May  22,  1902, 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
455 
you  will  be  appointed  to  the  charge  of  .  His  Grace  So-and-So’s 
gardens.  If  His  Grace  is  wealthy  arid  liberal,  you  may  get  £100 
per  year  and  vegetables ;  if  not,  you  may  have  to  be  content  with 
£90,  or  less.  I  must  here  remind  you,  dear  young  brother,  that 
there  are  only  a  comparatively  few  of  those  positions  in  this 
■country,  so,  as  we  are  all  to  start,  you  must  be  prepared  to  beat, 
by  superior  intellect,  the  30,000  or  so  of  your  brethren.  When 
you  are  duly  installed,  your  fellow  doniestics  will  consider  you 
quite  respectable  and  call  you  Mr.  On  the  other  hand,  if  un¬ 
successful,  you  may  have'  to  be  content  with  £70  or  £75  a  year, 
and  along  with  ordinary  garden  duties  you  will  have  charge  of 
some  fowls,  pigs,  and  cows,  and  carpet  beating.  Here  another 
“  ology  ”  might  be  useful  to  get  the  dust  out  of  your  throat ;  of 
course  you  could  wash  it  out.  When  you  reach  the  age  of  fifty 
years,  if  you  are  still  honest,  hardworking,  energetic,  and  your 
family  small  and  well  conducted,  you  may  be  allowed  to  keep 
your  position ;  if  not,  you  have  still  three  alternatives — nursery 
again,  with  a  reduced  position  in  view,  the  Gardeners’  Royal 
Benevolent  Institution,  and  the  district  Union.  As  you  would 
have  quite  sufficient  on  hand  up  to  this  date,  I  must  now  recom¬ 
mend  you  to  study  the  book  which  Mr.  Divers  mentioned  as  if 
by  an  afterthought;  it  will  doubtless  afford  you  more  consolation 
than  you  have  had  hitherto. 
I  have  endeavoured  to  outline  your  career,  dear  brother,  if 
you  will  be  advised  by  Mr.  Divers.  Of  course,  he  thinks  dif¬ 
ferently.  He  says  out  of  thirty-six  companions  only  three  got 
to  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  this  was,  of  course,  by  their  intel¬ 
lectual  superiority.  Well,  it  is  quite  possible,  but  I  hope  Mr. 
Divers  does  not  mean  to  suggest  that  all  the  gardeners  in  high 
positions  are  intellectually  suiserior  to  many  in  quite  humble 
ones ;  and  I  hope  also  that  he  does  not  suggest  that  they  are 
better  gardeners,  or  that  they  secured  their  positions  by  their 
inental  or  technical  capacity  alone.  There  are  scores  of  gar¬ 
deners  in  good  positions  to-day  who  would  soon  be  humbled  if 
they  competed  on  an  equal  basis  with  the  small  gardener.  Many 
retain  their  positions  only  by  securing  good  practical  foremen  to 
do  the  work,  and  the  gardener  does  the  talking  and  takes  the 
credit.  This  is  the  sort  of  man,  as  a  rule,  who,  after  some  years, 
will  advise  the  rising  generation.  You  must  never  commit  the 
fatal  mistake  of  congratulating^ such  a  one  on  his  luck  in  securing 
his  position.  Why,  bless  you!  it  was  entirely  his  talent.  Here 
take  note,  reader,  that  I  know  no  more  about  Mr.  Divers  per¬ 
sonally  than  I  do  about  the  man  in  the  moon.  The  reasons  for 
most  appointments  are  as  variable  as  the  appointments  them¬ 
selves  :  even  golf  has  been  instrumental  in  some  cases  ( 1),  and 
quite  frequently  young  men  of  only  six  or  seven  years’  experi¬ 
ence  are  appointed  to  good  positions.  One  of  the  finest  gardens 
in  the  north  of  England  was  put  in  charge  of  an  uneducated  man 
of  twenty-two,  and  he  is  still  there. 
It  is  surprising  to  hear  some  people  talk  as  if  they  were  edu¬ 
cated  men.  With  the  usual  exceptions,  a  very  small  percentage 
indeed,  gardeners  are  not  educated,  as  I  look  upon  education. 
They  have  no  need  to  be,  and  never  will  be.  Does  Mr.  Divers 
or  any  other  man  seriously  mean  to  say  that  any  young  man 
who  was  blessed  with  the  strength  of  will,  purpose,  and  talent  to 
devote  every  moment  of  his  youth  to  study,  should  become  a 
common  domestic  gardener  ?  Why,  it  is  positively  absurd ! 
