289 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 12, 1861. 
for honesty, for the sate of a few paltry shillings, or may be 
pounds. This is the Height of folly, and always leads to poverty 
and distress. Nobody can help a dishonest man, and he suffers 
the consequences of such conduct, and his family with him : 
therefore, let every gardener strive to overcome all such tempta¬ 
tions, and be strictly just in the smallest trifles ; he will then be 
able to hold up his head in conscious integrity, and defy all his 
detractors and enemies, should he be so unfortunate as to 
have any. 
Another important rule is that of being perfectly sober. Of 
all the degradiug vices that men follow there is none so utterly 
despicable as that of drunkenness. In any pursuit of life it is 
destructive to him that indulges in it, but more especially to a 
gardener; he not only suffers himself, but all the objects under 
his care suffer also. If he has young men under him they will 
either despise him and his authority, or, what is more dreadful, 
they will follow his example. I am no great advocate for tee- 
totalism. I think a man may enjoy a glass of ale with his dinner 
or supper, and it will do him good ; but if he cannot enjoy it 
in moderation by all means let him abjure it entirely, and be¬ 
come a teetotaller. Many a promising, clever, intelligent gar¬ 
dener has split upon this rock, and has been totally lost and 
ruined. Avoid, then, the public-house as you would the great 
enemy of your souls. 
Such, however, is the evident degradation of the drunkard, 
that I need not press upon my readers the great folly and sin of 
indulging in this worse than beastly vice. I am happy to bear 
testimony to the fact, that gardeners in general, as a body, are a 
sober class of men—in fact, they are of necessity so ; for if any 
one becomes an habitual drunkard he is no longer a gardener. 
As a rule, a gardener should endeavour occasionally to visit 
any good gardens within his reach ; he must do this in order to 
keep up with the improvements of the age. It will be of service 
to him also as a means of comparison. He will be able to see 
where he is deficient or behindhand in any point. It would be 
a barren garden indeed where an observing man could not pick 
up something that he could profit by ; but by all means let him 
ask his employer’s leave to pay those visits. Remember, your 
time does not belong to you. You have sold it to your employer 
for a consideration, and as long as he keeps his part of the 
bargain, and pays you your wages, it is your bounden duty to 
give him your full time in return. You might state to him the 
advantages it would give you if he would allow you to go and 
see what your neighbours are doing, and how certain plans have 
been carried out; how their crops are progressing compared 
with your own, and many other reasons that will easily occur to 
your mind. Properly asked for, there is no doubt your reason¬ 
able request would be granted, only take care that your garden 
is left either under the care of a competent assistant, or so left as 
to take no harm till your return. Another point you will mind, 
and that is to return at the hour appointed. This is of some 
consequence, for you cannot expect to have leave again if you 
exceed the time given in the first instance. 
As it is desirable as a rule to visit private gardens, so it is no 
less desirable to attend public exhibitions of the products of the 
garden. There the gardener may see the best specimens of 
fruits, plants, flowers, and vegetables. Exhibitions have, by 
awakening a spirit of emulation, done more to advance gardening 
in every branch to its present state of perfection than any other 
cause. Such being the fact, every gardener should try to visit 
once a-year, or at least once every other year, one of the great 
London shows : he could then compare the products of his own 
garden at home with those exhibited. If his own are equal he 
will rejoice; if inferior, he will strive to bring his up to the 
standard by all means in his power, and never will he be satisfied 
till he has succeeded in his praiseworthy endeavours. There 
are, it is true, many provincial shows where very superior things 
are exhibited, and in process of time they may approach nearer 
to the metropolitan ones ; but no one can say they have hitherto 
done so in every respect. I hope they will, though I may not 
live to see it. Of course, a gardener will not neglect seeing 
thoso shows in his neighbourhood, as it will not be so much 
loss of time or expense to him as visiting London. 
Some gardeners make it a point, in engaging a situation, that 
they should be allowed to exhibit; but the employer is the best 
judge in that matter—liis will must be law to his gardener. 
