1. A lady must be selected; not a “would-be” one. Only if she is this at heart, will she have authority over men working for her.
2. She should have the same salary as a man. A lady gardener must not be considered an economy. Many people without consciences think they can exact the same amount of manual work from a young woman that they would expect from a man. They also imagine, because she is a woman, they can pay her lower wages. Pay her well, and treat her well. Her honesty and intelligence will save expense in the end, but do not economise upon her salary. The advantages to be gained by the employer, should he appoint a lady as head gardener, are these:
(1) Scientific knowledge and true artistic taste.
Owing to a college training, and first-rate general education, she should have better scientific knowledge than the ordinary labouring man who has worked his way up from village schooldays, through the different grades of a gardener’s life, to be head over others of his own class. She will possess a good grounding in botany and the science of soils. In short, she can reason scientifically. Instead of saying, “Oh, so-and-so won’t ever grow here, the soil does not suit it,” she will be able to ascertain what quality is lacking in the ground, and by adding an ingredient secure proper growth. Thus, an end will be made to the often erroneous ideas of a foreman, who, because he does not know the requirements of a plant, gives up the idea of growing it, or continues absolutely satisfied with the weedy specimen under his care.
A lady gardener, too, owing to her early surroundings, the study of pictures, gardens, and beautiful objects, should possess greater capacity for appreciating fully the requirements of the lady of the house. Plans for the arrangements of flower beds, shrubbery, borders, surprises of all sorts, are more speedily, more satisfactorily decided upon when two people meet upon the ground of similarity of education.
(2) Taste in colour.
This is more developed with the majority of women than with men. We have so many opportunities, at the fortnightly exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural Society, of seeing the latest productions of beautiful flowers. Then, too, there are books, such as Robinson’s “English Flower Garden,” Kelway’s Manual, Wright’s “Beautiful Gardens,” to guide us. They show us plans for grouping colours harmoniously in herbaceous borders. Nowadays we all know what we want to achieve, but we often fail to find the right one to fulfil our imaginings. It hurts the eye to see scarlet geraniums growing near mauve asters, or the delicate pink of the Dorothy Perkins rose killed by being placed near a glaring red brick wall. The lady gardener should, by her natural taste and good judgment, avoid such mistakes of arrangement both in the ordering of plants for flower borders, and in the decoration of flowers in rooms. A dinner-table should be an easy matter for her to plan. Lightness of touch will enable her to succeed in mixing graceful, soft foliage with suitable flowers. She will accomplish this in less time than the average man gardener.
Week-end parties are a favoured form of entertaining, and often the lady of the house is busy in London during the week, only arriving at her country house just before her guests. It will give her a pleasant sensation of ease if she has someone at home to whom she can absolutely entrust the decoration of her rooms and dinner-table. Then, too, another important matter is the selection, gathering, and packing up of suitable flowers to send away. My experience has always been that men gardeners do not study this sufficiently. They gather beautiful carnations, pentstemon, irises, or whatever their speciality may be, but forget that suitable green or coloured foliage must be mixed with them to show off the blossom. Knowing the very great difficulties of arranging flowers in glasses, a lady will be more careful about this than a man.
(3) Honesty and trustworthiness.
The lady gardener is a gentlewoman, and, therefore, we presume she possesses these qualities. I do not mean to cast the faintest aspersion upon the honesty of men gardeners! There have been instances of dishonesty and drunkenness amongst them, and as a class they are certainly open to greater temptations than a lady. Many owners of moderately large places, where perhaps no agent or bailiff is kept, are forced to be absent for some months each year; others fill high positions in diplomacy, and are obliged to spend some years away from home. To such, it will be a satisfaction to feel that they leave a capable lady at the head of affairs. Someone is at home who can be trusted, and will report to them if things are not going on as they would wish.