There  are  many  fields  open  to  cultured  men  without  lowering 
themselves  to  this  level.  Let  me  give  you  here  a  few  illustra¬ 
tions  of  the  man  of  purpose.  I  went  to  school  with  three  boys 
whose  parents  were  very  poor  indeed,  their  mothers  being  char¬ 
women.  In  school  I  am  certain  I  was  a  better  scholar  than  any 
■of  those,  but  (nota  bene)  two  of  those  boys  are  to-day  ministers 
of  the  Gospel,  the  third  is  a  Professor  of  Languages.  Two  of 
them  served  an  apprenticeship  to  gardening  in  a  neighbouring 
garden  to  that  in  which  I  served.  Unlike  me,  however,  they 
never  left  off  learning,  and  when  their  apprenticeship  was  over 
they  went  to  college  and  maintained  themselves  by  bursaries 
and  working  manually  during  their  vacations.  I  went  to  a 
nursery  and  worked  for  all  I  was  worth  ten  hours  a  day  for  10s. 
per  week.  I  must  here  say  that  I  am,  and  always  was,  con¬ 
sidered  respectable,  and  I  never  played  very  much. 
Now,  supposing  those  boys  who  started  gardening  had  devoted 
their  time  to  Mr.  Divers’  subjects,  would  they  be  so  far  above 
me  to-day  ?  I  am  positive  they  would  not.  They  earn  £200  or 
£300,  while  I  eam  £60.  Others  of  my  school  companions  who 
learned  little  at  school,  and  very  soon  forgot  even  that,  are 
to-day  earning  ^rom  £2  to  £2  10s.  per  week  at  the  building  trade, 
and  they  scarcely  ever  opened  a  book.  Tlmse  are  only  a  few 
out  of  thousands  of  similar  instances.  Gardening  is  a  fairly 
pleasant  occupation;  personally  I  love  it.  -Still,  it  is  plain  to 
everybody  that  the  remuneration  one  gets  is  not  sufficient  to  com¬ 
pensate  for  the  practical  work  and  manual  labour  required,  let 
alone  hours  and  years  of  science  studies  which  are  not  at  all 
necessary.  If  you  are  ambitious  to  be  a  good  gardener,  read 
the  Journal  of  Horticulture  every  week  ;  it  differs  from  self  study 
in  this,  that  it  is  a  pleasure,  not  a  drudgery,  and  you  will  reach 
your  goal  a  lot  sooner. 
I  sincerely  hope  that  all  those  young  men  who  have  sufficient 
strength  of  purpose,  ambition,  and  love  of  study,  will  direct  it 
into  other  channels  than  that  of  gardening,  and  those  wh  have 
not,  will  further  their  interests  best  by  getting  into  some  famous 
garden  if  possible,  and  by  good  conduct,  hard  work,  and  servility, 
gain  the  graces  of  their  master.  Servility  is  really  the  most 
potent  factor.  Sooner  or  later  you  will  get  an  appointment, 
but  do  not  take  charge  of  a  small  garden  with  the  hope  of  getting 
a  large  one  later  on.  Small  gardens  are  the  ruin  of  some  men — 
in  this  way.  The  owners  in  their  ignorance  expect  quite  as  much 
(if  not  more)  of  their  gardener,  and  forget  entirely  that  they  do 
not  provide  the  conditions  on  w-hich  success  in  any  branch  can 
be  attained.  This  leads  to  disputes,  and  eventually  a  character¬ 
less  shift,  for  the  gardener.  I  must  now  conclude,  Mr.  Editor. 
I  hope  I  have  not  trespassed  too  much  on  your  space?  [Much  of 
what  you  say  is  true. — Ed.]  As  you  can  see,  I  am  not  educated  ; 
If  I  was,  I  would  have  been  able  to  condense  this.  I  shall  be 
very  glad  if  my  remarks  are  the  means  of  awakening  some  studious 
young  fellow  from  pursuing  a  course  which  he  will  for  ever  regret. 
I  feel  quite  sure  that  had  I  some  good  counsellor  at  a  certain 
time  to  direct  my  love  of  learning  into  a  proper  channel  (it  is 
now  too  late),  I  should  not  have  to  sign  myself  a — Domestkj 
Working  Gardener. 
Climbing  French  Beans  for  Forcing. 
The  forcing  of  Beans  during  the  late  winter  and  early  spring 
months  proves  often  a  laborious  undertaking,  when,  as<  it.  often 
happens,  the  demand  is  a  continuous  and  heavy  one.  Forced 
Beans,  so  unlike  the  naturally  grown,  are  verj'  transient  in  their 
cropping  powers.  A  very  few  successive  gatherings  complete  their 
work,  and  the  need  for  progressive  batches  asserts  itself.  There 
are  many  varieties  of  the  Dwarf  Bean  more  or  less  suitable  for 
forcing,  but  all  have  the  same  short  life  under  these  conditions. 
