November 17, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



385 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



Of 



Month 



D .7 



Week. 



NOVEMBER 17—23, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 











Day. 



Night. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. s. 





17 



Th 



Meeting of Linnean Society, 8 p.m. 





48.1 



83.9 



41.0 



19 



23af7 



9af 4 



raorn. 



6af 2 



24 



14 53 



321 



18 



F 







47.9 



82.9 



40.4 



20 



25 7 



8 4 



41 



29 2 



25 



14 40 



322 



19 



S 



Length of night 15h. 20m. 





48.0 



83.5 



412 



17 



27 7 



7 4 



2 2 



51 2 



26 



14 27 



823 



20 



Son 



23 Sunday after Trinity. 





48.7 



34.6 



4,1.7 



14 



28 7 



6 4 



25 3 



12 3 



27 



14 13 



324 



21 



M 



Princess Royal Born, 1840. 





49.6 



86.2 



42.9 



26 



80. 7 



4 4 



49 4 



37 3 



28 



13 58 



325 



22 



Tu 







49.2 



84.7 



41.9 



22 



81 7 



8 4 



17 6 



4 4 



29 



IS 42 



826 



23 



W 



St. Clement. 





47.6 



84.2 



40.9 



18 



33 7 



2 4 



45 7 



39 4 



© 



13 25 



327 



From observations taken near London during 



the last fortv-three years 



the average day temperature of the week 



is 48 6°, 



and its night 



temperature 84.3°. The greatest heat was 61°, on the 20th, I860 ; and the lowest cold 18°, on the 19th, 1868. The greatest fall of rain was 



0.95 inch. 











FRUIT TREES FOR SMALL GARDENS.— No. 1. 



ROBABLY no gardens are so much neglected 

 and on the whole so badly arranged as farm 

 and cottage gardens. Horticultural societies 

 established in almost every town encourage 

 improvements of various kinds ; and there is 

 the horticultural press placing within the 

 reach of all information on gardening that 

 will not fail, if acted on, to improve both 

 flowers and fruit. Nothing, however, seems 

 as yet to have made any salutary impression 

 on the minds of the great mass of British farmers and 

 cottagers, many of the latter being employed by the farmers, 

 who ought to give them encouragement, and set an example 

 of good management in their own gardens. Horticultural 

 societies and the gardening journals to a laudable extent 

 encourage cottagers to attend to the culture of their 

 gardens, but how can they hope to succeed when employers 

 offer such examples of slovenly garden management? It 

 is remarkable that gentlemen, especially landed proprietors, 

 who for the most part have tasteful, productive, well-kept 

 gardens, do not take notice of the neglected and slovenly 

 condition of the gardens attached to their farmhouses, and 

 do not use their influence with their tenants to induce them 

 to pay more attention to garden- culture and keeping. 



Although agriculture and horticulture are kindred pur- 

 suits, strange to say there is no class of the community 

 so ignorant and destitute of taste in respect to gardening 

 as the great majority of our farmers. To such a pitch is 

 this disregard for the garden carried that many of them 

 own their ignorance with a clownish boast, as if the culture 

 of their gardens were a concern utterly contemptible, or 

 far below their notice. Some members of their family 

 may have a taste for the culture of flowers, fruit, or vege- 

 tables ; but the ill-assorted, discouraged, and often abortive 

 attempts at anything like taste or ornament are more 

 calculated to excite commiseration than any other feeling. 

 There are, no doubt, some well-arranged, well-managed 

 farmhouse and cottage gardens, but such are not the 

 general rule. 



Can nothing be done to remedy this contempt of farmers 

 and cottagers for their gardens ? Horticultural societies 

 have offered premiums time after time ; the press has 

 chronicled the event, and instructions have been given 

 so often that one might if so disposed have had them off 

 by heart ; but after all the gardens remain as they were 

 before. It is not want of taste for flowers and fruit that 

 withholds farmers and cottagers from attending to the 

 culture of their gardens, for they are ardent admirers of 

 both. They take pleasure when spring returns in wander- 

 ing in gardens, and seeing the Lilies shooting from the 

 ground, and the buds of the fruit trees full even to burst- 

 ing. They wonder how a Crab grew into an Apple, the 

 Sloe into a Plum, and the single became a double Daisy. 

 It is a marvel to them how the Vine bears its Grapes, and 

 the Pine Apple has its summer flavour whilst the snow is 

 as yet unmelted on the hills. None admire more than 

 they do the beauties of choice flowers and fruits, but after 

 No. 506.— Vol. XIX., New Series. 



they have highly extolled all they see in our best gardens 

 they find something that affords them a sort of consola- 

 tion—they have seen many fine fruits, but none equal to 

 what they have, perhaps by the bushel, from a standard 

 tree. 



Another obstacle to farmers and cottagers moving from 

 the old track is they see no place for fruit trees but an 

 orchard, and no description of trees but standards. As 

 to kinds, they do not look for better than those which they 

 or some neighbour may have — sorts that are very often 

 but slight removes from our Crabs. If prevailed on to 

 procure new kinds, they think these must be grown as 

 standards, and the expectation of getting as fine fruit 

 from them as they see elsewhere on bushes, pyramids, or 

 espaliers turns out a miserable disappointment, for the 

 kinds are wholly unsuitable for standards, like almost all 

 our best varieties of Apples, Plums, and Pears. 



Another cause of the adherence of farmers in garden 

 matters to old notions consists in the persons applied to 

 for information when anything new is contemplated. In 

 almost every village there is the presiding genius in the 

 man who has a neat garden of his own, and grows plants 

 for sale, besides going out to ," do-up " gardens. Brought 

 up in orchards, and believing in no garden unless it is 

 shaded by standard trees that will neither allow of flowers 

 succeeding nor of vegetables attaining perfection, his ideas 

 do not soar higher than his knowledge. He advises, and 

 his advice is generally adopted, for it is in accordance with 

 their own opinions — adverse to what are called new-fangled 

 notions. This person advises and plants for the British 

 farmer, and his cottager procures through him fruit trees 

 of inferior kinds, and of a description more likely to fruit 

 with the next tenant than with the present one. "What a 

 wondrous creature of hope — hope that a tree with a stem 

 like a walking-stick and a head like a mop will grow and 

 become strong and spreading like an Oak, as it must before 

 it will produce the bushels of fruit expected of it ! Until 

 garden knowledge be more generally diffused — uutil there 

 be in every village competent persons able to act and advise 

 on gardening in its best and most approved principles, 

 there will be that paradise of prejudice in which men 

 dream away their time. 



It has been said, and I think wisely, that those prepared 

 to point out a grievance should be prepared with a remedy. 

 The first suggestion that I have to offer is that the clergy 

 of every parish should undertake the instruction of cottage 

 gardeners. Being in general well posted up in the best 

 and most improved kinds of fruits, the most profitable form 

 of trees or systems of growing them, and, from their avoca- 

 tion looked up to, their advice and instruction would go a 

 long way in producing a change. Indeed, with a well- 

 kept garden, at times free to the inspection of the villagers, 

 especially if it could he hacked up by a show, there would 

 be awakened such a spirit of innocent rivalry and adesire to 

 excel in garden produce that any extra trouble would not 

 he felt, whilst the improvement would be manifest every- 

 where, giving to many a family a health more precious 

 than rubies Some. I am aware, are already engaged in 

 this noble work — aiding in fulfilling the intentions of 

 No. 115^. — Vol. XLIV., Old Seeiss. 



