint, homely, and 
touching style, expresses doubtless his views on the point. 
He lays as the foundation of all excellence in this, as in every 
other calling, that a man should have his heart in the work: 
without that, all the education, cramming, and high pressure 
you may put on will never make a man a gardener, fie describes 
with considerable pathos and truth the buffetings that a gar¬ 
dener’s boy, if he wishes to keep steady, often has to put up 
with; and the difficulties of coming in a new place, where all 
has been neglected, and where the different classes of servants 
are more ready to annoy than to help. Hear what he says of 
two classes—“ I’ve noticed all my life that horses seem to spoil 
anybody that has much to do with them, whether master or 
man.” And again, “ Then look at Mr. Keeper. If the tenants 
didn’t please him they couldn’t call their farms their own; for 
he’d watch for some flaw about ’em as he’d watch for a poacher, 
and he’d have ’em out by hook or by crook.” These dangers he 
gets over by his good nature; but the same quality drew him 
into another, the curse and ruin of many a promising man— 
public house frequenting. He nearly loses his place by this, 
but is kept by his master’s kindness; though he ultimately is 
turned off for refusing to obey the squire’s orders. I know bow 
just his remarks on this subject are, how many men disgust 
their employers by insisting on having their own way. It may 
be very true that a gardener know r s a great deal more than his 
employer about his craft; but if a master says, “ Cut off all the 
heads of those standard Roses,” or, “ Give those Peach-houses 
a night’s frost,” a gardener may respectfully show the result; 
but if it is still insisted on he must do it. But it is not only the 
Employed but the Employer that the “ Old Gardener ” has 
his word for ; as he says, “I’ve tossed the caps down, let every 
master and man wear the one that fits him.” The negligence 
too often exhibited of the simplest wants and comforts of the 
men, the miserable holes in which at times they are put to 
inhabit, the management—or rather mismanagement of country 
exhibitions, the little petty jealousies too often engendered, and 
then the contrast in the grand and imposing display of a metro¬ 
politan show, are also very clearly touched upon. In fact, 
there is hardly a subject that bears on the position of either the 
gardener or his squire which is not touched w r ith the sharp and 
caustic, but withal kindly, pen of the writer; and in the present 
day, when so much is said about learning, high education, and 
competitive examinations, it is a refreshing thing to turn to a 
little book like this, so redolent of that most valuable quality— 
good, plain, common sense. It would be a good thing if every 
country gentleman would read, and, if need be, profit by this 
book, and give a copy to his gardener—that is, if he means 
to abide by what it says of his duties as well as those of his 
gardener. 
Who can doubt, that in the concluding chapter in which he 
addresses his brother gardeners on the value of “ The Book ” 
itself, he dwells on that which had been the guiding star of his 
own life ? “ Now, what I want us all to do is, to read this Book 
just as we read the gardening ones, and while we work away in 
our gardens abide by its calendar of operations for working at 
the heart.” And, again: “It’ll make you respectful to jour 
employers, and will get you respect from them ; and when you ’ve 
roughed it through life—and I’ve known what it is to rough it 
well as any of you—it will give you a hope that ’ll grow 
stronger and stronger the older you grow.” 
The last days of Edward Beck corresponded with his previous 
