Docombor 25, I860. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



477 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



DKCKMIIKU 25-31, 1HU6- 



Ohrzbtxas Day. 



St. StBPHXN. 



Bt. Josh the Evangelist. 



[nnogbnts. 



Heliotropes. 



1 Sunday after Christmas. 



Lesohenanltin formosik. 



Snn 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. h. m. h. 

 63 at 8 SSafH 



:i In 

 17 11 

 morn. 

 24 (i 

 29 I 

 82 2 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 Hiaflo 

 47 10 

 14 11 

 88 II 

 after. 

 28 o 

 54 



M.miii'h 

 Age. 



I >io " 



IK 



19 



20 



( 



23 

 21 



Clock 



befoi e 



Sun. 



(I l!l 

 4H 



■ ii,. 

 Year. 



859 



::i,h 

 361 

 802 



::.■,:; 



m 



From observations taken near Loudon during the last thirty-nine years, the average day temperature of the week is 43.3 ; and its night 

 tempornturo 31.1 . The greatest heat was 08', on tho 25th, 1827 ; and 28th, 1855 ; and the lowest cold 1 below zero, on the 28th, 1860. Tho 

 greatest fall of rain was 0.62 inch. N.B. — The Calendar contains the names of plants flowering in tho greenhouse. 



A PROSE CHRISTMAS CAROL. 



HAVE a weakness for Christ- 

 mas enrols. I don't mind 

 what they are like, however 

 badly sung, or chanted, or 

 shouted. ('• What ! the ca- 

 rols of those boys whose 

 bellowing awoke my baby last night'.' " says little Mrs. New- 

 mamma). I don't notice that supposed interruption in the 

 least. I say I like Christmas carols. When a boy I used to 

 be very fond of talking to old men, especially old soldiers or 

 sailors — men who used to tell me about " Lord " Welling- 

 ton : he was never the " Duke " of Wellington with them. 

 Then there was an old Trafalgar man, a gardener's appren- 

 tice he was before lie ran away and 'listed in the marines, 

 and a jobbing gardener he was for many years after he 

 had his discharge. He was aboard Nelson's ship in the 



f:eat sea tight, and then, strange to say, he was also at 

 t. Helena, and kept guard over Napoleon — " old Boney." 

 he always called liim. I loved to listen to this old man as 

 he stood on a ladder pruning Pear and Plum trees — in his 

 mouth a nail or two. 



Then there was another old man whom I liked best of 

 all — a good old man — with a bright blue eye and a rosy 

 cheek, and neatly-chiselled features ; a very clean old man, 

 with a dainty- white smockfrock on Sundays, and he was 

 much given to singing, both in church and out : his voice 

 was cracked with age, but he sang still, and as Christmas 

 came on he sang to me the carols which he and other boys 

 of his day used to sing in the farmers' kitchens. They were 

 poor poetry, terrible doggrel, hut still I loved to hear him 

 trill them out at the top of his weak, quavering, old voice. 



I like to talk to old men now, but somehow they are not 

 old enough, they don't date their stories far back enough ; 

 they don't talk. about "Lord Wellington." and "old Boney." 

 How is it old folks are so sadly modern now '.' Well, I 

 will not answer my own question, as it reflects on my own 

 age. I liked the old man's Christmas carol, as also that 

 of some queerly-dressed little hoys who came to my cm-ate 

 door in Sussex. And now. thanks to our refining national 

 schools, we get good grammar, and good poetry, and good 

 singing at our doors as Christmas comes on, though I don't 

 quite like " Annie Laurie " to do duty for a Christmas carol. 



Well, what shall my prose Christmas carol be about'.' 

 Surely about " our Journal." I knew Christmas was coming 

 ever since I heard that robin singing his carol. I wished 

 there was a bone in his pretty throat, for we had the sum- 

 mer washed a ay from us, and no autumn worth speaking 

 of. and then that robin must needs proclaim to us that 

 winter was coming. Still, though sadly cheated this year 

 of summer and autumn, one must own that Christmas 

 always comes at the right time. New Year's-day does not, 



No. 300.— Vol. XI., New Series. 



the year ought to begin with the first green bud ; it should 

 be new when Nature is renewed, when all is new, when 

 there are the tiny leaflets in the hedges, 



" And when the tender grass is leading 

 Its earliest green along the lane." 



I think it is horrible mockery to have to shout good wishes 

 and "Happy New Year" in a thick great coat over a 

 comforter in an east wind in a snowstorm at the risk of 

 catching bronchitis. Why, the word " December " — tenth 

 month — is a protest against the year beginning in January. 

 At any rate, that good, kind angel Christmas, with hot 

 dinners in his hand, and blankets under his arm for the 

 poor, comes just when wanted: in midwinter, when there 

 is little to cheer, he, the great cheerer, comes, and tells 

 now, as ever, of peace and goodwill : of kindly feelings and 

 pleasant gatherings round the fire — he tends to create and 

 keep up kindliness. 



Great changes have been in the world since last Christ 

 mas. There is the Atlantic telegraph, and that. I hope, will 

 do much to cause kindliness. By the way. if there should 

 be a telegraph to the moon. I would suggest that lunatics 

 should only pay half-price. 



Talking about Christmas tending to kindliness and 

 geniaKy, does not " our Journal " do so in its little way? 

 I think it does — I hope it does. A few days ago I was at 

 a large public dinner, and after the viands were gone, and 

 the great speeches over, I thought I would look round and 

 see if I could find any traces of " our Journal " present, 

 There, sure enough, not far oft'. I saw two occasional writers, 

 and several readers, though, perhaps, they did not know 

 me, and a long way off, right across the hall. I saw a writer 

 who did know "Win shire Rector," and I held up my 

 glass : like magic it was responded to, and I venture to 

 say not two glasses of wine in the room were drunk with 

 better, kindlier feelings, than our two. Nor was that all ; 

 a gentleman, owning one of the first and most honoured 

 names in the gardening world, came up to me after dinner, 

 and begged to make my acquaintance, because he knew 

 me in the pages of ■■ our Journal." Bless me! we shook 

 hands like brothers, as indeed we were. 



My Christmas carol must be about " our Journal." 

 Hardening comes first Man was placed in a garden when 

 In 1 was innocent, and some of his most innocent hours are 

 spent in a garden now. As a profession it may not— yet 

 remember Sir Joseph Paxton — be as encouraging to am- 

 bition as some others ; yet good conduct, perseverance in 

 duty, and constantly improving the mind, knowing more 

 this year than last, cannot but place a man well sooner or 

 later. Other callings have their disappointments. Keep 

 chei nl hear! and manly faces. The world is like a mirror: 

 look at it with a smile, it returns you a smile : look at it 

 with a frown, and it frowns back upon yon Wherever 

 there is not success equal to hope, yet the consciousm 

 having done your best will bring comfort. I would say. in 

 the words of Eliza Cook, 



■ ■ Work on, hope on, and be ye sure 



Self-help is noble schooling ; 



Yon: do your best, and leave the ft 



To God Almighty's ruling. " 



No. 952. -Vol. XXXVI.. Old Sf.lies. 



