THE topics most in men's minds are often the ones that, for some cause or other, are most rarely discussed by the press. Gardeners, is one which is left to itself, because this useful class is very naturally sensitive to criticism, and does not bear animadversion better than other people; and yet it is of great interest to every person who has even small premises where fruit, flowers, and vegetables are to be grown. How are we to have a succession of gardeners?

The Horticulturist has had frequent communications in it, written by members of the profession, who were fully alive to the difficulties that exist with both the employers and the employed, and many home truths have they told to both parties. What we now say must be received in the spirit of kindness which dictates it. We of course feel, and have always felt, a deep interest in the subject; difficulties do exist, and will continue till some plan is hit upon for the education of gardeners of American growth; the more plainly we speak upon the subject, the better it will be for all parties, and the sooner we shall arrive at some profitable result.

At present, our best florists and gardeners are from abroad; we have among them not a few who are well educated, and superior to the average of the profession in Europe; but we hold it as an axiom not to be disputed, that a gardener educated in the climate, and surrounded by the habits in which he is to live, is, caeteris paribus, more likely to succeed, at first entering upon his duties, than one from a different soil. What we want is a "Gardener's College" in every State; or, if the name is too high sounding, call it an "Experimental Garden." Such institutions have succeeded abroad, but here, with proper men at the head of them, men who understand what is going on, and are capable of directing, success is beyond a doubt. Such institutions need not depend on State patronage, which would be the last kind of encouragement we would admit into the management, both because it would insure change of direction and political intrigue, and would imply a government of electioneering spendthrifts. We would have a few intelligent neighbors to unite in every section of the country, and purchase in joint stock a suitable piece of ground, near enough to their own property to be within their means of frequent call; employ the best gardener to be procured, whether native or foreign, and exhibit to their visitors what a garden may become.

From -it each stockholder could draw specimen plants and trees, true to name, by way of dividend; the extra produce, both of fruit, vegetables, trees, and plants, should be sold at the most convenient depot, as well as at the garden; the proceeds would very soon pay all expenses, and leave a supply; the head gardener, and even the assistants who proved themselves worthy of confidence, should receive a percentage on the sales, on the same plan as was so long pursued in the eastern whale-ships; no one should participate in this percentage who did not remain a certain stipulated length of time.

Here should be a respectable school for apprentices - a place not yet provided in any part of the United States - for the education of gardeners; the consequence of which is that we have no class growing up among us acquainted with our climate and our wants; we depend upon foreign labor in this department, and we all know, with honorable exceptions not a few, what we get. As remarked by Mr. Chorlton, himself a good judge of a gardener's qualifications: "So long as the present system of obtaining gardening labor is in existence, we may not look forward with a progressive eye. We want more home-made gar-deners, so as to infuse a portion of the home intelligence into the business. Let horticulture be advocated and acknowledged as a science more strenuously in the newspapers, in the different periodicals, and throughout society, so as to make it appear worth while for the intelligent youths of the country to take it up; let it be spoken of on the hearth-stone as something worthy of their acceptance; educate them so that they may apply their minds for a time to close study and observation of nature; and withal entice the cottagers to cultivate their plots by encouraging them at the Horticultural Societies, so that the family growing up may acquire a taste for these things, for it is from such homes that native gardeners must come.

Add to this a better knowledge of gardening affairs on the part of employers, so that they may know how to appreciate the value of a good gardener, and he will be stimulated to fresh exertions. Likewise establish public and experimental gardens, that we may have something to look up to".

The education necessary for a gardener is not merely one of routine. "All operations in horticulture," says Professor Lindley, "depend for success upon a correct appreciation of the nature of the vital actions; for although there have been many good gardeners entirely unacquainted with the science of vegetable physiology, and although many points of practice have been arrived at altogether accidentally, yet it must be obvious that the power of regulating and modifying knowledge so obtained cannot possibly be possessed, unless the external influences by which plant3 are affected are clearly understood. Indeed, the enormous difference that exists between the present race of gardeners and their predecessors can only be ascribed to the general diffusion that has taken place of an acquaintance with some of the simpler facts in vegetable physiology." Gardeners can scarcely call themselves such unless they have mastered this science; let those who complain of the want of good assistance ask themselves how much have they done to assist in teaching it.

