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JOURNAL OF HOBXICULXUKE AND OOTIAGE GARDENEB. 



[ February 14, 1867. 



Monmouth. — January 10th and 20th, 4" at 7 a.ji. Xhe 

 vesetablea here have suffered much ; Broccoli has all been 

 killed ; Cabbage plants, Lefks, and Spinach are all dead down 

 to the Enow line. Rose trees appear to be all killed, excepting 

 a few hardy sorts. Shrubs have not been in the least injured. 

 — H. CoiLLKY, Tiie Ganten-i, Hcndrt'. 



Keswick, Cdmberland. — I live in one of the cosiest nooks in 

 England, just at the foot of the giant Skiddaw, and sur- 

 rounded by ills brethren of greater and less stature, truly a 

 numerous family. The frosts found their way even here over 

 the tops of tliO hills, and 25° below freezing was the minimum 

 temperature registered. It has done us somewhat extensive 

 damage ; not a Broccoli is left of one of the finest squares I 

 have seen this season. Rhododendrons have suffered much, 

 in common with Portugal and common Laurels, whilst the 

 Laurustiuuses are entirely gone to the snow line. Roses seem 

 to have stood well, but how it may go with the flowering, time 

 alone can decide. — J. V. 



UiTEK East Shees, Surrey. — To confine myself as 

 much as possible to Roses : they are more extensively killed 

 and wounded than ever came under my notice. Hybrid Per- 

 petuals Jlonte Christo, Mrs. Charles Wood, Cardinal Patrizzi, 

 are more or less seriously hurt. Bourbons Pierre de St. 

 Cyr, Julie de Fontenelie, and Empress Eugenie, are destroyed. 

 Noisette Fellenberg is dead. Da Liixeinbourg much injured, 

 Lamarque nearly dead, Isabella Gray dead, Rivers's Augusta 

 dead, Jean d'Arc dead, Triomphe de Rennes dead. Bourbon 

 Souvenir de la ilalmaison is hurt. Tea China Louise de 

 Savoie, Madame Willermoz, Madame Falcot, and Niphetos are 

 dead, Yicomtesse de Gazes injured only, Madame Damaizin 

 dead. China, Common a good deal hurt, Mrs. Bosanquet dead. 

 Amongst old favourites uninjured are Narcisse, Ophirie, 

 Auguste Yacher. and Noisette La Biche ; all without protection. 

 Of evergreens, S>veet Bays, Gold and Silver Hollies, Deodars, 

 Lanrustinus, aud Piuus insignis are all a good deal punished, 

 but less severely so than on the lower level. Other Conifers aud 

 shrubs are uninjured. The lowest temperature was during the 

 night of January 4th, when it was 3^ below zero. — Charles 

 Ellis. 



MR. EGBERT DICK. 



Scotland has lost a son of whom she may he justly proud, 

 and science has to mourn one of lier most devoted students ; 

 and yet we have only to chronicle the death of a poor baker of 

 Thurso, who was considered mad by some, who died in penury, 

 and was not followed to the grave by a single relative. Mr. 

 Robert Dick, who was better known in scientific circles in 

 London than among his own townsmen, has passed away. He 

 was, perhaps, the most enthusiastic amateur in botany, ento- 

 mology, and geology of our own time. Hugh Miller gained 

 many a lesson from liim, and even Sir Roderick Murchison was 

 proud to admit that he had gleaned information from the haker 

 of Thurso. His devotion to his scientific pursuits was so great 

 that he neglected his business, and the inevitable result ensued. 

 Shall I then hold liim up as a pattern to our younger readers? 

 Most assviredly. ^Yhile studying the virtues of a man, we may 

 also learn to avoid his mistakes. No one with any common 

 sense would take up the study of science with the idea of making 

 a fortune by it. As I have said more than once, the love of 

 science must, like virtue, be its own reward. There are many 

 things which cannot be computed on the £ .?. <;. scale — health, 

 for instance, or happiness. Do you for a moment suppose that 

 in his latest hours Mr. Dick wished that his life had been passed 

 without the slightest acquaintance with the plants, insects, and 

 fossil.' he had spent so many days and nights in studying ? No ; 

 I firmly believe that he had more pleasure in the span of life 

 allowed him than any millionaire. I know many scientific men 

 whose income is £-300 or ,£600 a-year at least, who are as poor 

 as he was. If their income were doubled to-morrow, they would 

 spend every farthing in the pursuit of their favourite science. 

 Two of the leading men in their several branches, who have died 

 within the last few years, have left their widows so poor that 

 they were obliged to seek a means of living for thsmselves. 



