JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  21,  1904. 
work  and  study,  paying  special  attention  to  the  tilings  I  had 
resolved  to  know  more  ahont.  While  here,  experience  was 
gained  in  the  Palm-house,  the  orchid-pits,  the  Cactus-house, 
Heath-house,  and  latterly  in  the  conservatoiy. 
In  addition  to  attending  the  various  courses  of  lectures,  I 
compiled  catalogues  of  all  the  palms,  orchids,  ferns,  succulents, 
creepers,  Pegonias,  plants  in  the  stove  and  in  the  Temperate- 
house  growing  at  Ivew  at  that  time,  and  a  large  portion  of  the 
occupants  of  the  herbaceous  ground;  and,  as  all  the  names  are 
arranged  alphabetically — though  taken  down  at  random,  or  as 
they  came  before  me — they  were  written  three  times  over,  and 
the  native  habitat  written  opposite  to  each  name.  'Ihough  I 
sacrificed  a  considerable  sum  of  money  in  going  to  Kew,  it 
proved  a  good  investment,  and  I  look  back  with  very  much 
pride  and  satisfaction  to  Kew  and  its  memories  and  associations. 
I  was  now  offered  the  appointment  of  head  gardener  to  Sir 
Henry  Watson,  Shirecliffe  Hall,  Sheffield,  with  whom  I  stayed 
ten  and  a  half  years.  He  was  the  best  of  masters,  and  a  true 
friend  to  me  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  very  fond  of 
flowers  of  many  kinds,  and  he  had  the  wisdom  to  grow  a  large 
quantity  of  each  kind  of  plant  he  liked,  and  to  provide  means 
of  growing  them  to  be  among  the  best  examples  of  their  kind. 
Roses,  Ldiums,  Chrysanthemums,  Azaleas,  Camellias,  select 
orchids.  Gloxinias,  Pelargoniums,  ferns,  palms,  bulbs,  were 
special  favourites,  and  a  glorious  show  of  each  was  produced  in 
due  succession,  beginning  with  bulbs  and  ending  with  Chrysan¬ 
themums.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  there  was  a  large  col¬ 
lection  of  miscellaneous  plants. 
In  the  beginning  of  1886  I  was  appointed  head  gardener  and 
general  manager  of  the  Elford  Estate,  including  the  woods. 
This  is  one  of  the  prettiest  and  most  compact  estates  in  the 
kingdom,  though  small — only  about  3,000  acres.  The  kitchen 
garden  is  famous  for  its  Holly-hedges  in  double  lines  in  the  form 
of  a  cross.  After  a  shoi’t  interval  I  was  appointed  to  my  present 
position  in  1891. 
Cbanges  and  Gbances. 
The  gardener  is  a  migratory  individual,  and  passes  through 
various  experiences  in  the  course  of  his  professional  career. 
Not  that  he  is  naturally  of  a  more  roving  turn  of  mind  than 
the  majority  of  men,  but  the  very  nature  of  his  calling  com¬ 
pels  him  to  mdve  from  place  to  place,  at  first  to  gain  experience, 
and  later  on  through  force  of  circumstances,  or  because  he  is 
impelled  by  an  ambitious  desire  to  climb  higher  up  the  ladder  of 
his  profession.  He  is  a  person  who  knows  the  meaning  of 
the  word  chance  as  well  as  most  men,  and  is  always  aware  of  the 
possibility  that  he  may  have  to  make  another  move  at  any  time, 
perhaps  through  circumstances  over  which  he  has  no  control 
whatever. 
Dame  Fortune  is  by  no  means  consistent  in  the  way  she  treats 
gardeners.  She  places  one  in  a  comfortable  position,  where  he 
stops  for  the  remainder  of  his  working  days,  and  another,  per¬ 
haps  just  as  worthy,  she  tosses  about  from  place  to  place,  and 
never  allow’s  him  the  privilege  of  feeling  settled.  In  short,  the 
whole  thing  is  a  lottery,  in  which  some  draw  prize  tickets  and 
others  blanks.  Of  course,  it  must  ever  be  so,  because  the  fact 
remains  that  the  private  gardener,  whatever  his  qualifications 
may  be,  is  a  luxury,  who  provides  for  the  personal  and  dis¬ 
pensable  wants  of  an  individual,  and  there  are  a  thousand  and 
one  reasons,  which  need  not  be  gone  into,  why  the  services  of 
the  gardener  have  to  be  dispensed  with,  and  he  finds  himself  in 
the  position  of  having  to  make  another  start  elsewhere. 
Looking  at  the  life  of  the  average  gardener,  it  will  be 
admitted  that  he  has  a  rough  and  tumble  career  as  a  rule,  and 
very  often  plays  the  part  of  shuttlecock  to  Dame  Foi'tune’s 
battledore.  He  generally  begins  at  a  safe  place,  i.e.  the  bottom, 
and  enters  the  pot-crocking  stage  of  his  career,  sometimes 
with  the  intention  of  being  a  gardener  eventually,  and  some¬ 
times  with  no  fixed  idea  at  all,  for  the  occupation  of  gardening 
is  all  doors,  which  are  open  to  all  soi  ts  and  conditions  of  lads. 
This  is  the  pity  of  it,  and  if  the  proposed  Gardeners’  Association 
comes  to  anything,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  one  of  its  efforts  Avill 
be  to  put  a  check  on  the  system  by  which  so  many  youths  are 
brought  up  to  be  gardeners  without  having  any  particular 
inclination  or  adaptability  for  it. 
