Chap. I.
Improvement o f the Taste o f the Patrons o f Gardening.
G423. Improvement is the characteristic of civilised man, and implies progressive advances.
Men rest satisfied with what they have, when they know of nothing better ; and
therefore, one of the first sources of improvement in the taste of the patrons of gardening,
whether of the tradesman who has recourse to the public market, or the private gentleman
who is ill possession of a garden, is the increase of knowledge. The wealthy tradesmen
of Dublin and Edinburgh should look into Covent Garden market in London ; and, uot
to mention fruits, and forced or exotic productions, let them compai*e the cauliflowers
and salading of the thi-ee markets. Those who have once acquired a taste for such salads
of endive and lettuce as are aflbrded in the London markets, and still more in those of
Brussels, throughout the winter, would not very readily reconcile themselves to the
acetarious productions of Dublin and Glasgow during that season.
6424. The ignorance o f the proper mode o f cooking vegetahles, and especially of dressing
salads, which exists among the middling classes, is another retai'ding cause. A Fi-eiicli
labom-er, out of a few leaves of dandelion and wild son-el, which may be gathered by the
hedge-sides anywhere, and almost at any time, ivill produce, merely by the aid of the
common condiments, what the wives of the greater number of respectable British tradesmen
have no idea of. There can be no great demand for a thing, of which the use is
not thoroughly understood ; and, therefore, an improvement in the knowledge and practice
of cooking must take place among a certain class before much can be expected iu
the quantity, kind, or quality of the gai-dening articles which they commonly consume.
(See Vegetable Cookery, &c.)
6425. The more general use o f dessert f r u i t among the middling classes is another
requisite wanting for the improi'ement of horticulture in Scotland and Ireland. If fruit,
physiologically considered, is less wholesome after dinner than before it (which is
questionable), it is at least more so than where drinking is substituted in its place. To
prolong the period of eating, and the conversation of female society, are not only objects
which aiford immediate satisfaction ; but, by moderating the use of stimulating liquors,
tend to insure futiu-c health. Even in England, where a dessert is universal among tlie
independent classes, there is a gi-eat want of nicety of taste : fruit is valued by many
only as a symptom of the jircscnce of wine ; others contentedly use pears and plums that
would be rejected at the most common French déjeûné; and many rest satisfied with
melons and grapes, who, at scarcely any additional expense, might have pine-applcs.
Wherever the litter of four horses is at command, pine-apples may be grown in pits
with very little trouble to the gardener, and, indeed, at much less trouble than very early
cucumbers or melons. But why speak of pines, when not one family in a hundi-ed is
properly supplied with mushrooms, which ought to be on the table, in some fonn, every
day in the year ? On a small scale, the grand secret is to employ a gardener who knows
his business ; and to direct his attention less to raising ordinary productions at extraordinary
seasons, than to raising first-rate crops of everytliing in due season. On a
larger scale, all ordinary and extraordinary things should be attempted that art and
wealth can accomplish.
6426. A taste fo r fine flowers and rare exotics must be preceded by some knowledge
of plants, or a taste for scientific botany, and the histoi-y, geography, and uses of plants.
These branches of knowledge may be considered as gaining ground. A good deal also
depends on the fashion of using flowers as chamber oniaments, aud on having greenhouses
attached to dwellings ; both ai-e most agreeable and rational luxuries ; and it is
much to be desired that a taste for them was more general, especially iu provincial
towns, and in the cities of Scotland and Ireland.
6427. The taste fo r planting has attained a greater height, dm-ing the last twenty
years, than any other department of gardening ; the beneficial consequences of which are
already powerfully felt in Scotland aud the exposed pjirts of England. An essential
requisite in this department is attention to the future management, thinning, and pruning
of plantations.
6428. The taste fo r landscape-gardening has been comparatively dormant in England,
during the last thirty years ; in Scotland it has been more active, but not of the purest
kind ; little has been done in Ireland generally, though there are some patriots there,
who have been active in improvement. A taste for deer-parks is not common in Scotland
; and rare in Ireland.
6429. The taste for public gardens, iis promenades and botanic gardens, seems on the
increase ; but, unfortunately, these are seldom founded on a sufficiently secure basis.
The funds of the recently established botanic gardens have been generally raised by the
subscriptions of a certain number of individuals, to whom, and to certain annual subscribers,
the garden is alone accessible. Perhaps it would be better, if, as in the case of
public promenades, the funds were raised by the wliole toivn or community, and the
garden thrown open to all, like that of Paris. Public umbrageous_ promenades, either
equestrian or pedestrian, are very desirable additions to all aggregations of houses.
6430. Choice o f a gardener. Very much of the comforts and pleasures which a
private gentleman derives from his garden, and garden-scenery, depends on the
qualifications of the gardener whom he employs to manage them. It was formerly the
practice, in books of gardening, to give directions to gentlemen how to choose a gardener.
These might have been of use when the qualities desired differed little from
those'sought for in a common labourer; such as sufficient strength and health, and good
morals, disposition, temper, &c. But every master can judge of these and other similar
points; and for any gentleman who has not a knowledge of gardening to go farther,
would be more dangerous than useful. We are clearly of opinion that, in almost every
case, the best mode is to apply to a respectable nurseryman; to describe to him the sort
of gai-den and gardcn-scenery to be managed, and the sort of productions desired, and
to rely on his recommending a fit person for accomplishing the intended objects. If this
person should not turn out so well as was expected, the nurseryman will be in some
degree responsible for liis conduct, and will feel doubly anxious to replace him by a
more competent person.
ClIAP. I I .
Education o f Gardeners.
6431 B y education, is generally understood that portion of knowledge which is obtained
at schools ; but we shall here use the term in a somewhat more extended sense, and consider
it as the means wliicli may be employed to render man competent for executing the
part whicli he undertakes to perform in life with increased satisfaction to himself and
others. Education may bo thus considered as extending to everytbuig which_ operates
on the body or mind, from the earliest period of our existence to the final extinction oi
life. In general, the most useful part of education, with reference to the conduct ot
life is that which a young man gives himself after he has left school, and has entered
on that pursuit which is to form his future occupation. We would, theretore, strongfy
recommend every young man who has entered on the proiession of gardening, to be
most assiduous in his endeavours to add to his stock of knowledge, irom books, trom
observation, and from personal intercourse with eminent gardeners. An accumulation
of facts thus stored in the memory will not, however, be alone sufficient to fit a man for
the exercise of his profession in a superior manner. The mind must be exercised on
those facts, so as to generalise on them and make them its own; to trace them up to principles
of general application; and thus to be enabled to apply them in unforeseen cases.
An immense number of facts necessarily must come before every gardener ; more
especially before him who studies botany, and acquires the names and the culture oi
somc thousands of plants. Perhaps the acquirement of this kind of knowledge nas a
tendency to prevent reflection ; and, therefore, it appears to us that the great object ot
reading with reference to persons thus circumstanced, ought to be to teach them to
think and generalise ; for it is probably on this point that young gai'deners of thepresent
day may be most deficient.
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