I did not know Mr. Dick personally — there were not many 

 men who did ; but from what I have heard of him, I should think 

 he was somewhat eccentric, and decidedly reserved and uncom- 

 municative in his manners. Many such men there are, 

 unfortunately ; they find few capable of conversing with them 

 on their favourite subjects, and so by degrees learn to shun 

 society, and ketp their knowledge stored up in its perishable 

 casket. Tbia is a great aud fatal mistake. A man ought to 



enjoy the keenest pleasure in conveying to others the knowledge 

 he has himself acquired. And yet I grieve to say that I have 

 met several men who were strangers to this better feeling. 

 AVheu first I took up the study of Ferns, I asked many questions 

 of one of the best cultivators of this tribe in his time, and 

 always obtained an answer to the effect : " Ah, lad, it cost me 

 money to learn that." I have lived long enough to see him 

 left fur behind in his acquaintance with these plants by many 

 to whom he refused to give a single idea to help them on their 

 course. The man at whose feet I learned first to trace out the 

 characters in which the history of our globe is written on the 

 stony pages of its own crust, was in some respects not unlike 

 Mr Dick. Although very reserved, so devoted to science as to 

 neglect his own business, and so uncommunicative that he could 

 never rise to his proper position in the world (and, as a matter 

 of course, the world did not know what his proper position was), 

 yet I never shall forget how perseveringly he led myself and a 

 fellow-apprentice on, teaching us to glean our own facts in the 

 great field of nature, and showing us gradually how one fact led 

 us on to another. 1 often think of how the good old man taught 

 us to learn the lessons which the poor broken scraps of fossils 

 we found at first could teach ; nor shall I forget the joy with 

 which he picked out a fossil Nautilus, almost unique, which we 

 brought back from one of our scientific rambles among the hills. 

 But the dear old man would hardly open his mouth to any one 

 who could not converse with him on his favourite studies. Had 

 the case been otherwise, he might have risen lo some consider- 

 able eminence. While I would caution any youthful aspirant 

 against the belief that a fortune is to be obtained by a study of 

 science, I should fall into as great an error on the other hand, 

 if I did not strongly urge one and all to devote themselves to it 

 as energetically as they can : first, because of the pleasure it 

 will give them ; secondly, because it will assist them in their 

 business, by enabling them to understand the rationale of the 

 operations they are hourly called upon to perform. The 

 engineer in ' Mugby Junction' says, "It's almost as good as 

 being clever, to be fond of your business ; " this is true enough, 

 and no man will ever make a good gardener, or rise to any 

 prominent position among his brethi-en, unless he be really fond 

 of his business. — [Tlic Gardener.) 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



We have heard with no ordinai-y feehngs of regret that 

 Captain Cockerell has sent in his resignation to the Council as 

 Assistant Secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society. All 

 who have known Captain Cockerell, and those who have been 

 brought into communication with him, can testify to the uni- 

 form kindness and courtesy he has always exhibited in the 

 execution of his official duties ; and those only who have had 

 experience of the official management of the Society in former 

 years, with the exception of the period when Mr. Booth so well 

 filled the same situation, can fully appreciate Captain Coek- 

 erell's kindliness of manner, obhging disposition, and gentle- 

 manly bearing. 



Every one interested in the culture of Orchids will es- 

 pecially regret to hear of the death of Mr. George Ure Seinnee. 

 Although occupied by commercial pursuits, being one of the 

 firm of Klee, Skinner, & Co., of Guatemala, yet he found time 

 to pursue his favourite researches in natural history. His 

 residence in Central America probably led him to the particular 

 study of Orchids, with which the forests of the district abound, 

 and with them his name is now thoroughly associated. For 

 about thirty years we have known him engaged in their collec- 

 tion, and some one of their genera should do honour to his 

 name. Cattleya Skinneri is a minor remembrance of him. 

 One genus, worthy of him, records two of his names, but it be- 

 longs to the Natural Order Scrophulariacere. We refer to Uro- 

 shinnera spectabilis, thus mentioned by the late Dr. Lindley : — ■ 

 " For this beautiful plant our gardens are indebted to G. U. 

 Skinner, Esq., the most generous of merchants, the most eager 

 of collectors, to whom or to whose assistance the botany of 

 Western Mexico aud Guatemala owes more than to all the tra- 

 vellers who have visited those regions. Nothing more worthy 

 of his name could well be found, for the plant is veiy rare, very 

 showy, and now secured to our gardens ; we therefore trust that 

 verbal pedants wUl not quarrel with the manner we have con- 

 trived to escape from the difficulty of there being already a 

 Slcinneria in the botanical field, but agree with us that Ure 

 Skinner may be fairly blended into a name which shall unmis- 

 takably record the labours of one who ought never to be con- 



