IMarch  26,  19C3. 
269 
JOURNAL  CF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  (JARDEXER. 
The  Gardener  as  a  Man. 
(Continued  from  page  2d9,) 
e  noAV  come  to  consider  'wliat  has  long  been  a  debated  siib- 
ject.  A  practical  gardener  may  be  illiterate,  and  muddle  along 
by  sheer  pluck  and  practical  experience  ;  but  the  modern  gardener 
as  a  man  must  not  only  read  the  best  and  most  important  records 
of  horticultural  progress  in  books  and  craft  newspapers,  but  he 
should  also  be  able  to  write  clear  and  accurate  records  of  his  own 
experience.  I  say  this  without  any  hesitation,  although  I  am 
well  aware  that  gardeners  generally  are  divided  into  two  camps 
on  this  very  question.  The  point  is  not  the  old  argument  as  to 
theorv  versus  practice,  although  the  practical  men  as  a  rule 
always  seem  to  have 
a  grudge  against  the 
gardener  who  writes 
to  the  papers !  It 
is  not  so  much  a  ques¬ 
tion  as  to  whether 
the  silent  practical 
gardener  or  the  writ¬ 
ing  practical  gar¬ 
dener  is  best,  but 
whether  a  man  com¬ 
bining  the  best 
points  of  both  is  not 
better  than  either 
alone?  No  really 
sound  and  useful 
writing  can  be  of  any 
service  to  liorticul- 
ture  that  is  not 
based  on  good  actual 
practice  or  experi¬ 
ments  in  the  garden. 
We  are  told  by  the 
poet  that,  “Words 
make  haste  to  follov' 
things,”  and  by  the 
same  token  the 
best  of  literary  re¬ 
cords  can  only  follow 
good  and  dear  ex¬ 
periments  whether 
made  in  schools  or 
workshops,  or  in  gar¬ 
dens  or  fields.  In  thi.s 
spirit  old  John  Aber¬ 
crombie  wrote  his 
“  Gardener’s  Calen¬ 
dar,”  and  McPhail, 
Nicol,  Ileid,  and 
Neill  long  ago^  laid 
foundations  of  gar¬ 
dening  literature  in 
Scotland. 
It  has  always 
been  a  wonder  to  me 
that  Scotland,  so  re¬ 
nowned  for  her  good 
printing  and  good 
gardening,  has  never 
had  a  weekly  gar¬ 
dening  journal  of 
her  own,  published 
either  in  Glasgow  or 
Edinburgh.  Her  ex¬ 
tensive  and  beautiful 
gardens,  private  and 
public,  as  well  as 
those  for  market  or 
trade  purposes,  alike 
demand  a  local  organ 
of  this  kind.  As  it 
is  we  hear  far  to 
little  about  gardening  in  Scotland.  One  can  understand  that  it 
is  difficult  to  obtain  data  and  details  from  private  gardens  dotted 
about  as  isolated  units  all  over  the  country ;  but  even  English 
gardening  journals  might  tell  u.s  far  more  than  they  do  of  the  good 
work  done  in  the  Botanical  Gardens  of  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  St. 
Andrews,  Aberdeen,  &c.,  as  also  of  that  in  the  gardens  elsewhere 
in  Bonnie  Scotland.  In  Edinburgh  alone,  according  to  the 
“Daily  Mail,”  £167,000  have  been  expended  on  public  parks  and 
bowling  greens  during  the  past  twenty-one  years.  The  revival  of 
bowling  greens  will,  I  hope,  become  popular — fresh,  green,  weed¬ 
less  turf,  as  level  as  a  billiard  table,  such  as  may  be  seen  at 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge;  behind  the  old  George  Hotel  at 
Edgbaston,  near  Birmingham,  and  elsewhere  in  Rural  England. 
