324 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  10,  1902;. 
One  of  the  features  of  last  week’s  Journal  was  the  article  from 
Mr.  Divers,  containing  as  it  did  matter  that  must  have  soothed 
somebody’s  ambitions  in  the  bothies  far  and  wide,  and  have  also 
spurred  to  a  new  attempt  probably  some  who  required  encourage¬ 
ment  at  the  moment.  Apart-  from  the  need  for  knowledge  by 
those  who  would  ascend  to  offices  of  responsibility,  its  possession 
must  unavoidably  convey  a  consistent  fund  of  quiet  gratifica¬ 
tion,  and  be  the  principle  that  causes  one  man  to  be  singled  from 
others  by  his  reserve,  his  power,  his  straight  views,  and  good 
sense.  The  reason  why  so  comparatively  few  gardeners  are 
students  (when  they  have  a  host  of  conditions  that  might  con¬ 
duce  to  their  becoming  such)  lies  in  a  variety  of  causes,  the 
principal  being  the  lack  of  proper  encouragement  in  their  earlier 
days.  Set  a  wise  and  studious  foreman  in  a  bothy.  What  a 
chance  he  lias  for  making  (or  unmaking)  many  of  those  who  have 
the  rungs  of  the  ladder  mostly  to  climb.  his  conversation  he 
can  teach,  and  by  his  example  and  spirited  action  I  am  bound  to 
say  the  foreman  could  be  the  means  of  spreading  a  love  of  books 
and  of  applicable  knowledge  among  the  younger  men,  and 
especially  the  gardening  apprentices.  I  know  this  is  so,  for  I 
have  had  experience  of  it.  Much  can  be  done  by  the  lads  and 
young  men  themselves,  and  after  a  time  both  the  love  for  read¬ 
ing,  flunking,  and  vu'iting,  and  the  advance  gained  by  the  habit 
become  so  impressed  that  the  bent  can  never  willingly  be 
rescinded.  One  of  the  first  things  to  fire  the  ambition  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  craft  would  be  the  preparation  of  an 
essay,  a_nd  the  reading  of  it  before  some  mutual  improvement 
association.  It  is  apparent  that  there  are  too  few  junior  garden¬ 
ing  societies  in  existence.  Then  an  occasional  paragraph  to  the 
“Domain,”  set  apart  in  the  Journal  of  Horticulture,  has  been 
the  spur  that  has  caused  certain  probationers  to  look  up  facts, 
digest  so-called  “  di^  ”  paragraphs,  and  make  use  of  their  best 
talents  to  produce  those  readable  letters  that  appear  in  the 
column  named.  I  am  one  of  those  who  think  that  more  might 
be  accomplished  for  the  teaching  of  gardeners  by  the  horticul¬ 
tural  press,  and  I  daresay  we  may  some  day  get  more  of  a  general 
nature  than  we  do  now. — J. 
Gardeners  and  their  Studies. 
As  I  sat  musing  a  few  evenings  ago,  my  eyes  fell  on  two  recent 
numbers  of  the  Journal  (March  13  and  20).  ’The  13th,  of  course, 
being  the  Spring  Number — it  is  truly  a  Spring  Number,  and  I 
feel  very  grateful  for  the  good  work  the  Journal  is  doing  for  the 
horticultural  cause.  To  an  outsider,  gardening  is  a  dull  job  ; 
to  an  enthusiast,  it  is  quite  the  contrai'y ;  but  I  certainly  think 
it  must  lose  much  interest  to  those  followers  of  the  profession 
who  can  find  nothing  interesting  and  enlightening  in  the.  perusal 
of  gardening  periodicals.  It  hardly  seems  possible  that  there 
should  be  such  individuals,  but  from  experience  I  know  such 
do  exist.  Mr.  Brotherston,  on  page  233,  writes ;  — “  I  believe 
young  gardeners  no  longer  make  a  study  of  field  botany.”  I  am 
very  glad  he  used  a  note  of  interrogation,  for  that  at  least  shows 
him  to  be  in  doubt.  [The  interrogation  was  the  Editor’s.]  I 
guess  it  is  to-day  very  similar  to  Mr.  Brotherston’s  time,  each 
having  his  diflterent  pursuits,  some  finding  pleasure  and  recrea¬ 
tion  in  this  thing,  and  others  in  another.  No,  Mr.  Brotherston, 
