Angnst 22, 1665. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



141 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



"„7 



Week. 



To 



W 



Th 



F 



S 



ScN 



M 



AUGUST 22—28, 1805. 



Black Bryony flowers. 

 Soapwort flowers. 

 St. HAitTHor.oMEW. 

 Southern wuoil flowers. 



PhINCI: CONsOIiT BUUN, 1819. 

 11 SUND.VY .\FTER TRINITY. 



Goldeu Koil flowers. 



Average Temperature 

 near London. 



Dftv. 

 71.5 

 72.0 

 71.8 

 71.5 

 72.6 

 7S.3 

 73.1 



NlKht. 

 49.9 

 48.9 

 47.9 

 50.8 

 48.7 

 49.3 

 49.5 



Mean. 

 00.2 

 00.4 

 BO.H 

 60.4 

 00.1 

 01.3 

 01.3 



I^iiii in 



laHt 

 38 years. 



Days. 

 14 

 18 

 16 

 1« 

 12 

 12 

 17 



Sun 



m. h. 

 ."iHaf 4 



6 



1 5 

 8 D 

 6 5 

 5 

 8 6 



Snn 



Sets. 



n. h. 

 7iif7 

 5 7 



Moon 

 lUses. 



Moon 



Sets. 



m. li. 

 llnJ7 

 84 7 



80 10 

 31 11 I 15 

 Mer. 49 



Moon'B 

 Ako. 



Days. 

 1 

 2 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 fi 

 7 



Clock 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 

 Year. 



2 39 



2 24 



2 8 



1 52 



1 30 



1 19 



1 1 



2.'i-l 

 235 

 236 

 237 

 2.38 

 239 

 240 



From obser\'atioii4 taken near London durlnf^ the last thirty-eiRht years, the avei-ago day tomporaturo of the week is 72.2^, and its night 

 temperature 4;l.2 '. The greatest heat was 89°, on the '25th, 18.59; and the lowest cold, 32-', on the 21st, 1850. The greatest fall of 

 rain was 1.32 inch. 



HOW TO MAKE A CROQUET GROUND 

 GARDEN ORNAMENT. 



FTER all, gardeners must 

 accept croquet. I suppose 

 thej' have found this out for 

 a year or two : before that 

 time they miglit have hoped 

 to escape, but now it is in 

 vain to di'cani of imnumity from the universal game. A 

 power to which all yield — monarchs and gardeners — is en- 

 listed on the side of, and is ready to do battle for croquet — 

 namely, the lady power ; so therefore to jield is duty, pro- 

 priety, yea, necessity. 



Some four or live years ago a gardener had heard of the 

 croquet invasion, but "he was quite sm-e that such non- 

 sense woiUd never captivate liis lacUes, thej- loved theii' 

 flower-beds too much a great deal." He had, indeed, seen 

 lus brother gardeners with rueful faces ttirfiug over then- 

 beautifully-shaped beds, and he had marked with soitow 

 liow their la\\Tis were blotched in dry weather with straw- 

 coloured patches, or even had the bare earth peeping 

 tlirough ; however, he should escape he Imew. At length 

 one tine day an ominous-looldng long box appeared on liis 

 lawn, and was opened in liis presence. He luiew what it 

 nil meant, and liis heart sank, but as it sometimes happens 

 in dai'k cu-ciunstances, his irit gi-ew bright. As the mallets 

 were extended on the grass, he said, " I suppose ma'am 

 yon are going to have a party of little cripples to tea, and 

 these (toucliing the mallets) are their crutches ? " A faint 

 smile was all that was vouchsafed in retiu-n. A few 

 minutes after the hoops were planted in terra finrui (I wish 

 some other hoops I knew of were imder terra finmi). 

 Then, '" Gai'dener, these beds must be laid Aovm in grass, 

 that Deodar must be transplanted, and, of course, that 

 border must be done away «ith.'' A few months after- 

 wards that poor gai'dener was in the conditiou of the sou 

 of a spendthrift su-e, who was accustomed to say, " The 

 gout was the only inlieritance left me by my father," for he 

 had but the croquet groimd left in its bare ugliness, in that 

 part of his once-prized garden. 



