April  9,  19C3. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
315 
of  Irish  birtii  or 
parentage.  We 
are  told  that  the 
Scotch  are  “  a 
clannish  folk,” 
but  I  never  heard 
of  an  Educational 
Government  De¬ 
partment  in  Scot¬ 
land  cornering 
i  m  p  e  r  i  a  1  o  r 
national  funds 
solely  for  the 
benefit  of  Scotch¬ 
men  ! 
Situations.' 
It  is  ■well  said, 
“  Anyman  can  get 
a  situation,  but 
only  an  able  and 
agreeable  man 
can  keep  one  when 
obtained.”  Now, 
a  gardener  natur¬ 
ally  keeps  a  sharp 
lookout  for  a 
good  position  or 
situation,  and  if 
he  is  a  good  and 
amiable  man  he 
is  pretty  sure  to 
keep  it  when  once 
it  is  obtained. 
What  is  a  good 
place?  Not  al¬ 
ways  the  largest, 
not  always-  that 
to  which  the 
highest  salary  is 
attached.  Places 
and  positions, 
both  public  and 
private,  are  often 
pretty  much  wdiat  ^  view  in 
gardeners  make 
them.  Some  positions  at  a  comparativelj’  low  salary  are  so  con¬ 
venient,  or  have  so  many  perquisites  and  collateral  advantages 
that  a.  man  is  better  off,  inasmuch  as  he  spends  less,  rather  than 
that  he  obtains  niore.  In  the  matter  of  expenditure,  thoSe  gar¬ 
deners  who  are  isolated  in  the-  country  have  the  pull  over  those 
-situated  in  or  near  to  large  towns.  Personally  I  should  like  to 
see  all  good  gardeners  united  into  “  A  National  Gardeners’ 
Guild”  for  mutual  help  and  information,  with  a  central  registry 
office  of  places  vacant,  and  some  kind  of  insurance  for  its  mem¬ 
bers.  Such  an  union  or  guild  is  bound  to  come  .sooner  or  later  in 
place  of  the  haphazard  systems  now  in  vogue. 
The  Lady  Gardener. 
Just  as  I  was  finishing  off  this  paper,  a  friend,  who  saw  the 
title,  a.sked  me  how  I  could  write  of  ‘‘The  Gardener  as  a  Man,” 
when  I  knew  that  some  of  the  gardeners  were  women  ?  When  I 
asked  if  he  meant  that  .some  gardeners  were  “  olcl  women,”  he 
said  “No,”  rather  snappishly.  “No,”  he  .said,  “certainly  not. 
What  I  mean  is  that  girls  are  now  being  trained  in  horticultural 
colleges  and  hostels,  and  after  a  two  yeans’  course  at  a’ cost  to 
themselves  or  their  friends  of  about  £100  a  year,  they  are  turned 
out  as  full-fledged  lady  gardeners!  And,  believe  me',”  he  .said, 
“the  lady  gardener  has  come  to  stay!”  'VVJieii  I  pointed  out 
that  the  whole  thing  was  partly  a  fashionable  fad,  and  partly  a 
means  of  obtaining  boarding  school  pupils  able  and  willing'  to 
give  their  labour  and  pay  fees,  and  that  the  successes  were  less 
than  a  tithe  of  the  failures,  my  friend  waxed  wroth  ancl  .spake 
bad  words!  When  I  .said  that  not  one  young  girl  in  a  hundred 
was  physically  fitted  for  the  necessary  hard  and  rough  labour 
of  a  garden,  and  that  even  a  male  expert  could  never  garden 
properly  in  any  skirts  longer  than  a  kilt  or  a  “cutty  sark,”  my 
friend’s  language  became  quite  beyond  pen  and  ink,  even  as  a 
mild  translation !  Given  a  becoming  costume,  and  robust  health, 
the  bonnie  las.ses  are  quite  welcome  to  come  and  play  in  the 
garden.  We  ai’e  all  glad  to  see  them;  they  are,  God  bless  ’em, 
a.s  welcome  as  was  Eve  in  Paradise — as  welcome  as  are  the  flowers 
of  May.  But  the  tall  and  braw  lads  in  the  bothy  rvill  pity  their 
struggles  with  the  .spade,  and  hasten  to  assist  them  ;  for  pity, 
as  every  mother’s  son  doth  know,  is  nearly  akin  to  love. 
