330 



JODBNAL OF HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



[ April 23, 1874. 



boiler that I know of, and its splendid performance has gained 

 for it a reputation with which we are all familiar. But if Mr. 

 Eobson wishes to test the principle for himself, let him take a 

 vessel holding, say, ten gallons of water in an undivided body, 

 and boil it, noting the time and the fuel expended in the 

 operation. Let him then repeat the operation with a divisional 

 vessel having, say, three tubes, and he will fiud it boil in a 

 shorter time. Next let him try it with six tubes, and after- 

 wards with twelve tubes, and he will find, farther, the time 

 shortened with each increase in the number of tubes. I 

 am really astonished at finding a principle seriously chal- 

 lenged which was conclusively established by the memorable 

 trial of Stephenson's "Rocket" locomotive in October, 1829, 

 and which has actually been the making of the railway system 

 as it now exists. That principle consists essentially in the 

 extension of the surfaces at which the water to be heated and 

 the source of heat communicate ; au arrangement by which 

 the water and the heating products of combustion, divided 

 with more or less minuteness, are kept apart by as little inter- 

 vening matter as is consistent with their perfect separation. — 

 A IUmbling C.E. 



EAELY BEATEICE PEACH. 

 The fruit of Early Beatrice Peach, exhibited by Captain 

 Ashby's gardener on the 15th at South Kensington, will do all 

 that is needful to establish the reputation of this valuable 

 variety. We doubt if Peaches were ever ripened on the 31st 

 of March in England before. When these were exhibited by 

 Captain Ashby some of the members of Committee remarked 

 that hitherto it was considered skilful cultivation to have such 

 fruit in May. It is certainly a marvellous Peach, and will, 

 along with other fruit be has raised, tend to perpetuate the 

 name and the memory of Mr. Rivers, to whom we are so much 

 indebted for these valuable acquisitions to our gardens. 



W. D. Caeter's Fcmigatob. — The fumigator represented in 

 the accompanying engraving consists of a hollow indiarubber 

 bulb, into which a coik is fixed, the cork being made tapering 

 so as to fit into any ordinnry-sized tobacco pipe, and it is 

 covered on the end with ctuient, to prevent its being burnt 



when in use. A tobacco pipe having been two-thirds filled 

 with tobacco the latter is set light to in the ordinary way ; the 

 fumigator ifi then fitted on the bowl, and a very gentle pres- 

 sure on the indiarubber bulb creates sufficient draught to cause 

 a cloud of smoke to issue from the pipe stem. It is certainly 

 sufficiently simple, and seems worthy of a trial. 



seedling that I have seen for some years." This Rose, we have 

 since learnt, is Tea Duchess of Edinburgh, of which a high 

 opinion was expressed by many when submitted to the Floral 

 Committee a month ago. We have also to make a correction 

 in respect to Peach Blossom, exhibited by Mr. William Paul at 

 the meeting of the 15th instant. This is globular in its early 

 stages, but cupped when fully grown. 



We are glad to find that the fine glass houses of Lady 



Rolle in the garden at Bicton have not been destroyed by the 

 late fire, as has erroneously been reported. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



A BEMEDT FOii HYDROPHOBIA hasbecn presented to the PhOa- 

 delphia College of Pharmacy by Prof. Maisch. It is called 

 trompatilla, and conies from Mexico, where it is said to have 

 been successfully used in the cure of the terrible malady men- 

 tioned. It is obtained from the stems of Bonvardia triphylla. 

 If we recollect, this is not the first wonderful remedy that 

 Mexico has been credited with. We can only hope that it will 

 be more useful than other drugs.— (A'»,f;;;>-/i Mfchunic.) 



The show of fruit in the houses at Sawbridgeworth is 



something to create wonder. Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, 

 and Grapes are in the greatest abundance, and produced with 

 so much apparent ease that it is surprising to think that fine 

 fruit should be so scarce as it usually is. 



Mr. Radclyefe, in writing last week on Roses, said, 



" I have received this morning three beautiful blooms of one 

 Rose, unexpanded, from Mr. Veitch. . . . It is the best 



THOMAS TUSSER.— No. 1. 

 We have never been able to explain, nor could anyone ex- 

 plain to us, why the biography of Thomas Tusser has been so 

 little regarded. He was the earliest practical public writer on 

 farming and gardening ; his works have passed through more 

 than twenty editions, the last appearing at the commencement 

 of the present century, and many authorities have praised his 

 literary labours. , Wartou, in his "History of English Poetry," 

 says Tusser was " one of our earliest didactic poets in a science 

 of the highest utility." Another authority says that he wrote 

 " one of the most pleasant and instructive poems of the time." 

 Fuller praises him for his " excellent rules laid down in his 

 book of husbandry and huswifry," a book which, Warton adds, 

 is " valuable as a genuine picture of the rural arts, domestic 

 ecouomy, and customs of our industrious ancestors." 



" Tusser's writings," says Mr. Cuthbert .Johnson, " were long 

 the hand-book of the English country gentleman. He is 

 deserving of the gratitude of the English farmer, for his 

 labours tended to improve, refine, and elevate the profession." 

 Yet Tusser's biography has been little sought into. He wrote 

 a rhymed autobiography, of which we shall largely make use, 

 but, unlike our predecessors, we shall add to it from many 

 original sources which we have spared neither pains nor ex- 

 pense to acquire. 



The earliest record we have found of the family is in the 

 Heralds' College, and in one of its records it is stated that 

 " Eicharde Tusser, otherwyse Tuzerd," was " of Shyrborne, 

 in the couute of Dorset, gentylman," and that he had a son, 

 " Wm. Tusser, otherwyse Tuzerd, of Eyvenhall, in the counte 

 of Essex, esquyer." Of this Wilham Tusser the pedigree ex- 

 tracted from the Heralds' Visitation in 1570 is now before us. 

 He married either Ann or Isabella, a daughter of Mr. Thomas 

 Smyth, residing at Rivenhall, and sister of Sir Clement Smyth, 

 of Tofts, in Little Baddow, in the same county, and who also 

 was proprietor of Hoo Hall in Rivenhall. The manor of Tofts 

 was possessed by William Toft, gent. He died in 1470, and 

 his only daughter, Isabella, mar- 

 ried Thomas Smith, Esq., of 

 Rivenhall, and their son. Sir 

 Clement, married Dorothy, sister 

 of Edward Seymour, Duke of 

 Somerset. By his marriage with 

 Miss Smyth William Tusser be- 

 came father of five sons and 

 four daughters. The eldest son, 

 Clement, obtained a grant of 

 arms in 1560, which the Cla- 

 renceux King of Arms declares 

 in the grant were " the anncyent 

 armes belougyng to that name 

 and f amy lye." The arms are 

 these, and in the nomenclature 

 of heraldry are described as 

 azure a fess chequy argent, and 

 gules between three battle-axes 

 of the second. The crest upon 

 the helm a lion's paw erased 

 gold, armed gules grasping a 

 battle-axe azure purfled gold 

 on a wreath argent and azure. 

 The fourth sou was Thomas, whose biography we will now 

 detail as best we may. 



We think he was born in 1525, for in 1513 he was elected to 

 King's College, Cambridge, apparently from the Royal choir, 

 and eighteen was the age at which choristers were sent by the 

 King to one of the Universities. Tusser tells — 

 " H carao to pass that born I was, 

 Of lineat^e Rood, of Rentle blood. 

 In EdBex Iftver, in village fair. 

 That liivcuhall hialit. 



