404 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  22,  189S. 
MEMORIES  AND  MORALS  OF  BOTHYDOM. 
Well  done,  indeed,  “  Old  Boy,”  and  may  your  pen  run  on  for  many 
a  year.  Such  worthy  advice  should  prove  cf  untold  value  to  those  young 
hands  who  one  day  will  hold  the  reins  of  responsibility.  In  what  a 
different  light  does  many  a  man  view  things  when  they  are  put  before 
him  in  the  sincere  guise  of  friendly  advice,  which  perhaps  he  has  rarely 
received.  One  can  hardly  wonder  at  the  errors  that  occur  in  the  career 
of  many  a  youth,  who  perhaps  is  thrust  out  on  the  world  at  an  early  age 
without  counsel  of  any  sort,  to  make  his  way  as  best  he  can,  his  natural 
proclivities  running  wild  with  little  check  of  any  sort. 
Those  sterling  qualities,  essential  to  success,  as  pointed  out  so  clearly 
by  an  “  Old  Boy,”  the  majority  have  never  been  taught,  the  result  being 
they  are  fairly  well  on  in  years  ere  they  begin  to  realise  the  error  of 
their  ways.  Characters  are  differently  constituted,  we  all  have  our 
failings,  but  a  lasting  benefit  would  occur  by  giving  a  lad  a  good  start 
in  life  by  teaching  him  sound  principles.  Associations  count  for  much, 
and  it  is  marvellous  what  the  example  of  a  good  foreman  in  a  bothy 
exercises,  as  many  could  testify.  It  is  the  lack  of  enthusiasm  that 
proves  the  stumbliugblock  to  so  many,  no  ambition  to  excel,  but  simply 
drifting  along  like  an  automaton. 
I  remember  an  old  Lancashire  friend  of  mine  who  used  to  say, 
“  Good  goods  will  sell  in  any  market,”  and  there  is  no  mistake  about  it. 
Those  who  give  evidence  of  sterling  qualities  are  usually  those  in 
demand.  What  a  pleasure  it  is  to  see  a  man  with  his  heart  in  his  work, 
his  very  action  denotes  his  goal.  No  obstacles  will  bar  his  path,  and  it 
is  a  pity  we  have  not  more  of  such  young  men. 
I  hope  the  advice  so  kindly  tendered  by  an  "  Old  Boy  ”  will 
encourage  our  younger  brethren  onwards.  That  all  right  thinking  ones 
will  appreciate  it  I  feel  sure,  and  many  of  us  older  ones.  I  have  read 
those  articles  week  by  week  with  deep  interest,  and  trust  that  an  “  Old 
Boy”  may  shine  as  a  beacon  light  for  many  years  to  come. — .T.  J. 
•Craven,  Allerton.  _ 
I  HAVE  read  "  Old  Boy’s  ”  articles  on  Bothydom,  and  do  not  agree 
with  all  he  has  written.  In  his  advice  to  the  youngsters  he  quotes  two 
authors  to  show  there  is  no  such  thing  as  luck.  Perhaps  not  in  a  religious 
sense,  for  I  believe  “  There’s  a  Divinity  doth  shape  our  ends,  rough-hew 
them  how  we  will  also,  ”  When  we  reckon  without  Providence  we 
often  have  to  reckon  twice.”  Against  the  “  Old  Boy’s  ”  views,  I  hold  “  ’Tis 
not  in  mortals  to  command  success  but  I  go  all  the  way  with  him  in 
advising  lads  to  do  their  level  best  to  deserve  it  by  preparing  themselves 
for  whatever  Providence,  chance,  or  luck  may  throw  in  their  way. 
To  see,  too,  how  many  important  and  lucrative  situations  are  filled 
one  would  think  “Some  are  born  great,  some  achieve  greatness,  and 
some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them.”  For  instance,  the  son  of  a  head 
gardener  made  a  terrible  slip  that  would  have  closed  the  career  of  most 
men  ;  but  through  the  influence  of  father  and  friends  he  was  placed  in 
one  of  the  best  places  in  the  kingdom.  If  there  is  no  such  thing  as  luck, 
what  is  this  ?  I  think  he  was  born  great.  A  single-handed  gardener 
was  discharged  for  a  trifling  fault,  was  refused  a  character,  no  nursery¬ 
man  would  take  him  without  one,  so  he  went  “  jobbing  ”  in  what  is 
now  an  important  town.  Before  his  death  he  was  the  proprietor  of  a 
thriving  nursery  concern  and  a  F.R.H.S.  This  man  achieved  greatness, 
but  he  would  have  been  the  last  to  deny  that  luck  or  Providence  led 
him  where  fortune  awaited  him. 
Once  more,  a  man  who  had  been  trained  in  good  places  could  only 
get  a  small  charge,  and  nothing  better  offered  for  years,  till  accident  did 
in  five  minutes  what  twenty  years’  “  tenacity  of  purpose  ”  had  failed  to 
do — namely,  gave  him  an  introduction  to  a  nobleman  who  threw  great¬ 
ness  upon  him  ;  he  is  now  chief  at  a  grand  establishment,  and  manages 
it  well. 
