August  8,  1896. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
133 
crimination  in  dealing  with  them.  Here  a  conrteom,  dignified 
remonstrance  may  be  sufficient  to  set  matters  right,  and  I  would 
advise  that  extreme  measures  only  be  taken  where  diplomacy  fails 
as  a  remedy.  Only  as  a  last  resort  would  I  appeal  to  headquarters, 
then  have  clearly  defined  your  cause  of  complaint,  for  “  thrice  is  he 
armed  who  has  his  quarrel  just.”  Perhaps  there  are  but  few  old 
boys  (like  myself)  who  have  not  had  experiences  of  this  kind  ;  we 
can  afford  to  smile  at  them  now,  but,  at  the  same  time,  we  do  not 
contemn  their  importance  to  a  young  “head,” 
It  is  frequently  remarked  of  us — gardeners — that  “one  man 
puts  up  for  the  next  to  pull  down,”  which  may  be  here  interpreted 
as  the  desire  to  set  oneself  right  by  showing  that  others  have  been 
(the  perfect)  it  may  entail  the  highest  skill,  coupled  with  prudence, 
to  keep  things  to  the  normal  standard.  It  may  be  that  for  many 
years  the  garden  with  its  trees  and  bushes,  its  soil  with  rotation  of 
cropping,  the  houses  with  the  Yines,  Peaches,  and  what  not,  have 
become  so  intuitively  responsive  to  the  ministering  of  a  master 
hand  that  any  variation  of  treatment  appears  to  be — and  is — 
resented  by  the  occupants. 
Hitches  may,  too,  occur  from  some  re-arrangement  of  the  staff 
— the  old  hands,  between  whom  and  their  special  work  a  bond  of 
sympathy  has  been  woven.  In  an  endeavour  to  do  better,  where 
possibly  the  best  is  attained,  the  wisdom  to  let  well  alone  is 
obvious  ;  or,  at  least  in  making  changes  to  hasten  slowly.  Years — 
Fig.  19.— EUBUS  ODOEATUS. 
wrong.  Without  admitting  this  insinuation  in  its  entirety,  I  think 
a  young  head,  in  his  anxiety  to  show  immediate  results,  is  open  to 
make  mistakes  in  this  direction.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  sit  in  judg¬ 
ment  on  a  class  without  being  included  in  the  category  ;  I  am,  in 
fact,  drawing  equally  from  personal  experience  as  well  as  from  my 
stores  of  observation,  which  may,  I  trust,  be  in  some  measure 
helpful  to  those  taking  up  their  commissions. 
In  the  various  phases  of  condition  a  young  man  may  find  the 
place  which  he  is  called  on  to  superintend  is  the  one — taking  the  two 
extremes — on  the  one  hand  of  that  prime  order  we  may  term  per¬ 
fection  ;  on  the  other,  that  out  of  tone  condition  a  garden  so 
quickly  assumes  from  neglect — I  will  not  say  culpable  neglect,  for 
it  may  not  necessarily  be  so  ;  anyway,  with  this  we  have  nought  to 
do.  You  take  the  place  as  you  find  it,  and  finding  it  in  what  may 
be  termed  a  bad  way,  there  are  especial  facilities  for  a  young  man 
— doubly  blessed  with  knowing  what  to  do  and  having  the  energy 
to  do  it — of  quickly  making  his  mark  ;  whereas,  on  the  other  hand 
even  half  a  lifetime — may  elapse  ere  the  young  “  head  ’’  will 
realise  how  much  he  owes  to  these  old  hands  whose  long  practice 
in  one  or  other  phase  of  work  contributes  to  the  smooth  running  of 
the  complex  machinery  of  a  successfully  managed  garden  ;  and  if 
he  will  accept  this  as  a  fact  at  starting,  after  experience  may  prove 
the  wisdom  of  doing  so. 
In  one  case,  a  case  in  which  I  was  appealed  to  by  both  parties- 
concerned,  excess  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  a  young  “  head,”  and  some- 
considerable  stubbornness  shown  by  the  old  hands,  eventually  resulted 
in  the  new  broom  sweeping  them  clean  out  of  the  garden,  but  the 
results  were  equally  unfortunate  to  himself,  and  it  will,  I  fear,  take 
many  years  to  erase  this  black  mark  he  has  scored  against  himself 
in  his  high-handed  dealings.  Faults  on  both  sides  there  were 
doubtless,  yet  the  results  can  only  be  attributed  to  a  want  of  tact  ; 
the  exercise  of  some  forbearance  ;  in  short,  the  total  incapacity  of 
the  young  “  head  ”  to  manage  his  men. 
To  the  theoretical  and  practical  qualifications  on  the  art  of 
