AugTlst 11, 1883. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETIOULTUEE AJTO COTTAGE GAUDENEE. 



106 



initials "W. E. IV., 1837." To the south front is a Eose 

 garden furnished with Aimc'p Vibert, General Jacqueminot, 

 Souvenir de MaLinaison, La Eeine, MTiite Moss, some sport- 

 ing with stripes of pink ; Gloii'e de Dijou, and Devoniensis. 

 Tea Eoses in all parts look rather inditJ'erent, which should 

 induce the authorities to adopt Mr. Beaton's oft-repeated 

 suggestion of removing them altogether from the oblong 

 beds in the main walk. 



Across to the new conservatory is only a few minutes' 

 walk. It is a substantially built and splendid erection. 

 The two wings have been added to it since Mr. Beaton's 

 report of the place last year. The Arauearias excelsa and 

 the other large specimens, for the protection of which this 

 crystal palace was erected, are now finally planted out in a 

 compost of loam, peat, and leaf mould. The ventilation is 

 all that could be wished. The roof is so constructed with 

 wheel-and-rack machinery, that one-half can slide down 

 over the rest, so as to allow of the free admission of genial 

 showers of rain. On the space from the great Palm-house to 

 the Victoria-house we passed oblong beds on the gi'ass 

 planted with Purple Zelinda Dahlias, edged with Eibbon 

 Grass : circles with French Marigolds, edged with Pui-ple 

 Orach, Mangles' Variegated Geranium, Verbenas, of various 

 sorts, Cupheas, &c. Each circle was adorned with a stan- 

 dard Eose in the centre. 



In fi-ont of the Cactus-house going eastward are two long 

 beds each 53 yards long and 6 ividc, divided at one side by 

 a fine tree (Negundo fraxinifolium), throwing its wide- 

 spreading shade over a rustic seat. The beds are planted 

 in panels, diamond-shape, with large dots of PeriUa in 

 centre, next Calceolaria amplexicaulis and C. Aurea flori- 

 bunda, then Tom Thumb Geranium, edged with Koniga. 

 They are sj^lendid beds. 



Although it is usual for every one to suggest improve- 

 ments according to his taste or fancy, I will waive my 

 privilege on this occasion, well knowing the difficulty of 

 getting up stock and arranging it with taste in every minute 

 jjart of an extensive place lilve Kew, where the visitor may 

 wander over scenes, where, but a few years since, a wild 

 uncultivated waste held its sway, until the genius of the 

 place 



" Stretch'd o'er the marehy Viile yi n willowy mound. 

 Where f-hines the luke amid the tufted ground, 

 liaised the youiiif -woodUtiri. smouth'd the wavy green. 

 And gave to beauty all the quiet scene." 



— "W. Keane. 



KNOWLEDGE DESIRABLE FOE GAEDENEES. 



{Concluded from page 66.) 



In our last we finished with the importance of reading as 

 a means of obtaining information, and of writing correctly 

 as a gviide for testing our knowledge, and one of the channels 

 by which we can make our knowledge available for the 

 benefit of others. The third essential element is Arithmetic, 

 or a knowledge of the science of numbers. It would be 

 well if all lads, before they enter a garden, could be well 

 grounded in this respect. It would save them much mental 

 labour or much mortification afterwards. We have met 

 with otherwise bright youths who could not count above a 

 certain number, and whose calculations, even of sunple 

 sums, had to be done by the fingers instead of by the pencil 

 or the pen. We have also met with many who in reading, 

 when they came to figm-es of any length, had to pass them 

 over or read them just as they stood, without having the 

 least idea of their value. The principles of notation and 

 numeration should not, therefore, be omitted, as necessary 

 preparations to the understanding of arithmetic. 