Afterwords. 
I  .shall  turn  to  the  late  .lohn  Buskin  for  the  afterwords  to 
this  paper.  No  true  men  live  and  struggle  for  mere  worldly 
position  or  wealth  aloTie,  and  I  think  you  will  agree  with  me  in 
thinking  that  even  if  gardeners  did  .so,  they  might  be  a  long 
the  gardens  at  Holly  Court. 
time  striving,  and  never  get  it  after  all !  The  gardener  has 
every  opportunity  of  ‘‘  plain  living  and  high  thinking,”  but  he 
works  amid  healthy,  safe,  and  often  beautiful  surroundings.  Hr 
does  not  work  and  stave  down  a  mine,  or  in  a  forge  or  factory, 
or  drive  the  Scotch  expre.ss  through  a  storm  of  wind  and  rain#  or 
of  cutting  sleet  or  chilling  snow.  His  bread  is  given  to  him, 
and  his  water  is  sure.  He-  may  rest  under  his  employei-’s  Vine  and 
Fig  trees  eveii  if  not  under  his  own.  The  great  object  of  life  is  to 
be  happy  and  contented  in  helping  others.  In  this  connection 
I  can  give  you  a  well-known  Scottish  example.  In  the  Journal 
of  Horticulture,  for  February,  1903,  is  a  very  appreciative  article 
and  portrait  of  Dr.  John  H.  Wil.«on,  F.R.S.E. ,  Lecturer  cn 
Agriculture  and  Rural  Econoniy  in  St.  Andrew’s  University, 
The  last  paragraph  of  this  notice  runs  as  follows  :  “  Love  for  his 
Alma  Mater  and  enthusiasm  for  his  wo-rk  are  responsible  for  the 
fact  that  Dr.  Wilson  has  not  sought  a  sphere  of  operations  more 
tempting  from  a  worldly  point  of  view.  To  be  enabled  to  pursue 
one’s  bent  in  peace,  and  in  pleasant  company,  is,  after  all,  a 
near  approach  to  an  ideal  life.”  Intleed,  there  are  few  happier 
and  more  comfortable  callings  than  that  of  a  good  man  who  is 
also  a  good  gardener,  in  a  good  situation. 
“The  noblest  of  all  human  life  was  appointed  to  be  by  the 
sheepfold,  and  in  the  garden,  and  to  bo  known  to  be  noble  in 
tlie  breaking  of  bread.”  All  men’s  own  real  wants  in  life  are 
very  simple  and  very  few.  Ruskin  puts  the  whole  thing  in  & 
nutshell  when  he  say  that  these  are  “  To  watch  the  corn  gro'w., 
and  the  blossoms  set*,  to  draw  hard  breath  over  plough  or  spade; 
to  read,  to  think,  to  hope,  to  love,  to  pray;  these  are  the  things 
that  make  men  happy.” — (Paper  read  by  F.  W.  Burbidge,  M.A., 
V.M.H.,  F.L.S.,  before  the  Sc-ottish  Horticultural  Association.) 
Publications  Received. 
“The  Country  Gentlemen’s  Estate  Book.”  Osborne  edition, 
edited  and  compiled  by  Wm.  Broomhall ;  5s.  net,  post  paid,  from 
The  Country  Gentlemen’s  Association,  Ltd.,  10,  Cockspur  Street, 
Pall  Mall,  S.  W.  *  *  ‘  Schedule  of  Abbey  Park  Flower  Sho'w 
Gala.”  *  *  •'  Report  on  the  Potato  Experiments  carried  out 
during  1902,  at  the  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  School,  Holmes 
Chapel.”  *  "  The  Royal  Society  of  St.  George:  Annual 
Report,  1902.  *  '  Newcastle-upon-Tyne  Flower  Show  Schedule, 
*  *  “Bulletin  de  la  Socirte  Centrale  d’Horticulture  dc  la 
Seine  Inferieure.”  '  “The  Naturalist’s  Library  Guide.” 
Taunton:  Barnicott  and  Pearce,  Fore  Street,  1903.  *  ’  Oxlord- 
shire  County  Council  Technical  Instruction  Committee:  Report.s 
of  Trial  AH'otments  at  Dorchester.  Bict'ster.  Clifton,  Hampden- 
Crowmarsh,  Gifford,  Witney,  Going,  and  Chipping  Norton. 