At  Glasgow,  the  capital  cost  of  the  public  parks,  gardens,  and 
recreation  grounds,  from  1852  tO'  1898 — say  about  forty-.s;x  years 
— has  heen  close  on  £573,685.  During  the  last  ten  years  the  cost 
of  fencing,  laying  out,  Ac.,  of  the  Glasgow  parks  and  gardens  has 
been  about  £73,000.  The  total  annual  expenditure  in  the  parks 
and  galleries  departments  of  the  Gla.sgow  Corporation  in  the 
shape  of  salaries,  working  expenses  of  upkeep,  interest  on  bor¬ 
rowed  capital,  sinking  funds,  Ac.,  is  approximately  £74,000, 
from  a  djd,  assessment  rate,  and  in  a  city  like  Glasgow  no  one 
can  .say  that  the  money  is  ill  spent,  or  that  the  ratepaj'er.s  do  not 
receive  value  for  their  money.  The  actual  amount  devoted  to  the 
upkeep  of  parks  and  gardens  in  Gla.sgow  annually  is  about 
£25.000.  This  includes  wages,  fuel,  lighting,  plants  and  seeds, 
all  kinds  of  repairs,  including  roads  and  footpaths,  Ac.  Public 
spirited  enterprise  and  good  town  gardening  of  this  kind  de¬ 
serves  public  appreciation.  The  re, suits  in  both  Glasgow  and 
Edinburgh,  and 
other  large  towns  in 
Scotland,  ai'e  too 
good  to  be  ignored 
by  the  gardening 
Press,  and  would 
yield  ample  notes 
and  subjects  for 
comment  in  a  Scot- 
t  i  s  li  horticultural 
journal. 
We  are  told  that 
“  order  is  Heaven’s 
first  law,”  and  one  of 
the  books  that  im¬ 
pressed  me  much  is 
“  Organisation  i  n 
Daily  Life,”  by  Sir 
Arthur  Helps,  a  work 
every  young  gar¬ 
dener  should  read. 
Public  libraries  are 
now  so  common  in 
towns  and  large  vil¬ 
lages,  that  young 
men  have  ample  op¬ 
portunities  of  refer¬ 
ring  to  the  best  of 
books  if  so  inclined. 
The  new  edition  of 
“  The  Encyclopsedia 
Brit'annica  ”  is  in  it- 
•self  a  gold  mine  of 
reliiable  ^formation 
on  every  subject  of 
interest  to  the  gar., 
dener  as  a  man. 
Reading  and  Study. 
Young  gardeners 
should  read  and 
s  t  u  d  y  elementary 
primers  on  botany, 
logic,  physics,  politi¬ 
cal  economy,  chemis¬ 
try,  Ac.,  Macmillan’s 
series  being  a  very 
good  one,  and  rea¬ 
sonable  in  price,  viz., 
one  shilling  per 
v  o  1  u  m  e.  Professor 
Blackie’s  “  Advice  to 
Young  Men”  i.s  in¬ 
valuable  on  the  for¬ 
mation  of  character 
and  conduct.  See 
also  Sir  John 
Lubbock’s  (now 
Lord  ..V  V  e  b  11  r  y) 
“  Pleasures  of  Life,” 
i  a  work  which  shows  how  much  happiness  lies  within  reach  of 
even  the  humblest  labourer,  if  he  will  but  only  read,  think  and 
use  his  eyes.  It  also  contain.s  a  list  of  the  best  book.s  likely  to 
interest  the  gardener  as  a  man.  The  fullest  and  best  general 
work  on  gardening  is  Blackie’s  “The  Gardeiier.s’  .\ssistant,”  an 
edition  of  which  has  recently  been  completed  in  six  divisional 
volumes.  With  this  work.  Nicholson’s  “  Dictionary  of  Horticul¬ 
ture,’’  and  Lindley  and  IMooro’s  ‘‘ Trea.su ry  of  Botany,”  a  gar¬ 
dener  would  possess  a  reliable  and  very  complete  little  library  on 
plants,  their  products,  uses,  cultivation,  native  countries,  ancl 
reliable  notes  on  the  preservation  and  marketing  or  utili.sation  of 
garden  produce.  The  cost  might  be  less  than  £5,  and  it  would 
be  really  a  good  and  safe  investment  rather  than  an  expenditure. 
[Paper  reaU  by  F.  W.  j;url)iiUe,  &■.,  before  the  l-'cottish 
Chrysanthemums  at  Ash  Qrove,  Sheffield. 
Horticultural  .Vr.socialiou.j 
(To  be  contiuueil.) 
