JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
December  6,  1900. 
;)14 
A  Gardener’s  Duties. 
The  paragraph  on  page  488  having  reference  to^  a  gardener’s 
duties,  especially  in  relation  to  blacking  a  grate,  brings  to  my  mind 
the  much  vexed  question  of  Sunday  duty,  this  applying  more  especi¬ 
ally  to  young  men.  Of  course,  I  am  aware  that  the  subject  has  been 
dealt  with  before,  but  we  seem  to  be  as  far  as  ever  from  any  definite 
conclusions  or  rules,  and  I  would  therefore  place  a  few  notes  on  both 
sides  of  the  Cise  before  your  readers,  and  shall  be  glad  to  read  their 
opinions  in  our  Journal. 
On  one  side  it  has  been  contended  that  growing  plants  in  pots  is 
no  work  of  necessity,  and  that  therefore  watering  them  could  form 
no  work  of  necessity.  We  can  enter  into  no  serious  discussion  on  this 
point,  for  on  the  same  ground  it  might  be  contended  that  as  a  horse 
kept  for  pleasure  is  not  a  necessity,  therefore  it  is  objectionable  to  feed 
it  or  water  it.  A  plant  in  a  pot  must 
have  sustenance  when  it  needs  it,  or 
it  may  suffer  proportionately  with 
a  horse  left  without  sustenance  on 
a  Sunday.  Men  who  resolve  to  do 
nothing  except  what  is  in  the  highest 
sense  a  work  of  necessity  should 
confine  themselves  to  trades  in  which 
nothing  is  required  of  them  on  that 
day.  The  gardener  who  has  religious 
scruples  about  watering  a  flagging 
plant  in  a  pot  on  a  Sunday  may 
retain  his  scruples,  but  he  should  take 
to  another  occupation.  He  could  not, 
with  advantage  to  himself  or  to  his  own 
satisfaction,  fill  the  situation  of  gardener 
in  the  smallest  place  where  plants  are 
grown  in  pots. 
On  the  other  hand,  few  men  more 
deserve  the  Sunday’s  rest  than  gardeners. 
Employers  should  exact  as  little  from 
them  on  that  day  as  possible.  We 
know  that  in  some  places  it  is  the  most 
harassing  day  of  the  seven.  Employers 
— often,  it,  may  he,  as  a  mark  of  mis¬ 
taken  kindness — will  take  their  gardeners 
along  with  them  over  the  demesne,  and 
plan  future  arrangements  with  them, 
totally  oblivious  of  the  fact  that  the 
gardener  has  had  enough  of  walking  for 
six  days  already.  Others  have  a  habit 
of  giving  orders  for  hampers  and  pack¬ 
ages  chiefly  on  that  day.  In  many  cases 
the  man  who  attends  the  house  finds  it 
the  worst  day  of  the  seven. 
Now  in  the  one  case,  whilst  the 
gardener  must  see  his  plants  do  not 
suffer  on  Sunday,  he,  in  my  opinion, 
would  be  quite  right  if  he  courteously 
declined  to  enter  on  mere  matters  of 
business  on  that  day  I  have  known 
cases  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  day 
leaving  their  places  because  they  found 
themselves  unable  to  prevent  the  Sunday 
being  made  the  chief  business  day. 
One  thing  is  quite  certain,  which  is  that  we  shall  never  be  able  to 
make  plants  in  pots  so  intelligent  as  “  to  take  care  of  themselves’’  in  all 
cases  on  Sunday,  and  just  as  we  would  feed  a  horse  when  he  needed  it, 
so  would  we  without  hesitation  give  a  little  water  to  a  drooping  plant ; 
but  though  we  should  never  question  this  as  a  work  of  necessity,  if 
not  of  mercy,  I  would,  on  the  other  hand,  never  allow  the  principle 
to  be  made  the  excuse  for  keeping  a  man  in  charge  on  Sunday,  or  the 
gardener  in  a  small  place  almost  if  not  as  much  employed  on  Sundav 
as  on  other  days.  Whilst  a  dry  plant  is  not  to  be  left  dry,  I  think 
it  wrong,  unless  in  extreme  cases,  to  require  a  gardener  to  water  as 
much,  if  not  more,  on  the  day  of  rest  as  he  would  require  to  do  in  one 
of  the  regular  six  working  days.  In  fully  one-half  of  the  year  very 
seldom  will  a  plant  in  a  pot  need  watering,  and  even  in  the  height 
of  the  summer  such  watering  will  be  little  needed  if  the  plants  are 
looked  over  in  the  last  working  hours  on  Saturday  afternoon  or 
evening. 
