January 5, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
295 
WHAT CONSTITUTES A 
GARDENER?* 
( Concluded from p. 274.) 
How to Recognise a Gardener. 
I offer a few remarks on this point lest you should 
contract a mistaken notion that I have already set up 
an ideal standard by which a gardener should be 
judged. There is no such thing in nature as perfection, 
or an ideal standard to which all may work up. A 
continual change is going on around us, which may 
not always be one of progress ; and he is the most 
successful, or typical, gardener who best serves his day 
and generation in whatever sphere he may be placed. 
The subjects previously mentioned are necessary for the 
development of the young and growing mind, and he 
may not be the best gardener who knows most of them, 
but rather he who makes the most use of them. A 
good all-round gardener, such as is necessary to 
properly conduct a large private establishment, must 
make himself familiar with almost every branch of 
gardening. It is equally necessary that managers of 
public parks and gardens, nursery managers, and 
departmental foremen should have a wide knowledge of 
all branches of gardening, and which should be acquired 
as early in life as possible, so that in after life they 
may preferentially confine themselves to any particular 
department. Such men I should still designate as 
gardeners, but they are specialists, and under that head¬ 
ing I should include all those who devote themselves 
specially to the growing of Carnations, Auriculas, 
Chrysanthemums, Orchids, fruit, or other classes of 
plants. "With these special subjects they should be 
thoroughly conversant, and know how to treat them, 
whether in health or disease ; and it is a good test of a 
gardener, should he be able to give the why and the 
wherefore—that is, his reasons for any particular treat¬ 
ment to which he subjects the plants under his 
care. This does not necessarily imply that a good 
gardener should be a talkative man ; on the contrary, 
as a class, gardeners are studious, and given to 
thought and reasoning, how they may best be 
able to supply all demands made upon them 
in the way of garden produce ; for this is the sole end 
and aim of gardening. All planning, laying out, 
building, planting, sowing, and propagation are only 
means to an end, and general education merely paves 
the way to a successful accomplishment of those means. 
A true gardener can plan, give reasons, and be able to 
surmount difficulties where a man who is practically 
no better than a labourer in his profession would fail. 
The old rule-of-thumb practice would certainly fail if 
put to the test in this way. It would fail where any¬ 
thing might be required for which it had no precedent; 
and were all gardeners to follow this plan we should go 
on for an unlimited number of generations without 
improving upon our ancestors, or lifting the sphere of 
gardening out of the groove of mere routine or drudgery. 
Let me here say with Pope : 
“Were I as tall as reach the clouds, 
Or grasp the ocean in my span, 
I must be measured by my soul, 
The mind is the test of man.” 
Faults and Deficiencies of Modern Gardeners. 
I have no intention of being severe ; but young men 
often seem to under-rate the importance of the occupa¬ 
tion they have selected, or in which they have been 
placed in order to acquire a knowledge of its duties. 
Self - improvement is often neglected or ignored, 
evidently under the erroneous impression that garden¬ 
ing requires no further attention from them than can 
be accomplished during the hours of compulsory 
labour. Time misspent in this way has often been 
cause for serious regret in riper years. The young man 
often objects to do what he calls dirty work ; but it is 
as necessary that he should learn to crock pots, wash 
pots or do stoking as it is later on to propagate plants. 
He desires also to evade digging, and makes it his 
highest aim to get into the houses ; but let him 
remember that peeping through the glass at those 
performing the operations will never teach him how to 
dig, sow, plant, or prune. These things can only be 
thoroughly learnt by putting them into practice—by 
actually handling the tools themselves. Education 
will never enable a beginner to evade these things, nor 
was it ever meant that it should do so. It is a part of 
his education to put the teachings of science into 
practice, the latter being merely the handmaiden of 
the former. 
Guard against counterfeit knowledge ; it can lead to 
no good, and may trip you up. An employer who 
was somewhat of a botanist, wishing to ascertain 
whether his new gardener knew the names of his 
plants, asked some questions of him. The latter being 
perfectly ignorant of the same, manufactured a bogus 
one for each, which so tickled and interested his 
employer that he commended him for his cleverness, 
and ever afterwards proved a staunch friend. But how 
many employers should we find like this ? In ninety- 
nine cases out of a hundred an employer would be 
disgusted at such deliberate fraud. 
