JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
2 
[ January 6, 1881. 
though it be one “ of Horticulture/' has a division entitled 
“ Home Farm." It appears to me that a little energy added 
to a power of adapting himself to altered circumstances may 
yet save the farmer ; but it is no use going on just as his 
father did before him, it is a case of change front to face 
difficulties successfully. Folding the hands in difficulties is 
bad—it is idle. Wringing the hands is womanish, weak, and 
useless; but change of plans on consideration and calm 
judging, and then going on energetically in the new and 
probably prosperous path, is the part of a man. 
In regard to gardening properly so called I must in these 
days read a lesson to gardeners on the absolute duty of 
economy, and to put masters on their guard too. Says a 
popular writer, “We have heard divines say that of all recre¬ 
ations gardening is the most innocent. They are probably 
right, speaking in a general way, but there are instances in 
which this innocent recreation would appear to be the veritable 
1 mischief still ’ spoken of by the poet as readily procurable for 
idle hands. Let a man once taste the secrets of high garden¬ 
ing, unless his moral courage and self-denial are of an equally 
high order he is pretty certain to run into extravagance over 
his hobby. He is always longing for more glass, or constantly 
increasing his horticultural staff and imagining it will all pay 
in the end ; but it does not, and the result is his garden is the 
heaviest item of his annual expenditure. Extravagance in a 
garden is no more virtuous than extravagance in a stable." 
These are words to be well weighed. But if masters and men 
determine that good gardening and economy shall go hand in 
hand then all will be well. No blaming then of the gardener ; 
no reproaches of the wife cast upon the husband for his spending 
too much on the garden. The very same reasoning may be 
applied to the expenses of the poultry yard and the Pigeon 
loft. Remember, while hobbies give pleasure, no hobby gives 
unalloyed pleasure if in its gratification there is extravagance 
or more money spent than a man can properly and rightly 
afford. Ride your hobby but do not let it ride you, and then 
you will be safe, cheerful, and have no twinges of conscience. 
These are plain words of advice, but I hope will be pardoned 
from one who writes them in this his seventeenth annual 
address. 
I have entitled this paper “ The Future of Gardening," and 
I believe that future will be nationally valuable. Progress is 
the order of the day. An invisible hand seems to be on the 
shoulder of the gardener with the words, “ You must go on, 
and go on to the benefit of Great Britain." Wonderful has 
been already the progress in gardening. The population of 
England is rapidly increasing in towns and decreasing in 
villages. Each time the census is taken it is found that there 
is an increase of population in very few villages. Some are 
stationary, many have less and less inhabitants : the population 
is centring in towns. Then, of course, these centres need 
more and more food, and in a larger area around towns should 
vegetables and fruit be cultivated. Further from towns land 
suited for rabbit warrens should so be used. Poultry farms, 
with many runs and houses distinct from each other and move- 
able, would also pay, and the importation of eggs might at 
least be diminished. This centring of the population in towns 
must be carefully noted to the benefit of renters of land near 
towns, because an increase of population will and must pro¬ 
vide a continually larger market for all perishable kinds of 
food ; and so a continually larger and larger space of land 
may be profitably devoted to the cultivation of fresh fruit and 
vegetables, and to the providing of milk and fresh butter. 
Another point. Is it a wild dream, too wild for realisation, 
that towns in the future will not be the crowded places they 
now are ? Why should not the gardener enter the streets and 
plant trees there, bare the banks of rivers of warehouses, and 
have trim and pleasant and flower-edged walks by the river ? 
