270 
JOUBNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  17,  1896 
beer,  is  still  sought  by  country  folks  as  a  remedy  for  ague  aud 
rheumatism.  We  can  hardly  think  that  the  Buckthorn  should  be 
the  “  Bogthorn  ;  ”  that  family  has  no  partiality  for  damp  localities, 
and  the  allusion  is  probably  to  a  dye  obtained  from  the  plant, 
which  was  used  when  clothes  were  being  bucked  or  soaked  in  lye. 
Some  varieties  of  the  Alder  Buckthorn  CRbamnus  alaternus)  are 
introduced  into  shrubberies  and  parks. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
MEMORIES  AND  MORALS  OF  BOTHYDOM. 
(Continued  f7'om 2>cige  256.) 
There  is  much  in  our  work,  as  there  should  be  in  our  leisure, 
to  elevate  the  mind,  and  I  am  proud  to  say,  and  to  be  able  to  say, 
that  the  behaviour  of  our  boys  of  the  bothy  compares  most  favour¬ 
ably.  as  a  rule,  with  other  classes  of  young  men  located  on  an 
extensive  demesne.  It  is  often  observed  that  the  young  gardeners 
hold  a  little  aloof  from  other  branches  of  the  service.  It  is,  I 
believe,  to  their  advantage  to  do  so.  Where  it  is  not  so,  and  the 
gregarious  instincts  lead  to  social  intercourse  with  those  of  the 
scabies  or  the  servants'  hall,  it  is  not  conducive  to  decorum  or 
sound,  healthy  converse  in  the  bothy.  It  is  but  recently 'I  wa'^ 
asked  why  it  is  that  the  care  of  that  noble  animal,  the  horse, 
should  entail  a  degradation  of  our  homely  English  tongue  by  the 
coarse  language  so  frequently  employed.  I  do  not  know,  for 
with  the  stables,  indeed,  I  have  bad  little  in  common  ;  but  I  do 
know  that  comrades  who  have  delighted  to  honour  these  offices 
with  their  presence  have  brought  back  into  the  bothy  and  into  their 
lives  a  vocabulary  unworthy  of  them  and  their  profession.  Whar 
a  mistaken  idea  of  manline.ss  it  is  in  the  prictice  of  this  offensive 
habit !  I  should  like  to  see  our  foremen  take  the  matter  in 
hand,  and  rigidly  exact  a  fine  from  every  delinquent  until  our 
tair  mother  tongue  was  no  longer  thus  befouled  in  the  kingdom 
of  bothydom. 
It  is  not  easy,  or  even  possible,  for  me  to  express  those  feelings 
on  this  part  of  the  subject  resulting  from  what  I  have  seen  and 
had  to  contend  with  from  a  too  free  social  intercourse  with  house 
servants.  It  need  not  be  inferred  that  I  am  grouping  the  latter  in 
the  one  category  as  a  bad  lot,  for  their  path  ot  duty  may  be  as 
conscientiously  adhered  to  as  ours,  but  those  paths  are  so  widely 
divergent,  especia’lj’  at  the  start  in  life,  that  leisure  devoted  to 
social  intercourse  between  these  sections  of  a  large  establishment 
may  be  set  down  as  time  wasted,  and  time  that  is  often  abused  ;  so 
much  so,  indeed,  that  it  is  often  the  cause  of  trouble  between 
masters  and  young  men.  To  the  latter  may  come  disgrace,  instances 
of  which  would  more  forcibly  illustrate  my  meaning,  but  it  is  suffi 
cient  to  point  the  moral  without  shady  pictures.  When  you — 
3  oung  reader — are  sent  to  the  house  on  business,  do  your  business 
and  go  about  your  business.  The  chief  cannot  always  have  his  eye 
upon  you,  nor  is  it  desirable  ;  endeavour  to  show  by  your  conduct 
that  it  is  not  necessary. 
“Are  we,  then,  to  have  no  pleasure  in  our  lives  ?”  some  of  yon 
will  doubtless  remark.  “  Are  we  expected  to  sit  out  our  leisure 
in  reading,  writing,  and  drawing  ?”  Bearing  in  mind  that  there  is 
at  this  age  an  amount  of  muscular  force  and  animal  life  in  pre- 
ponderence,  1  will  say  No ;  it  can  hardly  be  expected,  however 
desirable  it  may  be,  therefore  to  healthy  physical  recreation  in 
moderation  there  can  be  no  .objection.  To  some  lads  it  may  be 
the  safety  valve  to  exuberant  spirits,  which  may  otherwise  boil 
over.  Yet  there  is  more  than  a  slight  danger  of  our  manly  sports 
and  pastimes  engaging  too  much  attention,  and  I  trust  that  all  our 
boys  will  bear  in  mind  that  in  the  future  state  they  are  anticipating 
it  is  mind  that  rules,  and  not  muscle.  There  's  little  danger — 
not  any  that  I  am  aware  of— of  their  physical  constitution  lacking 
that  exercise  which  sedentary  occupations  entail.  If  we  can  make 
our  pleasures  and  recreations  subservient  to  our  work,  and  there  is 
undoubtedly  ample  scope  for  doing  so,  then  all  will  be  means  to  the 
end.  Those  recreations  which  lay  outside  this  boundary  are  so 
I  apt  to  lure  one  farther  and  farther  from  the  chief  object,  that  we 
:  may  often  see  them  culminating  in  the  sole  desire  to  escape 
from  the  garden  at  each  and  every 
opportunity. 
