500 



F A R M E R S' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



than hunting or shooting, driving or gambling, 

 the enjoyments of gardening and farming will be 

 niore higliiy prized, and the professions of gar- 

 dener and of IVirmer will be more respected. 

 Whoever will give huiiself ihe trouble of com- 

 paring what passes at the meetings and exhibi- 

 tions of the provincial horticultural societies wiih 

 what was transacted at similar meetings ten years 

 aixo, will be convinced that such a change is gra- 

 dually taking place. 



Ohltuanj. — Among the eminent men connected 

 with botany and gardening who have died in the 

 course of the year, are the celebrated Jussieu, the 

 founder of the natural system of botany; Deleuze 

 the historian of the introduction of ornamental 

 plants into European gardens; Richard Cunninij- 

 ham, the colonial botanist at Sydney; and Dr. 

 Hosack of New York, the founder of the Elgin 

 Botanic Garden, in the neighborhood of that city. 

 Besides these, we have lost Sir John Sinclair, one 

 of the greatest agricultural and economical writers 

 that has ever appeared, and an active-minded and 

 benevolent man; and the Rev. Henry Berry, pro- 

 prietor and editor of the ^British Farmer'' s Ma- 

 gazine,'' and an excellent judge of live stock. 

 Among the practical gardeners who have died 

 during the last year may be mentioned, iV'lr. Mal- 

 colm, Mr. Young of Epsom, and Mr. Falla of 

 Gateshead, all eminent nurserymen. Some llir- 

 ther particulars respecting the death of the la- 

 mented Douglas, proposals for erecting a monu- 

 ment to his memory, and a biographical notice of 

 him in three languages, will be found in the pre- 

 sent volume. We are happy to find that the in- 

 tention of erecting a monument to the memory 

 of this botanical collector, to whom fjardeningand 

 botany are so much indebted, has excited the sym- 

 pathy of gardeners both at home and abroad. 

 No very large sum will be raised; because the 

 subscriptions, though numerous, are limited to 

 very small sums; and it is not (o be supposed that 

 the same exertions will be made to erect a monu- 

 ment, as would have been done if Douglas had left a 

 wife and family to be provided for, or, indeed, any 

 one dependent on him. Enough, however, will 

 be collected to show the respect in which his 

 memory is held; and to do this has been our great 

 object in furthering the subscription, both at home 

 and abroad, to the utmost of our power. It is 

 highly gratifying to us to observe the spirit with 

 "which this subscription has been entered into at 

 Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Gottingen. fSee '^n- 

 nales de Frnmont,'' a.n(\ Otto's 'Garten Zeitung,^ 

 vol. iii. p. 294.^ 



Garden Literature. — A work on landscape-gar- 

 dening, by Prince Puckler Muskau, from which 

 we have given copious extracts, contains some 

 remarks which may be usefiU in Germany; but 

 the work is strikingly deficient in every thing 

 that relates to fundamental principles which 

 would be of imiversal application. Dennis's 

 'Landscape- Gardener'' is written with great care- 

 ^ lessness, considering that its author is a clergy- 

 man, and is of little value in either a scientific or a 

 practical point of view. The best agricultural 

 work which has appeared in the course of the 

 year is Lawson's ' ^Agriculturist'' s Manual,'' which 

 every gardener who acts as a farmer or land 

 eteward ought to procure. Two new botanical 

 periodicals have been commenced, viz: ihe'Bir- 

 mingham Botanic Garden^ and the 'Botanist ;^ 



and the 'Floricultural Magazine,'' by Mr. Mar- 

 nock of ShelTield, adds anuiher to the number of 

 |)r()vincial magazines already in exisience. The 

 excellent work of Mr. Kojie, on the 'Botany of 

 the Himalayan Mountains,' ^'c, of which nine 

 parts have already appeared, and will be comple 

 ted with the tenth part, at the end of the year. Of 

 the foreign garden literature, it may be sufficient to 

 observe, that with the exception of a work on fruit 

 trees by Van Mons, and Otto's ' Garten Zeitung,'' 

 there have been very few books published, either 

 in France or Germany, that are not mainly made 

 up of translations; or, as in the case of the 'Ameri- 

 can Gardener's Magazine,^ of verbatim co|)ies of 

 articles fi-om English books. 



Rural improvement generally. 



Agriculture is certainly in a pros|)erous state in 

 Scotland ; and from the increasing intercourse be- 

 tween the influential encouragers of agriculture 

 in England and the first agriculturists of the north, 

 great improvements may be anticipated through- 

 out both countries. * . 



The observations on the subject of agricultural 

 improvements, by Mr. Shaw Le Fevre, quoted in 

 a future page, under general notices, are remarka- 

 ble for taking a new and masterly view of what is 

 called agricultural distress, and showing that the 

 only permanent remedy for that distress must be 



* Mr. Handley, well known for his exertions, with 

 a view to promote the employment of steam in culti- 

 vating the soil, in a speech made at the public dinnner 

 of the Highland Society of Scotland, in October last, 

 adverting to the present state of agriculture in Eng- 

 land, expressed a wish that a "public bod}' like the 

 Highland Society of Scotland existed there, to stimu- 

 late the activity of the farmers, and take the lead in 

 improvement." He hinted, and the 'Scoisman,' from 

 which we quote, adds, he "might have stated in the 

 broadest terms, that such an institution would do more 

 good to the landed interest than fifty pai-liamentary 

 committees. The value of the Highland Society is 

 not to be measured by the premiums it bestows, or the 

 immediate effects of its patronage; but by the spirit of 

 improvement which it spreads abroad, and the activity 

 it gives to the circulation of useful ideas among a class 

 of men whose situation renders them, in most countries, 

 the slaves of prejudice and routine. So rapid and ea- 

 sy have the means of communication now become in 

 Scotland, and so numerous are the intelligent active 

 minds stationed in every quarter of the country, that 

 any useful discovery, in husbandry or the kindred arts, 

 will find its way from Maidenkirk to John o' Groat's, 

 in half as many months as it would have required years 

 at the end of the American war. It is a striking fact, 

 in illustration of the want of a great institution of this 

 kind in the south, that every year new inventions ap- 

 plicable to agriculture are sent from various parts ot 

 England, to the Highland Society, as the best means of 

 bringing their merits into notice. If Mr. Handley's 

 ■ entiments are shared by his countrymen generally, 

 the want may, perhaps, soon be supplied; and, if the 

 attempt is made, there is one piece of counsel we 

 would tender to the parties concerned in it: it is, to fol- 

 low the example of the Highland Society, in carefully 

 excluding, not only all political topics, but all theoreti- 

 cal questions upon which a division of opinion exists. 

 Had the Highland Society engaged in discussions about 

 the wisdom of the corn laws, or the propriety of abol- 

 ishing the malt tax, it would soon have made one half 

 of the people its enemies, and its utility would have 

 been at an end. The improvement of agriculture, as 

 an art, presents an ample field for the employment of 

 its funds, and to this it wisely devotes itself." {Scots- 

 rruin, Oct 12. 1836.) 