field  botanists  from  the  bothy  are  not  quite  extinct,  and  if  you 
had  seen  the  various  plants  and  flowers  brought  home  for  a  closer 
inspection  and  a  truer  identification,  as  I  have  done,  you  would 
not  think  they  had  forsaken  a  study  perhaps  to  you  almost 
sacred.  The  study  in  itself  is  beautiful,  and  it  helps  a  would-be 
gardener  to  observe  and  learn  when  to  the  uninitiated  there  is 
nothing  to  learn.  I  am  far  from  being  a  good  student,  being 
much  too  lazy,  but  I  was  not  writing  about  myself :  although  as 
far  as  I  have  gone  into  the  study  I  have  found  it  both  interest¬ 
ing  and  educating.  It  teaches  from  observation  the  links  that 
exist  between  the  cultivated  and  the  wild  plants ;  the  natives 
and  the  exotics.  Woe-worth  the  day  when  field  botany  and  the 
bothy  become  absolute  strangers.  When  I  was  at  school — not 
long  since — we  had  observation  lessons  eveiy  day,  and  the  method 
employed  was  both  practical  and  edifying.  We  were  supposed 
to  make  mental  notes  of  anything  and  ever-ything  we  thought 
worthy  of  notice,  and  it  went  hard  with  the  fellow  who  observed 
nothing  unusual,  or  worthy  of  notice,  coming  to  school  that  day. 
It  was  one  of  those  practical  lessons  that  I  shall  never  forget. 
Nature-study  and  observation  go  hand  in  hand ;  without  the 
latter  it  is  impossible  to  become  proficient  in  the  former.  I  would 
ask  those  readers  who  are  field  botanists  if  they  know  aught 
about  Hypericum  humifusum  ?  I  wish  to  know  where  it  is  to  be- 
found  at  home,  and  would  be  pleased  with  the  least  information 
regarding  the  plant. 
I  turn  to  the  20th,  page  266,  anent  the  very  interesting 
column  signed  “  Kentish  Cob.”  How  often  has  not  the  same- 
subject  been  talked  about,  read  about,  and  written  about,  and 
it  will  go  on  till  doomsday — no  good  hardly  apparent  coming 
from  the  teachings,  and  yet  it  would  never  do  to  give  up.  But 
as  in  other  paths  of  life,  so  in  gardening,  there  always  have- 
been  those  who  will  not  try  to  make  a  study  of  their  work  so 
as  to  improve  themselves  •and  their  companions,  and  I  guess  it 
always  will  be  so ;  still,  that  fact  will  not  put  practical  garden¬ 
ing  back.  It  is  consoling  to  know  there  are  many  who  take 
interest  in  their  work  enough  to  study  it  in  their  hours  of  leisure. 
It  is  this  class  of  men  who  will  probably  secure  the  plums 
in  the  profession,  and  the  illiterate  ones  will  learn  the  lesson 
too  late  they  should  have  learned.  It  is  not  surprising,  though, 
when  the  matter  has  both  sides  examined,  that  there  are  fellows 
who  decry  the  study  of  the  practice  and  theory  of  gardening, 
after  work  hours.  I  know  of  a  case  myself  where  a  very  good 
gardener  on  paper  was,  I  may  say,  a  perfect  fool  at  his  work ; 
in  fact,  he  was  a  subject  for  ridicule  to  those  under  him,  and 
his  great  learning  was  often  brought  in  a  very  sneering  manner 
under  his  notice.  Can  anyone  wonder,  when  such  cases  as  the 
above  are  to  be  met  with,  that  young  gardeners  learn  early  to 
despise  the  man  who  studies?  I  have  often  heard  the  remark 
passed,  “  Oh,  yes,  a  very  good  man',  but  not  much  of  a  gardener. 
That  man  could  tell  you  the  natural  order  and  generic  name  of 
every  plant  he  had,  and  much  more  beside,  but  to  the  improver 
and  journeyman  the  thought  often  comes.  Botany  does  not 
make  a  gardener ;  look  as  So-and-So,  he  is  a  thoroughly  practical 
man,  he  scarcely  knows  anything  about  the  sciences.  The  fact 
alone  proves  the  wisdom  or  folly  of  the  thought.  Gardening 
is  no  doubt  still  improving,  and  will  continue  to  do  so,  despite 
croakers. — H.  R.,  Kent. 
