254 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  22,  1900. 
Blues,  Grand  Maitre,  and  Lord  Macaulay.  Mr.  F.  Keightley,  gardener 
to  Mrs.  Duncan,  Prizett,  was  a  good  second.  Mr.  J.  Heaton,  gardener 
to  R.  P.  Houston,  Esq.,  M.P.,  staged  a  splendid  six,  whilst  for  six  and 
three  pots  (three  in  a  pot),  Mr.  G.  Leadbeater,  gardener  to  W.  J.  Davey, 
Esq.,  Holmleigh,  Grassendale,  scored.  The  six  pots  of  Narcissus  from 
the  same  grower  were  capital.  Tulips  were  well  timed  and  beautiful, 
the  first  prize  singles  and  doubles  falling  to  Mr.  F.  Keightley.  Extra 
good  were  the  pots  of  Lily  of  the  Valley,  Mr.  J.  Heaton  winning  a 
difficult  position.  The  same  exhibitor  won  with  a  charming  plant  of 
Begonia  Gloire  de  Sceanx,  also  for  three  Gallas. 
The  Orchid  classes  were  fairly  well  filled,  the  fine  specimen  of 
Odontoglossum  Insleayi  (fifty  flowers),  and  Oncidium  Cavendish- 
ianum  from  Mr.  C.  Duke,  gardener  to  F.  Cross,  Esq.,  15,  Fulwood  Park, 
were  stamped  with  the  best  cultural  skill.  For  one  Orchid  Mr.  J. 
Madeley,  gardener  to  W.  C.  Atkinson,  Esq.,  5,  St.  Anne’s  Road, 
Aigburth,  had  a  well  flowered  plant  of  Ccelogyne  cristata,  and  he  also 
won  the  classes  for  one  Rose,  a  trained  Marechal  Niel,  three  grand 
Spirmas,  and  one  Rhododendron.  The  forced  hardy  plants  were  capital, 
considering  the  weather,  Mr.  Leadbetter,  with  a  handsome  Lilac  and 
Azalea  occidentalis  Queen  Victoria,  being  well  in  advance  from  Mr. 
W.  Bustard,  gardener  to  J.  McLelland,  Esq.,  St.  Anne’s  Road. 
In  the  classes  for  Palms,  Azaleas,  and  greenhouse  plants  Mr.  F. 
Keightley  was  the  prizewinner.  Amaryllis  from  Mr.  Leadbetter  were 
of  the  choicest  description,  and  this  also  applies  to  the  grand  Cyclamens 
staged  by  Mr.  Heaton.  The  Cinerarias  from  Mr.  J.  Lewis,  gardener 
to  Mrs.  Watts,  Grassendale  Park,  and  Primulas  from  Mr.  T.  Macklin, 
gardener  to  W.  Harrison,  Esq.,  The  Coombs,  were  of  the  best  quality. 
Tlie  Young  Gardeners’  Domain. 
Bits  for  the  Bothy. 
To  Our  Journeymen,  {Continued  from  page 
There  is  no  more  important  part  of  a  young  gardener’s  progress 
than  the  intermediate  stage  of  his  journey  through  bothydom.  Owing, 
perhaps,  to  some  of  the  freshness,  and  a  little  of  the  novelty  surround¬ 
ing  the  life  of  a  young  recruit  having  been  left  behind,  with  the  more 
responsible  position  of  a  foreman  yet  ahead,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a 
comparatively  flat  and  uninteresting  stretch  of  road ;  and,  apart  from 
this,  a  journeyman’s  life  is  apt  to  run  a  somewhat  even  course  if  he 
allows  it  to  do  so.  Herein  are  advantages  and  disadvantages.  For 
instance,  a  young  fellow  may  be  told  off  to  a  post  in  the  fruit  depart¬ 
ment  or  the  plant  houses,  and  once  having  grasped  the  routine  of  work 
meted  out  to  him  have  to  hold  that  post  for  some  considerable  time. 
The  exigencies  of  a  large  gardening  establishment  often  demand  this, 
and  many  a  head  gardener  on  finding  a  subordinate  working  smoothly 
and  satisfactorily,  forming,  as  it  were,  an  important  piece  of  mechanism 
in  his  complex  machinery,  feels  reluctant  to  disturb  it  by  making 
changes.  Thus,  one  phase  of  work  may  not  only  monopolise  a  young 
student’s  time  in  one  situation,  but,  as  has  occurred  in  some  instances, 
be  prolonged  by  his  adaptability  and  fitness  for  it  in  another. 
“  Have  you  a  young  fellow  you  could  send  me  for  my  Orchid  houses  ? 
