318 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



I Mny 10, 1877. 



Somebody Tresilian or Trevannian, a Cornish baronet, that 

 old rage and old wiga which contained bo much grease and 

 human fat were a much warmer and richer manure for his 

 land than the oily carcases of his pilchards; and it is further 

 said that Kit, as agent or factor, in one week bought up more 

 than two thousand wii^s in the neighbourhood of that cele- 

 brated mart Rosemary Lane, which were sent down to try the 

 experiment." 



"Mode of Dressing a Floweh.— I hardly dare attempt to 

 draw an?outliue even of this sublime art of dressing a flower, 

 because I have neither studied nor practised it myself, and, 

 therefore, not being entitled to a diploma, I must neither 

 assume the title nor degree of A.M. — that is, Artis Magister, 

 by which alone I might be held qualified to teach it, but must 



be content to be considered only as a pretender and quack 

 upon this abstruse point. However, let us see what sort of a 

 handle I shall make of it. In the first place, then, provide 

 yourself with proper instruments — namely, a pair of brass or 

 ivory etui, commonly called tweezers, and a small ivory bodkin. 

 As soon as the guard leaves drop clap a card on, and with 

 your bodkin from time to time assist the petals in falling into 

 their places. Then fix a glass cap over the blossom to bleach 

 the white and to enable the leaves by the warmth to expand 

 freely. Shade the glass when the sun is out with a Cabbage 

 leaf or bit of canvas. Take the glass off for an hour or 

 two in the evening to expose the blossom to the air, lest the 

 colours become faint by too much confinement and lose their 

 lustre. Dissolve a little nitre or saltpetre in the water before 



Tjg it — TH0M4S HOGG 



you put your flowers in it. This will help to stiffen the leaves. 

 After they have been in water a couple of hours take your etui 

 and pull the guard leaves quite round and circular. Then 

 place the second, third, and fourth tier of petals in an im- 

 bricated form — that is, like slates upon a roof or scales upon 

 a fish, a leaf covering each division of the leaves in each row 

 or tier, till they are all arranged in a convex form like the 

 outside of a dome or cupola. Place the bizarred and finely- 

 striped leaves in fall sight, plucR out all white and self- 

 coloured, all pouncy and superfluous dull leaves, and those that 

 will not lie whirl with your bodkin into the crown of the flower. 

 Lot the blooms be set in the cellar or coolest part of the house 

 all night over a tub of water. Mind that the clefts or fissures 

 down the sides of the pod do not reach below the bottom external 

 cup, and that tbe guard loaves stand firm and support them- 

 pelves without the card. A practical lesson, after all, upon 

 the flower, is worth a dozen theoretical upon paper. Learn 

 this art by practice, and practise to learn." 



Mr. Hogg, contrary to his own expectations, lived for nine 

 yoira after the publication of his " Supplement," and died as 

 much regretted as he had lived respected. He was buried on 



the south side of Paddington Church, near the road, where a 

 small altar-tomb may be seen with this inscription : — 



Saorod 



To the memory of 



MR. THOMAS HOGG, 



Many years a resident in this parish, 



Who died March 12th, 1841. in the 70th year oj his age. 



Also MRS. ELIZABETH HOaG, 



Wife of the above. 



Who died February 15tb, 1822, aged 49 years. 



The accompanying portrait of this good old florist and 

 writer, which has been engraved from an excellent oil-painting 

 in our possession, will be welcomed by the increasing number 

 who are now happily interested in the cultivation of such 

 flowers as the Carnation and Auricula. 



GKEENHODSE RHODODENDRONS. 



When Mr. Taylor (one of Messrs. Veitch's foremen) con- 

 ceived the idea of crossing the white R. jasminiflorum with 

 the buff K. javanicum ho had little idea of seeing such varied 

 and excellent results. He was not at all prepared that the 



