.loimary 7, 1E69. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTIODLTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



JAN OAKY 7— IS, 18C9. 



LcnRt h of dny 8 hours. 

 I'liiNCE Albert Victor of Wales Born, 

 tl8((l, 

 1 Sdnday after EriPHANY. 

 Plough Mouday. 



Cambridge Lent Term begins. 



Averaffd Tcmperatare 

 near London. 



Day. 

 41.9 

 41.1 

 41.G 

 42.2 

 41.7 

 4-2.0 

 42.3 



Niuht. 

 2il.2 

 Sl.l 



;w.9 



80.S 

 811.1 

 •2fl.S 

 31.5 



Mean. 



35.5 

 85.G 

 Sli.2 

 86.2 

 85.9 

 ,15.9 

 87.x 



Rain In 



last 

 4'i years. 



Days. 



17 

 14 

 15 

 17 

 21 

 18 

 19 



Son 



Riaoa. 



m. h 

 7al8 



Son 

 Seta. 



m. h. 

 7af4 



8 4 



9 4 

 lU 4 

 11 4 



13 4 



14 4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



I Moon 

 I Sets. 



ra. h. 



24 at 2 



m. h 



48 af 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Days. 



24 

 25 

 2G 

 27 

 28 

 • 

 1 



Clook 



before 



San. 



8 43 



9 5 





7 

 8 

 9 

 10 

 11 

 12 

 13 



LIBRAR' 



NEW YOf 



BOTANIC. 



aAKDE^ 



Prom ohservationa taken near London dnring the last forty-two years, the average day temperature of the week ia41.9'; and Us nteht 

 tompoJ^tnro 8o"r. The coatost heat was 54', on the 7tb, 1845; and 9th and 12th, 1852; and the lowest cold S'', on the 13th, 1867. The 

 greatest fall of rain was O.bS inch. 



A FEW WORDS TO ALL OUR FRIENDS ON 

 THE NEW YEAR. 

 AVING so frequently written a few lines in 

 these pages on cither the old year or the 

 new, I shrank, I own, from WTiting anything 

 on tliis New Year, feeling that not only was 

 it the old musician, but it might be the old 

 tune as well. But in a letter just received 

 from 171, Fleet Street, there occurs this 

 kindly passage — "A larger congregation than 

 that "in your own church will regret the ab- 

 sence of the looked-for New Year's address. 

 Can you not afford time for also addressing that congrega- 

 tion which is spread over these isles and the colonies '' " 

 After such an appeal it at least behoves me to try, yes, try 

 yet once again. 



There was another reason why words of mine seemed 

 unnecessary. The congregation, to use our Editors' phrase, 

 has already been addressed in that lay sermon entitled 

 " Christmas," which contains sentences wise, and hind, and 

 true ; and which, unless I guess wrongly, have the I'utte- 

 ridge Bury ring, and for which I ask yet another perusal 

 by those for whose benefit they were written. It gives me 

 pleasure, as it seems to do many others, to see this pe- 

 riodical so often called " our Journal." I was the father 

 of that phrase in a new year's paper written five years 

 since, and I am gratified to see the title caught up and 

 appropriated so generally. Strange, yet very pleasing 

 withal, did it seem when one, almost a stranger, addressed 

 me in the Trades' Hall, Glasgow, with the words, " Have 

 you seen ' our Joui'nal ' of this week'.' Here it is." " Ours," 

 then it belongs to us — to us readers and writers. It is 

 devoted to our tastes, to our fancies, and not only so, but 

 if it is ours, we belong to each other : and so we do, and 

 this accounts for the friendly spirit shown to each other, to 

 which I can so strongly bear testimony. 



Gardening ever claims, and rightly, our first thought and 

 attention. Our gardens cheer and comfort us. " In single 

 and married there is but little difference," said .feremy 

 Taylor, " single life is solitude, married life is solicitude." 

