86 
JOUBNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  28,  1904. 
of  liberality  shown  by  the  Government  in  affording  financial 
aid  for  the  development  of  this  important  science;  and,  in  con¬ 
clusion,  he  urged  the  necessity  of  interesting  tlte  youth  of  the 
countr.v  in  the  matter  by  making  it  a  special  subject  of  school 
and  college  curriculum.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting  the 
officers  and  council  for  the  ensuing  year  were  elected. 
Young  Gardeners’  .Domain. 
I'lie  Editor  welcomes  short  letters  from  under  gardener.s.  Letters  should  be  con¬ 
fined  to  500  words  in  lengtli,  should  be  written  only  on  one  side  of  the  paper, 
as  clearly  as  possible  with  one  inch  space  at  both  top  and  bottom,  as  well 
as  at  the  sides.  Ihe  names  and  addresses  of  the  writers  must  accompany 
all  communications,  not  necessarily  for  publication,  but  as  a  guarantee  of 
good  faith,  f  these  points  are  not  respected,  the  letters  cannot  be  considered. 
At  'Em  Again. 
'■  You  can’t  let  ’em  alone.”  Guilty,  my  friend,  to  your  soft 
impeachment.  Says  he,  "  It’s  no  good  preaching  to  ’em.”  Says 
I,  "  Is  that  so?  ”  Well,  many  men,  many  mind.s,  and  to  my  mind 
repeated  hammering  is  bound  to  make  an  inmression  at  last. 
Somehow,  that  friend’s  opinion  is  insinuative  that  the  gardening 
race  is  degenerating.  From  my  own  ob.servation  I  conclude,  and 
believe,  that  the  young  gardeners  of  to-day  are  a  superior  lot 
to  their  prototypes  of  the  past  (and  mind,  young  fellows,  judging 
from  the  advantages  you  have,  as  well  as  from  signs  of  the  times, 
I  must  go  farther  by  .'-^aying  that  you  ought  to  be,  and  have  every 
need  to  be).  It  is  a  fact,  nevertheless,  that  they  are  just  as 
liable  to  make  the  same  mistakes  that  their  predecessors  made, 
and  to  penalise  themselves  by  purchasing  in  the  dear  .school  of 
experience  those  le.ssons  which  are  offered  to  them  free.  I  know, 
of  course,  that  some  will  shelve  the  matter  I  am  approaching  by 
putting  off  to  a  more  convenient  season — three  words  which  can 
be  spelt  in  five  letters,  viz.,  never. 
Now,  as  remarked,  our  boys, -in  seizing  the  advantages  which 
the  liberality  of  modern  thought  accords  to  them,  are,  from  my 
observation,  .suiDerior  in  many  ways,  but  not  in  every  way  :  mark 
that,  although  there  is  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be  .so; 
inark  that,  too.  For  young  fellows  to  write  articles  for  a  garden¬ 
ing  paper  was  a  thing  undreamt  of  in  my  bothy  daj’s,  and  here 
we  have  not  only  a  young  gardeners’  domain,  but  young  gardener's 
•writing  .sound,  practical  articles  upon  the  cultivation  of  plants 
which  many  head  gardeners  of  yore — and  some  of  to-day,  too — 
might  envy.  This  is  exceedingly  good  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  they 
and  their  domain  do  not  go  far  enough  to  please  or  satisfy  me. 
It  is  of  their  own  cultivation  one  is  anxious  to  know  something 
about :  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  their  writings  say  some- 
tliing  for  that. 
I  want,  however,  to  go  farther.  I  want  to  be  personal,  to  ask 
them  straight,  in  extending  the  boundary  of  the  young  gar- 
dener.s’  domain,  to  include  themselves  and  let  u.s  old  heads,  who 
take  an  active  interest  in  their  welfare,  judge  by  some  little 
personal  items  whether  our  preaching  is  really  in  vain.  I  myself 
am  anxious  to  know  whether  any  of  our  young  fellows  hare 
considered  the  matter  of  the  Post  Office  Sayings  Bank,  recently 
brought  before  them,  and  what  conclusion  they  have  come  to 
upon  it.  “If  youth  but  knew  what  age  would  crave,  how  many 
a  sixpence  it  would  save!  ”  If  those  who  have  started  this  littfe 
account  with  His  IMajest.y  would  say  so  (under  a  nom-de-plume. 
of  course),  the  foi'ce  of  example,  which  is  a  great  moral  power  in 
the  bothy,  would  be  yery  helpful ;  for  as  well  as  feeling  it  our 
dut.y  to  help  the  lads,  it  is  their  duty  to  help  themselves,  and, 
noblest  of  all,  to  help  one  another.  To  know,  moreover,  definitel.v 
that  they  are  doing  .something  in  this  matter,  with  other  things 
more  immediately  concerning  their  personal  welfare,  would  be 
distinctly  encouraging  to  their  friends  and  well-wishers,  one  of 
whom  is,  of  course — An  Old  Boy. 
