484 
JOURNAL  OF'  HORTICULTURE  AND  .  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  9,  1898. 
result  from  the  greater  amount  of  ice  in  a  loose  than  in  a  firm  body 
of  soil  ?  If  it  were  not  blown  out  by  the  force  of  expansion,  as  by  an 
explosion,  it  must  obviously  remain  in  till  the  excess  can  pass  away, 
in  part  by  filtration  into  the  subsoil  (if  this  be  porous),  in  part  by 
evaporation  into  the  air.  Out  the  excess  must  go,  by  one  or  both 
processes,  before  the  temperature  of  the  soil  can  be  raised  a  single 
degree  to  fit  it  for  the  germination  of  seeds  or  the  extension  of  roots 
of  plants  and  crops. 
If,  as  in  many  instances,  the  process  of  filtration  is  tediously  slow, 
in  some  cases  almost  nil,  what  is  the  effect  ?  Where  the  amount  of 
water  is  very  great,  as  in  retentive  soil  made  as  loose  as  possible 
before  the  winter,  we  have  a  spring  puddle.  There  can  be  no  other 
result.  We  have  then  to  trust  to  evaporation  for  dissipating  the 
accumulation,  and  all  the  time  this  process  is  in  operation  the  land  is 
made,  not  warmer  but  colder.  The  wetter  it  is  through  the  greater 
amount  of  water  (melted  ice)  in  this  “  loose  body,”  the  longer  the 
chilling  process  must  be  continued.  It  is  not  until  the  water  is 
extracted  to  the  extent  of  admitting  the  air — the  warm  air  of  spring 
— that  the  temperature  of  the  earth  can  be  raised,  and  crops  induced 
to  flourish.  In  some  seasons,  sites,  and  localities  this  earth-warming 
18  a  long  process,  growth  slow,  and  crops  late. 
In  many  gardens  which  are  naturally  or  artificially  so  well  drained 
that  water  can  pass  freely  down  by  filtration,  and  where  the  rainfall 
is  comparatively  low,  the  roughing  up  of  strong  soil  in  the  autumn 
or  early  winter,  when  the  surface  of  the  ground  is  dry  but  not  frozen, 
has  answered  very  well.  Most  gardeners,  in  view  of  spring 
emergencies,  like  to  have  as  much  digging  and  trenching  done  before 
Christmas  as  possible,  and  where  the  practice  meets  all  requirements  it 
will  be  continued.  But  there  are  other  soils  and  districts  in  which  the 
land  is  heavy,  rainfall  great,  sunshine  sparse,  and  springs  late. 
Under  such  conditions  the  most  successful  gardeners  have  found  by 
experience  that  they  act  the  most  wisely  by  letting  the  land  alone  in 
the  autumn  or  winter,  and  work  it  when  dry  enough  in  the  spring. 
Their  practice  is  based  on  scientific  facts,  as  indicated  by  Mr.  David 
Thomson,  and  which  are  not  likely  to  be  overturned.  Much  more 
likely  is  it  that  the  able  younger  men  who  at  the  moment  think 
differently  from  one  of  the  soundest  scientific  and  practical  gardeners 
of  Britain,  will  be  staunch  defenders  of  his  views  on  this  important 
subject  in  the  years  that  are  to  come. — Examiner. 
THOUGHTS  FOR  YOUNG  THINKERS. 
{^Continued  from  page  421.) 
I  DO  not  know  of  any  higher  ambition  or  more  agreeable  occupation 
for  a  man  than  to  be  a  gentleman’s  gardener,  in  the  widest  sense  and 
broadest  application  of  the  term  ;  I)ut  are  they  aware  of  the  unceasing 
effort  necessary  to  qualify  for  it  ?  We  need  not  deplore  the  fact  that 
modern  masters  require  so  much  for  their  money,  and  it  is  useless  to 
lament  the  privileges  they  have  of  being  able  to  select  from  a  crowd 
of  applicants.  This  should  stimulate  a  man  to  the  best  he  is  capable  of, 
and  young  men,  at  least,  are  not  aware  of  their  capabilities;  but  once 
they  feel  that  all  things  are  possible  to  them,  surely  they  will  not 
barter  their  birthright  for  want  of  thought — because  they  do  not  at 
once  fully  grasp  all  the  essentials  necessary  to  success  in  this 
direction. 
