404 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 4, 1866. 
architects, who both pronounced the church unsafe and in need 
of repair; then he called a meeting of ratepayers as arranged, 
and on the majority refusing as usual to consent to a rate, he 
obtained the signatures of those who did agree, and with their 
co-operation the church was restored. 
The dissenters indignant at the course taken by the church¬ 
warden, carried the question to a court of law, and the case was 
heard at Westminster in January, 1846, where it was argued by 
Sir Fitzroy Kelly, Q C., Mr. 'T. Barnes, Q.C., and Mr. T. Arnold 
for the plaintiffs in prohibition; and by Sir F. Thessiger, Mr. 
G. W. Johnson, and Mr. W. Ogle for the defendants. Loid 
Denman and the three other Judges of the Court of Queen's 
Bench and the Court of Exchequer decided that the opinion 
given by Mr. Johnson was perfect'y correct, and according to 
precedents dating as far back as the reign of Queen Elizabeth. 
This decision was appealed against, and the adverse majority 
being led by Mr. Courtauld of Gosfield Hall, carried the case to 
the House of Lords, who decided that the adverse opinion must 
prevail if sustained by a majority of the parishioners. 
On his return from India Mr Johnson settled at Winchester, 
and again turned his attention to gardening pursuits. His first 
success was the issue of “ The Gardeners’ Almanack,” published 
by the Stationers’ Company, which continued without interrup¬ 
tion from 1844 to 1866. In 1845 was published “ The Principles 
of Practical Gardening.” the object of which is thus stated in 
the preface—‘ For nearly twenty years the author of these pages 
has laboured to make the gardeners of England more generally 
aware than they are, even at present, of the principles on which 
their practices are or ought to be founded. The results of his 
early researches have from time to time been made public, and 
those together with more that are new he now offers to his 
readers in a collected and orderly form.” 
This work was subsequently much enlarged and re-issued in 
1862 under the title of “ The Science and Practice of Gardening.” 
“ A Dictionary of Gardening ’’ appeared in 1846 and met with a 
welcome reception. This was the forerunner of “ The Cottage 
Gardener s Dictionary,” published in 1852. In 1847 Mr John¬ 
son commenced a series of works called “ the Gardener’s Monthly 
Volume,” the first volume of which on the Potato was written by 
himself. Twelve volumes of this series appeared, each of which 
is devoted to some important subject connected with gardening, 
and written by the best authorities. 
On the death of his father-in-law, Mr. Newington Hughes, a 
banker at Maidstone, Mr. Johnson succeeded to his property, and 
thus the Fairfax MSS. came into his possession. These consisted 
of the whole of the correspondence of Ferdinando Lord Fairfax 
and his son Thomas, the gi’eat parliamentarian general during the 
period of the civil wars They were discovered in a chest which 
was sold as old lumber at a sale at Leeds Castle in Kent, the seat 
of the Fairfax family, on its coming into possession of the late Mr. 
Wykeham-Martin. The purchaser was a shoemaker of Maidstone, 
who cutup the letters as he required them to take measurements 
in his trade. On one occasion when he called on Mr. Hughes, 
and in bis business capacity made use of a portion of an ancient 
manuscript, the keen eye of the antiquary was arrested, and 
after an examination of the precious documents Mr. Hughes be¬ 
came the purchaser of them. VV hen they came into Mr. Johnson’s 
possession he offered them to Mr. Richard Bentley with a view to 
publication, and they were eventual y published in four large 
octavo volumes, the first two of which were edited by Mr. John¬ 
son in 1848. ,, 
We come now to a period of Mr. Johnson’s career when his 
name became more familiarly and intimately connected with hor¬ 
ticulture. He enteitained an opinion that the time had arrived 
when the gardening taste of the country had so greatly developed 
among the middle classes that a journal issued weekly, giving 
advice as to the operations to be attended to in small gardens, 
would meet with a ready circulation. Mr. Johnson consulted Mr. 
Orr, at that time an extensive publisher in Paternoster Row, on 
the subject, and the result of the consultation was the publication 
on the 5th of October, 1848, of the first number of The Cottage 
Gardener, It wa9 a modest production of twelve pages, but it 
was stored with wisdom and knowled e communicated by some of 
the best practical men of the day. The venture was justified by 
the result, for The Cottage Gardener was a-wonderful success from 
the first. 
In the year 1851 a friendship sprang up between Mr. Johnson 
and the present Editor, Dr. Hogg, which through all these years 
lias been a source of unalloyed pleasure and happiness to both. 