English  Gardeners  v.  Scots. 
In  the  Journal  for  Januam'  7,  page  17,  I  was  much  amused 
to  read  the  following  rjuestion:  “  Why  are  Scots  gardeners  pre¬ 
ferred  to  English?”  Xow,  my  masters,  I  do  not  wish  to  .sav 
anything  against  Scots  gardeners,  but  my  ideas  are  that  the 
old  recpie.st,  which  sometimes  was  for  a  Scots  gardener,  is  now 
a  thing  of  the  past.  It  i.s  many  a  long  day  since  I  saw  such  a 
statement,  and  there  are  plenty  of  thorough  good  English 
gardener.s  who  can  hold  their  ground  agaimst  all  natronalitics 
or  countries,  and  it  is  quite  probable  where  a  Scotsman  has  been 
in  request— it  has  been  foi-  a  Scotch  family  of  the  Thi,stle  tribe.— 
A.  .J.  L.,  South  Oxon. 
For  the  past  thirteen  years  I  have  been  emplo.ved  in  large 
gardens  in  England,  Wales,  and  Ireland,  but  so  far  (to  my  regret) 
I  have  not  crossed  the  Border,  although  I  was  within  thirty  miles 
in  my  last  situation.  I  cannot  agree  with  “  ocot,”  and' regret 
it  has  been  his  lot  to  fall  in  with  such  a  bad  set  in  English 
bothie.s.  I  have  lived  with  five  in  a  bothy  in  Derbyshire,  the 
other  in  Xorthumberland,  the  others  wei’e  smaller  bothies,  and 
I  can  safely  say  that  the  majority  in  each  case  were  teetotalers 
or  very  moderate  drinkers.  IMy  opinion  of  the  smokins  and 
lunch  is  that  they  are  bad  habits,  and  should  be  avoided.  ^Fore¬ 
men  should  show  those  under  them  an  example  in  that  respect. 
This  is  my  s:econd  place  in  Ireland,  and  I  will  give  facts  concerning 
it.  Four  years  ago  Scotsmen  were  the  only  men  employed,  but, 
owing  to  their  drunken  habits,  were  expelled  wholesale,  and  now 
there  is  not  one  emplo,ved  here,  although  the  gentry  are  Scots 
themselves.  I  read  "Scot’s”  letter  to  our  head  gardener  for 
opinion,  and  inquired  what  Scottish  bothy  life  was  like.  He  said 
that  there  was  far  too  much  drinking  done  there,  to  his  sorrow; 
and  he  thought  ”  Scot  ”  might  have  pulled  the  beam  out  of  his 
own  eye  before  trying  to  remove  the  moat  out  of  the  English¬ 
man’s.  I  think  he  should  know,  having  spent  eighteen  years  in 
some  of  the  best  gardens  in  North  Britain. 
In  conclusion,  I  hope  the  letters  by  “  Scot  ”  and  “  English 
Foreman”  will  be  a  help  to  the  young  men  of  to-day,  and  I 
tru.st  they  will  try  to  throw  off  what  bad  character  they  mav 
possess,  and,  as  the  year  advances,  that  they  may  improve  in  thei"?) 
habits.  There  are  several  good  places  in  this  locality,  and  I  am 
pleased  to  state  the  three  countries  are  represented  in  the 
bothies,  and  one  of  the  finest  fellows  is  a  Scotsman,  who  is  loved 
by  all,  including  myself.  In  reference  to  “  Scot’s  ”  question, 
“Why  are  Scotsmen  preferred?  ”  I  think,  if  I  mistake  not,  ic 
is  now  a  thing  of  the  past,  for  one  rarely  sees  it  now  in 
advertisements.  Some  few  years  ago  they  were  considered  the 
be.st  gardeners,  but  of  late  others  have  proved  just  as  good. 
Does  “  Scot  ”  know  the  old  saying,  “  Once  get  the  name  of  an 
early  riser,  and  then  you  can  stay  in  bed  until  breakfast  time  ”  ? 
Occasionally  preference  is  expressed  for  English  or  Irish,  so  the 
game  is  not  one-sided.  I  hope  “Scot”  does  not  think  it  is  all 
for  merit,  for  England  is  highly  represented  in  Scotland,  and  does 
itself  credit ;  also  sets  examples  for  Scotties  to  follow.  Bear  in 
mind,  “  Scot,”  that  it  is  “  principle  that  makes  the  man,  and  not 
nationality.’’ — English  Fokeman  in  Ireland. 