A grand mistake was made in the middle of the last century 
in regard to Bath, “ that beautiful city," says Lord Macaulay, 
“ which charms even eyes familiar with the masterpieces of 
Bramante and Palladio ;" and “ the only place worth living 
in except Florence,” says Walter Savage Landor. Yet how 
more beautiful would even Bath have been had not in the last 
century houses been built on the river banks, and the very 
course and sight of the stream lost to sight!—if instead of these 
houses there had been broad shady walks, and grass-grown 
banks bordered the bright and rapid-flowing Avon! But 
surely in the towns of the future there should be, and may be, 
a wider area, with trees in every street, and large gardens for 
fruit and flowers to every house. “ Then our towns would be 
made really living places," says one ; adding that “the farmers 
round, instead of striving fruitlessly to contend with more 
favoured climes in the production of golden grain, will find a 
more profitable employment in providing the children of 
artisans with the fresh milk so essential to a healthy-going 
life, and the good butter and fresh eggs so unattainable now- 
a-days." And if so, again would England be a “ merrie 
England." 
If such a dream should be realised—(and the gardener must 
to a great degree be the man of the future, and gardening be 
carried further and further to the benefit of individuals, and 
render England happier and healthier)—beauty and utility 
would go hand in hand, taste would be raised, aye, and morals 
too. Meanwhile that gardening may this year prosper ; that 
gardeners, amateur and professional, may meet with success ; 
that this new year may be a happy year to all readers and 
writers of this “ our Journal," is the earnest wish of— 
Wiltshire Rector. 
AUTUMN FLOWERING OF AURICULAS. 
Your correspondent “R. P. B.,” asking why Auriculas bloom 
in autumn, replies to his own question when he says that “ all 
spring-flowering Primulas have a tendency to bloom in autumn 
and early winter after a hot dry season.” 
The remark might safely be more general, in that all Primulas 
are spring-flowering, earlier or later, and may bloom in autumn 
whether the summer has been hot and dry or not. 
The Auricula sends up flowers in the autumn simply because it 
is a Primula ; and this habit is so deeply rooted in the family, and 
not least in this branch of it, that probably it is impossible to 
eradicate it, though it may be considerably lessened in several 
ways. 
Some varieties of the Auricula are constitutionally more given 
to autumn blooming than others, and the fewer your correspon¬ 
dent has of these uneasy sorts the less of course will be his average 
of autumn bloom. If he raises seedlings he will again find this 
tendency much more marked in some than others, and may 
again put aside those that persistently trouble him with flowers 
at a time when they can only be comparatively feeble and ill- 
natured. 
I should not like to say that keeping Auriculas of any value 
wet, “ with abundance of water through the summer and autumn 
until the cold of winter stops the growth,” is good culture. 
Neither do I know how it would stop autumn blooming, or be a 
healthy way of attempting to do so with valuable plants, not 
always of robust constitution, especially if they are kept very wet. 
From my own experience I submit that it is far safer to keep 
Auriculas very cool all summer, and but very moderately moist; 
and if this treatment succeeds with the most highly developed 
florist forms of the flower it is probable that commoner varieties of 
heartier growth would thrive under it too. Air and light, cool¬ 
ness and good drainage, are necessaries of life to the Auricula, but 
through the summer I have found them always crisper, stouter, 
quieter, and greener without much water or exposure to sun. 
If it seems cruel to discard any varieties of the Auricula (I 
allude to the florist sections) because of a habit of autumn bloom¬ 
ing, it is only necessary to explain that the plants which do so are 
very seldom able to form a new heart strong enough to produce a 
full truss in proper character next spring.—F. D. Horner, Kirkby 
Malzeard, Rip on. 
GALVANISED WIRE AND FRUIT TREES. 
(Continued from page 589.) 
Relative to the absorption of muriatic acid by wire that has 
been immersed in it preparatory to being coated with zinc, as 
referred to on page 588 of the last volume, an eminent horti¬ 
culturist has informed me that the acid does penetrate iron and 
afterwards escape from it. A few weeks ago the metal shield 
on the stock of his rifle—the “ butt end ”—became rusty, and in 
order to remove the rust expeditiously he applied some muriatic 
acid instead of scouring the metal in the ordinary manner. The 
part was quickly cleansed, well oiled, and the rifle “ put away.” 
A few days afterwards he was surprised to find that the acid 
absorbed had exuded, destroyed the effects of the oil, and the 
