204 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Marcli  11,  1897 
A  RESTING  TOUR. 
(.Concluded.) 
Last  on  the  roll  of  renting  places  of  the  wandering  pilgrims 
during  their  autumn  tour  in  the  North,  but  now  facing  the 
engine  for  the  great  Mecca  of  the  South  ;  last  bat  not  least  worthy 
of  a  few  “  scrappy  ”  notes — mere  memory  dregs  of  a  few  “  happy  ” 
hours — is  Drumlanrig.  Than  this  there  are  few  more  familiar 
names  in  the  gardening  world,  made  so  by  famous  men,  not  the 
least  of  these  being  he  who  soon  retires  from  the  scene  of  his 
long  and  brilliantly  successful  labours,  Mr.  David  Thomson.  A 
head  gardener  for  half  a  century  ;  if  any  man  has  won  repose  it 
is  he  whom  his  “old 
pupils,”  most  of  them 
no  longer  youDg,  com- 
mendably  desire  to 
honour. 
It  has  been  said  by 
a  great  traveller  in 
missionary  enterprise, 
who  was  a  revered 
guest  in  many  hun¬ 
dreds  of  homes  during 
his  long  and  remark¬ 
able  career 
You 
never  really  know  a 
man  until  you  have 
lived  with  him.”  Such 
men  as  those  whose 
names  are  mentioned 
on  page  179  last  week, 
and  who  rank  amongst 
the  best  of  British 
gardeners,  have  lived 
with  Mr.  Thomson,  and 
proved  him  —  proved 
his  zeal  and  capacity 
in  the  discharge  of  his 
duty  ;  his  solicitude  for 
the  competency  and 
welfare  of  those  who 
have  had  the  privilege 
of  serving  under  him  ; 
his  high  sense  of  jus¬ 
tice  ;  his  clear  head, 
and  his  good  heart. 
All  this  they  have 
proved,  and  in  the 
action  they  are  taking 
they  are  unconsciously, 
but  certainly,  doing 
honour  to — themselves. 
“  Fifty  years  head 
gardener  !  ”  What  a 
term  in  a  worker’s  life  ! 
Long  for  the  young  to 
look  forward  to  ;  much 
shorter  for  the  old  to 
look  back  upon.  Once 
remarked  an  octogen¬ 
arian  to  the  writer, 
“  When  I  was  a  lad  at 
school  the  time  seemed 
to  crawl — 30  long  between  the  holidays  ;  by-and-by  it  began  to  walk  ; 
after  I  was  fifty  it  seemed  to  run  ;  and  now  (at  eighty)  it  gallops.” 
Such,  no  doubt,  is  the  experience  of  most  who  have  lived  through 
two  and  a  half  generations.  Wise  it  is  to  use  time  worthily  and 
well  when  young,  and  always.  Mr.  Thomson  is  not  an  octogenarian, 
though  it  is  hoped  he  will  be,  also  hale  and  happy  then. 
FIG.  43. — ME.  DAVID  THOMSON, 
From  the  beginning  of  his  career  in  gardening  he  was  diligent 
as  a  student,  worker,  and  experimenter,  and  always  a  close 
observer,  he  developed  into  one  of  the  best  practitioners  in  the 
kingdom  and  most  effective  writers  on  gardening.  In  character 
ever  modest  and  retiring,  in  disposition  quietly  genial,  also  obliging 
without  fussiness  and  demonstration.  He  has  lived  a  prudent  life, 
and  used  time  well.  An  apology  is  now  due  and  tendered  to  Mr. 
Thomson  for  writing  that  which,  in  itself,  he  would  prefer  had 
remained  unsaid,  but  will  respect  the  motive  and  object  in  saying 
it — namely,  that  the  short  and  true  record  may  tend  to  exert  a 
wholesome  influence  on  those  gardeners  of  the  future  who  are 
now  in  the  (time)  “  walking  ”  period  of  life. 
