December 12.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
157 
! 
M W 
Weather near London in 1849. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
D D 
DECEMBER 12—18, 1850. 
; Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Year. 
| 
12 Th 
Black-throated Diver comes. 
30.030 — 29.879 
36—30 
E. 
0.02 
59 a. 7 
49 a. 3 
morn. 
9 
6 
4 
346 
13 F 
Lucv. Red-throated Diver comes. 
29-851 —29.843 
47—30 
E. 
— 
VIII 
49 
0 41 
10 
5 
36 
347 
14 S 
Tufted Pocher comes. 
29.865-29-808 
55—48 
S. 
0.09 
1 
49 
1 48 
11 
5 
7 
348 
15 Sun 
3 Sunday in Advent. 
29-951 —29.773 
57—42 
s.w. 
0.09 
2 
49 
2 57 
12 
4 
38 
349 
16 M 
Cambridge Term ends. O ! Sap. 
29.9n—29.66l 
58—46 
s.w. 
— 
3 
49 
4 10 
13 
4 
9 
350 
17 To 
Oxford Term ends. 
,29.859 — 29.525 
53—40 
w. 
— 
4 
49 
5 25 
14 
3 
40 
351 
18 W 
Ember Week. 
29.766 — 29.426 
52—42 
s.w. 
0.11 
1 4 
49 
6 41 
15 
3 
11 
352 
In the churchyard of Chelsea stands a column bearing this inscription : 
Philip Miller, 
sometiifie Curator of the Botanic Garden, 
Chelsea, 
and author of The Gardener’s Dictionary, 
died December 18, 177L 
aged 80; 
and was buried on the north side of this 
Church-yard, in a spot now covered 
by a stone inscribed with his name. 
The Fellows of 
The Linnsean and Horticultural Societies 
of London, 
in grateful recollection of the eminent 
services rendered to the sciences of 
Botany and Horticulture by his in¬ 
dustry and writings, 
have caused this monument 
to be erected 
to his Memory, 
A.D. 1815. 
The services thus gratefully remembered were indeed eminent; and it is 
I not an excess of praise to attribute to the publication of the seventh 
I edition of his Dictionary, in 1759, the first and most powerful aid that 
had been made for the improvement and elevation of gardening. Not 
j only was there gathered into its pages all the best horticulture of the day, 
but in it were adopted for the first time the Linnsean system of arrange¬ 
ment ; and the number of plants so classified doubled in amount those 
contained in the first edition. It gave a final blow to the opinion long 
entertained, that gardening was scarcely more than a superior rustic 
j labour : from being merely practised by servants, it aided in rendering it 
more extensively the study and the delight of many of the most scientific 
and elevated individuals of this country ; Botany and Gardening were 
intimately united; and the latter from being a mere empirical art was 
raised into a science. Circumstances ‘enabled Miller to establish this 
great and beneficial change, nor does this detract from his merit; for one 
of the characteristics of a sound judgment is to watch for opportunities 
and to take advantage of them. The recent reform of Botanical classifi- 
! cation ; his facilities for visiting Holland to learn new modes of culture ; 
the increasing love for plants and their cultivation ; the existence of the 
| most distinguished gardeners hitherto known in England; the establish¬ 
ment of several public Botanical Gardens ; and the ardour of research for 
new plants in every district of the earth, all combined to furnish Miller with 
materials which he did not fail to mould to his purpose. Previously to 
his period the number of exotic plants cultivated in this country probably 
did not exceed 1000 species; and whilst he lived these were multiplied 
five-fold. When the first edition of his Dictionary appeared in 1724 but 
twelve evergreens were there enumerated; the Christmas Flower and 
Aconite were so rare that they could only be purchased at Mr. Fair¬ 
child’s Hoxton Nursery ; and only seven species of exotic Geranium 
were known. Contemporary with Miller, and to whom he acknowledges 
himself a debtor for much knowledge, were such men as the following : 
Fairchild, just mentioned, and institutor of the Fairchild Lecture ; 
Bradley, of whom we gave a sketch a few weeks since; Mortimer, of 
Topinghoe Hall, author of “The Whole Art of Husbandry;” the Rev. 
