August 22, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL of horticulture and cottage gardenee. 



143 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 



AUGUST 22—28, 1872. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Rain in 

 43 yearB. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



belore 



Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 









Day. 

 71.6 



Night. 



Mean. 



Davs. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Davs. 



m. s 





22 



Th 





49.7 



60.6 



17 



58af4 



6af7 



laf 9 



21 af 9 



18 



2 35 



235 



23 



F 



Keighley Horticultural Show. 



71.8 



49.0 



60.4 



21 



59 4 



4 7 



18 9 



39 10 



19 



2 19 



236 



24 



S 





71.6 



47.9 



59.7 



16 



1 5 



2 7 



36 9 



57 11 



20 



2 3 



237 



25 



Son 





74.1 



49.7 



61.9 



16 



3 5 



7 



10 



after. 



( 



1 47 



238 



26 



M 





72.5 



48.4 



60.1 



15 



4 5 



58 6 



29 10 



24 2 



22 



1 30 



239 



27 



Tu 



Banbury Horticultural Show. 



73.3 



49.1 



61.2 



12 



6 5 



56 6 



5 11 



29 3 



23 



1 13 



240 



28 



W 



Crystal Palace — Metropolitan Floral and 



72.7 



49.7 



61.2 



19 



8 5 



54 6 



51 11 



27 4 



24 



56 



241 







[ Fruit Show. 























From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 72.5° ; and 



its night temperature 



49.1° The greatest heat was 89'-, on the 25th, 1859 ; and the lowest cold 31°, on the 26th, 1861. The greatest fall of rain was 1.S2 inch. 





FLOWER GARDENING. 



HAVE been interested of late by several 

 communications in the Journal relative to 

 the desirability of a more extensive cultiva- 

 tion of the hardy and simple class of flowers 

 which have almost fallen into disuetude, 

 but there are signs that their restoration to 

 public favour is drawing nearer and nearer 

 as each year rolls round. 



In my younger days as a gardener — I am 

 by no means an " old hand " now — I became 

 convinced that our system of flower-garden decoration 

 was a system of extremes, and that the worst of all ex- 

 tremes — artificialism. I could not help regarding the 

 plan which required two-thirds of the year for prepa- 

 ration to produce just half that time of pleasure and en- 

 joyment as bordering on the absurd, and I have many 

 times felt that I could not defend my craft when I have 

 seen in spring and early summer a dreary exyjanse of 

 nothing in the cultivated garden, while the uncultivated 

 part of this beautiful earth was full of interest. I could 

 not but think that when the sun of spring awoke into 

 beauty the slumbering genius of Nature, when bank and 

 brae, earth and ah', were welcoming summer, that a 

 garden at such a time bleak and bare, and destitute of 

 flowers was, and is, a misnomer. I thought all this in 

 my boyish enthusiasm, and in manhood I think so still. 



Do not, reader, anticipate a tirade against the bedding- 

 out system — I am its friend, not its enemy. I love flowers 

 of all sorts and at all times, and I love to see them, and 

 to grow them too. I can enjoy in the fullest sense the 

 massive beauty of the modern formal flower garden in 

 autumn, I can appreciate the skill in elegant device and 

 nice balancing of colour, and can heartily rejoice in the 

 success of those who are successful in producing these 

 grand displays. I go further and say, that when required, 

 I can go heart and soul into preparations for this parti- 

 ■ cular style of garden-decoration; but I cannot give to it my 

 whole energies, or concentrate on it my entire resources. 

 I cannot wholly ignore the claims of spring and summer, 

 and bring them into absolute and complete subserviency 

 to autumn. I give to autumn its full share, but nothing 

 more, and because of this I feel I am not an enemy but a 

 friend to the bedding-out system. 



There never was an extreme yet but in time defeated 

 itself: the reaction always comes. A good thing usually 

 continues long if used, but certainly dies if abused. 



Holding these views firm and long, I determined, if ever 

 I had an opportunity, to give a fan - share of attention to 

 the early months of summer in then making the garden 

 bright, and for some years I have been able on a small scale 

 to indulge in that which I felt was right. I have carried 

 it out on the bedding system, and have carried it out on 

 the mixed or natural system. I have tried these plans, 

 and have made a special point of ascertaining which was 

 the more generally pleasure-affording. If the essence of 

 ' good government consists in doing the greatest good to 

 the greatest number, the essence of good flower gardening 

 No. 595.— Vol. XXIII.. New Series. 



may be properly adjudged to be that which provides the 

 greatest and most continuous pleasure, and elicits and 

 sustains the greatest interest and admiration. 



There can be no justification, that I know of, for dis- 

 guising the fact that apeishness almost amounts to a 

 principle, and exerts a vast influence on social usages. 

 Flower gardening is not an exception. A grand example 

 of a certain type of gardening is produced. The style is 

 exactly in harmony with the place and its surroundings. 

 Adequate conveniences are provided for the preparation • 

 of a given class and number of plants for a given end. 

 Working and results dovetail, as it were, into each other 

 to a nicety. The effect of the whole is striking, imposing, 

 beautiful. What is the result ? It may be sunmied-up 

 in the illustrative sentence, " I must have a bonnet like 

 missus ;" and then commences the scheming and dodging 

 in manufacturing the means. I know too well that in 

 the matter of preparations for bedding-out the analogy is 

 perfect. I have a vivid recollection of the unreasonable 

 amount of labour which has fallen to my lot in this re- 

 spect. I have for weeks together spent my days in water- 

 ing, in moving plants, and in scheming conveniences, 

 besides the ordinary routine duty, and had perforce to 

 trust to candle light to keep fhaster of the potting. I 

 have potted until twelve at night and past that hour 

 night after night, and many times not seen bed at all for 

 fear of being too late at my post in the morning, and 

 Sundays have been anything but days of rest. All this 

 was for an idea — being "like missus" — it was done for 

 bedding-out in a rjla.ce not adapted for it, lacking con- 

 veniences, and when all was done that could be done, 

 lacking the effect desired. 



Depend upon it, owners of gardens have, and can have, 

 but little idea of the extraordinary efforts made by gar- 

 deners to carry out a type of flower gardening in places 

 where proper conveniences are denied, or they would 

 provide means of working or be satisfied with a different 

 mode of floral decoration — one simpler, more suitable to 

 the place, and one which, by its manifest fitness, would 

 in most places be more agreeable and pleasing. 



But in fairness it must be said that the responsibility 

 of much of the present muddle by attempting too much 

 does not rest with employers, but with gardeners them- 

 selves. I am proud of the energy and enterprise of the 

 craft to which I belong, and believe that much of the 

 success of gardening is due to the spirit of emulation 

 existent amongst the workers. This perseverance is 

 generally admitted and appreciated. But recognising 

 this, one cannot be blind to the fact that it is sometimes 

 overdone, inasmuch as it is not always prosecuted under 

 the governance of sound and good judgment. 



A gardener, especially a new beginner, is perhaps rather 

 too prone to "go ahead." He must make alterations — do 

 something grand. He has seen a pattern — a result, and 

 must imitate it, forgetting that a perfect success is in one 

 place comparatively easy, while in another mediocrity m 

 the same style is next to a certainty. One has not to go 

 far to see that mistakes of this nature are frequent. A 

 man attempts what his place is not adapted for. He 



No. 1247— Vol.. XLVIII , Old Series. 



