Supplement  to 
March  15, 1900  JOURXAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  225 
ostensible  privileges  of  entree  to  the  gardens  of  the  United  Kingdom  ; 
probably  far  beyond,  over  that  Empire  on  which  the  snn  never  sets, 
and  we  trust  never  will.  A  few  exceptions,  possibly,  there  are;  if  so, 
they  are  few  and  far  between,  for  the  writer  has  never  knocked  at  a 
garden  door  that  was  not  opened  unto  him,  and  he  was  welcomed 
inside.  Invidious  as  it  may  appear,  an  employer  is  often  precluded  by 
some  social  barriers  or  strangership  from  entering  a  garden  whose  door 
stands  open  to  his  man  unless  he,  too,  should  belong  to  the  great 
order  of  gardeners  (in  the  broader  sense)  ;  then,  as  such,  all  barriers 
disappear.  As  gardeners,  in  the  more  comprehensive  sense  of  the 
term,  the  peer  and  the  pound  a  week  man  may  for  the  nonce  join 
hands,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  such  has  actually  occurred  on  one 
occasion  at  least.  Many  old  heads,  of  course,  well  understand  these 
matters,  which  are  more  often  thought  about  than  talked  about.  It  is 
for  the  benefit  of  younger  and  less  experienced  men  they  are  now  given 
expression  to,  which,  apropos  of  visiting,  will  in  due  course  include 
some  unwritten  rules  of  etiquette  it  is  unwise  to  ignore.  It  may  be 
said  of  some  liberal-minded  patrons  of  gardening  that  not  only  do 
the  herbaceous  border.  Hopes  his  visit  is  not  inconvenient ;  a  truce  to 
all  covenances  and  conveniences — is  he  not  a  “gentleman,”  a  gardener, 
and  a  brother  ?  Aye,  and  always  will  be,  whether  we  rise  or  fall  in 
the  gardening  world. 
Of  such  is  the  genuine  gardener  ;  but  there  is  another  class  of 
visitors,  gentlemen,  too,  needing  but  not  always  accorded  equal  rights 
and  privileges  in  the  gardener’s  freemasonry,  for  in  spite  of  its 
elasticity  under  the  genial  warmth  of  friendship’s  glow,  it  quickly 
contracts  in  the  colder  atmosphere  of  commercial  elements.  Judiciously 
combined,  however,  it  is  often  a  mixture  of  pleasure  and  profit.  Some 
commercial  travellers  take  this  compound  interest  in  the  gardener  and 
all  his  works.  They  are,  generally,  old  hands  with  long  heads,  literally 
interpreting  the  adage,  “no  profit  is  where  is  no  pleasure  ta’en.” 
Younger  men  “on  the  road  ’’might  do  worse  than  follow  in  their 
footsteps.  This  gentleman,  whether  his  approach  is  heralded  by  her 
Majesty’s  mail  or  not,  who  invariably  comes  laden  with  a  neat  valise 
or  portfolio  and  a  good  fund  of  commercial  logic,  often  finds  that  the 
gardener’s  heart  does  not  go  out  to  meet  him.  No  matter  how 
Fhoto  by  Theo  l^iygotl, 
Leiyhlun  Buzzara, 
Fig.  62.— M  ENT  MORE  :  THE  VEOETABLE  GARDENS  AND  FRUIT  RANGE. 
they  love  their  gardens  but  love  gardeners  ^too,  according  to  them  the 
warmest  of  welcome  on  their  visits.  Stilly  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
surreptitious  visiting,  for  the  British  gardener  is  often  a  modest, 
diffident  man ;  one  who,  while  anxious  to  see,  would  rather  not  be  seen, 
and  the  better  the  man  the  more  anxious  does  he  appear  to  creep  under 
a  bushel  of  reserve.  i 
With  worker  and  fellow  worker  all  reserve  is  cast  to  the  winds,  and 
the  gardener  stands  out  in  his  best  light,  ajixious  to  learn  and  ready  to 
teach.  There  are  no  special  signs  or  gripj,  although  a  gardener’s  grip 
is  intensely  characteristic  in  the  freemasonry  of  the  craft,  and  the  only 
passport  required  is  to  be  a  gardener.  Neyer  let  any  man  of  any  other 
trade,  profession,  or  vocation  pose  for  what  he  is  not,  in  order  to  gain 
admittance  to  the  Eden  of  his  imagination  He  will  be  detected  at  a 
glance,  for  the  recognition  is  intuitive,  let  the  veriest  stranger  stand 
within  one’s  garden  gates,  and  ere  a  ward  is  spoken  he  is  weighed 
ill  the  balance  of  mental  observationi  and  received  accordingly. 
“  A  gentleman  to  see  you  ;  he  is  waiting  an  the  far  walk.”  A  gardener 
we  suppose  (all  gardeners  are  gentlenffin,  or  should  be).  We  are 
en  deshabille — viz.,  en  shirtsleeves,  and]  they  rolled  well  up,  conse¬ 
quently  to  the  ordinary  visitor,  of  whaever -degree,  “not  at  home.” 
Naked,  but  not  ashamed  at  being  thus  caight  by  one  of  the  craft.  “  On 
the  far  walk  ?  All  right,  be  there  in  a  dinute.”  That  minute’s  grace 
is  sufficient  to  test  the  standing  of  |ur  visitor,  for  he  is  already 
fidgetting  on  “  the  far  walk,”  and  crifically  poking  his  eye  through 
peaceful  his  appearance  and  tactics  you  feel  that  he  is  on  the  warpath, 
and,  unless  invested  with  the  power  and  will  to  give  an  order,  the 
feeling  is  an  uncomfortable  one.  Well  do  we  remember  how,  many 
years  ago,  two  capable  men,  representing  two  of  our  largest  trade 
concerns,  arrived  much  to  their  chagrin  by  the  same  train,  and  how  by 
a  little  diplomacy  we  switched  one  on  to  the  other  in  showing  them 
round,  safelv  despatching  them  by  the  next  without  any  canvassing 
for  that  order  we  were  not  prepared  to  give.  One  cannot  fail  to 
admire  the  tact  and  ability  which  many  business  visitors  display  in 
extolling  their  wares,  nor  fail  to  feel  regret  that  persuasive  eloquence 
ranging  “  from  grave  to  gay,  from  lively  to  severe  ”  should  go 
unrewarded. — E.  K.,  Dublin. 
CTo  be  continued.) 
- »  mtm  t - 
An  American  Innovation. — The  Illinois  House  of  Correction  is 
about  to  try  an  interesting  experiment  in  the  reformation  of  women 
criminals.  Supt.  Sloan  has  built  three  large  greenhouses,  covering  a 
space  of  4000  square  feet,  in  which  it  is  intended  to  grow  Roses 
Carnations,  and  Chrysanthemums  for  the  Chicago  market.  The 
women  prisoners  will  work  in  the  greenhouses  under  the  direction  of 
an  expert  horticulturist,  and  it  is  expected  that  contact  with  the  growing 
plants  will  have  a  softening  and  regenerating  effect  on  the  hardened 
natures  of  the  unhappy  inmates  of  the  institution. 