The  Bothy. 
I  should  like  to  pass  a  few  remarks,  some  of  them  rude, 
no  doubt,  but  none  the  less  true,  anent  the,  to  young 
gardeners,  all-absorbing  topic  which  is  being  discussed  in  our 
Journal,  namely,  the  bothy.  What  is  a  bothy?  One  dictionai'y 
says  it  is  a  cottage  in  which  unmarried  servants  of  either  sex 
are  housed  together ;  an  older  dictionary  says  it  a  rude  hut  or 
dwelling.  Personally,  I  favour  the  latter  description,  as  to  liken 
the  average  bothy  to  a  cottage  is  an  insult  to  almost  any  cottage. 
The  outside  appearance  of  the  generality  of  bothies  does  not 
impress  one  as  being  a  desirable  summer  or  winter  residence; 
inside  it  is  worse.  The  walls  and  ceiling  of  what  is  called  by 
courtesy  the  kitchen  being  an  indescribable  colour,  or  rather 
variety  of  colours.  There  is  a  scarcity  of  crockery  and  cooking 
utensils,  and  the  furniture  (?)  reminds  one  of  the  popular  song. 
“  All  Wobbly.”  In  not  a  few  instances  it  is  the  master  or 
mistress,  as  the  case  may  be,  who  is  to  blame.  When  approached 
on  the  matter  they  a-ssume  a  bored  expression,  and  intimate  that 
in  their  opinion  improvements  are  not  necessary.  It  is  this  type 
of  employer  who,  as  a  rule,  expects  the  most  and  the  best  that 
young  men  can  do  for  them,  and  it  is  needless  to  state  they  very 
seldom  get  it.  As  your  correspondent,  “  A  Foreman,”  remarks, 
it  is  the  gardener  who  is  to  blame  in  the  majority  of  cases:  but 
thei'e  are  a  great  many  cases  in  which  the  foreman,  as  head  of 
the  bothy,  is  to  blame,  he  being  either  too  timid  or  too  careless 
to  mention  it  to  the  gardener.  When  the  young  men  have  to 
cook  for  themselves,  as  is  often  the  case,  it  is  not  reasonable 
to  expect  a  man  to  have  his  heart  in  his  work.  If  they  look  te 
the  bothy  too  much  and  their  meals,  their  work  is  neglected. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  their  thoughts  are  centred  on  their  work, 
their  meals,  and  consequently  their  healthy  appetites,  are 
neglected.  Very  often  do  they  go  in  to  dinner  to  find  the  dinner 
cooked  to  a  cinder,  or  the  reverse — not  cooked  at  all.  Then  the 
air  is  filled  with  numberless  blue  streaks,  caused  by  the  utter¬ 
ance  of  language  which  no  self-respecting  machine  would  print, 
as  first  one  and  then  another  declares  he  will  stand  it  no  longer, 
but  will  give  in  his  notice,  and  just  as  quickly  declares  pliiloso- 
phically,  “  Oh,  well,  it  might  be  worse.”  Yet,  with  all  its  draw¬ 
backs,  bothy  life  seems  to  have  a  curious  fascination  for  young 
gardeners.  Whether  it  is  the  free  and  easy  life,  or  what  it  is, 
is  not  easy  to  determine.  It  might  be  inferred  with  impunity 
that  your  correspondent,  “  Kentish  Cob,”  is  not  a  bothyite ;  too 
much  of  one  thing  becomes  a  bad  thing.  The  old  saw,  “  All 
work  and  no  play,”  &c.,  is  too  deeply  impressed  on  the  memories 
of  most  young  gardeners  to  allow  them  to  spend  all  their  leisure 
time  studying.  Young  men  who  have  a  taste  for  reading,  and 
happily  there  are  few  who  have  not,  will  indulge  their  tastes 
according  to  the  kind  of  literature  they  prefer.  I  have  seen  a 
young  gardener  cramming  himself  with  the  contents  of  a  cookery 
book  with  evident  relish,  and  it  must  be  admitted  with  more 
eagerness  than  he  would  have  displayed  had  it  been  a  garden 
paper.  If  a  young  man  with  three  or  four  years’  bothy  experi¬ 
ence  has  not  sense  enough  to  make  up  his  mind  what  to  read 
