October 20, 1868. ) 



JOUBNAL OP HOTITIGULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



315 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



OCT. 29-KOV. 4, 1868. 



Royal Horticultnral Society, Promenade. 



21 "SONDAY AFTER TkIHITV. 



Meeting ot 



[Society. 



Kottingham Eorticaltnral 



AveraRe Temperature 

 near London. 



Dav. 



b:!.7 

 65.0 

 53.7 

 64.0 

 54.3 

 53.5 

 62.0 



NiKht. 

 85.8 

 88.0 

 40.0 

 37.9 

 87.6 

 S5.8 

 8B.6 



Mean, 



44.5 

 40.5 

 40.9 

 45.9 

 4(i.0 

 44.6 

 44.3 



Rain In 



last 

 41 years. 



Daya. 

 19 

 21 

 21 

 24 

 19 

 19 

 21 



Snn 



Riaos. 



m. h 

 51 at fi 

 68 6 



San 

 Sets. 



h. 

 87 a( 4 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 



Sets. 



m. h. 

 19af4 

 41 4 



m. h 



8af4 



15 



24 6 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Daya. 

 14 

 15 

 O 



17 

 18 

 19 

 20 



Clooh 



after 

 Sao. 



DaT 



of 



Year 



808 

 804 

 305 

 806 

 307 

 SOS 

 309 



From ohaorvatiuns taken near London during the last forty-one years, the nyeraRe day temperature ol the week is 53.7 ; and Us night 

 temperature 37.3'. The greatest beat v?afl 04', on the :iud, rB57 ; and the lowest cold 22^, on the Ist, 18GB. The greatest tall ol ram 

 waa 0.98 inch. 



MARKET GARDENING ABOUT LONDON AND 

 PARIS.— No. 1. 



REJIEM15ER, in my former parish, a poor 

 widow once consulting me with regard to a 

 proposal she had liad from a neighbour, wlio 

 bore an indifl'erent character, and was re- 

 puted to be a drunliard. She spoke verj' 

 wisely and well on the subject; she told of 

 the comfort it would bo to her to have a 

 ■^^ *" home, if it were a respectable one, and to 



^ have a protector for her children : " but, then, 



you see," she said, " W 's character is a 



bad one. I know him to be a tippler, and there s no 

 reason if there 's a fire in tlie grate that I should put my 

 head into it." Need I say what my strong advice was'.' 

 and need I add that like most good advice it was set at 

 naught, and that years of wretchedness and misery have 

 resulted from "putting her head into the fire':'" I was 

 similarly situated when I saw the discussion going on in 

 the horticultural journals relative to the market gardening 

 about Paris as compared with that in the neighbourhood 

 of London. I very wisely determined to keep clear of it. 

 I thought that I was not altogether ignorant on the sub- 

 ject, and had some opportunities of judging as to the 

 correctness or otherwise of some of the statements made, 

 but the fire was " vara hot," and I did not fancy putting 

 my head into it, and so I kept clear, gave the combatants 

 a wide berth, and held my peace. Why, then, have I done 

 otherwise ? Whj', like my poor friend, am I now about to 

 put my head into the fire '? If I have done foolishly, the 

 saddle must be put on the right horse — viz., the Editors of 

 The Journal of HoRTicri.TiUiE. 



It fell out on this wise. I was paying my annual visit 

 to Paris in June last, a little later than usual, when, one 

 afternoon calling at Vilmoi'in's, and inquiring for M. Henri 

 Vilmorin, I was told he was gone to see one of the Editors ; 

