Obituary. 255 



Movable Cucumber led. — " Is there such a thing to be purchased as an iron bottom, on which 

 to place a cucumber frame and mould, and, having done so, to support this frame and mould by 

 props, and apply the dung underneath instead Jof at the sides ? Such an arrangement, I think 

 would save gardeners a good deal of trouble, as the dung would never need to be worked, and 

 less dung would suffice than by applying linings ; but perhaps some of your readers have tried 

 something of the kind « Thomas Hawkins." 



Haiv, near Gloucester, Jan. 13tk." 



Home-made Wines. — " The time for making wines from our summer fruits being approach- 

 ing, and wishing to possess some more certain rule for ascertaining the gravity of the fermenting 

 liquor than I have yet had, and at the same time not being willing to purchase an expensive sac- 

 charometer, I beg to know whether Mr. Allen, (Gard. Mag. vol. i. p. 93.), has attended to the 

 suggestion of making such an instrument at 10s. or 12s., and, if so, where it can be obtained ? 

 Norwich, Jan. 30th." " N. S " 



" A Provincial Horticultural Society is very much wanted in this part of the country. (Stafford- 

 shire) ; but we do not know how to set about establishing one. A hint how to proceed from you, 

 or any of your correspondents, would be thankfully received. " C. F W " 



" Fazeky, Jan. 12. 1827." 



Art. VII. Obituary. 



Died in June last, Thomas Andrew, Esq. of Coggeshall, Essex, an enthusiastic and skilful 

 florist, who succeeded in collecting most of the finest foreign and British varieties of florist's 

 flowers. Notwithstanding an extensive business as an attorney, he contrived, the greater part of 

 the summer, to spend from ten to twelve hours a day among his flowers. Having built a hand- 

 some house, laid out the grounds with great taste, and got together an astonishing assemblage of 

 tulips, ranunculuses, anemonies, and geraniums, he was called suddenly from his family and 

 friends, in his fifty-fourth year, to their great grief and irreparable loss. * 



f On the 28th of January, William Griffin, Esq. F.L.S., H.S. of South Lambeth, many years a 

 distinguished cultivator of bulbs, and from whose collection various plants have been figured in 

 the Botanical Magazine and Botanical Register. 



On the 9th of January, Mr. James Niven, a native of Pennicuik, near Edinburgh. He was 

 bred a gardener, had a good education, and a natural taste for botany, which he studied for two 

 years in the Botanic Garden of Edinburgh, under the then curator, we believe, Mr. Menkes. 

 He came to England about 1796, and had the advantage of being employed at Syon gardens, under 

 the late respected Mr. Hoy. In 1798 he was recommended to, and engaged _by, George Hib- 

 bert, Esq. of Clapham, then one of the most ardent lovers and cultivators of plants, to go out to 

 the Cape of Good Hope as that gentleman's resident collector. He accordingly proceeded 

 thither, and, during a residence of five years, his unwearied exertions in exploring that exten- 

 sive field for botanical research collected and sent home numerous new plants, as the botanical 

 records of that period, and his name plant, one of the Proteaceae, fully testify. During this stay, 

 he not only made himself master of the Dutch language, but also of the Caffrarian, which latter 

 acquisition was not only particularly useful in the prosecution of his own business, but also valu - 

 able to the settlers, and even the governors of the colony. 



Mr. N. returned to England in 1803, and, after a short stay of only three months, was re-en- 

 gaged to return to the Cape, in his former character of botanical collector, for a company of ama- 

 teurs in Europe ; including the late Empress Josephine of France, Mr. Lee of Hammersmith, &c. 

 On this second visit he remained out nine years, and, though he never lost sight of the chief object 

 of his mission, yet he had difficulties to encounter, and embarrassments to contend with, which 

 quite deranged his intended excursions into the interior. The Caffre nation was on bad terms 

 with the new masters of the settlement, and, in the necessary military measures undertaken by 

 the British forces to check the encroachments of these '.barbarians, Mr. N. was compelled to 

 accompany the troops as a guide and interpreter, and as such, though of signal service to General 

 Craig, he had to submit to all the inconveniences and privations incident to the life and duties of 

 a soldier ! and, though he received no special reward for this service, he attracted the notice of 

 the general, and received from him many marks of his approbation and regard, as well as that of 

 every officer and inhabitant of the colony. 



On his final return to England, he relinquished his botanical and gardening pursuits, and went 

 into business with his brother, at his native village of Pennicuik, where he died about the age 

 of fifty-two. He was a most affable and friendly-hearted man, hospitable to strangers, and kind 

 to all about him. His wife died at the instant her husband's corpse left the door of the house, 

 leaving five orphans ! — (J. M.) 



Early in February, Alexander Henderson, Esq. nurseryman, and a few years ago Lord Pro- 

 vost of Edinburgh ; an excellent private character, and the first British gardener who has 

 filled the situation of first city magistrate. 



* The flowers have been placed under the judicious management of Mr. Baron, of Saffron 

 Walden, and will be sold in bloom next summer, on a day that will be noticed in our advertising 

 department. _ . 



