598 Domestic Notices ; — England. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 



ENGLAND. 



STOCKPORT Floral and Horticultural Society. — A Floral and Horticultural 

 Society has been established at Stockport, and a notice of the circumstance 

 in the Stockport Advertiser is accompanied by the following gratifying ob- 

 servations : — " Of all recreations, the cultivation of fruits and flowers is 

 the one which ought to be the most encouraged. It is most congenial to 

 civilisation, and conduces very materially to health j attaches men to their 

 homes, consequently in many instances prevents a life of dissipation; 

 inclines the mind to serious thought and reflection ; and teaches us to look 

 through nature up to nature's God. 



" Every rank of people, from the humble cottager with his favourite auri- 

 culas and polyanthuses, to the lady of fashion with her more tender exotics, 

 equally enjoys flowers as a gratification, and nothing more conspicuously 

 bespeaks the good taste of the possessor than a well cultivated garden ; and 

 it may be generally remarked, that when we see a neat cottage-border well 

 stocked with plants, the inhabitant is respectable and possesses domestic 

 comfort ; whilst, on the contrary, a neglected garden but too frequently 

 marks the indolence and bespeaks the unhappy state of the owner. But 

 what must be the satisfaction, as well as essential profit, which the botanist 

 derives from a closer examination of these beauties of nature ! They behold 

 them as the wonderful works of the Creator, and are convinced that vege- 

 tation could not possibly be a mere matter of chance, but must be effected 

 by the all-creating wisdom of a beneficent Being. The poets are never more 

 fortunate in their illustrations than when they sing the beauties and virtues 

 of these splendid productions ; nor does the artist derive less satisfaction 

 in delineating their delicate and lovely forms with the pencil. Indeed, of 

 all luxurious indulgences, that of the cultivation of flowers is the most 

 innocent, and (except our terrestrial angels, ever bright and fair) they are 

 of all embellishments the most beautiful ; therefore, we cannot for a moment 

 doubt that the Stockport Floral and Horticultural Society will meet with 

 such fostering aid, as to place it foremost in the rank of its competitors." 

 (Stockport Advertiser, March 5.) 



Medico-Botanical Society. — This Society suddenly claimed the attention 

 of the public; its pretensions were great, its assurance unbounded. It 

 speedily became distinguished, not by its publications or discoveries, but 

 by the number of princes it enrolled in its list. It is needless now to ex- 

 pose the extent of its short-lived quackery ; but the evil deeds of that insti- 

 tution will long remain in the impression they have contributed to confirm 

 throughout Europe of the character of our scientific establishments. It 

 would be at once a judicious and a dignified course, if those lovers of science 

 who have been so grievously deceived in this Society were to enrol upon 

 the latest page of its history its highest claim to public approbation, and by 

 signing its dissolution, offer the only atonement in their power to the in- 

 sulted science of their country. As, with a singular inversion of principle, 

 the Society contrived to render expulsion the highest honour it could confer ; 

 so it remains to exemplify, in suicide, the sublimest virtue of which it is 

 capable. {Professor Babbage in the Edinb. Jour, of Science for July, 1830, p. 76.) 

 Cottage Gardens. — The sensible remarks of R. C. Kirkliston (p. 109.), 

 respecting labourer's cottages, meet with my warmest approbation ; they 

 are true and important. I have long noticed that the labourers or mechanics 

 who are attached to their gardens are generally sober and industrious. 

 Every man must have his hobby, and a garden is the best hobby a poor 

 man can have. Thirty years ago, when a Lancashire weaver could live by 

 his honest labour, the neighbourhood of Eccles and Barton, and indeed the 

 entire vicinity of Manchester, were celebrated for neat gardens and clean 

 houses in the occupation of the above class of mechanics. > It was, indeed, a 



