November 80, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



458 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 

 of 



Month 



Day 

 of 



Week. 



NOV. SO— DEC. 6, 1876. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Cloos 

 before 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year 



80 

 1 

 2 

 3 



4 

 5 

 6 



Th 



P 



s 



Son 

 M 

 Tu 

 W 



Princess of Wales born, 1814. 



1 Sunday in Advent. 



Caspar Bauhia died, 1624. 



Royal Horticultural Society— Fruit and Floral Com- 

 [ mittees at 11 A.il. 



Day. 



48 

 48.5 

 47.4 

 47.0 

 48.1 

 49.0 

 48.2 



Nierht. 

 84 5 

 84.9 

 83.7 

 35.8 

 S6.4 

 35.2 

 36.7 



Mean. 

 413 

 41.7 

 40.5 

 41.4 

 42.2 

 42.1 

 42.4 



h. m. 

 7 45 

 7 47 

 7 48 

 7 49 

 7 51 

 7 52 

 7 53 



h. m. 

 3 53 

 8 52 

 3 51 

 3 51 

 8 50 

 8 50 

 8 50 



h. rn. 



2 42 



3 19 



4 16 



5 83 



7 8 



8 85 

 10 8 



fc. m. 



6 40 



8 10 



9 81 



10 S3 



11 15 

 11 44 



a 3 



Days. 

 14 

 • 

 16 

 17 

 18 

 19 

 20 



m. s. 

 10 57 

 10 34 

 10 11 

 9 47 

 9 23 

 8 58 

 8 82 



335 

 836 

 837 

 838 

 839 

 840 

 841 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years, the average day temperature 

 85. 3°. 



of the week is 4(r.7 J ; and its night temperature 



ALTEKATIONS. 



OW mucli meaning is attached to that one 

 word it is impossible to say, and equally 

 impossible is it to estimate the amount of 

 labour which every year must be credited 

 to the subject which it represents. When 

 we think of the word — or rather the work 

 which it shadows — we are constrained to 

 think of the taste which is exercised annu- 

 ally — taste gone mad in many instances, 

 possibly. We are reminded also of the 

 changeful disposition of owners and gardeners, for cer- 

 tainly neither one nor the other can long remain satisfied 

 without " making alterations." 



Alterations in the minds of some would appear to be 

 the be-all and end-all of a gardener's duties. No sooner 

 is a gardener, especially a young one, placed in charge 

 of a garden than he must commence making changes. 

 A hundred to one if his predecessor — however ably he 

 may have conducted his change — will be regarded by the 

 "man in possession" as having been competent in his 

 calling, and forthwith the weak points are paraded and 

 every nook and corner is sought to give a handle where- 

 with to grind out a tune — a dolorous ditty — on neglect, 

 delinquencies, and ruin which the new man is called upon 

 to inherit. And now commences the great work of alter- 

 ations. These may be necessary, or some of them, and 

 they will look quite as well when carried out if unaccom- 

 panied by any running commentary on the shortcomings 

 of someone who "left them to be accomplished, and pro- 

 vided an opportunity for the operator of making himself 

 famous. 



In essaying the making of alterations it is always highly 

 important that a full and proper understanding should 

 exist between an employer and gardener. For the want 

 of this necessary and proper agreement much unplea- 

 santness has arisen in the past, and which has too often 

 led to inconvenience on the part of the master and loss — 

 serious loss — to the man. 



Let it always be remembered that it is not sufficient 

 for a gardener alone to consider that alterations are 

 needed, and forthwith proceed to make them on the 

 property and at the expense of another. The owner 

 must also see the necessity of the projected changes and 

 should give his sanction to what is proposed ; then is 

 responsibility removed from a servant whose care on 

 ordinary matters of routine and his daily labour is suffi- 

 cient for one in his position to bear. I allude not now 

 to trivial changes which a man may make for his own 

 convenience and the better performance of his duties, 

 but to radical and fundamental alterations on which the 

 owner of a garden very properly desires to be consulted. 



The question now arises as to what must be regarded 

 as a radical alteration. All alterations involving extra 

 labour and outlay naturally come under this category, 

 and especially so if the cost is not merely a "first cost" 

 and then done with, but which may render further out- 

 lay necessary extending over an indefinite period. As a 

 No. 818.-VOL. XXXI., New Semes 



general rule alterations when made in gardens involve 

 additional labour being expended for some time after 

 they have been done. That is a condition which requires 

 serious consideration, for what may be considered a 

 trifling matter by a gardener may be a vital point with 

 the owner of the garden. Some there are who desire 

 improvements rendering their grounds more picturesque 

 and enjoyable, and who do not hesitate to allow any 

 additional outlay which may be required as a consequence 

 of any changes which may be made to effect that end, but 

 the great majority are otherwise disposed. They do not 

 feel themselves justified in sanctioning further expendi- 

 ture, and would rather forego the pleasure of making 

 improvements than incur the cost of them. When this 

 is known — and there is generally no difficulty in ascer- 

 taining it — it behoves a gardener to proceed cautiously 

 and not permit his enthusiasm, which is pardonable and 

 even laudable in itself, from impelling him to a course 

 of action for which he may have to pay the penalty at 

 Borne— it may be not far — distant date. All alterations 

 which have a tendency to permanently increase expendi- 

 ture are decidedly of a fundamental character, and should 

 never be carried out without the sanction of those who 

 have to pay for them. Some owners of gardens are 

 sufficiently candid to admit that alterations are desirable, 

 but to that append a warning that if the grounds cannot 

 be kept in order after the projected changes without 

 further assistance the gardener will have to bear the 

 responsibility. Ihat is a difficult position for a gardener 

 to be placed in, for the very wish of an employer will 

 often tempt an earnest man to run some risk of his own 

 welfare in order to meet the desires of his employer. A 

 gardener in such a position must think intently over 

 his project and make his calculations with great care 

 lest failure ensue, and in that case the charm of making 

 alterations vanishes, and what was once ardently con- 

 sidered to be an improvement turns out a mistake. That 

 is not a mere possibility which may occur, but an un- 

 pleasant fact which has occurred a hundred times, as 

 many gardeners know to their coBt. Along experience 

 has brought many instances of this nature under my 

 notice. The last was the case of an earnest able gardener 

 and a kind employer. The lawn was large, and by dint 

 of hard work was well kept. It was surrounded by belts 

 of trees, with shrubs and evergreens sweeping the grass. 

 It also contained many large clump3 of trees, &c, which 

 similarly covered the ground, forming agreeable natural 

 thickets and revealing little or nothing of the gardener's 

 art. With these the master was satisfied, but not so the 

 man, who, in spite of pleasantly-given warnings of the 

 consequences of making more work, laboured hard and 

 long in opening out the clumps, pruning the shrubs, 

 raking the ground, and planting flowers. The neatness 

 and trimness which he produced wero at the first pleasing 

 in his sight, but the labour of keeping the grounds in 

 order exceeded his anticipations, and the garden as a 

 whole could not be so well kept as formerly, and after 

 working for a few years through " all the hours of day- 

 light," he was obliged to relinquish a charge which for 



No. 1473.— Vol. LVI , Old Series. 



