nearly all their family, and but for the severity of the 
weather the third generation of grandchildren could 
also have been numerously represented. One of their 
sons journeyed from Gothenburg, in Sweden, to be 
present, and in presenting a handsome timepiece, the 
gift of the family, their eldest son, Mr. Peter 
Loney, Jun., from Marchmont, made a few appro- 
priate remarks, expressing congratulations for the 
present happiness, and good wishes for the future 
welfare, of the couple now enjoying the jubilee of 
their married life. Mr. Peter Loney, Sen., who 
has been gardener at Fingask for the last forty-four 
years, is widely known in the Carse of Gowrie dis- 
trict for his urbanity of manner to all visitors to the 
gardens and grounds, which were laid out by the late 
Sir Patrick Murray Thriepland in the ancient 
style, which Mr. Loney, from his activity and zeal, 
is still enabled, through the trustees for the young 
heir to the estate, to maintain in all their pristine 
beauty. Those employed in the gardens raised a 
large bonfire in honour of the aged and respected 
couple. 
Ceylon Products. — “Cingalese ” writes : — 
“ Coffee crops here are smaller than ever, but Cin- 
chona is paying well, and Cacao will soon pay still 
better. Tea will soon be a very good export from 
Ceylon ; indeed, I believe Ceylon Tea to be the best 
in the world. An immense acreage is being planted, 
so that in spke of Hemileia there is a bright future 
for this country.” 
The Weather. — General remarks on the 
temperature, rainfall, and duration of bright sunshine, 
for agricultural and sanitary purposes, during the week 
ending Dec. i8, issued by the Meteorological Office, 
London The weather has been generally fine in the 
north of Scotland and moderately so in Ireland, but 
gloomy in all other parts of the country. In many 
places fog or mist has prevailed, and in the south-west 
of England some heavy falls of rain have been ex- 
perienced. The temperature has varied greatly in 
different districts and on different days, but, on the 
whole, has been below the mean in all districts except 
“England, S.” In England the thermometer was 
lowest on the first day of the period, when it fell to 
lo® in the Midland Counties and from 15° to 20® 
elsewhere. Over Ireland and Scotland the minima 
were registered on the 15th, in the former country they 
varied from 10® to 13®, while in Scotland the un- 
usually low point of 6° was reached. During the 
latter part of the 15th the temperature rose very 
rapidly in the northern and western parts of the king- 
dom, and for the last few days of the period 
maxima varying from 46® to 49® were recorded in 
Scotland, while in most parts of England and in 
Ireland the thermometer rose to between 49® and 52®. 
The rainfall has been more than the mean in “ Scot- 
land, E.” and “England, S.W.,” but less in all other 
districts. Bright sunshine has been exceedingly de- 
ficient at nearly all stations. In “ Ireland, S.” 21 
percent, has been recorded, and in “Scotland, E.” 
18 per cent., but elsewhere the percentages ranged 
from 8 in “ Scotland, W.” to o in “ England, N.E.” 
Depressions observed : — Pressure during this period 
was generally highest over Scandinavia and lowest in 
the south-west and western parts of our area. Several 
depressions approached our west and south-west coasts, 
but none of importance travelled across our islands. 
The wind was consequently south-easterly or easterly 
in direction, and occasionally blew freshly or strongly 
in the extreme west and south-west. Over central 
and south-easterly Englane the wind was very light 
and at times sank to a calm. On the north and east 
coast of Scotland a fresh south-easterly gale was ex- 
perienced for a few hours on the 17th. 
Gardening Appointments. — Mr. H. 
Birch, for five years Foreman to Mr. Barham, at 
Croxteth Hall, Liverpool, as Gardener to Baron 
Ferdinand de Rothschild, at Waddesden Manor, 
Bucks. — Mr. James Taylor, late Foreman to Mr. 
