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JOUENAJL OF HOETICULTXTRE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. [ January 10, 1865. 



than Black Currants trhen they were ripe. I hare done 

 what I could to induce them to abandon this practice ; but 

 they see a large quantity set, and they have not the heai-t 

 to cut them off, so all are allowed to ripen together. — John 

 Hague, 36, 3Iount Street, Ashton-under-Lyne. 



SWISS GARDENING. 



I HAVE been so much occupied of late that I have not 

 been able to keep my promise, which was to give some 

 sketch of continental gardening as compared with oui' own. 



We very often say we are the gi'eatest gardeners of the 

 day, and it is a fact that cannot be denied. I am unable to 

 say much of French gardening, never havingresided for any 

 length of time in France ; but I affirm that Swiss gaidcning 

 is far below that of England. This is an opinion founded 

 on personal observation of some years. To begin with, 

 their garden implements ai-e very primitive ; their spades 

 are generally a foot longer than ours, though, to be sure, 

 they import largely from England ; in everj' ironmonger's 

 shop one sees " Sheffield wares." But many of the gar- 

 deners there, like those here, have a prejudice against any- 

 ttiingnew, and so the long unwieldly hiche remains in favovir. 

 TVfsTiy other tools are, in a like manner, heavy, and it re- 

 qnireB no small amount of strength to use them, as I can 

 testify. It would occupy too much time to give a descrip- 

 tion of all their tools, which, however, are not numerous. 



Before drawing compaiisons between Swiss and English 

 gardens I ought to remind your readers that the climates 

 are very different, and that this, perhaps, more than any- 

 thing else influences the style of gardening. It is evident 

 to every one who has spoKen with the Swiss country "entle- 

 men that the English style is liked, only the great summer 

 heats prevent its being carried out. The Genevese, how- 

 ever, have an opportunity of seeing a garden laid out as fax 

 as possible in our style — that of Sii- Robert Peel on the 

 Borth bank of the lake ; but here, as elsewhere, during the 

 summer the lawn is parched and brown, and this distinctive 

 feature in all Enghsh gardens is thus lost. Again, the 

 massing and ribbon-border systems, so much in vogue here, 

 cannot be carried out to such perfection there ; during the 

 summer heats the flowers droop and die. 



As yot I have said nothing about the capital or the 

 energy of the proprietors. As a matter of course, the 

 wealth of the owner of the gaa-den makes some diiference 

 in the style in which it is kept ; but there are many opu- 

 lent families in the Canton de Geneve and Canton de Vaud 

 ■whose gardens are shamefully neglected — the few glass 

 homseB falling to pieces for want of putty and pain;;, and 

 the trees and shrubs growing in unheeded confusion, the 

 borders not raked, the weeds undisturbed. 



It is much to be regretted that there is no substitute for 

 Dartford gravel to be found in Switzerland. In all the 

 gardens in which I have ever walked, the same grit or small 

 pebbles were the covering for the paths, and they form a 

 disagreeable foothold. When raked over regularly, they 

 look neat, and that is all the praise they merit. 



The noble trees. Oaks, Elms, and Thorns, are rare, I might 

 almost say unseen in the gardens, though one frequently 

 sees Chestnut and Jlountain Ash trees of fair size. The 

 Spmces, Inarches, and some other Conifers are to bo met 

 irith large and well grown, and were they but properly 

 thinned would be very beautiful. 



All this would seem to be saying very little for Swiss 

 gardening, and were it not that I have been able to judge 

 myself, I should be sorry to write so strongly on the subject. 

 But a word on the other side. They grow gijod fruit. Any 

 one walking along the market-place in the summer months 

 ■will be astonished both at the quantity and quality of the 

 fruit exhibited for sale. Kaspberries, Strawbeiries, Cherries, 

 4c., are to be bought at a very low figure, as are also Apples, 

 Peaches, Plums, and the like. Melons and Gourds of all 

 BCirts are also to be found in abundance, and in the autumn 

 small but sweet little Grapes come in cartloads to the fruit 

 market. Now all these fruits are brought to market by the 

 growers. Very early on the market-day troops of women 

 gaily attired, with the gaudy but picturesque handkerchief 

 tied over the head, come and take their places on the kerb 

 with their one or more baskets ranged in front of them full 

 of fruit of one kind or another. Many get their husbands 



to bring them in the common cliarrette, which stands by till 

 the evening, when they all ride home, and give some less 

 fortunate comrade a lift. Some bring flowers — Pelargo- 

 ninns. Fuchsias, and the like — to be sold each at prices 

 vorj-ing from 20 to 30 sous, which shows them to be common 

 planes of no shape or cultivation. 



