horticulturist Mr. Barry Phillips.

In a letter to the editor of The Royal Gazette this week, an unnamed member of the Bermuda Botanical Society blasted Mr. Phillips for his recent criticisms of the Botanical Gardens.

Mr. Phillips, who is now curator of one of the largest gardens in England, made his comments when he returned to the Island recently as a judge for the Agricultural Exhibition.

He complained there had been a lack of progress at the Botanical Gardens in the four years since he left his post and was particularly critical of Government's dropping of the horticultural apprenticeship scheme.

But the Botanical Society member wrote that when visiting, Mr. Phillips should "do a little less of blowing his own horn and a little more of making an effort to get the facts more completely and fairly.'' The writer mentioned the recently-opened Visitor Centre at the Gardens, the collection in the Outerbridge building, the Garden for the Blind, and many new plantings.

However, Mr. Jefferson Sousa, owner of Sousa's Lawncare and Design and a former apprentice of Mr. Phillips at the Agriculture Department, weighed in yesterday in support of his tutor.

"It's just so unkempt,'' Mr. Sousa said of the Botanical Gardens. "I would be truly embarrassed to take a fellow horticulturist from another country there.'' Mr. Sousa, 33, cited improper mowing practices, manicuring, and fertilising programmes. "I'm still witnessing people using machetes in there for pruning,'' he said. "You should never, ever use a machete for pruning.'' A past president of the Bermuda Horticultural Association who served three years on the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Sousa said Government was "putting the cart before the horse'' in developing a centre for visitors to the Botanical Gardens.

"You get the place looking like a world-class Gardens first,'' he said.

Having begun his career as an apprentice under Mr. Phillips when he was 16, Mr. Sousa said Government's killing of that programme was a mistake, particularly when it was making an effort to Bermudianise the workforce.

The horticultural industry is a major employer on the Island, through Government, hotels and golf courses, he said.

Among Bermudian classmates of Mr. Sousa's when he was an apprentice were: Mr.

Norman Furtado, now grounds superintendent at Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort; Mr. Joel Cassidy, owner of Bermuda Plant Nursery; and Tulo Valley Nursery manager Mr. Robert Mercer.

But most hotels and golf courses were forced to hire non-Bermudians, he said.

The apprenticeship "was ideal because you worked at different areas throughout the Island,'' Mr. Sousa said. "You got an idea of all the different facets of horticulture.'' Mr. Jefferson Sousa.