One of the pleasantest features of gardening in England is the kind personal relations which often grow between employer and employed. The famous gardens and grounds of St. Clare, in the Isle of Wight, have been for over forty years under the management of Mr. Edward Meehan. He is now over eighty years of age, but still comparatively hale and hearty. Colonel Francis Vernon Harcourt has recently retired him from the position, but on full salary, leaving him also the residence on the grounds in which he has lived so many years. In addition to this generous act, he has gracefully appointed his youngest son, and brother of the Editor of the Gardener's Monthly, Mr. Charles Meehan, to succeed his father in the management of the estate.

Col. Francis Vernon Harcourt, proprietor of St. Clare, is nephew of Admiral Vernon, the famous President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, who was the friend of the celebrated Cobbett in his efforts to introduce Indian corn culture into England, and which was indeed a partial success in the Isle of Wight. He is also son-in-law of the late Earl of Liverpool, and proprietor of the Estates of Buxted Park, which embrace over 15,000 acres, and which are managed in such a productive and yet generous way, that there is no agitation for a " Landlord and Tenant Bill," in regard to them.