May 10, 1S77. J 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



317 



Orchids:— J. G. Hepbarn, Esq. (Mr. Loveland, gardener); Sir 

 Trevor Laurenca, Bart. (Mr. Spiers, grower) ; Sir Henry Peek, 

 Bart. (Mr. Ollerbead, gardener) ; W. Terry, Esq. (Mr. Roberta, 

 gardeoer); and J. W. Miles, Esq. (Mr. r,?rry, gardener). In 

 onr report we observe that the names of Mr. Miles and his 

 gardener were transposed. 



The display of Pine Apples exhibited at South Iven- 



eingtoa last weeklwere deserving of more than a mere passing 

 notice. There were twenty-four of them, and about the same 

 number are now arranged by Mr. Webber in the Central 

 Avenue, Covent Garden. They are, perhaps, the most perfect 

 fruits which have ever been imported from the Azores, for they 

 are the pick of a cargo of two thousand which recently arrived. 

 Both in appearance — the plumpness and brightness of the fruit, 

 and the sizs and state of the crowns — they are quite equal 

 to English-grown Pines. Their weights may be estimated at 

 from 5 to 7 lbs. each. Since Pines of such excellent quality 

 have been sent from Madeira the demand for them has greatly 

 increased, and the prejudice which for a time existed against 

 them as foreign fruit is rapidly diminishing. 



CoL. W. W. HoLLisTER might as well, while he is about 



it, buy the whole of California. He already owns 7j,000 acres 

 of that blooming State. On his Santa Barbara farm he has 

 the trifling number of 40,000 fruit trees. 



EAELY WKITEKS ON ENGLISH GAKDENING. 



No. SI. 

 THOMAS HOGG. 



TuE taste for florists' flowers was first extensively promoted, 

 if not originated, in this country about the close of the six- 

 teenth century, for at that time a great increase of informa- 

 tion as to their cultivation, as well as new varieties, were 

 introduced by the Flemish worsted manufacturers, who were 

 driven over to Norwich during the persecutions in their country 

 by Philip II. and by the Duke of Alva in 15(57. They brought 

 over with them GilliBowers, Provence Roses, and Carnations. 

 This was in the reign of Elizabeth (1.558-1602), who was her- 

 self very fond of flowers. Tulips and the Damask and Musk 

 Roses appeared to have been introduced early in her reign. 

 Gerarde says, in 1596, that a principal collector and propaga- 

 tor of Tulips had been so for twenty years, and had an im- 

 mense variety. There is mention of a florists' feast at Norwich 

 so early as 1637, at which a play or pageant termed "Ehodon 

 and Iris " was performed. In 1671 Evelyn mentions Sir T. 

 Brown's garden there as being a " paradise of rarities," and 

 that the parterres of all the inhabitants were rich in excellent 

 flowers. In short, Gerarde and others mention cultivators of 

 flowers almost in every county of the kingdom. The taste 

 pervaded every rank. The Duke of Somerset, the Duchess of 

 Beaufort, Dr. Turner, Mr. Lete a London merchant, the 

 artisans of each manufacturing town, are mentioned as de- 

 lighting in flowers and flowering shrubs. The taste once 

 become general has never since abated, and occasioned the 

 establishment of a distinct branch in the trade of plant culture. 

 Florists by trade are traceable in this country in unbroken 

 succession from the reign of Elizabeth, and we may add, 

 without any good ground for contradiction, that among our 

 florists have been some of the most skilful, intelligent, and 

 hononrable of men. Among these was one for whose biography 

 we are much indebted to a friend. 



Thomas Hogg was born in the year 1771 at a small village 

 on the banks of the Tees, and when he was of very early age 

 bis father settled at the village of Romald Kirk, near Barnard 

 Castle, where he pursued the calling of a shopkeeper and 

 farmer. When very young the subject of this notice displayed 

 a great fondness for books, and manifested a strong desire 

 after attaining information on all subjects. His parents being 

 in easy circumstances, and having the advantage of a respect- 

 able and well-conducted school in the neighbourhood, they 

 lost no opportunity to encourage the natural taste of their 

 son, and develope, so far as lay in their power, the abilities 

 which he had begun to exhibit. They therefore gave him a 

 liberal education, which consisted chiefly of a thoroughly 

 classical character, and he soon began to distinguish himself 

 as an excellent Greek and Latin scholar. His diligence and 

 assiduity attracted the notice of Dr. Bhgh, the incumbent of 

 Romald Kirk, who, having heard of his studious habits, and 

 become acquainted with his proficiency in classical literature 

 as well as his general well-grounded information on all ordinary 

 subjects, determined to introduce him to a more suitable sphere. 



