September 13, 1864. ] JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



213 



a band of matting— say 6 or 8 inches from the soil, not 

 firmly, but sufficiently so to cause the leaves to stand up- 

 right round the heart of the plant, and so firm as by the 

 very tying to commence the process of blanching. Then, if 

 necessary, we water again. If it is dry weather, and we do 

 not want to earth-up, we may scatter from half an inch to an 

 inch of soil over the bed or rows, to keep the moisture in, 

 and this may be repeated if necessary. For our first Celery 

 we earth-up after such watering from twenty to twenty-five 

 days before we want to take it up, doing the most of this 

 earthing-up at once, and earthing only a little at a time for 

 early use, as if too much is done the roots would be too dry 

 in sunny weather from the evaporation from the leaves. As 

 autumn goes on, when, after the middle of October, it 

 matters less how the earthing-up is performed, as done it 

 must be early, to secure the Celery against frost, by some 

 means or other. But then evaporation is reduced to a mini- 

 mum — nay, the leaves by the end of that month will absorb 

 as much as they perspire, and, therefore, there will be no 

 danger of the roots being kiln-dried. "We could say little 

 "more were we to write a volume on the subject.— R. Fish. 



A GOOD EXAMPLE. 



[We have not space to spare for reports of what occurs at 

 the very numerous village horticultural societies of our land; 

 but we must publish a portion of the sayings and doings on 

 the 27th of August, in a remote parish of Ireland. If similar 

 associations, fostering the love of home, the beautiful, and 

 the useful, were established throughout that land of vast 

 capabilities, it would be a powerful agent for its improve- 

 ment, and the " shillelagh " would more generally become 

 a hoe-handle, and benefit by breaking clods oftener than 

 iieads.] 



THE KILSKEERY GARDENING SOCIETY. 



In the parish of Kilskeery the want of a society which 

 would act as a stimulus to the people in the cultivation of 

 gardening has long been felt, and it was to supply the de- 

 ficiency that a society has been formed in the parish, which 

 would incite its farmers and cottagers to pay greater atten- 

 tion, than they have hitherto done to the cultivation of their 

 gardens. Having that in view a Horticultural Society has 

 been established in the parish, under the patronage of the 

 estimable Rector, the Rev. John Grey Porter, and Mrs. 

 Porter, who gave every encouragement to the project, and 

 the first exhibition of the season was held in the petty 

 sessions court, Trillick. The show of flowers and vegetables 

 was considerable in amount, and taking into account that 

 they came from the gardens of the small farmers and the 

 cottagers in the parish, they reflected the greatest credit on 

 their producers. The show altogether was excellent, and 

 gave evidence of a promising future for the Society. 



The Rev. Mr. Porter, at the request of the Committee, 

 presided. 