Another fault of gardeners in a great many cases is 
the scanty knowledge they possess of landscape gar¬ 
dening, and their consequent unwillingness to alter 
any design in flower-bedding which has once been laid 
down by somebody else. It would be a great benefit 
to his employer, to himself and to those under his 
charge to possess some knowledge on this important 
subject of gardening. In many gardens the same old 
designs and ribbon borders are repeated year after year 
ad nauseam, much to the depreciation of flower 
gardening. 
A man may degenerate from a former state of excel¬ 
lence as a gardener either by prosperity or adversity. 
A series of losses or failures in the cultivation of certain 
plants will often cause a gardener to neglect or abandon 
them, while another more successful with them will 
continue to advance. In private establishments he is 
often handicapped by unjust treatment from an employer 
who may be prejudiced against him ; or some other 
subordinate or subordinates, who are favourites with 
the employer but prejudiced against the gardener, may 
(as often occurs) succeed in getting him ejected from 
his situation, or so bind him down that he has no 
freedom of action in his own affairs, making progress 
impossible, while retrogression is almost equally certain. 
He may also lose his former status as a cultivator of 
plants by neglect of his duty in many ways which I 
need not enumerate. His employer may pay him a 
good salary, and be lenient in his demands from him, 
or live at a distance, so that the gardener is not 
directly under his supervision, when the latter may, 
and often does, become unenergetic and neglectful. 
Want of energy, or an unprogressive state of mind, is 
often seen in diseased, moss-covered, or unproductive 
fruit trees, whether in garden or orchard, being allowed 
to remain in this wretched condition, while the same 
amount of labour is wasted in pruning them year after 
year, without ascertaining what might improve them. 
Growing for profit, for exhibition purposes, wholesome 
emulation in trying to excel his neighbours, meeting 
together as we are at present for the reading of papers 
and the diffusion of knowledge, and the holding of fruit 
conferences, are antidotes against this state of matters, 
and incentives to progress and improvement.— J. Fraser. 
-- 
Gardening Miscellany. 
Asparagus Chicory. 
In a short note upon this new vegetable, which was 
recently certificated by the Fruit Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, the Bulletin d’Arbori¬ 
culture, de Floriculture, dec., says that it appears to 
have been derived from Chicory of Brunswick, a kind 
with very deeply toothed leaves. During the first year 
of its growth it produces a tufted rosette of leaves, 
but beyond that, nothing particularly strange or 
striking about it is noticed. During the spring of the 
second year, when growth recommences, it presents a 
striking anomaly. From the crown of the roots, 
instead of a simple, central and elongated floral stem, 
quite a numerous group of thick, short and sturdy 
shoots grows up, which are followed by another set if 
the first be cut for use. These shoots, when blanched, 
should have some analogy to Asparagus. It is also 
reputed to possess medicinal properties, but such is the 
case with other kinds of Chicory. As exhibited at the 
Drill Hall, Westminster, in December last, it must 
have been entirely out of season if spring is the best 
time to use it, as the young shoots then resemble 
Asparagus. 
The Mentone of England. 
This is the description now given of Parkstone, Dorset, 
which but a few years ago was a village situated 
between Poole and Bournemouth, and is now extending 
at such a rate that it is anticipated it will, ere many 
years, join up to the latter popular winter resort. 
Those who live in the north or north-west of England 
would hardly credit the number of tender or half-hardy 
plants which flourish in the open air at Parkstone. 
