CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
39 
Editor is to lessen the difficulties of an 
amateur, by giving him a dozen or two of 
really good things, the worst of which is good, 
and so assist him in forming a collection of the 
best things only. The Calendar of Operations for 
each month in the year is not very materially 
altered from last year, hut the lists are changed 
by striking out some of the worst and insert- 
ing some of the new things that have beaten 
them. To the amateur gardener it will be 
found absolutely necessary. There are some 
short notices of flowers, horticultural buildings, 
trellises, rustic work, fountains, and other 
subjects, embellished with wood engravings. 
That on fountains we quote for its simplicity. 
It is very roughly illustrated by what appears 
a pen-and-ink drawing, and the artist has cer- 
tainly not endeavoured to make the slightest 
improvement. This was thoughtless and un- 
wise, because the subject is one in which 
there was room to make a pretty sketch. It is, 
however, just as useful as a diagram, and 
we give it to illustrate the paper, which is 
very short and to the purpose — 
"simple method of making a fountain. 
*' By placing a Avater-butt at a considerable 
elevation, out of sight — as behind a wall, or in 
an upper room in an out-house, or any where 
else — and having a pipe from the bottom to 
any spot you like, you have a fountain : the 
elevation can always be increased by forming 
a valley below it. There is no difficulty in 
adding three or four or more feet to the rise of 
water, by sinking the ground into a hollow : 
then it should be also recollected, that by the 
jet being close to the surface, the stream of 
water is lengthened ; for, if there were a de- 
sign three feet high, it would be so much 
taken from the rise ; say, a jet throws up six 
feet from the surface of the basin, a three -foot 
figure would only throw the same stream up 
three feet. This simple machinery explains 
that a fountain requires nothing but a head of 
water ; and that, whether this is carried out 
with a tub or a reservoir of miles in extent, the 
principle is the same. But when water is 
laid on by water-companies, there is sufficient 
force for any thing ; and it may be laid into 
the jets at once. 
" A, section of wall ; B, water-butt ; C, 
pipe carried under-ground to fountain." — P. 94. 
As we give our own list and description of 
new Dahlias, we shall not quote that feature, 
but the Editor gives us to understand that 
there are scarcely any first-rate varieties, and, 
from his description, there seems to be a 
number of flowers which may be classed as 
useful without any marked excellence. Upon 
the whole, the Almanack for 1848 is by very 
much the best of the series, and the first in 
which the astrological portion has been worthy 
of the rest of the book, which contains a com- 
plete manual of gardening. The Editor is 
bent upon opposing certain people, for the 
sake of opposition, or his notions honestly 
differ from many. For instance, we observe 
that he boldly asserts that Mr. Whale's tipped 
flower Delight is the best flower of the season, 
although it was rejected altogether at the 
Surrey Gardens. He did the same by the 
Marchioness Cornwallis, and also by Keyne's 
Standard of Perfection, both of which were re- 
jected in the same way, and by the same 
judges. He proved right in the other two, 
and may in this. But he was as much op- 
posed to two other flowers selected for honours 
by the same judges. Bianca and Model were 
both pronounced by them to be first-class 
flowers, and he denounced them as altogether 
worthless ; and in both instances he was right. 
The florists must account for these discrepan- 
cies their own way ; we only state the facts. 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, 
AND ORIGINAL NOTES CONNECTED WITH HORTICULTURE 
AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
Liquid manure. — A good form of liquid 
manure may be obtained in the following 
manner : — Throw water over the fresh horse- 
dung as it comes from the stable, and allow 
the water to drain off" into a tank near at hand; 
this water carries with it a considerable pro- 