But gardeners are men full of resources. " 'V'vliy," said 

 some one to Dr. Johnson, " do Scotch gardeners excel 

 EngUsh?" "Because," growled Ursa Major, "it's all 

 gai'deiung m Scotland." There was sound sense in this 

 replj-. The gi-eater the difficulties, the more is energy 

 called forth, and the more resoiu'ces to overcome the diffi- 

 culties are brought out. Attempt to hinder a perseveiing 

 man, and he ■nil! persevere all the more. The fanners 

 thought fi-ee trade would riuu them, but it only rimied the 

 idle ones, wliile the industrious and mgenious rose to the 

 occasion, and triuiiiphed. The game of croquet i.'> well 

 laiown. Let me obser\"o, in passing, that the original arrange- 

 No. 230.— Vol. IX., New St'OES. 



ment of the hoops is the best — two, and then tlu'ee on each 

 side, and two agam. The bird-cage is one of your too- 

 clcver-by-half contrivances. There is only one plan occa- 

 sionally adopted wliich ever_y master or mistress of a garden, 

 and every gardener must protest against, and not allow for 

 a single moment — viz., the third stick, or one placed in the 

 centre space which every player is obliged to hit wdth his 

 ball after he has gone through each quarter of the game — 

 that is, hit it eight times during the whole game. Tliis is 

 difficult, and there arc often six misses to one hit: hence 

 the grass around tliis stick becomes worn Ao\y\\ to bare 

 earth very quickly. This third stick cannot be tolerated ; 

 every other part of the game may be allowed to pass, but 

 this never. 



Croquet is to us in the country a necessity. Londoners 

 tallv of theu- Crystal Palace, and say they could not do 

 mthout it, and cannot imagine a tune in London's history 

 when there was not such a buildmg, so available for all 

 pm-poses and all weathers. Nay, it is said some Londoners 

 aver that there always was a Crystal Palace, that it is all 

 nonsense to say otherwise, at any rate that the first was 

 not built in 1851, but rather in 1581, if not earlier. Now, 

 I say, I cannot imagine the country without croquet, it 

 must have always been played, or how could there have 

 been any summer sociality '.' Besides, we loiow there have 

 always been weddmgs going on, and how without croquet 

 could the young people have met, and we loiow they must 

 have met before they were married'.' Hence it follows 

 there always was croquet. Two bachelors each of forty- 

 five years fell before croquet- "Poor fellows!" exclaimed 

 another bachelor, the last left of the set, " they played 

 each once too often at (hat foolish game." Even supposing 

 the bachelor correct in charging croquet with spreading the 

 fatal snare, still, perhaps. Ids friends did right in choosing 

 wives at croquet, surel}' it is a better plan than tlie old 

 and somewhat vulgar cheese-paring one. 'VVatch a lady at 

 croquet, if slie be persevering, if she play steadily, if slie 

 play- peri'ectly fairly, not traOingher dress across her ball, of 

 course quite accidentally, but somehow the ball is put into 

 a better position, if she play in perfect good luunour, not 

 losing her temper whatever happens, not stamping her 

 pretty foot, and this, above all, if she be obedient to her 

 captain, it is only fair to presume that she will make a 

 good wife. In a too artificial age, croquet brings out the 

 natm-al character, tliis surely is well : besides, it affords 

 exercise without fatigue, and all can play from seven years 

 old to seventy. One only fault is to be guarded against, 

 croquet is apt to become a ruinous rimner-away of tune. 

 Tins I endeavour to avoid by never allowing a mallet to be 

 touched in the morning. Tune for exercise, time for amuse- 

 ment (all the better if both are to be had together), there 

 must be, but a game must not take the place of the serious, 

 earnest busmess of Ufe. Permit, fan- yoimg fiiends, tins 

 word of caution, and do not play morning, noon, afternoon, 

 and even by moonlight. If the Great Master asked yon, 

 "Wiath.ast thou been doing'.'" and the only answer you 

 could truthfully give, was, ' I have been playing croquet," 

 that woidd be a poor replj' indeed. 



Some of our readers, perhaps, occasionally give, or wish 

 No. tS-:.— Vol. XXXIV., Old Series. 