For  the  climbing  varieties  so  many  private  growers  have  no  con¬ 
venience  for  forcing,  because  of  the  needful  headroom  for  their 
trailing  growth.  They  are  thus  not  commonly  adopted,  partly 
because  of  tins,  and  partly  because  their  merits  are  not  sufficiently 
well  known  for  forcing  purposes.  It  is  several  years  since  the 
earliest  of  the  climbing  section  first  originated,  and  which,  I 
belie've,  was  first  found  as  a  chance  seedling,  selected  from  a 
batch  of  Canadian  Wonder.  Since  then  hybridists  have  turned 
their  attention  to  this  desirable  section,  and  as  a  result  to-day 
there  are  several  very  excellent  kinds  available  for  eveiyone. 
Veitch’s  Climbing  was  the  pioneer  of  this  race,  and  still  remains 
a  good  all-round  and  freely  cultivated  Bean.  Messrs.  Sutton 
and  Sons,  it  would  appear,  have  a  great  claim  of  credit  in  the 
production  of  nO'  less  than  five  distinct  sorts  with  climbing  habit, 
one  at  least  having  the  honour  of  a  First  Class  Certificate  from 
the  R.H.  Society — the  hall  mark  of  quality.  The  only  kinds  I 
have  proved  for  forcing  are  Veitch’s  Climbing  and  Sutton’s  Epi¬ 
cure.  Others  may  be  asi  good,  but  their  merits  are  untried; 
these  two  certainly  revolutionise  the  work  of  forcing  where  the 
necessary  space  is  available  for  them.  These  two  are  entirely 
distinct  one  from  the  other,  the  first  named  having  the  style  and 
character  of  the  well  known’  Canadian  Wonler,  both  in  the  length 
and  smoothness  of  pod  ;  the  other  is  much  thicker  and  more  round 
and  of  a  paler  shade  of  colour  in  the  skin. 
A  sowing  of  Epicure  was  made  in  shallow  boxes  early  in  Janu¬ 
ary  to  which  strings  were -fixed  wdth  tacks  and  strained  to  roof 
wires  above.  No  further  trouble  was  necessary  in  training,  for 
the  runners  clung  tenaciously  to  the  strings  in  their  rapid  upward 
progress.  Their  points  were  removed  when  they  advanced  about 
4ft,  with  a  -view  both  to  reduce  their  height  and  to  hasten  pod¬ 
bearing.  They  were  not  so  quick  in  fruiting  as  the  dwarf  sorts, 
but  once  they  did  commence,  periodic  gatherings  were  continued 
over  a  lengthened  time.  Indeed,  several  batches  of  dwarfs  have 
been  sown  and  again  cleared  out  while  these  climbei's  go  merrily 
on.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  given  weight  for  weight,  the  latter  outo 
strip  the  dwarfs  with  the  greatest  ease  in  the  race  for  economic 
production.  Bearing  in  mind  their  natural  vigour,  and  the  ten¬ 
dency  there  is  in  making  undue  length  of  vine  when  forced,  a 
cour.se  of  soil  treatment — a  little  at  a  time — is  the  better  one  to 
adopt,  because  in  this  way  their  growth  can  be  easily  kept  in  hand. 
As  under  natural  outdoor  culture  they  will  rise  to  a  height  varying 
from  6ft  to  10ft,  a  corresponding  depth  of  space  must  be  pro¬ 
vided,  or  at  least  is  the  better  part  of  economy  to  provide  when 
grown  under  glass.  By  stopping  the  shoots,  much  of  thi.s  can  be 
reduced,  and  by  soil  restriction  it  may  be  still  further  cuitailed. 
Tire  first  topping  of  the  leaders  did  not  bring  us  flowers  at  once, 
though  the  side  shoots  that  issued  gave  indications  of  this  promise. 
The  first  gatherings  came  from  near  the  tops,  and  when  vigour 
was  reduced  and  the  crop  somewhat  expended  on  the  upper  portion 
of  the  stems  pods  developed  downwards  to  near  the  soil.  Thus 
the  succession,  instead  of  being  continued  upward,  as  is  cus¬ 
tomary,  was  effected  in  the  opposite  direction.  Liquid  manures 
and  an  occasional  light  dro.ssing  of  bonemeal  are  excellent  stimu¬ 
lants  for  sustaining  growth  and  pod-bearing.— W.  S. 
