238 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t September 20, 1864 



seem, on the 4th of July thirty-two persons were engaged 

 in dancing four sets of cotillions at one time, without suffer- 

 ing any inconvenience whatever, and besides these there 

 were musicians and lookers-on. Across, the solid wood of 

 this stump, 5i feet from the ground (now the hark is removed 

 ■which was from 15 to IS inches in thickness), measured 

 25 feet, and with the bark 28 feet. Think for a moment ; the 

 stump of a tree exceeding 9 yards in diameter, and sound to 

 the very centre ! This tree employed five men for twenty days 

 in felling it — not by chopping it down, but by boring it off 

 ■with pump augurs. After the stem was fairly severed from 

 the stump, the uprightness of the tree and breadth of its 

 base sustained it in its position. To accomplish the feat of 

 throwing it over, about two and a-half days were spent in 

 inserting wedges and driving them in by the butts of trees, 

 until at last the monarch of the forest was forced to tremble 

 and then to fall, after braving " the battle and the breeze " 

 for nearly three thousand years. This noble tree was 302 feet 

 in height, 96 feet in circumference at the ground. Again : 

 A short distance from the above lies the prostrate and 

 majestic body of the " Father of the Forest," the largest tree 

 of the whole group, half buried in the soil. This tree 

 measured in circumference at t,he roots 110 feet. It is 

 200 feet to the first branch. By the trees that were broken 

 off when this tree bowed its proud head in its fall, it is 

 estimated that when standing it could not be less than 

 435 feet in height. 300 Feet from the roots and where it 

 was broken off by striking against another large tree, it is 

 18 feet in diameter." — [Scenes of Wonder and Curiosity in 

 California.) 



A PEACTICAL UNTKUTH. 



It is very humiliating at any time and for any person to 

 be compelled to make a confession of a little shabby delin- 

 quency, and it is especially so in the case of amateur gar- 

 deners, a body of men usually considered remarkably free 

 from any taint of moral turpitude; and yet I must make a 

 clean breast of it, and confess before the world that I have 

 been guilty of a little secret doing not quite consistent with 

 the high standard of gardening morality : so out it comes. 



On my lawn I have two rather large and very prominent 

 beds, which are planted with choice Gladioli, the surface 

 being covered with Mignonette; now it is known to all 

 growers of this very beautiful flower that under a hot sun 

 their brightness and effulgence soon fades, it will, therefore, 

 be obvious that I found it a difficult matter during the late 

 intensely hot weather to sustain the beauty of my favourite 

 bed. What was to be done ? Must I submit to be twitted 

 about the failure of my horticultural skill? This would 

 never do; so I set my wits to work. Now, independently 

 of these two prominent beds, I have several patches of 

 these beautiful bulbs planted at different times, intended 

 for cutting for dinner-table decoration ; when, therefore, any 

 of the spikes of flowers in the beds on the lawn became 

 " dowdy," I cut them down, and replaced them by spikes 

 cut from the reserve-beds, and stuck into the ground amid 

 the foliage of their decapitated confreres, giving them a 

 plentiful supply of water. In this condition they continued 

 fresh and beautiful, expanding every one of their flowers to 

 the very apex ; and no one suspected I had been guilty of 

 so shabby a trick, and to this moment the mystery of my 

 success has remained veiled! Forgive me, ye armies of 

 "blue aprons ! " Confession is one step to amendment, and 

 this one step I have taken. — T. S. 



A NATIONAL HOKTICTTLTUEAL SOCIETY 



WELL MANAGED. 



Twice has the Massachusetts Horticultural Society had 

 occasion to erect a hall sufficiently extensive to meet its 

 requirements ; and when laying the foundation stone upon 

 the second occasion, no longer since than the 14th of last 

 month, its President addressed the assembled members. 

 "We will make but one extract from that address. 

 " Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society : — 

 . " We are assembled here to-day, agreeably to your direc- 

 tion, to take the first formal step towards the erection of a 

 building for the use of the Society, to more effectually carry 



out ' its purposes of encouraging and improving the science 

 and practice of horticulture, promoting the amelioration of 

 the various species of trees, fruits, plants, and vegetables, 

 and the introduction of new species and varieties.' 



" Such were the original objects of the Society, as named 

 in the act of incorporation, and such, I am happy to say, 

 they have always been, and, I doubt not, ever will be, as 

 long as this beautiful edifice you are about to erect shall 

 endure. 



" It is since the completion of the former hall that the 

 progress of the Society has been rapid, and its influence felt 

 throughout the entire country. New life and fresh vitality ' 

 were infused into the Society. It had the sympathy, as it 

 had the substantial aid, of the public. It was appreciated 

 as its founders intended it should be. Its objects seemed all 

 at once to become apparent. It encouraged and promoted 

 the science and practice of horticulture ; it stimvdated the 

 production and introduction of new flowers, fruits, trees, 

 and plants ; it rewarded the cultivator for the best speci- 

 mens of his skill; it gathered together, for the use of the 

 members, a library of the most celebrated English and 

 French works on gardening ; it made known through its 

 weekly and annual exhibitions all the choicer productions of 

 the garden, the orchard, and the greenhouse ; it awakened a 

 taste for ornamental and landscape art, and it disseminated 

 through its annual reports a vast fund of information upon 

 every branch of horticulture." 



We could name one or two gentlemen who ought to blush 

 when they read this, knowing, as they do, how just the 

 reverse is the truth if spoken of our Royal Horticultural 

 Society. 



THE EYE EDUCATION OF GAEDENEKS. 



Yoto correspondent who signs himself " A Max with an 

 Eye " seems to be very imperfectly acquainted with gar- 

 deners generally — I mean real gardeners ; for it is not every 

 man who " dons a blue apron and shoulders a spade " that 

 can be truly called a gardener. While we see so many 

 advertisements for a gardener who thoroughly understands 

 the management of hothouse and greenhouse, kitchen and 

 flower garden, and can look after a horse and chaise, and 

 also wait at table, there will always be plenty of grooms and 

 coachmen ready to style themselves gardeners for the sake 

 of the little higher pay than grooms generally obtain, and, 

 of course, as far as the garden is concerned, they will be 

 found deficient in the required eye, and frequently of both 

 visionary organs. I think it must be with such men as these 

 that the " Man with an Eye " has had to do, and not with 

 gardeners ; for although a gardener myself, and by no means 

 a perfect one, I may safely assert without fear of contradic- 

 tion that gardeners as a body have very good eyes, seeing 

 many imperfections in the places under their care that are 

 quite unnoticed by their employers, and are too frequently 

 powerless from the want of adequate assistance to remedy 

 these (to them) visible defects. I am quite ready to admit 

 the imperfections in many instances of gardeners — I mean 

 men who from the early training and opportunities they 

 have had ought to have become masters of the art of ma- 

 naging a gentleman's garden establishment, whether large 

 or small; but still I would advise the "Man" with an Eye" 

 to become better acquainted with real gardeners before he 

 continues denouncing them as so void of the properly edu- 

 cated eye. I have felt it a duty to vindicate the character 

 of my fraternity, and sign myself, not a man with one eye 

 only, but I hope — One having both Eyes Open. 



SUPPLYING LONDON TVITH POTATOES. 

 Foetsteriy the great Potato mart of London was in Tooley 

 Street, and at the wharves which lie between that thorough- 

 fare and the Thames vessels from all the ports on the 

 eastern coast of England, laden with Potatoes, used to 

 deliver their cargoes. The Tooley Street market, however, 

 may be said to exist no longer, nearly the whole traffic in 

 the carriage of Potatoes having been diverted from the 

 coasting trade to the railways, and to the Great Northern in 

 particular. So silently has this change taken place, that 

 even railway shareholders themselves have not been aware 

 of it, and therefore it was that the announcement made by 



