April 7, 1900. 
THB GARDENING WORLD. 
499 
STOVE AND GBE1NH0USE PLANTS. 
B. LAIRD & SONS, LTD. 
HORTICULTURAL AUCTIONEERS AND VALUATORS, 
BEG TO DIRECT ATTENTION TO THEIR VERY FINE STOCK OF THE ABOVE. 
! 
THE BEST COLLECTION IN SCOTLAND. 
Their Norseries at PiokMIl, Murrajfleid, will at all Seasons he found attractive and of interest to Horticulturists. 
CATALOGUES ITREE. 
USUI PINKHILL NUR SERIES, MURRAYFIELD , MIDLOTHIAN. 
Laird’s 1,4 Demotic ” Fertilizer Stands Unrivalled. 
Price 17/6 per cw4., Carriage Paid. 
B. B. LAIRD & SOWS, Ltd., Seed Merchants, 17a, South Frederick St., Edinburgh. 
DAVID W. THOMSON'S 
Vegetable Seed Specialities. 
THOMSON’S IMPROVED PROLIFIC LONG-POD BESN. 
THOMSON S SUPERB RED BEET. 
THOMSON’S SELF-PROTECTING BROCOLI. 
THOMSON’S PRIZE BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 
THOMSON’S IMPROVED HORN CARROT. 
THOMSON'S MARKET CARROT. 
THOMSON S INCOMPARABLE WHITE CELERY. 
THOMSON S MAMMOTH GREEN COS LETTUCE. 
THOMSON'S SUPERB CURLED PARSLEY. 
THOMSON’S EXCELSIOR TOMATO. 
THOMSON’S DUKE OF YORK MELON. 
Flower Seed Specialities. 
THOMSON S DWARF ANTIRRHINUM. 
THOMSON’S DALKEITH CALCEOLARIA. 
THOMSON'S SUPERB BEGONIA. 
THOMSON'S UNRIVALLED CELOSIA. 
THOMSON’S CINERARIA. 
THOMSON'S CYCLAMEN. 
THOMSON'S PANSY. 
THOMSON'S PETUNIA. 
THOMSON'S PRIMULA. 
THOMSON'S EAST LOTHIAN STOCK. 
See Catalogue of Selected Seeds for 1900, Post Free on application, 
FOREST TREES. ORNAMENTAL TREES AND SHRUBS, RHODODENDRONS, ETC. 
Roses and Fruit Trees. Table Plants. Catalogues Free on Application. 
Nurseries—WINDLESTRAWLEE, Granton Road. 
Seed Warehouse— 24, FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. 
SPECIALITIES 
BEGONIAS, SINGLE & DOUBLE. 
Finest Collection in Scotland. 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE PLANTS. 
Visitors to the Show should not fail to notice my Circular Table of 
Spring Flowering Plants* 
144, PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH. 
Kerr’s Dahl ias. —All classes, in 400 best 
varieties, from 2/6 doz ; all from siDgle pots. 
See Catalogue. 
Cactus Dahlias. —Grand new varieties of 
1899, 10/- doz., 6 for 5/6. Our Selection. 
Cactus Dahlias. —Grand new varieties of 
1898, 6/- doz , 6 for 3/3. Our selection. 
Cactus Dahlias.— Older varieties, but all 
true type, from 2/6 doz. 
Early Flowering Chrysanthemums 
—a fptcifl'y ; 70 best varieties from 2/6 doz. 
Hardy Herbaceous Plants, Carna¬ 
tions, Violas, Pansies, &c., &c.— 
Millions of fine, strong, siurdy plants lor dis¬ 
posal. See our Catalogue, post free on 
application, for fu 1 particulars. 
KERR BROS., 
FLORISTS, DUMFRIES. 
SECRETARIES 
OF 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES 
Are invited to write for prices 
and samples of the new 
SHOW VASES 
For Cut Blooms, as supplied to the 
Scottish Horticultural Association. 
JOHN FORD & GO., 
39, PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "—Bacon. 
4ft ijMd 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , APRIL yth, 1900. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS 
Tuesday, April iotb.— R.H.S., at Drill Hall, Westminster. 
HINDER-GARDENERS AND THEIR GrIEV- 
^ ances. —A discussion concerning the 
grievances of gardeners, generally, has been 
going on for some time in the pages of a 
contemporary, and a correspondent sends 
us a letter on the subject. That some 
gardeners are well off, and others but in¬ 
differently so is evident from the variety of 
opinions expressed, and that would also 
accord with our experience. Time was 
when the housing problem received scant 
attention from employers; and the law of 
sanitation being little understood or perhaps 
ignored, gardeners’ cottages and under¬ 
gardeners’ bothies were often otherwise 
than healthy habitations in which to live. 
Since these things have been better under¬ 
stood, changes for the better have been 
going on during the last thirty years or so. 
Doubtless there are places yet in which the 
housing question has not received that at¬ 
tention which it deserves. In some instances 
this might be due to the employer, especi¬ 
ally if not resident upon the estate or only 
occasionally so ; but in other cases it is 
said to be due to the head gardener not 
bringing the matter before his employer. 
Without being sumptuous a gardeners’ 
bothy may be clean, well ventilated, 
sufficimtly commodious, and otherwise 
built or constructed on hygienic principles, 
without being in any way too costly for the 
importance of the inmates to the employer 
himself. Happily there are employers who 
recognise it to be to their advantage to pro¬ 
vide for the well-being of their employees ; 
and in our experience such employers are 
year by year increasing. This refers more 
particularly to gardening establishments 
situated in the country and more or less re¬ 
mote from towns and villages. In and near 
towns and villages many gardeners and 
their subordinates are housed under the 
same or similar conditions to the general 
populace of those places. 
