JOUENAIi OF HOETICULTUKB AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Januoiy 1, 1874. 



speaks of man's triumph over Nature's luxm-iant vrilduess, 

 and of mighty trees made to stand side by side, and each 

 show forth the other's mightiness. Those to whom the Long 

 Walk at Windsor is familiar, and still more the avenues of 

 Bushy Park seen in May time when the Horse Chestnuts are in 

 bloom, and the shorter but telling avenues at Hampton Coui't 

 are known, will fully bear me out in the good taste displayed 

 in a well-planted avenue, and the permanent pleasure which 

 arises from such a planting of trees. There must have been 

 at one time almost a rage for such an arboreal arrangement, for, 

 if I mistake not, the majority of avenues are of about the 

 same date. Cowper thus speaks of the avenue — 

 " Not distant far a length of colonnade 

 Invites us. ilonument of ancient taste. 

 Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate. 

 Our fathers knew the value of a screen 

 From sultry suns ; and in their shaded walks 

 And long-protracted bowers enjoyed at noon 

 The gloom and coolness of declining day." 



And then he thanks his neighbour, the sqxiire of Weston 

 Underwood, who, he says, 



"Spares me yet 



These Chestnuts, ranged in corresponding lines; 



And though himself so polished, still reprieves 



The obsolete prolixity of shade." 



Pointing, I fancy, to many landowners of the day, who, in- 

 fluenced by " Capabihty Brown," scarcely left three trees in a 

 line from Land's End to the Tweed : hence the poet says 

 plaintively — 



*' Ye faUen avenues! once more I mourn 

 Your fate unmerited, once more rejoice 

 That yet a remnant of your race survives. 

 How airy and how light the graceful arch. 

 Yet awful as the consecrated roof 

 Ee-echoing pious anthems I whOe beneath, 

 The chequer'd earth seems restless as a flood 

 Brushed by the wind. So sportive is the light 

 Shot through the boughs, it dances as they dance. 

 Shadow ana snushine intermingling quick. 

 And darkening and enlightening, as the leaves 

 Play wanton every moment, every spot." 



Nor must it be forgotten that the avenue was the great teacher 

 of the Gothic architect. Gothic arches are but lofty trees of 

 stone. Walk down the aisles of a cathedral — there you have 

 avenues. The thoughtful architect took his hint from the 

 lofty Elms, whose branches ran into each other. Gothic archi- 

 tecture, because imitated from Nature, is more beautiful than 

 Grecian or Roman, and more suitable to become, as it has be- 

 come. Christian architecture. We in a Gothic edifice seem to 

 be worshipping the Creator in a i^lace resembling His creation, 

 for above is " the branching roof." Many a country church 

 is tree-like, 



"■With pillars crowded, and the rcof upheld 

 By naked rafters intricately crossed. 

 Like leaflesB uuderboughs in some thick wood. 

 All withered by the depth of shade above." 



With the revival of Gothic (Christian) architecttu-e in this 

 century the planting of trees in avenues may well and suitably 

 be revived. 



A lingering love, never wholly eradicated, for old-fashioned 

 border flowers has eropped-up and strengthened. I agree with 

 the gay bedders for beds ; we in England have over-much 

 green, and want striking colours for contrast and variety ; but 

 I grudge that borders should have been invaded, and the term 

 "ribbon border" ever been invented. It is now positively 

 diflicult to procure — at least I find it to be so — the border 

 plants proper. Therefore never did I read (and I am sure 

 many others) any articles with greater interest than those by 

 "Philanthos" and my old friend Mr. Eobson on Primroses 

 and Polyanthuses, which the former truly says were " long 

 ago the delights of almost every garden." Then with the 

 interesting letterpress came also in its midst those admirable 

 engravings of the " Hose-in-Hose," " Pantaloon," " GalU- 

 gaskins," and the rest — flowers which I have not seen for 

 years. These papers are good signs, and I hope the cultiva- 

 tion of these and like flowers may be revived ere too late, for 

 even in cottage gardens near me they are gone. " Lost them 

 years ago," is the answer I get, for from mansion garden and 

 rectory garden the bedders have travelled down to farm-house 

 garden, to cottage garden. I, on behalf of hundreds of readers, 

 thank all the writers on those interesting and sadly-neglected 

 flowers. 



Leaving now the flower department of " our Journal," I 

 turn to that more particularly my own — my own from ray 

 scribbling in it for eleven years— the poultry and Pigeon de- 

 partment. The great event of the year is, no doubt, the pub- 



Ucation of our Mr. Wright's grand work, a work which even 

 in parts has had a marked influence on the poultry world in 

 England and America. The other great influence, if I may 

 BO speak, is the great national Show at the Crystal Palace. 