Notable  Appointments  from  Kew. 
Mr.  Donald  Maegregor,  deputy  foreman  in  the  Temperate 
House,  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  Surrey,  has  been  appointed  superin¬ 
tendent  of  the  Parks  and  Open  Spaces  at  Shanghai,  China,  and 
sailed  last  week.  Mr.  Maegregor  began  apprenticeship  as  a 
gardener  at  Killichassie  House,  Aberfeldy,  Perthshire,  where  he 
served  four  years.  He  then  became  journeyman  under  IMr. 
Thomas  Farquhar,  at  Langlee,  Galashiels — a  cosy  little  garden 
in  that  beautiful  district,  which  was  mentioned  on  p.  30  by 
“  D.”  in  his  notes  on  “  Larch  and  Scots  Pine  in  Roxburghshire.” 
He  remained  a  year  here,  and  then  went  to  the  West,  to  a  place 
on  the  Clyde,  and  some  time  later  he  found  a  suitable  sphere 
for  his  energies  at  Dalkeith  Palace  Gardens,  where  he  remained 
for  three  yeans.  He  was,  of  course,  under  the  late  revered 
Malcolm  Dunn,  whose  collections  of  trees  and  shrubs  gave  the 
young  man  ample  opportunities  to  become  welT acquainted  with 
their  characteristics  in  Mid  Lothian.  Nor  did  he  miss  any  chanc? 
of  visiting  the  Botanic  Garden  at  Edinburgh ;  indeed,  he  told 
me  that  except  for  the  Sundays  when  duty  bid  him  stay,  he 
thought  he  had  not  missed  one  Sunday  from  “the  Botanies” 
during  his  tenure  at  Dalkeith.  At,  and  a  little  before  that  time 
(roughly,  six  or  .‘-even  years  ago)  the  young  gardeners  in  and 
around  the  northern  capital,  were  possessed  of  a  keen  spirit  of 
rivalry  and  emulation  in  certain  lines  of  study — horticulture, 
agriculture,  forestry,  botany,  and  agricultural  chemistry^ — and, 
further,  they  established  a  Junior  Horticultural  As.sociation, 
Avhich  was  loyally  supported  by  the  Scottish  Horticultural  Asso¬ 
ciation.  However,  that  crop  of  gardeners-— the  young  men  of 
that  particular  iieriod — found  respectable  situations  in  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom,  and  a  succeeding  batch  of  like-minded 
fellows  does  not  seem  to  have  followed  or  since  appeared,  for 
the  "  Junior”  died  a  natural  death  four  or  five  years  ago. 
Mr.  Maegregor  attended  some  of  the  meetings,  and  he  also 
made  good  use  of  the  various  classes  provided  at  the  Heriot-Watt 
College  in  Chambers  Street.  Here  he  had  courses  in  elementary, 
and  then  advanced  botany,  also  agricultural  entomology, 
economic  natural  history,  agricultural  chemistry,  and  the  prin¬ 
ciples  of  agriculture,  winning  the  medal  in  1900  for  the  latter 
two  subjects.  He  also  stood  high  in  the  other  examinations. 
Having  been  advised  to  “  round-off  ”  at  Kew,  his  application 
was  courteously  received,  and  he  was  appointed  in  the  herbaceous 
clepartnfent,  where  in  six  liionths  he  was  made  deputy  foreman, 
and  then  transferred  to  the  Temperate  House.  In  the  course 
of  study  through  which  Kew  gardeners  graduate,  Mr.  Maegregor 
did  well,  being  highest  in  .systematic  and  geographical  botany. 
He  leaves  Kew  with  the  respect  of  everyone. 
He  was  married  at  Edinburgh  last  week,  and  takes  his  wife 
to  Shanghai  with  him.  One  of  his  first  duties  there  is  to  lay  out 
a  recreation  ground  and  park  of  forty  acres,  his  assistants  being 
all  Chinese.  The  local  government  officials  have  hinted  that  he 
may  occasionally  have  fairly  lengthy  trips  up  the  Y'ang-tse  river, 
when  he  hopes  to  be  able  to  collect  plants  in  order  to  establish 
a  botanical  garden  embracing  leading  types  of  the  native  flora. 
This  is  one  of  the  best  of  recent  appointments  from  Kew. 
Three  were  lately  commissioned  to  Africa  :  IMr.  F.  S.  Sillitoe,  as 
head  gardener  to  the  Sirdar,  the  Palace  Gardens,  Khartoum, 
and  Messrs.  Dawe  and  Brown  to  botanic  stations  in  Uganda. 
Verily,  the,se  men  are  “Empire  buildei's.” 