In.bued by the same feelings and actuated by the same motives 
these two gentlemen, during a period of thirty years, worked 
in perfect harm ny, devoting themselves to the service of ihe 
public, and doing whatever seemed to them to contribute to the 
welfare and enjoyment of a large mass of the population of these 
kingdoms and their dependencies. The Cottage Gardener con¬ 
tinued to prosper and increase in influence and in power. As 
its field of readers increased its sphereof usefulness widened also, 
and the work of its Editors was to meet the requirements of those 
who came to them for instruction. By degrees these require¬ 
ments rose to a higher standard than was contemplated when 
The Cottage Gardener was first published, and the universal 
opinion of the public was expressed by a writer in The Quarterly 
Review, when he said that The Cottage Gardener was for the 
occupiers of a cottage to which a double coach-house was 
attached. Acting on this bint the Editors decided on changing 
the title to The Journal of Horticulture, a designation which it re¬ 
tained ever since. In addition to the works already mentioned 
Mr. Johnson wrote “ The Chemistry of the World,” “ The 
British Ferns Popularly Described,” besides many pamphlets on 
various subjects. 
The remains of Mr. Johnson will be consigned to the tomb 
at 3 o’clock this afternoon (Thursday) in the burial ground of St. 
Peter’s Church, Croydon, the day of the interment being the 
day before the 84th anniversary of his birth. 
A SELECTION OF PEARS. 
Many of your readers will now be thinking of planting fruit 
trees, and as there are no better winter fruits than a good 
selection of rich Pears, this section is sure to be largely dealt 
with; but although Pears are so acceptable, there is a possibility 
of having too many of them, and there is no greater loss amongst 
fruit in the garden than that which occurs every winter amongst 
Pears. Happily there are still many gardens not yet em¬ 
barked in the market business, and where Pears are only grown 
for home consumption, and in cases of this kind it is a mistake 
to have a great number of varieties coming in at the same time, 
or too many of one variety, as Pears ^differ widely from 
Apples in their keeping, or, rather, non-keeping qualities. In 
the case of Apples, some which might be ripe and ready for use 
in October would remain sound for two months or more after¬ 
wards, but Pears which are ripe one week will hardly keep to 
the next, or the one after that at most, and it is astonishing how 
many Pears are spoi’ed m this way. The only remedy for it is 
to plant in succession, and not put in more of one variety than 
is likely to meet the demand for the fruit, and the aim should 
always be to have a constant supply rather than great many 
varieties in at one time, and none at another. Judging from ex¬ 
perience Pears are not so partial as Apples. We all know of 
some Apples that succeed well in certain districts and failing in 
others, but Pears are not like this, and, as a rule, good free- 
fruiting varieties will succeed everywhere. We hear, too, of good 
keeping Apples, and know of many of them, but good keeping 
Pears are few if they exist, and there is an opening for new 
varieties in this direction. 
The following is a good selection of Pears for a general 
supply from July until March—Doyenne d’Eti‘, small, excellent, 
a good bearer, end of July; Jargonelle, large, melting, juicy, 
delicious, August; Williams’ Bon Chretien, large, buttery, rich, 
September; Beurre Superfin, large, melting, fine October; 
Beurre Diel, large, rich, melting, November ; Doyenne du Comice, 
large, delicious, December; Winter Nelis, small, melting, rich, 
January ; Easter Beurre, large, buttery, highly flavoured, 
February; Bergamot Esperen, medium size, juicy, and [sugary, 
March; Josephine de Malines, large, melting, delicious, April.— 
J. Mum, Margam. 
THE NON-VENTILATING SYSTEM. 
Mr. Bardney, page 370, has trailed a coat of many tails, any and all 
of which he seems to invite us to tread on. Not being so well versed in 
horticultural engineering as he presumably is, I shall not attempt to 
combat all his arguments, but shall content myself with meeting that pait 
of his arguments relating to the non-ventilating system. He seems to 
imagine that the Prescot growers have a monopoly of this method of 
growing Cucumbers, and it was because I did not strictly follow the 
instructions given in these pages by Mr. Bardney that I failed. As it 
happens it is by no means a “new thing” that he advocated. At the 
outset he mentions a fact that I should think very well known—viz., that 
quickly grown seedless Cucumbers are the best for eating; but does he 
wish to infer that the Preecot Cucumbers, or those generally grown 
without air, are superior to those cultivated under the ordinary system— 
i.e.., with a little air given during the hottest part of the day ? Speaking 
from expeiience, I say they are not. They are grown rather more quickly, 
and that is all that can he said about it. 
Perhaps I am premature in my condemnation of the system as far as 
private gardens are concerned, and tie way to prove that such is the case 
is simply to bring forward the names of any private gardeners that have 
succeeded t) their own satisfaction on the lines laid down by Mr. Bardney, 
the men" s of July and August to be included in the cropping period, and 