Perhaps  it  may  be  worth  saying,  for  the  benefit  of  those  con¬ 
stitutionally  unsettled  members  of  the  gardening  community  who* 
are  always  wanting  “  fresh  and  better  places,”  but  who  h»v© 
scarcely  patience  to  wait  for  them,  that  though  Mr.  Thomson  ha© 
been  a  head  gardener  for  half  a  century  he  has  only  as  such  had 
(save  a  term  of  less  than  two  years)  three  situations.  It 
does  not  *eem  long  since  “  Davy,”  the  late  foreman  at  Wrotham 
Park,  Barnet,  was  appointed  gardener  at  Dyrham  Park  in 
the  same  district.  There  the  young  man  of  twenty-four  went 
to  work  in  a  thorough  manner.  Finding  a  cold,  tenacious,, 
unworkable,  culturally  useless  clay,  he  obtained  permission  to  burn 
it — not  into  ballast  but  friability.  This  was  done  to  a  depth  of 
2  feet.  It  was  a  great 
piece  of  work,  but  had 
great  results — marvel¬ 
lous  productiveness, 
and  “  Davy’s  Brussels 
Sprouts  6  feet  high’r 
were  the  talk  of  the 
country  Bide.  The 
press  made  the  achieve¬ 
ment  widely  known,, 
and  the  young  man 
won  his  spurs  as  a 
sound  practical  gar¬ 
dener.  _ 
It  may  have  been 
there  also  (and  if  not 
there  it  was  certainly 
somewhere)  that  Mr. 
Thomson  revolution¬ 
ised  the  method  of 
propagating  Zonal 
Pelargoniums.  It  was 
the  result  of  his  obser¬ 
vant  faculty  and  taking 
a  lesson  from  Nature. 
The  old  established 
method  of  rooting  cut¬ 
tings  of  these  plants 
was  in  accordance  with, 
the  stereotyped  for¬ 
mula  of  “  keeping  them 
close,  moist,  and 
shaded,”  the  same  as 
Fuchsias  and  other 
thin  -  stemmed  soft- 
wooded  plants .  Thus 
the  “  Geraniums  ”  gave 
endless  trouble  by 
damping.  Sometimes 
half  the  cuttings  would 
“  go  off,”  sometimes 
more,  as  the  writer 
can  remember.  Mr. 
Thomson,  observing 
some  trimmings  of  the 
plants  thrown  on  a 
heap  of  vegetable  soil 
in  the  full  sun  first 
wither,  then  revive, 
examined  them  more 
closely,  then  found 
that  the  stems  in 
contact  with  the  soil  had  emitted  roots.  Reflection  led  him  to 
think  that  such  fleshy  stems  could  afford  to  lose  some  of  their 
moisture,  and  he  put  the  matter  to  the  test  of  practice.  Not  only 
was  the  surmise  correct,  but  all  the  cuttings  rooted,  with  the  great 
advantage  of  firmer  plants  for  passing  the  winter  without  loss, 
and  becoming  sturdier  and  more  floriferous  than  those  raised  in 
the  orthodox  way.  How  simple  and  natural  the  whole  process 
Eeems  now,  and  has  been  so  regarded  for  many  years !  But 
comparatively  few  are  aware  that  Mr.  Thomson  was  the  Columbus 
of  the  whole  matter,  and  it  is  well  that  the  fact  be  recorded. 
From  Dyrham  Park  to  Archerfield  was  the  first  move  of  the 
progressive  gardener,  and  there  he  added  to  his  fame  as  a  flower 
gardener,  Grape  grower,  and  general  practitioner.  The  flower 
garden  which  he  formed  and  furnished  near  Dirleton  Cas'le  (a  ruin 
on  the  Archerfield  estate),  was  in  its  way,  and  for  many  years,  one 
of  the  finest  examples  of  the  massing  system  in  the  kingdom. 
From  Archerfield  Mr.  Thomson  went  to  Drumlanrig,  and  there  he 
has  remained  trusted  and  respected  by  his  ducal  employers  and 