I  do  not  suppose  but  what  every 
right-thinking  lad  is  ready  to  obey 
the  rules  laid  down  for  the  fulfilment 
of  those  duties  ■vY^ich  after-hours 
entail,  but  I  do  know .  that  there  is 
a  vast  difference  in  the  way  they 
are  performed.  To  some  it  is  duty 
grudgingly  given,  and  they  chafe  under 
its  l^nds.  To  others,  the  cheerful 
response  makes  it  appear  as  a  plea¬ 
sure.  Living  once  in  one  of  those 
gardens  where  these  duties  were  of 
the  most  exacting  kind,  so  much  so 
that  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  we 
who  were  not  “on  duty”  felt  it  in¬ 
cumbent  upon  us  without  expressed 
orders  to  assist  the  one  who  was,  it 
was  astonishing  how  an  arduous  task 
was  lightened  by  willing  hands.  At 
this  place,  on  long  stretches  of  the 
garden  walls,  coverings  were  arranged 
during  the  blossoming  season  to  be 
drawn  over  the  trees  and  secured  when 
frost  was  imminent,  but  owing  to  the 
danger  of  wind  rubbing  the  coverings 
against  the  blossom,  it  was  only  done 
when  absolutely  necessary,  hence  we 
often  halted  between  two  opinions  until 
a  late  hour.  Our  chief  lived  outside 
the  garden  walls,  which  probably  in¬ 
creased  our  anxiety.  Many  a  smart 
bit  of  work  we  performed  in  the  night. 
Work?  no,  we  never  felt  it,  and  one 
cold  night  after  drawing  the  scenery,  as  we  called  it,  and  tying  it 
down  with  many  ties,  some  question  of  agility  arose  as  we  were 
going  to  bed,  which  was  only  settled  there  and  then  by  a  race 
round  the  garden  in  the  scantiest  of  nightgear. 
Possibly  some  young  readers  will  infer  that  these  memories  are 
nothing  more  or  less  than  complaisanc  notes  blown  from  an  old 
boy's  trumpet — that  we  were  of  the  goody  kind  and  never 
grumbled.  I  shall  just  recall  a  memory  of  the  last  Christmas  Day 
1  spent  in  bothydom,  for  it  may  point  a  moral  to  some  who  think 
that  they  are  in  these  degenerate  (?)  days  hard  done  by.  As 
observed,  it  was  Christmas  day,  and  there  were  several  “on  duty” 
aud  several  off.  “  On  duty  ”  meant  no  running  to  the  bothy  save 
but  for  meals.  There  was  not,  indeed,  time  for  more,  but  in  any 
case  that  was  the  rule  fixed  and  unalterable.  At  dinner  time  (the 
Christmas  dinner,  mind)  we  uuty  ones  went  in  to  find  the  fire  out, 
for  the  off  duty  ones  had  been  ordered  off  to  the  railway  station  to 
load  slack,  which,  owing  to  the  season,  had  been  delayed  in  transit, 
and  “  the  misaus  ”  was  at  home  in  the  bosom  of  her  family.  With 
a  crust  of  bread  and  butter  we  sought  the  more  congenial  clime  of 
the  houses  or  stokeholes.  At  teatime,  fire  still  out,  though  the 
grimy  ones  had  just  come  in,  and  we  all  had  to  wash  and  be  off  for 
table  decoration.  Did  we  grumble  ?  Yes,  on  the  quiet,  and  if 
any  of  you  latterday  bothy  lads  meet  with  a  similar  experience 
then  I  should  concede  to  you  that  privilege  of  an  Englishman — 
viz.,  to  grumble.  Otherwise,  pass  over  these  petty  vexations  which 
be*et  you  in  the  kingdom  of  bothydom. — Ax  Old  Boy. 
(To  be  continued.) 
FIG.  53.— LAEKEN  CHURCH-CONSERVATORY.  (See  page  268.) 