Again,  I  do  not  agree  with  “  Old  Boy  ”  where  he  advises  men  in  the 
second  rank  to  console  themselves  with  the  safety  of  their  position  ; 
“  I  pray  thee  cease  thy  counsel,  for  brother,  men  can  counsel  and  speak 
comfort  to  that  grief  which  they  themselves  not  feel ;  ’tis  all  men’s 
oflSice  to  speak  patience  to  those  that  wring  under  the  load  of  sorrow, 
but  no  man’s  virtue,  nor  sufficiency,  to  be  so  moral  when  he  shall  endure 
the  like  himself.” 
To  men  in  the  second  rank  the  following  grand  words  are  far  better 
consolation : — 
“  Old  age  hath  yet  his  honour  and  his  toil, 
Death  closes  all;  but  sometimes  ere  the  end 
Some  work  of  noble  note  may  yet  be  done.” 
I  notice,  too,  “  Old  Boy  ”  advises  the  lads  not  to  be  proud.  A  grand 
piece  of  advice,  and  sorely  needed  by  old  and  young,  for  1  should  think 
that  nowhere  is  Society  more  sharply  defined  than  amongst  gentlemen’s 
gardeners.  A  gardener  in  a  very  large  establishment  looks  down  on  the 
one  with  only  a  few  assistants  ;  hb  in  his  turn  holds  the  single-handed 
man  in  contempt,  and  the  jobber  is  beneath  the  contempt  of  them  all. 
If  a  representative  of  a  gardening  periodical  were  sent  to  report  on 
“  Snobland  Park  ”  he  would  say  we  were  met  by  the  clever  and  courteous 
gardener  (Mr.  Fernspore),  and  would  conclude  with  thanks  for  his 
hospitality  ;  but  let  a  single-handed  man  visit  the  same  place  next  day 
and  Mr.  Fernspore  would  be  invisible  (to  him).  If  he  was  shown  round 
at  all  it  would  be  by  one  of  the  boys. 
Some  men  seem  to  think,  like  Robert  of  Sicily  in  Longfellow’s  poem, 
“  there  is  no  power  can  push  me  from  my  throne.”  They  should 
remember,  however,  that  “  service  is  no  heritage,”  and  the  higher  the 
position  the  greater  the  fall.  Shakespeare  makes  Cardinal  Wolsey  (who 
climbed  as  high  and  fell  as  low  as  most  people)  say,  “  This  is  the  state  of 
man,”  &c. 
If  you  meet  an  old  chum  who  is  on  the  down  line  do  not  pretend  you 
cannot  see  him,  but  remember  Fate  may  say,  like  the  barber,  “Your 
turn  next,  sir,”  or,  to  sum  up  ; — 
“  If  you  chance  to  flourish  in  worldly  affairs, 
Don’t  be  haughty  and  put  on  airs 
With  insolent  pride  of  station. 
Don’t  he  proud  and  turn  up  your  nose, 
At  poorer  people  in  plainer  clothes, 
But  think,  for  the  sake  of  your  mind’s  repose, 
That  wealth  is  a  bubble,  and  comes  and  goes, 
And  that  all  proud  flesh,  wherever  it  grows, 
_ ^  LG  subject  to  irritation.” 
[Oar  P,  D.  says  he  “supposes  ‘  A.  L.  G.’  stands  for  a  'Lot  Of  Good.”* 
The  youngster  has  perceptions.  What  does  the  “  Old  Boy  ”  say 
EELWORM  IN  CUCUMBER  ROOTS. 
On  page  347  Mr.  G.  Abbey  has  reverted  to  the  whole  question  re 
eelworm  from  his  point  of  view,  and  therefore  I  hope  I  may  be  allowed 
to  do  the  same  from  mine.  Mr.  Abbey  rightly  says  (page  347)  that  I 
am  “  twice  wrong  in  my  quotation  on  page  325,”  but  it  is  only  a  partial 
error.  Anyone  who  cares  to  refer  back  to  the  article  on  “  Science  and 
Practice”  (page  74,  July  25th,  1895)  by  G,  Abbey  will  find  he  there 
recommends  the  use  of  “  soluble  phenyle  ”  for  killing  eelworm  in 
Cucumber  roots.  Mr.  Iggulden  also  thanks  Mr.  Abbey  for  “  bringing 
this  simple  and  effective  remedy  into  prominence.”  What  remedy  f 
Soluble  phenyle  1  My  arguments  therefore  remain  good,  although  I 
made  the  mistake  in  quoting  “  G.  Abbey  ”  as  “  Phenyle  Adviser.” 
On  page  194  I  recorded  some  experiments  with  pure  chlorides,  and 
also  with  kainit — both  failures,  to  which  Mr.  Abbey  says  “  my  reference 
to  chlorides  is  beside  the  question.”  Mr.  Abbey  (on  page  74,  1895)  tells 
us  that  “if  we  look  carefully  ”  we  shall  see  “that  chlorides”  in  kainit 
“  act  more  slowly  than  nitrates,  but  are  not  the  less  sure.”  In  doing 
what?  Killing  eelworm  in  the  “worst  infested  Cucumber,  Hop,  or 
Tomato  roots.” 
