192 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 5, 1859. 
the respect and approbation which are professed for the 
delvers and the diggers, that we can hardly hut be sur¬ 
prised, first, that such applauders do not fry a good 
spell at the spade for their own comfort; and secondly, 
to find that the objects of such general approval should 
so often have to contend with discomfort, disappointment, 
and penury. 
So far is this fashionable enthusiasm carried, that a 
great assemblage of gardeners were told the other day, 
that the only charity amongst us,—the Benevolent Insti¬ 
tution, true charity in deeds, being just Benevolence 
married to its lovely cousin Beneficence,—ought not to 
be called a charity at all; and though not expressly 
stated, yet somehow we were left to infer the conclusion, 
that the gardener in old age and in affliction had a right 
to such support; and, of course, wherever there is the 
right to demand, there can be neither charity nor bene¬ 
volence in giving. Were this really the case, the future 
might be contemplated without great apprehensions of 
misfortune, whatever the desirabilities and unpleasantness 
of the present. Now, I have no desire to say one word 
aborit the constitution of the Benevolent, by which it has 
been attempted to join in one railway train those who, 
from somewhat selfish prudential motives, subscribe in 
the hopes of getting for themselves, or friends, a return 
similar to what they would expect from a benefit club 
or a government annuity, but with superior advantages ; 
and those who from purely unselfish motives submit to 
self-sacrifices,—and very many gardeners do so,—in order 
that they may help those poorer and worse off than them¬ 
selves ; but I have a desire, as a gardener, as a w r ell- 
wisher to human happiness—as one who would, if he could, 
prevent the unwary entering upon a profession without 
duly counting the cost of success. I do wish to direct 
prominent attention to what I believe to be facts, that 
amid all these fine-spoken compliments, for which, of 
course, we are grateful, there are less chance for perma¬ 
nent employment, less chance of competent due remune¬ 
ration for service, and less likelihood of comfort and due 
respect in a situation, than there were ten or twenty 
years ago. In this, of course, I may be mistaken, and 
would gladly be in error ; but I cannot shut my ears to 
the similar testimony of many gardeners and nurserymen, 
nor shut my eyes to evidences, such as the still great, if 
not increasing, number of places in which the gardener 
must know nothing of the associations of a house and 
home he can call his own—in wffiieh all he can practically 
know of happy unions must be concentrated in marriages 
among his favourite flowers; the many places in which 
the remuneration is so low, that it is next to impossible a 
man can keep himself respectably, and prudently provide 
at all for the future, the gentility and the pleasure of the 
work being considered, seemingly by some employers, as 
almost sufficient payment; the great numbers in our 
metropolitan and country nurseries waiting long and 
long, and spending their little previous savings, with 
deferred hopes, expecting and expecting, ere long, to get 
good places, and some of these who had made themselves 
a bright name in successful gardening; and,again, the very 
many who, after their patience has become exhausted, 
are entering upon other work and occupations at a dis¬ 
advantage, or are emigrating to other climes, that there 
they may possibly find that employment for their energy 
and skill which they could not obtain in their native land. 
Why do I state such things ? Just that they may be 
generally known, as the first step to the remedy; and 
also that youths ■who fancy gardening, and parents who 
wish a son to engage in it, may have an opportunity of 
prudently looking upon the dark as well as the bright 
side of the picture. 
What has produced this state of things? The causes 
are various ; but the principal one is the well-known fact, 
that the ever-increasing supply of gardeners is out of all 
proportion with the increasing, but still limited, demand. 
We are just as completely under the control of the 
commercial principle of demand and supply as a bar of 
iron or a bag of cotton. In theory, masters and servants 
are relatively dependent on each other—practically, they 
are not so, because there are so many more gardeners 
wanting places than there are masters needing then 1 
services. Let servants only become scarcer than masters, 
and they will, as a matter of course, command a higher 
value. True, instances will always be found of intelli¬ 
gent, far-seeing employers (not speaking of the benevo¬ 
lent, who must have those about them seemingly com¬ 
fortable) who will give good wages, and increase these 
before they lose a 'faithful, valuable servant; and some 
of such employers have condescended to tell.me their well- 
paid gardeners were far cheaper to them in reality than 
the under-paid ones of some of their neighbours. Of this 
there can be no manner of doubt as a general fact; but 
such examples, however cheering, never form a rule. 
The mercantile principle of buying in the cheapest market 
is brought into too general operation. In this case men 
forget that what is low-priced is often anything but cheap. 
Gentlemen shrewd enough to distinguish (and pay ac¬ 
cordingly) the qualities of different bags of cotton, bars 
of iron, varieties of ploughs, sorts of manures, breeds of 
flocks, studs of horses, &c., seem at times to look upon a 
gardener as a sort of metal with one monotonous ring, or 
an unvarying and unvaried human machine. “ That is my 
price. I never give more. I can get plenty at that 
money.” And a good gardener will sometimes, from 
necessity, accept it until he can get something better, or 
a gardener in name will take it, and get as much as he 
is worth; and then these shrewd people are astonished 
that they have so much trouble with their gardeners, 
and obtain so little profit or pleasure from their garden. 
Though holding that intelligence and persevering 
energy and attention to minutiae are essential to great 
success in gardening, I by no means consider that all 
who work in a garden, or are even called gardeners, 
ought to be cast in the same mould, or be possessed of 
equal talents and practical skill. Many of the subscribers 
to this work are gentlemen who are, properly speaking, 
their own gardeners. By their great general intelligence, 
they soon mastered the theoretical parts, and after some 
ups and downs of failure and success, got somewhat ac¬ 
quainted with practical details ; and in their case a clever, 
handy, good-working labourer often constitutes their best 
assistant. The error consists not in employing and 
encouraging such a man, or er r en being proud of his 
ultimate success, if by perseverance and talent he make 
for himself a name—the error in such cases is, after a few 
months of such work, getting such a person admitted to a 
nursery, or elsewhere, as a gardener, and thus after a 
few months’ mere labour coming out as a competitor in 
the-market with him who Las spent years of toil and 
study in the profession. Make such a practice rather 
common, and need we wonder that gardeners cannot find 
work, and that gentlemen complain at times that the 
gardeners they get, though quiet, respectable men, are, 
as respects management, nothing better than labourers. 
There can be no doubt that in cases where employers 
trust almost exclusively to their gardener’s skill, that dif¬ 
ferent acquirements are needed for different places. In 
large places, as a general rule, the tact and talent of 
directing to the best results the labouring power of others 
are a matter of first importance. To think clearly, and 
regulate and direct efficiently, are the most important of 
the labours involved. In smaller places that are to be 
made the most of, the gardener must think, and plan, and 
also work. Though, therefore, there will always be gra¬ 
dation in remuneration, I believe it is a mistake to pro¬ 
portion wages exactly to the size and requirements of the 
place, as if by a finely constructed sliding scale. Hence 
the late Mr. Loudon used to say, that did he employ a 
gardener, one only, he would like to have the best man 
he could get, and-pay him as well as a gardener to any 
nobleman in the land. lie contended that great talent 