Denning, at Londesborough Lodge, Norbiton, as 
Gardener to the Duchess of Montrose, at Sefton 
Lodge, Newmarket. 
began to decline, in consequence of the secession from 
the Union of the Southern States. In less than a 
year the supply had ceased, and Lancashire operatives 
were reduced to terrible straits. The public mind 
was thereby quickened on the subject of Cotton culti- 
vation, and the discovery of substitutes for Cotton. 
It may be said that, as regards the proposed cultiva- 
tion, as well as the desiderated substitute, we are now 
in precisely the same position ' as in the days 
immediately antecedent to the Cotton famine. We 
do not feed the Lancashire mills with home-grown 
Cotton, and we have not discovered a substitute for 
this peculiarly cheap and useful fibre. But for all 
that, some pretty crops of Cotton have been grown in 
this country, and the matter is of sufficient interest to 
justify a brief discourse in the way of narrative. 
The latest experiment in Cotton cultivation was 
successful in every respect. The English-grown 
Cotton was ,of the very finest quality, and instead of 
being consigned to a glass case, with a label attached, 
to perish amid dust and be soon forgotten, it was 
consigned to a manufacturer eminent in the Cotton 
world. Thence it passed through , certain needful 
stages of applied industl>y, and came forth as a manu- 
factured article adapted for the common wants of 
mankind. The question will occur as a common 
pendant to this statement. Did it pay? Well, we 
may as well say at once that it did pay ; but it may 
be well to add a word on that part of the subject 
when we have told the simple story we have now in 
mind. 
In the year 1879 Mr. Sam Mendel was enjoying 
rural felicity in his princely residence, Manley Hall, 
near Manchester. His gardens were then as famous 
as any in the country, and his head gardener, Mr. J. 
R. Fetch, being in his full confidence, and having 
ample horticultural resources at command, was not 
the man to be alarmed at a proposal to grow a crop 
of Cotton. Through an accident that is of no con- 
sequence whatever, Mr. Mendel became possessed of 
a fine pod of Sea Island Cotton, and he thought it a 
pity to lose the opportunity thus afforded for a bit of 
toy gardening, such as we are given to exalt by 
describing it as an experiment. Unfolding his views 
to Mr. Fetch, the determination was arrived at to 
raise a crop of Cotton from this particular pod. It 
was the gardener’s duty to carry the proposal into 
practice, and it was no less his delight to embark in 
the “ fad” and hope thereby to gratify Mr. Mendel. 
The seed was sown, the plants soon appeared, and 
having all they needed of heat, moisture, and a kindly 
soil, they soon became giants of their kind, and made 
showy specimens in lo-inch pots. The finishing 
touch in the way of cultivation was given by ranging 
them in a^span-roof Melon-house, and training them 
to the wires. The result was an abundant bloom 
and a fine crop, the quality of the Cotton being 
perfect, and its total weight 12 oz. 
Then came the dread question. What will he do 
with it? But this question troubled the gardener 
much more than the proprietor, who perhaps by that 
time had forgotten that he was the owner of a thriving 
Cotton plantation, and that his manager had harvested 
a crop that may be described as the finest ever seen. 
What will he do with it ? Fetch was in the position 
of the artist as described by Margaret Fuller ; 
“ If he but sees the half that he must do. 
Well may he shade his eyes from the far-reaching view.” 
But a man of business does not waste his days in 
dreaming because, forsooth, he has lost his sleep 
through restless cogitations. Mr. Fetch carried his 
twelve ounces of home-grown Cotton to Mr. Charles 
Ashworth, who knows all about Cotton, and he said 
if he could have twelve tons or even twelve hundred- 
weight of such quality he would be able to surprise 
the world with something unique in the way of manu- 
facture. But twelve ounces, ha ! But the practical 
planter was as ready with his wit now as with his 
hands aforetime, and mildly muttered “ pocket hand- 
kerchiefs.” The manufacturer being made of inflam- 
mable stuff, and the word uttered being full of fire, 
there followed a moral conflagration. When the 
But cotton yarn is not a cotton cloth, and the best 
intentions will not pave any place with cotton hand- 
kerchiefs. There still hung in the sky where this 
Cotton was concealed the perplexing question. What 
will he do with it? This question came home to 
Fetch once more, and after another restless night a 
flash of inspiration directed all his thoughts to Middle- 
ton. You may not know the place that bears so 
ambiguous a name. There is a Middleburg in the 
heart of Zeeland, and a Middlesex somewhere in the 
suburbs of London ; and as for a Middleton, you may 
find it anywhere in some form all over the world. 
