32 Catalogue of Works on Gardening, tyc. 



sion-house, ' Willie Wallace's tree.' I believe the old man is still alive in 

 whose honour the tree is thus devoted to longevity.' The greatest evil arising 

 out of the bad cottages in which, for the most part, the peasantry of North 

 Northumberland (who are an excellent class of persons, intelligent, orderly, 

 and thrifty) are obliged to reside is, that they are driven so frequently to shift 

 their residences from place to place, which interrupts the education of their 

 children, seriously diminishes their own comforts, and impedes their advance- 

 ment in the world. However, the subject of improving and embellishing the 

 cottages of the peasantry of the Border, and indeed of the whole county of 

 Northumberland, has been taken up by a party in whose hands it is not likely 

 to suffer; a great number of the owners and occupiers of land, and of the 

 clergy in the county, having quite recently formed themselves into a society 

 for the express purpose of promoting this most desirable and benevolent work." 

 (Times, Friday, Nov. 12. 1841.) 



We hope the Agricultural Society of England will take up the subject of 

 agricultural architecture, and examine not only farm buildings of every 

 description, but the cottages of farm-labourers. Happy would it be for, this 

 class of society, both in England and Scotland, if their dwellings were as 

 much cared for by the proprietors as those of dogs, pigs, and horses ! There 

 are 'doubtless many cases where the labourers' cottages are cared for ; but, alas, 

 they are " few and far between." We know that there are thousands of 

 labourers' cottages not a whit better than those of Norham. In these days of 

 cooperation and association, it is surprising that a Society for the Improvement 

 of Labourers' Cottages has not been established. We feel certain that it has 

 only to be commenced by proper persons to be well supported ; for feelings of 

 human sympathy are latent in every human bosom, and only require to be 

 excited. Much of the misery which exists on the estates of the wealthy is 

 not so much owing to their want of feeling, as to these feelings not being 

 called forth by those who frequent their society, and whose representations 

 would be listened to with attention. The persons most competent to repre- 

 sent the true state of the poor to a wealthy proprietor, are clergymen, land 

 agents and stewards, and architects and builders ; but how very few of 

 these persons have the necessary courage ! Another reason arises from the 

 abject dependent state in which the sufferers feel themselves. They are afraid 

 to complain. This is even the case with gardeners relative to their cottages, 

 which are often miserable enough. While we write this we have received a 

 letter from a very superior gardener, in which he informs us that he is about 

 to give warning on account of the dampness of the room which he occupies 

 in the back sheds, and of which he dare not complain, because his master 

 would, in that case, desire him to live with the other servants in the house, 

 as he wanted him to do at first, he being a single man. Another case is men- 

 tioned in an early volume of the Gardener's Magazine, in which the gardener, 

 a married man, does not complain of his house, because his predecessor had 

 never complained of it, and because, if he did so, he would be told to leave, 

 and probably not receive a character. 



Sporting Architecture. By George Tattersall, Surveyor. London, 1841, 4to, 

 pp. 97, with numerous engravings on copper and wood. 



This is an elegant work, and one that will be extremely useful to the breeders 

 of horses, and the possessors of hunters and hounds. It is divided into four 

 parts, viz. 1. The Stud Farm; 2. The Stall; 3. The Kennel ; and 4. Race 

 Stands. A few lines from the Introduction will show that such a book was 

 wanted ; and when we consider that the author is the brother of one of the 

 most celebrated horse-dealers in Europe, we may give him credit for being a 

 master of his subject. 



" Of all the various departments of the builder's art, none has so suffered 

 from the carelessness or prejudice of ages as that which gives the title to this 

 treatise. 



" The man who would provide himself with a house describes his wants, 