I  want  one  who  has  a  good  grasp  of  the  subject.”  Thus  wrote  one 
head  gardener  to  another,  and  a  young  man  who  had  been  solely  among 
Orchids  for  three  years,  for  higher  wages  and  the  work  that  he  loved, 
readily  exchanged  into  what  was  practically  no  change  for  him.  As 
with  this,  so  in  other  departmental  lines  have  similar  cases  been  observed. 
That  the  system  is  not  a  common  one  is  admitted,  but  sufficiently  in 
evidence  it  is  thought  to  claim  the  attention  of  our  lads  here,  as  well  as 
to  account  for  some  things  in  after  life  which  cannot  otherwise  be  easily 
explained.  That  it  possesses  advantages  is  obvious,  for  not  only  are 
the  details  of  the  one  particular  phase  of  work,  like  an  oft  repeated 
lesson,  thoroughly  mastered,  but  at  this  receptive  age  of  life  our 
journeyman  is  metamorphosed  into  a  specialist.;  and,  in  all  probability, 
his  whole  life  and  life’s  work  will  bear  the  impress  of  individuality.  If 
men  thus  trained  could  find  positions  for  life  as  specialists,  for  which 
they  are  so  eminently  adapted,  well  and  good,  but  the  demand  for  such  is 
extremely  limited,  and  it  is  generally  well  understood  that  our  boys  of 
the  bothy  are  to  all  intents  and  purposes  intended  for  gardeners  in  its 
broadest  and  most  comprehensive  sense.  Taking  this  to  be  their 
objective,  they  should  not  under  any  circumstances  ever  lose  sight  of 
it,  lest  on  obtaining  their  commission  they  should  be  found  wanting. 
At  first  sight  this  matter  is  to  some  extent  one  over  which  a  young 
man  has  little  control ;  how  much  the  more  necessary  is  it,  then,  that 
he  should  avail  himself  of  every  opportunity,  however  obscure,  to 
obtain  a  practical  knowledge  of  what  he  must  sooner  or  later  profess 
to  know  all  about.  Employers,  however,  are  generally  willing  to 
stretch  a  point  when  it  becomes  plainly  apparent  to  them  that  their 
young  men  are  really  anxious,  to  learn,  and  willing  to  make  small 
personal  sacrifices  in  order  to  do  so.  Perhaps  the  simplest  way  of 
carrying  an  object  lesson  home  will  now  be  to  personally  address  some 
young  reader  who  finds  himself  among  this  restricted  class  it  has  been 
the  endeavour  to  depict.  As  previously  stated  such  cases  may  be 
exceptional,  but  in  reality  there  is  scarcely  a  garden,  or  a  young 
gardener,  to  which  the  principle  does  not  apply  in  some  degree.  To 
clear  the  way  a  clean  jump  may  be  made  from  the  journeyman  a 
position  as  a  budding  gardener  to  that  stage  where  he  blooms  out  in  all 
the  glory  of  a  “  head.” 
What  excuse  have  you,  young  friend,  when,  having  accepted  the 
responsibility  of  the  care  and  management  of  a  good  garden,  some 
prominent  part  of  it  eventually  becomes  a  speaking  witness  of 
ignorance  or  neglect  ?  We  will  say  the  wall  trees,  for  instance,  over 
which  there  has  been  of  late  some  pertinent  discussion  in  these  pages. 
Will  your  skill  as  an  orchidist  or  a  plantsman  atone  for  this  or  any 
other  important  deficiency  ?  No.  There  is  no  excuse.  You  may 
shine  in  the  show  among  fine  specimen ,  plants,  but  a  cloud  will  hang 
over  those  garden  walls  fatal  to  your  character  as  a  gardener — a 
gardener,  be  it  understood,  not  a  specialist.  Can  you  imagine  any  of 
our  leading  gardeners  having  blindly  rushed  in  to  accept  the  onerous 
position  without  having  made  themselves  conversant  with  so  prominent 
a  part  of  it  ?  Scarcely,  one  thinks. 
Feeling,  it  is  hoped,  the  absolute  necessity  of  bringing  as  far  as  pos¬ 
sible  the  whole  curriculum  of  elementary  training  into  bothy  life,  the 
question  arises.  How  is  this  to  be  done  ?  It  is  a  simple  question,  but 
resolves  itself  into  a  compound  one — viz.,  can  a  young  man  go  far 
enough  on  his  own  initiative  to  cover  all  the  necessary  groundwork  of 
his  primary  tuition,  always  supposing  that  some  practice,  however 
limited,  is  essential  to  a  proper  grasp  of  most  subjects  ?  Or,  secondly, 
will  his  chief  meet  him  half  way  in  the  matter,  and  with  a  friendly 
hand  help  our  young  journeyman  to  lift  himself  out  of  the  even  tenour 
of  his  course  in  order  to  fit  himself  for  the  front  ?  To  the  whole 
question — Yes.  But  in  many  cases,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it 
should  not  apply  to  all,  the  advantages  will  have  to  be  mutual — viz., 
to  the  benefit  of  both  master  and  man. 