But this Middleton is a sort of suburb of Manchester, 
inhabited for the most part by a very peculiar race, 
who live at the loom and see nothing but work, work, 
looming in the ftiture. They are usually regarded as 
descendants of the persecuted Frotestant artisans who 
fled to this country to save their necks from the 
halter and their children from infamy, in days when 
the kings of France and Spain were defenders of the 
faith under the immediate patronage of the devil. 
They may be of the Huguenot race, and they may 
not be. They are industrious, peaceable, given to 
fads and fancies ; lovers of flowers, pigeons, dogs, 
rabbits, and singing birds ; their sense of humour is 
local and exclusive : to the casual man of the world 
they appear bigoted and serious beyond all other 
example. But in Middleton the textile, as distin- 
guished from Middleton the stony, or Middleton the 
muddy, there may be found talent in weaving, and to 
Middleton the textile did Fetch, the Cotton planter, go. 
And who should he go to but to Mr. Samuel Barlow, 
J.F., a master of the dialect, a master of the arts and 
industries, and a trusted gentleman, respected all 
around, a proper referee on any proper subject. 
And so the cotton crop was carried to Stake Hill, 
and Mr. Barlow became involved in the responsibili- 
ties, and heard a voice that said, “What v/ill he do 
with it ? ” 
Then came a flash of inspiration to the new bearer 
of the new burden. Said Mr. Barlow, “ I know of 
but one man in the world who can work up this 
12-0Z. parcel of English-grown Cotton. That man is 
William Heap, a silk weaver, ingenious beyond the 
average, and as serious and trustful as all around. 
We will have William here, and hear what he has to 
say about it.” 
And William came ; an earnest, quiet, serious man, 
with a touch of suppressed humour that pervaded not 
his face only, but his whole frame from top to toe. 
Said Mr. Barlow to the sweet William, “ I have a 
job here that I think is full of difficulty. Here are 
twelve ounces of English-grown Cotton of remarkably 
fine quality, and we must make something of it, 
William. Now, if you cannot do it, I think no man 
in England can ; what do you say to try, William ?” 
The serious weaver was more apt with threads than 
words, and he replied — 
“That is reight, master ; I’ll try my hand, but I’ll 
know fust what arm to do.” 
The business was explained, and a handkerchief of 
a special make was procured, and the good old 
weaver set to work. But the job perplexed him, as 
it might any man who had for half a century fingered 
silk only, going round and round in a groove like a 
mill-horse darkened by blinkers. Yes, he, too, had 
his nights of tossing and his days of woe, and the 
voice cried in his ears, “ What will he do with it ? ” 
But he made the handkerchiefs, and they were as 
like the pattern as if an inspired Chinaman had been 
entrusted with the job. Mr. Mendel’s monogram 
was cleverly worked in by the weaver : not a thread 
was employed that did not belong to the original 
parcel, and the bleaching and finishing were generously 
superintended by Mr. Barlow. 
And when all was done there remained some small 
samples of the same Cotton in the pod, in the cop, 
and in a partly manufactured state for museum pur- 
poses, while a box of tasteful design was prepared to 
receive the handkerchiefs. Of their production up 
to this time Mr. Mendel knew nothing ; but when he 
entered his breakfast-room on his birthday the box 
was on the table, and great was his delight to be thus 
Botanical 
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