 Provincial shows are admirable and interesting, and the things 

 for the provinces, and reflect the pecuharities of each part of 

 the country ; but everything national must be connected with 

 the metropolis of the nation ; and how fortunate we are in 

 possessing — whether for fowls. Pigeons, dogs, Canaries, or cats 

 — such an exhibition-room as the Crystal Palace. To exhibit 

 the Game Bantams just over the Game fowls, and the eye thus 

 being able to see the two at one and the same time, was a 

 thought worthy of a genius. 



Little need be said about the poultry, but I would just say this, 

 that at any rate quite enough has been written about Malays, 

 which are neither ornamental nor useful, and only interesting 

 as our first-imported Asiatic fowls ; while too Uttle has been 

 said of the Pohsh of aU varieties, which, though they may not 

 be a useful variety, are among the most ornamental at a show, 

 and may be kept in an outhouse or small wned enclosure. 



Of Pigeons I gladly chronicle that they are more admired 

 than ever, more numerous than ever, and new fanciers are 

 everywhere rising up. The Tumbler proper, the Flying Tum- 

 bler, had a class to himself at the Palace Show, and deserved it. 

 Short-faced Balds and Beards also deserve encouragement, for 

 no Pigeons are prettier or more distinctly marked. The 

 Dragoons are also everywhere improved, and do not look like 

 young Carriers. 



Li turning to Canaries, iu which I am always interested 

 though not a breeder now, the event of the past year is the 

 discovery of the method of colouring by food. The defence by 

 chemical analysis of the honesty of the method was searching, 

 and the exhibitors enjoyed the triumphs of honest Englishmen. 

 But yet a word of praise to Messrs. Bemrose & Orme for the 

 revealing of the secret, which will be a benefit to all Canary 

 fanciers, and even to all visitors at shows. 



Speaking of Canaries, there is a touching story told of Sir 

 Joshua Reynolds, the first of the EngUeh school of portrait 

 painters, when he became bUnd. He had always been deaf, 

 but that matters but little, for there is so much more worth 

 seeing in the world than worth hearing. If the eyesight be 

 given and preserved, deafness is Uttle felt. But the time came 

 when the great painter's eyes grew dim indeed. Well, one day 

 he was found by a friend wandering round the raUs of his house 

 in Leicester Square (No. 47 ; mark the number, lovers of paint- 

 ing and painters), seeking for a pet Canary of his that had 

 strayed. He never could have heard the little bird's song, but 

 he had formerly seen it. It was an old friend, and he wished 

 it to be still his own, his pet. Scorn not little pets. The man 

 who drew Mrs. Siddons as the tragic muse, and wrote the great 

 lectures on painting, and was the Royal Academy's first Presi- 

 dent, yet loved a Uttle Canary. How tenderly are pets loved ! 

 how diUgently cared for! But, perhaps, there is no instance 

 on record of a whole city's people loving and tending theii 

 pets as that of the citizens and the Pigeons of Venice. A 

 daughter of mine the other day was in the Great Square o£ 

 St. Mark, at two o'clock, when the thousands of Pigeons ai'e 

 fed. Down they came at the sound of the beU, the city was 

 alive with wings — from every (juarter they came. A little 

 Italian boy gave the young lady a packet of Maize ; the Pigeons 

 saw the act, and so tame and confiding are they, that my 

 daughter's hands, arms, and shoulders were covered by the 

 pretty birds. Oh ! ladies who frequent HurUngham Pigeon 

 shooting, would you not look prettier — I appeal to your vanity, 

 I will not try a higher feeUng — covered by confiding happy 

 Pigeons, than enjoying dying, bleeding, broken-winged, leg- 

 less Pigeons ? 



But I must conclude. I know how " our Journal " tends to 

 foster an innocent love for innocent things — I know the re- 

 sources that a garden affords to those whose duties confine 

 them much to one spot. Thus, a master of a Union, a winner 

 of many prizes each year at a horticultural show, said to me, 

 looking up from the pages of " our Journal" (he studies them 

 weekly), "This place without my garden would be a cage." 

 With it as a resource he Uves on happily. 



There is one other name I feel I must mention before my 

 pen stops, it is that of Mr. Hewitt. " He who," as Mr. Wright 

 truly says, " has devoted years of his life gratuitously to aiding, 

 by his vast experience and knowledge in awai-diug prizes, the 

 general improvement of poultry ; he is among those who have 

 done a good work for their country." Every reader of this 

 Journal, whatever part he may specially read, yet weU knows 