It  is  an  epoch  in  the  life  of  the  future  gardener  when  he 
fir.st  enters  the  portals  of  a  bothy,  and  receives  his  initial  chai’ge. 
AVhatever  may  be  said  for  and  against  the  bothy  system  of 
training  gardeners,  it  is  at  the  outset,  as  Mr.  Pickwick  said  of 
the  elder  Weller’s  method  of  bringing  up  the  immortal  Sam, 
)  isky,  and  even  at  this  early  stage  the  youthful  gardener  is  the 
victim  of  chance,  for  in  the  bothy  he  may  meet  with  companions 
who  will  help  to  mould  his  character  for  good,  or  they  may 
influence  him  for  evil. 
Generally  speaking,  however,  bothy  days  pass  pleasantly 
enough,  though  the  mode  of  living  is  rough  and  I'eady.  There 
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is  a  sense  of  freedom  about  it,  a  satisfaction  of  being  their  own 
master  outside  working  hours,  that  youths  like  to  feel,  and  at 
this  stage  the  young  gai'dener  lives  fiom  day  to  day,  leaving 
the  future  to  look  after  itself.  It  is  generally  understood  that 
no  one  establishment,  no  matter  how  good  and  well-equipped  it 
may  be,  can  provide  a  young  man  with  the  experience  required, 
•so  after  a  year  or  two  he  begins  his  migratory  career,  servijig 
first  in  this  garden  and  that,  till  he  begins  to  think  the  time  has 
arrived  for  him  to  have  a  head  place.  He  has  left  impres.sion;i 
as  he  has  moved  along,  either  good  or  had,  and  has  gathered 
some. 
In  after  years  the  probationai-y  periods  spent  here  and  there 
become  pages  in  the  book  of  his  life,  to  be  lemembered  and 
lived  over  again  in  fancy.  Gardeners  are  not  vdthout  senti¬ 
ment,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  staid  middle-aged  prac¬ 
titioners  to  spend  their  brief  .snatches  of  holiday  in  visiting  the 
establrshments  where  they  received  a  jDart  of  their  early 
training. 
Young  men  meet  and  drift  apart  in  bothy  life,  and  some  go 
up,  whilst  others  go  down.  I  often  wonder  what  has  become  of 
the  young  fellows  I  have  met  and  known  in  bothies.  Some  few 
have  got  well  \ip  the  ladder,  others  I  hear  of  at  times,  but  the 
Mr.  James  Udale. 
majority  I  have  got  out  of  touch  with,  ju.st  as  one  does  when 
the  trunk  is  packed,  and  one  passes  from  one  sphere  of  labour 
to  another.  There  is  a  good  cleal  of  character,  too,  within  the 
four  walls  of  a  bothy,  and  one  rubs  against  studious  men,  musical 
men,  quiet  men,  demon.strative  men,  ignorant  men,  and  men  of 
culture.  You  have  to  take  them  as  you  find  them  ;  but  if  one 
youth  has  a  weakness  for  the  German  concertina  and  anotlier 
a  capacity  for  cooking,  commend  me  to  the  latter. 
But  bothy  da5’S  fleet  along,  and  with  his  first  head  place  the 
gardener  enters  on  a  new  epoch.  Perhaps  he  gets  it  without 
much  trouble,  perhaps  he  has  to  wait  so  long  that  he  begins  to 
wonder  whether  the  end  justifies  the  waiting  and  the  probation- 
ship,  and  then,  when  it  comes  it  may  not  be  what  he  antici¬ 
pated  ;  but  this,  again,  is  where  the  gardener  has  to  take  his 
chance.  Now  and  then  you  meet  with  gardeners  who  have  only 
had  one  head  place,  and  have  never  had  need  to  seek  another  ; 
but  they  are  exceptions,  and  the  things  that  make  all  the 
difference,  like  deaths  of  employers,  changes  in  ownership,  and 
reduction  of  establishments  are  the  cause  of  gardeners  having  to 
pack  their  goods  and  seek  fresh  spheres  of  laboiu'. 
While  youth  is  on  his  side  the  gardener  may  cope  with  these 
uncertainties,  but  when  he  comes  to  be  on  the  other  side  of 
middle  age,  and  the  chance  comes  which  robs  him  of  his  situa¬ 
tion,  he  realises  how  keen  competition  is,  and  what  the  chances 
of  the  elderly  gardener  are.  On  the  other  side,  it  must  l)e 
remembered  that  gardeners  may  be  the  victims  of  their  own 
folly, ‘and  many  a  man  in  lo.sing  a  good  situation  has  no  one  to 
blame  but  himself.  It  is  surprising,  too,  how  quickly  men  drop 
out  of  the  ranks,  for  as  head  gardener  at  such-and-such  a  place 
Mr.  So-and-So  is  well  known,  and  receives  much  attention,  but 
when  he  cea.ses  to  fill  that  position  he  becomes  a  unit  in  the 
crowd,  and  if  fortune  de.serts  him  ho  is  soon  lost  sight  of. 
A  word  over  the  dinner-table  will  sometimes  give  a  gardener 
one  of  the  plums  of  the  calling,  and  I  contend  that  the  man  is 
fortunate.  Mind  you,  the  word  over  the  dinner-table  will  not 
keep  him  in  the  place  when  he  has  got  it.  and  th.is  is  where  ineri^ 