The Secretary, Mr. Fitzsimons, read the list of prizes, 

 and the Rev. Chairman rose and said, that by the favour of 

 the Committee he had been called on to preside upon that 

 occasion ; and as that was the first show of their Society, 

 he thought it his duty to mention a few things to them con- 

 nected with its establishment. They were all aware the 

 parish was inhabited by a most industrious, decent, orderly, 

 and intelligent community, that they had neither grand 

 jurors among them nor resident landlords, nor had they 

 anything to look to but their own resources ; and deprived 

 as they were of all the advantages which the neighbouring 

 parishes possessed, for there was scarcely a gentleman re- 

 sident among them who kept a gardener for the purpose of 

 encouraging horticulture, he (Chairman) felt proud at what 

 he saw exhibited that day (applause). He had had an op- 

 portunity of going round the room and examining the entire 

 exhibition, but the majority of those he had the honour of 

 addressing had not time to do so, and he hoped they would 

 all examine the whole display, and above all look at the 

 beautiful flowers that were placed all round them. There 

 was a horticultural society in the county Fermanagh, which 

 lately held a show of flowers. He was not present at it, but 

 on reading in the newspaper the list of prizes, he found that 

 ■they generally went to my Lord Erne, my Lord Enniskillen, 



and a gentleman who resides in the Palace at Clogher, of 

 the name of J. Ellison Macartney (a laugh). What good 

 did the granting to those gentlemen — who might have the 

 fruits of their gardens placed on their tables — of prizes do 

 the honest fellows whom he felt proud to be addressing on 

 the present occasion ? He wanted to have the tastes of the 

 peasantry improved, he wanted to have their minds elevated 

 and enlarged, in order that they should fully appreciate and 

 em'oy all that was beautiful in nature. Let the grandees 

 settle their affairs amongst themselves, but he hoped that 

 with the people's help — and he could do nothing without 

 them — and the help of the ladies, to have annually in the 

 room they were assembled in, such a meeting as he had the 

 pride and pleasure of presiding over on that day (cheers). 

 Flowers were said to be the toys of the rich ; but they were 

 also, as he conceived, the friends of the poor. It was im- 

 possible for any person to cultivate a flower and not look up 

 with thankfulness and joy to God who had made that flower 

 (hear). He had been reading the other day a little book 

 written by Dr. Mayhew, that on one occasion a missionary 

 went to a district called Bloomsbury, in the neighbourhood 

 of the Seven Dials, in London, where he visited a poor old 

 woman who was living on the parish allowance of 2s. 6eJ. 

 a-week, and she felt delighted at seeing the missionary come 

 to visit her at her bedside. He went to the window and 

 saw on the sill a broken teapot, and in that was a Straw- 

 berry plant. The missionary rejoiced at seeing the plant 

 growing in the broken teapot, and by way of comforting 

 her he remarked to her that it was thriving well and that 

 she would have some fruit. " Oh ! " said she, " it is not 

 for the sake of the fruit I cultivated it, but unable as I am to 

 support a living thing near me " — for she had not even a cat 

 or dog in the room with her — " I would like to have some 

 living thing, for that living thing draws its life from the 

 Creator, and I think when I have God near me who made 

 this living plant I am safe." 



He had never yet discovered among the annals of crime, 

 through all his experience as a magistrate, the man who was 

 fond of flowers being convicted of a crime. They had dif- 

 ferent kinds of flowers — they had the Orange which- many 

 liked, and which was a beautiful flower, and for his (Chair- 

 man's) part, he liked the " shillelagh " with its " Shamrock 

 so green" (cheers and laughter). But upon that neutral 

 ground they all could assemble together. He would have 

 his flower, but there was no hostile feeling intended ; add 

 each and every cne should have the flower he liked best. It 

 was a good character for a man when he was fond of culti- 

 vating his flowers, for it showed that he had a taste for, and 

 was fond of them. He should tell them that in all parts of 

 the world, and especially in Ireland, there were societies of 

 every kind. There were farming societies, racing societies, 

 they had boat societies, and while mentioning that he wished 

 them all on board the "Devenish" some time or other 

 (laughter). There were societies for breeding dogs, for cats, 

 and for donkeys (more laughter), and for everything that 

 could be mentioned ; and why should they not endeavour to 

 raise the poor man ; add more to his means of comfort, 

 of intelligence and knowledge ? If that were done they 

 might depend on it that they would be humanising the 

 lower classes of society more than they have been, and in- 

 stead of men wasting their time after great evils, they would 

 all cherish flowers because they were cultivated by them, for 

 God had blessed the land with them. The world at first 

 was a garden, for God had put man, after he had created 

 him, into a garden, and told him to keep it ; and after man's 

 fall God desired him to go and till the earth, after he had 

 driven him out of the garden he had forfeited by his sin. 

 All who cultivated the ground, who propagated flowers, and 

 made them the ornament of their dwellings, deserved the 

 highest praise, and were worthy of every encouragement. 

 He would call upon all those resident in the parish to 

 support the Society. If they did so they would soon find 

 that whatever influence he possessed he would be delighted 

 to afford them. He looked upon it as oae of the most agree- 

 able duties of the clergyman, not c nly to preach, not only 

 to have religious worship in God's house, but to do every- 

 thing that would tend to civilise and elevate mankind. To 

 the poor man in his cabin go, and tell him that God never 

 intended him to live in cheerless misery. Let him have his 

 garden to cultivate his flowers, and he would soon become a 