 through their kindness a message was sent to him, and the 

 next morning I found him in the courtyard of the Hotel de 

 Saxe. We had much discourse together, and, naturally, 

 it turned on those subjects dear to all readers of the Jour- 

 nal ; amongst other points talked upon was the stir that 

 had been made on the subject of market gardening in 

 England and France, or, rather, in and about the metro- 

 politan cities of botli countries. The upshot of it was that 

 I was asked, as I had a few days on hand, to employ a 

 week in visiting especially those places of culture most 

 likely to be interesting to us, and report accordingly. The 

 task was a congenial one, the work pleasing, and I entered 

 upon it eon timorc : if, in so doing, I bring down evil upon 

 my own head, I must ask my good friends tlie Editors 

 to help me to bear the blows. In so doing, however, I 

 must beg it to be distinctly borne in mind that I enter not 

 on it in any controversial spirit ; I have but one object in 

 view, and that is the good of horticulture. I have no 

 theories to uphold, and, I hope, no prejudices to overcome. 

 Such are my credentials, and now as to my qualifications. 



The readers of The Journal of Horticultdre know 

 tolerably well that I am no tyro in gardening ; that although 

 I have mainly given my attention to florists' flowers, I 



No. 896.— Vol. XV., New Sehiee. 



have also made myself acquainted with most branches of 

 gardening ; and that for many years I have been in the 

 habit of visiting all the gardens, both public and private, 

 which I was enabled to do in my frequent wanderings 

 through England. I have seen in the gardens of our 

 nobility and gentry, and in the well-ordered establishments 

 of our public growers, the various plans and methods of 

 cultivation adopted. During the past ten or eleven years 

 I have also visited the Continent annually, have seen what 

 gardening is in France and Belgium, and have been en- 

 abled to form some notion of its merits. I have not thus 

 to contend with the diUiculty that often surrounds a per- 

 son who makes a first visit to a new country, who either 

 goes with the belief that nothing is good but what is 

 English, and who grumbles and growls to his heart's 

 content over these " furren " ways, or who is prepared to 

 see everything coulcitr d,' rose, and to como liome with the 

 idea that in everything they " do those things better in 

 France." 



I was not, however, satisfied with my previous knowledge, 

 but felt that in writing on such a matter I ought to be 

 as much at home as possible : and so, immediately on my 

 friend's suggesting this, I started olf to Vilmorins, and told 

 them my object, asking them where I should best see the 

 various objects of culture which I desired more especially 

 to report upon. With that urbanity and kindness which 

 I have always experienced in Franco, and almost always 

 in England, from members of the gardening profession, they 

 not only ofi'ered me every informatii}n, but in order to place 

 me more tin fait, they put at my disposal one of their 

 employes, who accompanied me on my visits, found out. as 

 I could not have done, the readiest ways of access, and to 

 the intelligent guidance of M. Viret, I owe a great part 

 of the information which I obtained. When I say that, 

 amongst other places, we visited together the establish- 

 ments of L'Herault at Argenteuil, Lepere at Montrenil, 

 Froment at Montrouge, Dupont at Clichy, &c , it will be 

 seen that we went to 'head-quarters at once for our infor- 

 mation, for each in his particular line is unsurpassed. 

 I found the workmen generally intelligent and ready to 

 give information ; although amongst the cluimphjnonites 

 I do not think I should have got quite so ready an aroess 

 to their places of cultivation if it had not been for my 

 companion, and this I could well understand, fur it involves 

 considerable time and trouble. On my return to England 

 I thought I should make myself more acquainted with the 

 market gardening about l^ondon, and on applvins to one 

 whom I thought oucht to be able to give me infcirmntion, 

 I was told tliat I should find the growers not nearly so 

 willing to give infomiation as their French brethren : that 

 they thought more of their time, &c. I am bound to say 

 I found it the very reverse, they were exceedingly kind, 

 and gave me every information in their power. Here. loo. 

 I went to head-quarters— Mr. Dancer's fruit garden at 

 Chiswick, Mr. Myatt's at Deptford, the Fulbam grounds, 

 &c., have all been visited by me, and I have been enabled 

 thus to institute comparisons betweea the most eminent 

 growers in both countries. Whatever errors, then, I may fiU 

 into, and whatever incompleteness of information I imiy be 



No. 1048.— Vol. XL., Old Sebieb. 