Ha accordingly brought Mr. Hogg to London, at which time 

 he was only about twenty years of age. His first engage- 

 ment was as assistant to Dr. Thomson, who kept a large and 

 highly respectable classical establishment at Kensington. He 

 remained in this situation for a considerable time, until the 

 death of the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, the incumbent of Padding- 

 ton. This gentleman also kept a large educational establish- 

 ment, which became vacant at his death, and which was now 

 succeeded to by Mr. Hogg. This he carried on with much 

 success for a period of thirty years, during which time he also 

 devoted much of his leisure to floriculture ; but as his health 

 gradually failed, owing to a nervous aflection brought on by 

 severe study and close attention to his educational duties, his 

 physician advised him to relinquish the school and devote his 

 attention exclusively to floriculture. He obeyed the advice, 

 and we have reason for saying that when he published the 

 following in 1S3.3 it was not dictated either by the querulous- 

 ness or the self-sufficiency of declining old age : — 



" As to myself, who unfortunately have been an invalid for 

 sixteen years, suffering from paralysis and a diseased state of 

 the nerves, and whose memory and faculties have been affected 

 thereby, I cannot expect to claim any exemption from the 

 like infirmities attendant more or less on old age ; yet while 

 I solicit indulgence on this account, I seek not, by unmanly 

 concessions, to disarm fair censure and criticism of their just 

 right to examine and judge of its merits ; I mean as to the 

 subject matter, and not the manner of describing it. My 

 object (in publishing) is twofold. In the first place, I have 

 been anxious some time to amend and supply the defects in 

 my former work; and, in the next place, I have been not 

 without hope of deriving some small profit and advantage by 

 publishing the "Supplement" on my own account; for tha 

 same necessity which obliged me to attempt seeking a liveli- 

 hood in the garden, after I had been unfortunately rendered 

 incapable of continuing my labours in the school, and I had 

 then been gerund-grinding for thirty years, still exists in all 

 its force. The gifts of fortune have not fallen to my lot, and 

 I am therefore compelled to use the means within my reach 

 for the subsistence of myself and a numerous family. Though 

 my infirmities increase, and though I am able to do little or 

 nothing myself, yet the same routine of culture and manage- 

 ment will be continued as usual by my two sons, who have 

 been for some years past the acting managers and florists in 

 tha business, so that my friends and customers may safely 

 depend on being supplied with healthy plants, correct in every 

 respect as before. It is some consolation in being able to 

 state that in all the dealings which I have had with florists, 

 both in England and in the different parts of the Continent, 

 there is not one of them can say that I have not honestly 

 fulfilled every engagement." 



The above is extracted from his " Supplement " to another 

 small volume, entitled " A Practical Treatise on the Calturo 

 of the Carnation, Pink, Auricula, Polyanthus, Ranunculus, 

 Tulip, Hyacinth, Rose, and other Flowers." This was pub- 

 lished first in 1830, and in nine years passed through six 

 editions. They are amusing as well as instructive volumes, 

 and the following will give our readers an idea of their varied 

 contents : — 



" One Christopher Nunn of Enfield, Middlesex, a noted florist 

 in his day, was eminent for his skill and dexterity in dressing 

 Pinks and Carnations for prize exhibitions ; some will even 

 tell you that Kit was the father of the art. Upon such occa- 

 sions he had as many applications to dress flowers as he had 

 to dress wigs, for he was a barber and friseur by trade, and 

 withal a good-natured, facetious, prating barber, and could 

 both shave and lay a Carnation with the greatest nicety. 'Xho 

 novices of that day, who, being unacquainted with hia secret 

 art, trusted to Dame Nature to open, expand, and perfect their 

 flowers, were no match for Nunez, for he began where she left 

 off, and perfected what she had left imperfect. His arrange- 

 ment and disposition of the petals were admirable, and as- 

 tonished those novices. Kit's art of dressing is still an envi- 

 able art, and attainable only by few. Kit as a florist possessed 

 other merit besides this ; he could mix and temper soils with 

 the same skill as he did his pomatum. He was a great ex- 

 perimentalist and compounder of manures ; it was all the 

 same to him whether he snuffed up the odour of Roses or the 

 less inviting fragrance of animal ordure. It was he who first 

 applied sugar-bakers' scum as a surface dressing to flowers, 

 having witnessed its surprising effect upon the land of a 

 neighbour of his, a sugar-refiner from Goodman's Fields ; and 

 he also had the credit of persuading and convincing Sir 