It  is,  I  venture  to  think,  worth  while  to  place  the  position  of  a 
gentleman’s  gardener  in  as  clear  a  light  as  possible,  and  it  is  one  I 
have  probably  viewed  from  all  angles  of  observation.  In  the  first 
place  it  demands  the  highest  talents  which  can  be  expressed  by  the 
head,  hand,  and  eye  conjointly,  with  the  continual  exercise  of  those 
virtues  found  in  one  of  whom  it  was  said — Ilis  life  was  gentle,  and 
the  elements  so  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up  and  say  to 
all  the  world,  ‘  This  was  a  Man.’  ”  Few  can  attain  this  ideal,  may  be 
said,  but  all  who  feel  its  force  can  aim  for  it.  Those  wdio  aim  at 
anything  short  of  this  had  better  bend  their  bows  in  another  direction 
than  that  of  being  a  gentleman’s  gardener,  as  I  understand  the  term, 
with  its  concurrent  responsibilities. 
Ere  turning  to  other  matters  I  would  again  impress  upon  those  in 
training  for  the  post  of  a  head  gardener  the  importance  of  taking 
broader  views  of  their  vocation  than  those  which  existed  in  times  of 
yore,  with  those  details  previously  spoken  of  correlative  to  it.  It  is 
not  absolutely  necessary  that  a  young  man  should  accept  all  the 
teaching  he  sees  in  the  best  of  gardens  where  he  may  be  located  as 
irrevocable  dicta  of  the  ethics  of  gardening.  He  should  think,  and 
the  best  cultivation  of  thought  is  expression.  It  is  important  that 
young  gardeners  should  take  pains  to  express  their  thoughts  in 
writing  with  accuracy  and  in  appropriate  terms.  Not  in  writing  for 
publication  only  should  they  exercise  care,  but  in  private  letters.  It 
is  easy  for  a  slovenly  style  to  settle  into  a  firmly  fixed  bad  habit, 
and  prejudice  a  man  at  a  critical  moment  in  his  career,  as  it  has 
prejudiced  many  to  the  advantage  of  others  who  have,  by  striving  in 
the  direction  indicated,  succeeded  in  attaining  a  coveted  object.  As  a 
master  over  young  men  I  have  to  this  end  invariably  endeavoured  ta- 
encourage  them  to  think  for  themselves  so  far  as  was  consistent  under 
the  circumstances,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  see  a  zest  given  to  even 
humdrum  work  (if  there  is  any  in  gardening),  when  a  bright,  intelli¬ 
gent  youth  feels  the  power  he  possesses  to  impress  his  personality  upon 
it.  Disappointments  occur  undoubtedly  ;  but  it  is  pleasant  to  turn  tO' 
the  credit  side  in  this  ledger  of  life  and  note  some  bright  examples 
that  have  passed  through  one’s  hands  now  figuring  not  only  as  first- 
class  gardeners,  but  men  who  have  impressed  their  individuality  upon 
good  work  to  its  advantage  and  their  own  benefit. 
In  the  Nursery. 
Many  of  our  lads  love  not  the  idea  of  spending  a  term  in  nursery- 
work,  with  comparatively  poor  pay,  plenty  of  hard  work,  and  sundry 
discomforts  to  boot.  Few,  perhaps,  enter  one  as  a  matter  of  choice. 
However  that  may  be,  the  business  methods  employed,  with  other 
obvious  considerations,  put  “  grit”  into  a  young  fellow  whose  desire 
for  action  is  the  symptom  of  health,  physical  and  mental.  Perhaps 
even  some  head  gardeners  who  have,  perforce  of  circumstances,  taken 
a  spell  in  nursery  work,  have  not  eventually  been  devoid  of  some 
benefits  derived  from  the  change.  Only  as  a  youth,  however,  has  my 
experience  been  in  this  direction,  and  four  years  so  spent  with  others 
leads  to  the  inference  that  a  nursery  is  a  capital  trial  ground  for 
budding  gardeners,  some  of  whom,  by  not  taking  kindly  to  the  work, 
get  transplanted  into  other  walks  of  life,  leaving  gardening — for  its 
good. — An  Old  Boy. 
(To  be  continued.) 
SLUGS— THEIR  INCREASE  and  DESTRUCTION. 