By  a  simple  arrangement  such  as  that  outlined  I  think 
employers  and  gardeners  may  work  comfortably  together  without  any 
wounding  of  a  tender  conscience  on  the  one  hand,  or  taking  undue 
moral  responsibility  on  the  other. — J.  White. 
Pear  Beurre  dn  Buisson. 
Ox  November  20th  Mr.  W.  H.  Divers,  gardener  to  the  Duke  of 
Rutland,  Belvoir  Castle,  Grantham,  exhibited  at  a  meeting  of  the  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  examples  of  Pear  Beurre  de  Buisson,  for  which 
the  Fruit  and  Vegetable  Committee  recommended  a  first-class 
certificate.  A  typical  example  is  represented  in  the  accompanying 
illustration,  and  Mr.  Divers  obliges  with  the  following  excellent 
description  : — 
Fruit  large,  3^  inches  long  and  inches  wide,  and  upwards  ;  shape 
obovate,  sometimes  approaching  to  pyriform  j  eye  small,  open,  and  set 
in  a  shallow  basin ;  stalk  about  three-quarters  of  au  inch  in  length, 
often  set  obliquely,  and  surrounded  by  fleshy  protuberances ;  skin  pale 
green,  changing  to  pale  yellow  when  ripe,  thickly  spotted  with  russet, 
and  flushed  with  red  on  the  sunny  side  ;  flesh  white,  melting  freely, 
juicy,  sweet,  and  aromatic.  The  fruit 
has  a  fine  perfume,  it  ripens  about  the 
third  week  in  November,  and  keeps  fit 
for  use  several  weeks  after  it  is  ripe. 
This  Pear  was  received  at  Belvoir  Castle 
Gardens  by  the  late  Mr.  W.  Ingram 
many  years  since  from  Messrs.  Van 
Houtte,  and  has  since  been  distributed 
to  many  nurseries  and  gardens.  The 
tree  is  of  good  healthy  constitution,  and 
quickly  comes  into  bearing.  Like  many 
others  of  our  best  Pears,  it  is  often  of 
better  flavour  from  pyramid  trees  in  the 
open  than  from  wall  trees. 
- - 
Slirnbs  and  Trees. 
Many  persons  at  the  present  tinae  are 
either  engaged  in  or  about  to  commence 
this  operation,  which  cannot  be  regarded 
otherwise  than  one  of  the  most  im¬ 
portant  connected  with  gardening.  The 
evil  effects  that  result  from  planting 
injudiciously  and  bad  management  of 
the  plantation  afterwards  are  painfully 
visible  in  too  many  gardens,  and  a 
note  of  warning  at  this  period  may  be 
seasonable.  Planting  and  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  the  plantations  afterwards  are 
in  a  measure  so  closely  connected  that 
it  is  impossible  to  consider  them 
separately  if  trees,  plantations,  and 
shrubbery  borders  are  to  prove  in  the 
future  ornamental  and  interesting.  It 
matters  very  little  what  care  is  taken 
at  planting,  or  what  striking  objects 
it  is  intended  shall  eventually  be 
displayed,  if  the  plantations  are  not 
attended  to  afterwards,  for  upon  this 
entirely  depends  whether  the  end  in  view  is  ever  attained.  Good 
planting  with  thoughtful  care  in  after  management  will  result  in  the 
development  of  noble  symmetrical  specimens,  each  possessing 
characteristic  features  of  interest  and  beauty.  Badly  managed 
plantations  and  shrubbery  borders  produce  exactly  the  contrary — a 
confused  mass  of  vegetation  struggling  for  existence.  For  a  time 
crowded  luxuriant  vegetation  may  appear  beautiful  to  all,  but  an 
experienced  man  at  once  discerns  the  work  of  destruction  that  is 
going  on,  and  knows  only  too  well  that  the  whole  will  be  ruined  m  a 
few  years. 
Shrnbbeiles. 
Plantations  and  shrubbery  borders  should  be  attended  to  annually, 
unless  severe  thinning  is  practised,  and  all  trees  and  shrubs  thinned 
ont  that  are  like.y  to  crowd  those  to  be  retained  for  the  future  orna¬ 
mentation  of  the  grounds.  Every  tree  or  shrub  that  will  interfere 
with  the  prof)er  development  of  these  should  be  lifted  and  planted 
elsewhere.  This  is  not  always  practicable,  and  in  some  instances  not 
desirable,  for  it  depends  whether  those  planted  to  fill  up  are  really 
worth  lifting.  They  can,  however,  be  cut  back  by  degrees,  so  that  a 
great  gap  is  not  caused  until  they  can  be  spared  altogether.  It  is 
Fig.  131. — Pbae  Beurre  du  Buisson. 