But this letter is getting to be longer than it has any 

 right to be, and so I will finish, hoping at some future period 

 to be allowed to go more into detail as to cultivation, &c. — 

 Patelin. 



HOETICULTUEE A SCHOOL. 



The Eev. Dr. Osgood addressing a public meeting re- 

 marked that horticultui'e is one of the best pursuits to follow 

 for mental culture — that gardening is a school, a workshop 

 and a pai-loiu-. As a school it begins with the eaxth or 

 mineral kingdom, and rises thi'ough the vegetable and animal 

 world. 



What a school for study is afforded by botanic gardens 

 with their vast collections of trees and plants ; but even a 

 small clod of earth is a fit subject for study, exemplifying 

 the truth that " wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop 

 than when we soar." Through all the grades of vegetable 

 life, from the minute microscopic plants to the tall Oaks, 

 there is a world of study and of wisdom. Botany is an in- 

 teresting study, pursued through the laws of vegetable 

 growth, particulaa-ly when illustrated by the familiar plants 

 around us. The gardener studies to get the greatest yield, 

 and he should combine the beautiful with the useful Lustead 

 of striving to separate them. We may hold up an Apple as 

 a thing of use, and point to a flower as a beautiful object, 

 and these, if not brother and sister, are at least first cousins. 

 Besides a school of leaa'ning, the garden should be a school- 

 house of Divine faith. 



As a workshop, the garden is one of the very best places 

 to develope bone and muscle. Let a lady take a hoe or rake, 

 and in a few hours every muscle will find its exercise ; and 

 the garden is a pleasant place in which to see oui- wives, our 

 sisters and daughters engaged — the best of all gymnasiums. 

 Flora and Pomona were called by the ancients feminine 

 divinities. ^Vhy may we not class gardening among the 

 fine arts ? If the cities were left to theu' own influences, 

 with no migration to or recruits from the country, the race 

 of citizens would become extinct ; hence the attempt to 

 bring a portion of the country and locate it in the city. 

 Here, too, we see the relation of landscape gardening to the 

 beautiful arts : for, besides some idea of architecture, the 

 gardener must have an eye for sculpture, and select and 

 plant his trees with reference to their sculptural effect. 

 What fine sky-lines are often produced by a group of trees 

 as seen in the evening. Besides, the gardener is a painter of 

 no mean order, using the colours which nature furnishes and 

 it is for him to apply them with fitness. How very little, 

 too, it takes to surround one's place with flowers, compared 

 to the sums jjaid for needless luxuries. Take 300 dols., for 

 instance, which a person can easily oat up at a fashionable 

 restaurant with a few friends, and spend it for Phloxes. For 

 full two months one can enjoy their rich bloom, and they 

 remain for many years. There is poeti-y, too, in the garden, . 

 wliich none better know than that father of American poetry, 

 William CuUen Bi^ant, who is both eloquent and poetic over 

 his flowers. Our education would be much more perfect were 

 we to unite tho study of gardening with that of books. 



The garden is a parlour with pleasing associations. We 

 want something when wo come together to unite us socially 

 and bring us into aiFinity, which the garden is eminently 

 calculated to do. Are not tho Strawberry and Grape minis- 

 ters of civilisation, if not of evangelisation? In enjoying 

 the lovely tints of a flower wo exhaust nothing, and rob 

 no one, while at the same time we are brought out of our 

 own selfishness. — (New York TrUnine.) 



UovAi, Hokticultukaij Society. — The fii'st of tho weekly 

 Saturday Shows was held at South Kensington on the 7th 

 inst., the subject invited being Chinese I'rimulas. Messrs. 

 E. G. Henderson and Mr. Coysh, gardener to Mrs. Wood, 

 Kugby, had first-class cci-tificatcs ibr their coUoctions, tho 

 former having their new Fern-leaved kinds, also a handsonip 



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