I  HAVE  hitherto  accidentally  overlooked  “  W.  S.’s  ”  kindly  reference 
on  page  430  with  regard  to  gas  lime  as  a  slugicide.  There  is 
undoubtedly  both  a  plethora  of  gardeners  and  of  slugs,  and  I  wish 
someone  would  suggest  a  cure  for  the  former  evil,  but  I  fear  the 
expedients  from  time  to  time  put  forward  are  something  rather  worse 
than  useless,  and  I  confess  to  being  unequal  to  cope  with  it  in  any 
feasible  manner.  I  can  only  congratulate  the  “in’s.”  (who  are  happy),, 
and  sympathise  with  the  ‘‘  out’s,”  who  are  not. 
The  plethora  of  slugs,  in  both  field  and  garden,  I  attribute  mainly 
to  slovenly  habits  in  so-called  cultivation  at  the  present  time. 
Gardeners  I  know  in  many  cases  cannot  help  it,  as  they  have  not 
half  the  requisite  assistance,  and  in  such  cases  it  is  impossible  that 
the  necessary  work  can  be  done  in  the  right  manner  at  the  right  time. 
As  to  farmers,  they  cannot  afford  to  employ  as  many  hands  as  formerly, 
on  account  of  the  low  prices  of  produce.  The  old-fashioned  plan  of 
“  knocking  the  land  about  ”  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  its  freedom 
from  slugs.  There  are  also  many  more  neglected  corners  in  gardens 
than  formerly,  and  the  headlands,  hedgesides,  and  ditches  are  not 
kept  in  the  same  order  on  farms  as  they  were  prior  to  the  eighties. 
We  had  in  the  good  old  days,  of  course,  always  “bad  times,”  fori 
never  knew  a  gardener  or  farmer  worth  anything  who  was  content 
with  present  circumstances,  as  the  best  men  were  then,  as  now, 
always  striving  for  better  methods  and  more  profitable  crops. 
I  know  that  cultural  errors  and  mistakes  comprise  the  main  of  the 
evils  resulting  to  crops  by  their  natural  enemies,  and  also  recognise 
the  fact  that  neither  bad  cultivation  nor  superior  management  will 
either  give  rise  to  a  living  organism,  animal  or  vegetable,  or  in  any 
wise  destroy  such  when  in  possession  ;  but  the  slatternly  procedure, 
miscalled  culture,  favours  the  increase  of  the  pests  of  crops  to  a  serious 
extent.  The  root  of  the  evil  is  easily  traceable  to  the  neglected 
corners  in  gardens,  rubbishy  headlands  and  hedgesides  with  unscoured 
ditches  in  fields.  More,  the  greater  breadths  of  Grasses  and  Clovers, 
and  the  laying  down  of  land  to  permanent  pasture  to  twice  the  extent 
of  half  a  century  ago,  with  the  abolition  of  fallows,  have  fostered 
slugs  in  disproportion  to  their  natural  consumers,  the  birds,  which 
have  decreased  in  recent  years  to  the  prejudice  of  crops. 
Such  are  my  impressions  of  the  cause  of  a  plethora  of  slugs  in 
gardens  and  fields.  The  winter,  as  “  W.  S.”  observes,  has  been 
favourable  to  slug  breeding ;  but  a  slug  can  only  deposit  a  certain 
number  of  eggs.  Frost  has  little  effect  on  slug  eggs,  for  the  animals 
take  care  to  descend  into  the  earth  deep  enough  to  be  safe.  The  eggs, 
also,  have  such  a  tough  integument  that  lime  hardly  does  more  than 
harden  the  “  shell,”  for  as  applied  it  burns  very  little,  and  does  not 
destroy  the  embryo.  Adult  slugs,  as  everyone  knows,  throw  off  lime 
from  their  bodies  by  the  slime,  and  then  pass  on  and  soon  don  another 
coat ;  but  repeat  the  dose,  or  let  the  dressing  be  such  that  it  repeats 
itself  at  every  “  stride,”  and  the  slug  succumbs  to  adverse  fate — if 
the  lime  be  fresh. 
I  am  a  great  believer  in  the  virtues  of  good  lime,  for  when  put  on 
“  hot,”  it  burns  the  molluscs  and  profits  the  land.  During  wet 
weather  the  lime  soon  loses  its  causticity,  hence  it  is  useless  to  apply 
it  then,  though  that  is  the  time  when  slugs  are  most  active  and 