Almost every civilised nation had its respective mode of 

 notation. Amongst us few systems are now seen, except 

 the Eoman, which is used for dates, and by which all sums 

 may be expressed by seven characters, as I, one ; V, five ; 

 X, ten; L, fifty; C, a hundi-ed; D, five hundred; M, one 

 thousand. There are many varieties of this mode, chiefly 

 by reversing the q, but into this we need not enter, as such 

 a clumsy mode of computation, even at its best, can bear no 

 comparison with the unique simplicity of the Arabic nume- 

 rals, going from 1 to 9, and the ciphers added, by which aU 

 sums can be easily read and their value computed. The 

 cipher of itself signifies nothing — it obtains a value by the 



figure that precedes it. Every other figure represents 

 merely of itself, from 1 up to 0, the value or quantity of a 

 certain thing. The value of figures or units iu a Hue wiU 

 depend on theu- numbers, and their value is thus calculated : 

 The first figm'e on the right-hand represents 0, or units up 

 to nine, the second figiu-e so many tens, the tliird so many 

 hundreds, the foiu'th so many thousands, the fifth so many 

 tens of thousands, the sixth so many hundreds of thousands, 

 the seventh so many millions, the eighth so many tons of 

 millions, the ninth so many hundreds of mUlions, the tenth 

 so many thousands of millions, and so on to billions and 

 trillions, of which our finite miuds can form no clear con- 

 ception. If iu long lines of figtures they mil be the more 

 easily read if, beginning at the right-hand, every third 

 figure is marked off' (,) as in the following ; — 

 1, 2 3 4, 5 (i 7, 8 9 



The figures will read thus — one thousand two himdred 

 and thirty-four mOlions, five hundred and sixty-seven 

 thousand, eight hunth-od and ninety. 



Independently of the jileasvire of reading the sum of a line 

 of figures as easily as print, and not boggling' at them, as 

 many young people even in tliis enlightened age still do, 

 the clear perception of their value, so as to place units under 

 units, tens under tens, &c., is essential to the working-out 

 the simplest problems in addition and subtraction, which 

 may be considered the great rules of arithmetic, multipli- 

 cation being just another form of addition, and division 

 another form of subtraction. These matters are, however, 

 better explained in the simplest elementary school-books 

 than we could hope to do without taking up too much space ; 

 and after a few lessons iu addition, subtraction, multiplica- 

 tion, and division, simple and compound, those who have the 

 taste may well go as far as they like by private study. We 

 have known several fu-st-rate arithmeticians among our 

 brother gardeners, who never got beyond the first fom' rules 

 at school. They learned little more than that two and two 

 make fom-, that take two from two and nothing remains, that 

 twice two make foirr, and two divided by two leaves nothing 

 over. Next to these four rules, the most essential for the 

 young gardener to study are the rules of simple and double 

 proportion, vulgai' and decimal fi'actions, and the extraction 

 of the square and cube roots, so as to measure easily all sur- 

 faces and solids. 



In connection mth this subject, it would be desirable' to 

 study geometry and mathematics so far as to be able to 

 make plans of gardens, and the structm-es generally con- 

 tained in them ; and if the gardener has to suiserintend 

 the erection of such, he should be able to estimate quan- 

 tities requned, and to measure all kinds of work accord- 

 ing to the rules that obtain in various trades. In most 

 works on such subjects there are regular rules for com- 

 puting bricklayers', painters', glaziers', carpenters' work, 

 &c. ; but unless in moving earth, measm-ing trees, &C., 

 which must be calcidated by the solid (the ividth, length, 

 and thickness being miiltiplied together), the great pro- 

 portion of meastu-ements wiU be merely the surface — that 

 is, length and breadth, which if mtdtiphed together will 

 give the area. For measuring heights and distances, and 

 doing much in the way of land-svu-veying, an acquaintance 

 with logarithms and trigonometry will be a very great ad- 

 vantage ; but in these days of the division of labour, the 

 gardener who makes himself fit to be a land-surveyor had 

 better stick to that, and give up Cabbage-growing. 



Mere land-measuring, such as measui'ing the contents of 

 a garden or a field, will be what most commonly will come 

 in his way; and that wiU just be as simply the measm-ing of 

 a surface as the measm-ing of the top of the table on which 

 you take your breakfast. Of aU oblongs or squares, length 

 and breadth multiplied together give the area. In triangles, 

 right-angled, the base and half the perpendicidar multiplied 

 together give the area. In irregular gardens or fields, with 



