The fast strides that horticulture has been making in cultural points, new introductions, and many other things, render it impossible for any gardener to keep pace with the times without access to horticultural works. There was a time when gardeners had some excuse for not subscribing for such works, for there were only a few standard ones published, at a very high price, and their salaries were so small that it could not be afforded; but that time has now passed, and he must be in very poor circumstances indeed who cannot afford eighteen cents per month for one of them. The magazines now published would give him more practical information than the old works did, because they are made up largely of the experiences of our best practical men; their pages are always open to the inquirer, and ready to help forward the profession in every way they can. It is a strange period in a gardener's life when he arrives at a stage where horticultural works become of no value to him. From the lack of such works he has no ambition to rise, and is left stuck fast to old habits, from which he has no power to extricate himself, missing the most interesting portion of a gardener's life.

There is no calling into which a man can embark that can give more expansion to the mind than horticulture, but unless he reads and studies it soon becomes to him a mere routine, losing its attractions, and his work becomes a drudgery to him. His work may pass where he is isolated from public view, but when he comes forth amongst modern men he must almost stand amazed when he sees how far he has drifted behind them. If a man has any ambition to rise in this profession, and be lifted up from obscurity, he has to put forth every exertion to secure all the knowledge in his power, not only by making himself conversant with what is passing in horticultural works, but by working and observing as he goes and throwing himself with all his might into his work. Some of the horticultural periodicals are expensive because of their high class illustrations, which must always entail much expense to produce them. Such works are very useful when one finds himself able to reach them, for new plants are generally the subjects chosen for the illustrations. I take such plates out and paste them into scrap albums, alphabetically arranged, so that I can refer to them easily. Works produced on this continent I prefer, as they contain instructions better adapted to the climate than others do.

If we were to follow the instructions given in foreign publications, in many cases our failure would be complete. Some contend that the difference in inside work does not exist; perhaps not to the same extent, but for all the practice is very different. Gardeners should, for their own and their employers' benefit, see the work of other men, visit places of note, see the different methods others pursue, as it often leads to ideas never thought of, and that reading might fail to produce. Govt Grounds, Ottawa, Can.