One of the most remarkable things that attracted my 
attention is a tree of the Blue Gum (Eucalyptus 
globulus) between 20 ft. and 30 ft. high, and growing 
splendidly. The stem is at least 18 ins. in circum¬ 
ference. The tree must have been planted before the 
hard winter of 1879-80, and it may be seen on the 
Sloop Hill facing the shallow water leading up to 
Poole Quay. A bush of Cytisus racemosus, about 4 ft. 
high, and planted about seven years ago, is full of 
flowers ; and in a sheltered nook I found a plant of 
Draciena australis in wonderfully vigorous health, and 
showing, by its size and appearance, that it must have 
been planted some years. Another plant I never 
before saw growing in the open air is Choisya ternata, 
which is represented by a good bush in a cottager’s 
garden, and in the best of health. The Arbutus, the 
Laurestinus, and the Euonymus seem to be thoroughly 
at home, the latter especially, the colour of which is 
magnificent. There are about the place scores of plants 
of the golden variety up to 12 ft. in height.— Edward 
Warden. 
Anthracite. 
While the merits of Anthracite are being discussed in 
your columns, I should like to add my testimony to its 
superiority over other fuel for horticultural purposes. 
We have used Anthracite here for four years, and it had 
been in use for some time previous to my advent. We 
have three of Appleby’s plain saddle boilers in as many 
stokeholes, and two of the three are not, by any means, 
in the best positions for ensuring a good draught to the 
furnaces. Two fires are constantly kept going the 
whole year round. Under these circumstances, our 
loss in fire-bars has been one bar in the four years, and 
I have reason to think this had done service for many 
years. Our fires can always be banked up for the 
night by nine o’clock, if not previously neglected, and 
good ones will be found at six or seven o’clock in the 
morning. This is no slight advantage to the attendant, 
who is thus able to get a good night’s rest, and be 
ready for work in the morning. Like your corre¬ 
spondent, Mr. Alfred Gaut (p. 273), I have known 
what it was to lose many a night’s rest through stoking 
when an under-gardener years ago. To the best of my 
recollection, it has never been found necessary to re¬ 
light a fire in the morning during the four years that 
Anthracite has been in use. Added to this, we find 
that the fires do not require so much attention during 
the day as when coke is used, and in our opinion it is 
much cheaper. Most of the market growers around 
Chelmsford—who produce Grapes, Melons, Cucumbers, 
Tomatos, &e., in large quantities for the London and 
other markets—burn nothing but Anthracite now, a 
sure test of its cheapness and superiority when growing 
for profit.— Samuel Pragnell, West Cottage, Broomfield 
Lodge, Chelmsford. 
Senecio grandifolius. 
When plants can be utilised for decorative purposes 
both summer and winter they possess a much greater 
value than those that require to be grown on for 
several months, perhaps for a whole year, before they 
are fit to be introduced to the conservatory or show 
house. Such a plant must, of course, be evergreen, 
and such is the case with the one in question, and 
which is better known under the name of S. Ghies- 
breghtii. The leaves are oblong, 12 ins. or more in 
length, and correspondingly broad. It is, therefore, 
useful as a foliage plant, more especially in the summer 
time, when it can be planted out in the sub-tropical 
garden, as is frequently the case in the principal parks 
in and around London. In autumn, the old plants, if 
lifted with ordinary care, may be potted up and kept 
in a close moist atmosphere for a short time, till the 
roots commence to work afresh. After this they may 
be transferred to the greenhouse where a sufficiently 
high temperature is maintained to keep up a display 
of flowers in winter, and the Ragwort under notice 
will produce great corymbs of yellow flowers lasting 
for many weeks. Plants 6 ft. and 7 ft. high in full 
bloom may be seen in the greenhouse at Kew. 
Elgeodendron orientale (Aralia Chabrieri). 
The juvenile states of many trees are grown in gardens 
for the beauty of their foliage, including some Aralias, 
Conifers and other subjects. When Aralia Veitchii, 
A. elegantissima and A. reticulata attain a large size 
they become extremely coarse, losing all beauty, 
notwithstanding their gracefulness in the young state. 
So far the plants of Elseodendron orientale in this 
country show no tendency to pass into the adult state. 
Two plants we have recently seen, from 3 ft. to 4 ft. 
in height, are as graceful now as when the plant was 
first introduced. That it does change, however, there 