When  I  pointed  out  that  chlorides  would  not  do  so,  he  said  “  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  pure  chlorides,  but  of  kainit — sulphates  and  chlorides. 
The  sulphates  are  no  use  (why  ?)  without  the  chlorides.”  Now  it  is  “the 
free  lime  of  the  basic  slag  and  the  chlorides  of  the  kainit  that  kill.” 
What  will  it  be  next  ? 
My  reference  to  the  experiment  with  lime  was  to  show  that  the 
quantity  in  basic  slag  could  not,  as  “Phenyle  Adviser”  said,  kill  eel¬ 
worm.  It  is  all  very  well  for  Mr.  Abbey  to  talk  about  an  application  of 
10  per  cent,  of  lime,  but  to  practise  it  is  a  different  thing  altogether. 
This  10  per  cent,  of  lime  business  would  set  anyone  thinking,  and  Mr. 
Abbey  has  certainly  given  us  something  to  think  about  in  his  second 
paragraph  on  lime  (page  348).  He  says  that  the  soil  where  the  best 
Tomatoes  and  Cucumbers  are  grown  in  Hertfordshire,  in  the  largest 
quantity,  contains  13  75  per  cent,  of  lime.  I  do  not  know  where  these 
best  Tomatoes  and  Cucumbers  are  grown  in  the  largest  quantity,  but 
what  I  do  know  is  that  in  no  district  in  Hertfordshire  are  there  so  many 
grown  as  there  are  in  Cheshunt  ;  for  here  we  find  nearly  100  acres  of 
glass  devoted  to  the  culture  of  these  plants,  and  the  soil  does  not  contain 
more  than  from  0  30  to  3  00  per  cent,  of  lime. 
There  are  a  few  more  important  facts  connected  with  this  lime 
question  that  I  must  refer  to  before  leaving  it.  He  refers  to  the 
Cucumber  and  Tomato  plants  growing  in  soil  containing  13  75  per  cent, 
of  lime  as  carbonate,  and  he  implies  that  quicklime  when  added  to  the 
loam  would  become  the  same  in  a  few  weeks.  The  ordinary  loams  we 
use  would  not  contain  sufficient  carbonic  acid  to  convert  2^  per  cent,  of 
lime  into  carbonate,  and  the  atmospheric  air  could  not  pass  through  the 
heap  of  soil  in  sufficient  quantities  to  carry  enough  carbon  dioxide  to 
convert  the  other  per  cent,  of  lime  into  carbonate.  This  being  the 
case,  we  should  have  enough  caustic  lime  left  to  burn  the  roots  of  our 
plants  when  put  into  the  soil. 
I  have  seen  plants  growing  in  soil  to  which  an  excess  of  lime  had 
been  applied,  and  know  how  it  affects  them  ;  the  quantity  used  was  not 
more  than  5  bushels  per  rod.  Mr,  Abbey,  in  trying  to  uphold  his  lime 
statement,  says  that  Hertfordshire  farmers  often  apply  carbonate  of  lime 
at  the  rate  of  100  tons  per  acre.  So  they  may  ;  but  he  must  remember 
that  carbonate  of  lime  is  not  quicklime,  and  that  100  tons  of  carbonate 
of  lime  after  all  only  contain  about  48  tons  of  lime,  the  other  52  tons 
being  carbonic  acid  gas.  Besides,  there  is  as  much  difference  in  the 
properties  of  quicklime  and  carbonate  of  lime  as  there  is  between  chalk 
and  cheese.  The  carbonate  is.  mild  and  similar  to  sand  in  its  properties, 
and  plants  may  be  grown  in  it ;  while  quicklime  is  of  a  hot,  burning 
nature,  and  would  destroy  any  kind  of  vegetation  placed  in  it. 
My  reference  to  the  Tomato  plants  growing  in  the  ordinary  soil  of  a 
field  failing  to  prove  anything  brings  forth  a  retort  from  Mr.  abbey, 
who  says,  “  Then  there  is  nothing  in  facts,  and  no  one  has  a  right  to  the 
evidence  of  their  own  eyes.”  I  have  thought  all  through  the  discussion 
that  I  ought  to  be  allowed  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes,  but  the 
experiments  I  saw  were  nothing.  The  eelworms  I  have  watched 
capering  under  the  microscope,  and  the  hours  I  have  spent  studying  this 
pest,  together  with  the  kainit  remedy  my  friend  tried,  according  to  Mr. 
Abbey  proved  nothing,  and  when  I  kept  in  reserve  that  little  fact  about 
the  soil  being  put  on  boards  it  was  not  admissible.  But  I  suppose  it 
must  be  admissible  if  Mr.  Abbey  keeps  something  in  reserve,  or  why 
does  he  trot  out  his  fact  about  the  outdoor  culture  of  Cucumbers  and 