Harking  back  momentarily  to  the  life  of  a  young  recruit,  it  will  be 
remembered  that  in  a  previous  paper  the  necessity  of  making  recreation 
subservient  to  work  was  placed  well  to  the  front.  Supposing  this  to 
have  been  happily  carried  out,  the  earlier  difficulties  surrounding  the 
efforts  of  a  recruit  will  have  long  since  disappeared,  and  what  was 
really  hard  work  will,  to  a  journeyman,  have  resolved  itself  into  a 
positive  pleasure.  Not  only  that,  but  it  will  now  fit  admirably  into 
this  more  advanced  stage.  Our  journeyman,  as  well  as  being  body  and 
soul  in  his  appointed  daily  task,  will  take  the  keenest  interest  in  all  that 
is  going  on  around  him.  To  do  this  nothing  is  more  helpful  than  daily 
notes  in  his  diary — viz.,  notes  of  the  whole  routine  of  work  from  which 
his  hand  is  excluded  save  his  own  particular  phase  of  it.  This  can  be 
done  unobtrusively  ;  a  walk  round  of  an  evening,  with  a  companion,  if 
convenient,  to  chat  over  matters  going  on,  is  a  pleasant  and  profitable 
method  of  grasping  details.  If  this  keen  interest  is  taken,  there  is  not, 
it  is  believed,  a  head  gardener  in  existence  who  will  not  unbend  from 
that  reserve  he  may  think  it  necessary  to  employ  during  the  legitimate 
working  hours  and  give  his  young  men  the  opportunity  to  approach 
him  for  help  and  advice. 
In  the  matter  of  wall  trees,  for  instance,  is  there  any  “head”  who 
would  refuse  to  allow  his  young  hands  to  take  sole  charge  of,  say  six 
trees  each,  and  this  in  their  own  time  as  a  recreation  ?  With,  say, 
three  in  the  bothy,  that  would  be  eighteen  trees,  or  it  might  be  that 
one  length  of  wall  could  be  divided  among  the  young  hands  in  sections. 
Such,  or  a  similar  system,  which  might  be  readily  applied  to  other 
phases  of  culture,  a  length  of  herbaceous  border  possibly,  could  not  fail 
to  be  of  the  greatest  educational  value  to  embryo  gardeners,  as  well 
as  of  material  assistance  to  him  who  is  responsible  for  all — men 
as  well  as  master ;  and,  I  take  it,  few  head  gardeners  care  or  wish 
to  divest  themselves  of  the  responsibility  they  undoubtedly  have  re¬ 
garding  their  pupils.  Here,  too,  competition  amongst  the  young  men 
themselves  comes  in,  with  its  stimulative  aid,  besides  a  score  of  moral 
advantages  contingent  upon  it.  “  Oh !  this  is  all  very  well,”  some 
head  gardener  may  say;  “you  don’t  know  my  lads.”  “Granted;” 
yet  reasoning  from  what  is  known  of  the  class  to  which  they  belong, 
with  its  grand  reserve  fund  of  high  spirits  and  superfluous  energy, 
that  anyone  should  think  it  cannot  be  utilised  for  their  advancement, 
for  the  good  of  all  concerned,  and  for  the  glory  of  gardening,  is 
probably  as  great  a  mistake,  as  it  would  be  a  matter  for  regret  to — 
The  Old  Brigadier. 
(To  he  continued.) 
Lacheijalia  tricolor. 
Considering  the  little  trouble  entailed  in  growing  this  pretty  and 
useful  bulbous  plant  successfully,  it  is  surprising  they  are  not  given  a 
place  in  every  collection.  For  an  edging  on  the  conservatory  or  green¬ 
house^  stage  in  early  spring  they  are  almost  unique ;  and  the  peculiar 
combination  of  colours  in  the  flowers  makes  them  very  conspicuous. 
About  the  middle  of  August  is  a  good  time  for  potting  the  bulbs,  the 
largest  and  best  ripened  always  being  selected.  The  compost  should 
consist  of  good  loam  three  parts,  leaf  mould  one  part,  pulverised  cow 
manure  one  part,  and  a  fair  sprinkling  of  sand  or  mortar  rubble. 
The  most  serviceable  pots  are  5-inch,  and  they  will  need  only  a  small 
quantity  of  drainage,  covering  it  with  a  little  of  the  rough  fibre  from 
the  loam,  to  prevent  the  liner  particles  working  down  among  the  crocks. 
Five  bulbs  placed  in  each  pot  will  be  sufficient,  and  the  soil  must  be 