 I accept the definition, and I ask. Are not gardens and 

 works on gardening companions of solitude and cheerers of 

 solicitude '.' In countless instances they are both. Single 

 Mfe and gardening have gone together in all ages. The 

 Essenes were great gardeners, so were the monks and 

 nuns of the middle ages, and so, according to Mr. Hep- 

 worth Dixon, are the interesting celibates of the New 

 World, the American Shakers. As to a garden being a 

 solace to the man full of cares, notice how often you see 

 grave-browed, city-looking men in omnibuses bound for 

 the outskii-ts of London with plants on their knees, telling 

 of viUa gardens delighted in and giving delight. I have 

 looked at such men and thought what a comfoi-t your gar- 

 dens are to you, my friends, and your wives know it too, 

 and if they are wise they coax you to take a stroll with 

 them in your garden, when (that trial to husband's patience) 

 tlinncr is late. A Wiltshire hotel landlady, in old coacliing 

 days, used under those circumstances to say to the waiter, 

 No. 400.— Vol. XVI., New Series. 



" There, whip a few newspapers in, they will keep the 

 gentleman quiet." Gardens are better than newspapers. 



" Our .Journal " is taken by many masters and mistresses, 

 and when read is passed on each week into the hands of 

 their gardener. This is a good plan for both parties. A 

 gardener likes his employers to understand his garden, 

 then his labours are appreciated, and his difficulties under- 

 stood ; then what has cost him hoiu's of thought, and days 

 and nights of care to bring to perfection, whether it be 

 flower, or fruit, or humbler vegetable, is noticed under- 

 standingly, and his care and pains are proportionately 

 valued. " I like to work for a master who understands 

 what good work is," said a mechanic. Fi"om those to 

 whom a Rose is but a Rose, a gardener cannot expect 

 praise for rearing some gem : hence it is well when masters 

 and mistresses read " our Journal." 



And here let me drop a word of advice to young 

 beginners — the young lads into whose hands this paper 

 comes after their seniors in the garden have road it. 

 ■Visiting recently the orchid-houses and pineries in a noble 

 garden, I asked the intelligent head gardener how he got on 

 with the young lads under him, to whom he must confide a 

 good deal of work, although if they failed or exceeded in. 

 duty, he would have to bear the blame. His answer was, 

 " I get on with them very well, if they come to me know- 

 ing nothing, and confessing they know nothing ; but if they 

 fancy they know something when they really know nothing, 

 they give me a world of trouble. I have now a couple of 

 lads who came to me quite ignorant, and good lads they 

 arc, for they are willing to learn, and simply carry out my 

 plans to the letter, and to please me, and will make good 

 gardeners. " 



Young men ! be willing to learn, watch, read, take pains, 

 and do not presume to know before you do know. In the 

 highest things it takes often half a life to understand our 

 own ignorance. 



Scien-ced readers ! I hope this year you will turn to our 

 pages and find the needed information. Practical readers ! 

 I hope you will do the same, with the same result. Gene- 

 ral readers ! I hope many papers tliis year will be so written 

 as to catch and interest you, and that the whole tone of 

 our pages will elevate alL A bookseller said to me, un- 

 asked, "A gentleman gave up taking The Jouenal of 

 Horticulture at the end of the year, but came to me in 

 February, and said, • I must have that publication again, I 

 miss it, and cannot get on without it ; it seems wanted by 

 all of us, so send it to me.' " I hope this is a testimony 

 that we writers do not laboiu' in vain. As to my own 

 experience, this expression has been in constant use among 

 us in our house for years, " Our Journal never brought 

 anything but happiness to our home. " And much reason 

 have I to use that expression when I sit by the winter's 

 fire, and count the long roll of friends made by means of 

 its pages. Perhaps much of the pleasure our readers feel 

 arises from the fact of the undying love of nature which 

 is at the bottom of every heart, and which only wants 

 cultivating. And of all natiu'e the lovely flowers stand 

 next the heart, they look up, and are close to the eye 

 of the chUd, who falls in love with them at once, and 



No. 1058.— Vol. XLI., Old Series. 