How many of us provide books on the subject for our gardeners?

As to the compensation of gardeners it would be difficult to fix a rule; but this we can say, that when the art flourishes to the extent it is destined to do, prices will follow demand. As a general rule, we do not think the best gardeners are sufficiently paid. To have become a thorough master of the business implies a long study and much time; in other professions we hear this brought forward as an argument for high charges. . The consulting physician sends in a bill of ten dollars for a single visit; the attorney charges hundreds of dollars for a fee; but the gardener, at a price which tailors would consider very indifferent compensation, is supposed to be well enough paid, though he places on the table of his employer, daily, fruits which are beyond price, and flowers which money can scarcely purchase.

One mode of compensating gardeners, beyond present prices, we hare seen successfully practised both abroad and in America. Some persons may object to it, but on examination it will be found both practicable and a useful stimulus, no less than a public benefit. Colonel Wyse, who expended fifty thousand dollars in opening the Egyptian Pyramids, and whose residence is near Windsor Castle, when age had begun to confine him to home, entered warmly into the spirit of gardening, and with his ample fortune provided every known means for propagating fruit on an extensive scale for his own amusement. He very soon found himself overstocked with the most delicious fruit; but instead of diminishing his walls and houses, he quadrupled them, gave his gardeners an interest in the proceeds, and they very soon became great contributors to Covent Garden market. In a short time the experiment not only supplied his own table bountifully, as well as the tables of his friends, but the returns paid all the cost of a large corps of employees. He had the full enjoyment of a capital garden, with plenty to consume and give away, without cost.

A few instances of similar success on this plan have come to our knowledge here; and mostly, we believe, the gardener receives the premiums of Horticultural Societies for plants and fruits raised at the employer's expense.

Still, we think the best gardeners are sometimes under-paid, and that discrimination in prices is too frequently disregarded. The result is that the best informed, most practical and useful, often desert their employers as soon as an opportunity presents of going into business on their own account. Owners of gardens in first rate condition find it difficult to supply the deficiency, get discouraged, and blame the profession; whereas if they had made the home of the gardener comfortable, given him enough to educate his children, and otherwise made a friend of him, he might have enjoyed his operations, performed on a plan he had become accustomed to, for the whole of his life, instead of encountering new terrors in the shape of such new torments - who, as Mr. Barry says, "often palm themselves off as gardeners, when they were nothing more than mere garden laborers in their own country".

With regard to experimental gardens, those who have seen the one at Edinburgh need not be informed that it is a model of beauty, has been Very profitable to the few stockholders, and has turned out some of the best gardeners in Europe.

Mr. Chorlton, on this subject too, bears emphatic testimony: "I have had 6ome experience in the working of such societies in England, and can assert with confidence that they have done more to elevate gardening in that country than anything else. They have been the means, daring the last twenty years, of making English horticulture the model for the world, of stimulating skill, and raising a higher standard of perfection." Mr. Elliott, the esteemed fruit-grower of Ohio, in the first number of the Ohio Farmer, bore similar testimony to the advantages of experimental gardens, but hitherto an apathy has prevailed fatal to any prospect of education among us; until we wake up to its importance, we must continue to bear our present burdens. But that the time is near at hand to move in the matter, we fully believe. Who will set the ball in motion? It is time the gardener was elevated to a position which the importance of his profession entitles him to hold. He is very often a well-educated companion, whose conversation and general intelligence would compare with his superior in mere wealth; not unfrequently he has travelled in pursuit of knowledge, and can bring an amount of experience to his business that is truly valuable.

Such men are the prizes; let us not hereafter have it to say they are the exceptions - which surely they will become more and more, when, from any cause, emigration ceases - unless we provide the means of education to their children or our own.

Experimental gardens would be the head-quarters from which gardeners, both domestic and foreign, would get certificates or diplomas of their qualifications; they would, in short, be a boon to both employers and employed.