April 28, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



303 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day Day 



of of 



M'nth^Week. 



Tu 

 W 

 Th 

 F 



s 



SON 



M 



APRIL 28-MAY 4, 1863. 



Star or Bethlehem flowers. 



Harebell flowers. 



Wagner born, 1641. B. 



S. Phu. & Jas. P. Arthur b. 



Abercrombie died. 1806. [1850. 



4 Sunday after Easter. 



Bonpland died, 1858. B. 



Weather hear London in 1862. 



Barometer. 



30.124— S0.017 

 30.247—30.027 

 30.0S5-29.924 

 29.913—29.900 

 30.162—30.078 

 30.146-29.796 

 29.776-29.673 



Thermom. Wind. *™£ 



degrees. 

 74—32 

 69-34 

 74—43 

 79-50 

 65—35 

 59-45 

 78-50 



W. 



E. 



S.E. 

 S.E. 



N. 



E. 



S. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



.03 

 .02 



m. h 

 40af4 



Moon 

 Sun Rises 

 Sets, i and Sets 



m. h 



15af7 



m. h. 



7 2 

 27 2 

 47 2 



8 3 

 32 3 



rises. 



9 a 3 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 14 

 O 

 16 



in. h. 

 2 34 



Day of 

 Year. 



118 

 119 

 120 

 121 

 122 

 123 

 124 



»™.«.»™. n» ttth Wm —At Chkwick from observations during the last thirty-six years, the average highest and lowest 



tm S™™^^™™»*™™$^'^'^x u *\ 1 '' °<r rred f ,r the mtt - " mim - ^^ mm3 -' -* the 



lowest cold, 18", on the 29th, in 1861. During the period 158 days were fine, and on 94 ram fell. 



GARDENERS' BENEFIT SOCIETY. 



iLTHOTJGH gardeners are a long- 



;J lived class, yet their labour being 



' heavy and their exposure to sudden 



vicissitudes of temperature very 



frequent, they are among the 



classes who are most liable to 



rheumatism and other illnesses 



temporarily incapacitating them 



for labour. 



Gardeners, therefore, from 

 these causes, and from the generally 

 low rate of wages they receive, are of 

 the number who especially require 

 occasional money aid ; yet being also 

 especially liable to change their situations, they are con- 

 sequently restrained from becoming members of local 

 Friendly Societies. 



Other societies, usually called benefit clubs, are chiefly 

 beneficial to the landlords of the inns where they hold 

 their meetings, and too often induce some of the members 

 to spend as much in drinking and smoking as they have 

 to contribute to the club. Nor is that the only objection 

 to such clubs ; for being founded on erroneous principles, 

 or upon no principle at all, the funds too often fail, and 

 the contributor's money has been expended without any 

 benefit to himself. 



The usual principle, or rather no principle, of such 

 clubs is, that all the members pay an equal weekly sum 

 to the fund. The unfairness of this to the younger 

 members is demonstrated by the indisputable fact, that 

 the older members are liable, on an average, to exactly 

 twice as many days of sickness in the course of a year 

 than are the younger members. 



Mr. Finlayson, Actuary of the National Debt, made a 

 report to the House of Commons upon this very point, 

 and after examining and comparing the returns made 

 from all the Friendly Societies throughout the kingdom 

 to the Registrar appointed by Act of Parliament, he states, 

 " In the case of heavy labour the average amount of sickness 

 is : — 



In the first twenty-five years of labour, from 



the age of 15V to 40i .... 189-,% days. 

 In the next twenty-five years, from the age 



of 40i to 65J 391-365 days." 



Other results from the light-labour classes coincide 

 with this, and Mr. Finlayson concludes by saying, " These 

 results indicate a law on this point, and to establish the 

 conclusion that the sickness undergone during the first 

 twenty-five years of working life, is the exact half of that 

 undergone during the second twenty-five years." 



Therefore, as regards the individual, it is clear that 

 where a member included in the first period pays Is. to 

 secure a sick allowance, a member included in the second 

 period must pay 2s. to derive the same allowance and 

 sustain the funds of the Society. 



Although for the sake of arriving at this valuable statis- 

 No. 109.— Vol. IV., New Series. 



tical information, the subscribers to Friendly Societies 

 have been divided into only two periods of twenty-five 

 years each, yet the returns from the kingdom's societies 

 from which that information is derived, shows that every 

 year of labouring life averages a different amount of sick- 

 ness, gradually increasing as age increases. Upon those 

 returns Mr. Finlayson has calculated a set of most trust- 

 worthy tables, showing the monthly payment a man 

 engaged in heavy labour ought to make, commencing at 

 any age after 14 years, to secure to himself an allow- 

 ance of 10s. weekly during sickness until he has attained 

 the age of 70, 65, or 60 years. 



Taking the limit as 70 years, then if he becomes a 

 member at 15 years of age, he would have to pay Is. 2d. 

 montkly ; if he begins at 30, then Is. 6d. monthly ; and if 

 at 45, then 2s. Id. monthly. This is omitting fractions 

 of a penny.and making no allowance for the expense of 

 managing the Society. 



That management requires care and circumspection. 

 Diseased and broken-eonstitutioned members have to be 

 excluded, and unfounded claims have to be checked. 



When the age of 70, 65, or 60 years, whichever of 

 those three periods a subscriber has selected, has been 

 attained, then another aid of a benefit Society is avail- 

 able, which provides a weekly payment for the remainder 

 of the subscriber's life. This is quite independent of 

 the allowance-in-sickness fund, and requires an entirely 

 separate subscription. 



Mr. Finlayson from the source of indisputably sound 

 information above referred to, has returned to the House 

 of Commons a set of tables, showing for what monthly 

 payments a pension of 5s. per week can be secured, to 

 commence at the age of 70 years, 65 years, or 60 years. 



If the gardener, for example, wishes, to secure such a 

 pension when he attains 70, and begins to contribute for 

 it at the age of 15 years, he must pay 6d. per month ; if 

 he begins at 30 years, Is. per month ; and if at 45 years, 

 2s. 6d. per month. 



Consequently, in such a benefit society a gardener be- 

 ginning when 15 years old to pay to its funds Is. 8d. 

 a-month, may secure 10s. per week during sickness until 

 lie is 70 ; and 5s. per week for the remainder of his life. 

 If beginning to subscribe when 30 years old, 2s. 6d. per 

 month will secure to him the same payments ; and if 

 beginning to subscribe when 45, then 4s. Id. must be his 

 monthly contribution. 



The preceding are the chief objects of a Gardeners' 

 Benefit Society so far as its members are concerned in- 

 dividually ; but there is another function employable by 

 such a Society for the benefit of the community, whether 

 they be gardeners or the employers of gardeners. 



Such a Benefit Society could only be managed by a 

 Board of Directors and a Secretary. Those Directors 

 should be men identified with gardening, and in whom all 

 gardeners have an entire confidence. Those Directors 

 might have periodical meetings for the examination of 

 any gardeners who chose to appear before them, and to 

 whom the examiners might grant a first, second, or third- 

 class certificate, according to a previously announced 

 No. 761.— Vol. XXIX., Ow> Series. 