If, however, all parties are agreeable, and enter into the spirit of 
emulation, the exhibiting and winning prizes will be a source 
of considerable gratification to both sides. The gardener in 
eruch a case will strive with all his powers to grow superior 
articles in order to succeed, and will, or at least ought, to keep 
his garden superior also, so that his employer will have no 
cause to find fault, or think that his garden is used only for his 
gardener to grow things for the exhibition. Let the gardener, 
then, give no occasion for such an idea ; but let him show that, 
after all, his ambition is chiefly to grow everything in the garden 
at all times just the same as if there was no exhibition to grow 
for or attend to at all. 
Be civil to your fellow servants—is a rule that every man of 
common sense will adopt and make a constant attendant on his 
life; but it is certain that even civility may be carried too far. 
I would advise a gardener to keep his place and not be too 
familiar with the house servants. I have seen the evil of such 
close intimacy. The servants’ hall or the housekeeper’s room is 
no place for the gardener. Some, it is true, live in the house, 
and at meal times must of necessity be in such places; but at 
other times the gardener should be in his private room studying 
his business, or reading instructive works, or otherwise improving 
himself. If the gardener is married he should spend his leisure 
hours in the bosom of his family, instructing his children if 
he has any; or, if he has young men under him, he should 
devote one or two evenings every week to them, teaching them 
such things as they ought to learn, and encouraging them by his 
example to redeem their time, and thus bring them up to be 
worthy members of society and good gardeners. 
If a gardener will attend to the above rules I have no doubt 
he will keep his place, and be able, by strict economy, to put by 
a portion of his wages, so as to have something to help him in 
his old age. That every gardener may be able to do so is the 
earnest wish of the writer.—T. Appleby. 
LATHOM HOUSE IN LANCASHIRE: 
ITS HISTORY AND GARDENING. 
To south-country readers the mention of Lancashire calls up 
ideas of massive cotton mills, spinning factories, bleaeh works, 
with blackened dwellings from the ponderous machinery by 
which it is supposed the whole length and breadth of the county 
is studded. But this notion is not a correct one; for Lancashire 
has its snug quiet corners, its rural glens and extended flats, 
where the smoke of factory chimneys is unknown and the sound 
of the locomotive whistle is never heard—although the latter 
sends its shrill notes into districts not disturbed by any other 
description of machinery, for it will be a long time yet ere the 
whole county be occupied in the way its busiest districts are, 
even should its farther progress be as rapid that way as it has 
been in the last fifty years. Nevertheless, the quiet solitude of 
certain districts seems threatened by the onward and irresistable 
roll of human industry which pervades the spots selected for its 
operations in the southern part of the county, that many an 
opulent landowner has felt alarmed by his property getting 
hemmed in by the clustering hive of human beings collected on 
all sides of him, busily intent on some calling of industry, and 
all crying out for more space ; while every available resource is 
turned to account on their behalf, and an embryo town starts 
up where a few years ago the sportsmen or graziers were the 
only beings known in the district. This extension of a trading 
community is, of course, accompanied by its authors as well; 
and suitable sites for dwellings that might, by their outward 
decoration and internal comfort, be called mansions, are eagerly 
sought for, and, when once obtained, scrupulously secured from 
further innovation. Many of these structures are also possessed 
of gardens, containing all that can be obtained by the princely 
wealth of their owners; glass houses of newest and best con¬ 
struction, containing selections—or, it may be, collections—of 
the most fashionable plants of the day. Neither are luxuries 
of the table forgotten: Pines, Grapes, and Peaches are ripened in 
great perfection, and many vegetables are grown to a perfection 
equal to what is attained in the Yale of the Thames. The 
liberality with which manure is used ha9 much to do with this ; 
besides which, the soil seems peculiarly adapted for the growth 
of certain crops, of which Grapes, Peaches, Celery, Potatoes, 
and Carrots may be mentioned as the most important. In some 
places trees of considerable size are to be met with ; but towards 
the west coast these are more scantily seen. The shrub seem¬ 
ingly most at home in Lancashire is the Rhododendron, which 
grows quite as fast and endures harder winters than the common 
Laurel, but some other things thrive well also. 
The above preliminary observations on the busy section of the 