J. Lawrence, author of so many works on Gardening; Switzer, the best 
gardener and writer of his day ; Collins, Cook, and many others of equal 
calibre, of all whom we shall by degrees give biographies. Nor must we 
omit to enumerate the nurserymen who were Miller’s contemporaries— 
men whose descendants are now among us, and still known as those well 
conversant with plants, “ from the lofty cedars of Lebanon down to the 
I humble moss of the wall.” Miller enumerates of them, as his friends, 
j “Thomas Fairchild at Hoxton, Robert Furber at Kensington, Robert 
! Smith at Vauxhall, Samuel Driver at Lambeth, Moses James at Stand- 
gate, Obadiah Low at Battersea, Christopher Gray at Fulham, Benjamin 
Whitwill at Hoxton, Francis Hunt at Putney, William Gray at Fulham, 
William Wood near Hyde-park-corner, John Thompson at Chelsea, 
George Singleton at the neat-houses, and Richard Cole at Battersea.” 
Let us remember, also, that Forsyth and Aiton—men well known to 
science—were his pupils; and that he had been born early enough to 
have seen “the English Linnteus,” John Ray. “ Mr. Miller,” says Dr. 
Pultney, “ was the only person I ever knew who remembered to have 
seen Mr. Ray; and I shall not easily forget the pleasure that enlightened 
his countenance—it so strongly expressed the Virgilium tantum vidi 
(I alone have seen Virgil), when, in speaking of that revered man, he 
related to me that incident of his youth.” Lastly, Mr. Miller had the 
advantage of the public gardens recently established, and was himself the 
Curator of those at Chelsea. These had been founded as early as 1763, 
but they were renovated and rendered permanent by Sir Hans Sloane in 
1721 . Having purchased the manor of Chelsea, he gave the site of the 
gardens, about four acres, to the Apothecaries’ Company, and the Cura- 
torship of them was bestowed on Mr. Miller. He retained that honour¬ 
able office for forty-nine years ; and when he desired to retire, though the 
Company accepted the octagenarian’s resignation they continued to him 
his salary. 
The other incidents of Mr. Miller’s biography are few, but not the less 
interesting because not marked “ by marvellous events and near-death 
incidents.” Such lives of turmoil and fearful struggles can occur to few, 
but the man of lowly birth winning his way by gentle means from poverty 
to eminence is an example worthy of all imitation, and by all capable of 
being i mitated. There is evidence that he was born, in 1691 , near Dept¬ 
ford or Greenwich, where his father was a market-gardener; and Miller 
himself eventually had a small florist’s garden somewhere in Southwark, 
about the place where the King’s Bench Prison now stands. Whilst 
there he attracted the notice of Sir Hans Sloane; and how worthy he 
was of that notice his subsequent career testified abundantly. His 
Dictionary is his enduring monument, and fully entitled him to the rank 
bestowed upon him by foreigners of “ Chieftain of Gardeners ” ( Princeps 
Hortulanorum ). In turning over the pages of the various editions of 
that Dictionary, we may learn from their pages many curious facts, of 
which we will note down but two more:— Brocoli was a stranger in 
England until 1719, and was then called “Sprout Colliflower or Italian 
Asparagus.” The Fig was little attended to by English Gardeners ; and 
Miller was the first to render it more popular by obtaining from Italy the 
best varieties. The high estimate formed of the work by our continental 
neighbours is evidenced by its being translated into the Dutch, German, 
and French languages. In the translation last named is “ a fancy 
portrait of the author, in a bag wig and ruffles,—a costume, says Dr. 
Martvn, truly ludicrous to such as remember the plain old-fashioned 
English dress in which Mr. Miller always appeared.” Besides the 
Dictionary, Mr. Miller published a Gardener's Calendar , a Catalogue of 
the Chelsea Garden Plants , besides several papers in the Philosophical 
Transactions. Among these is one on flowering bulbs in water glasses, 
a mode then lately discovered. 
But little remains with which to conclude our brief memoir of this 
great gardener. He was elected a member of the Botanical Academy of 
Florence, and of the Royal Society of London, to whose Council he was 
occasionally elected. He wa^ much consulted on the subject of laying 
out grounds, and other departments of gardening, by the Dukes of 
Bedford, Northumberland, and Richmond, and by many others of our 
nobility and gentry ; but the time had now arrived when even “ the 
weight of a grasshopper became a burthen ; ” and so resigning all public 
employments, he retired to a residence adjoining the churchyard which 
he desired should be his final place of rest. He hud married the sister 
of Mr. Ehret, then celebrated as a painter of botanical subje- ts, and the 
offspring of that marriage were two sons, one of whom, Charles Miller, 
became the first Curator of the Cambridge Botanic Garden. Mr. 
Miller,” says Dr. Martyn, “ accumulated no wealth—he was of a dis¬ 
position too generous and careless of money to become rich ; and in all 
his transactions showed more attention to integrity and honest fame than 
to any pecuniary advantage.” Yet until within these few years no 
adequate memorial of him was raised. Even the genus of plants named 
after him is a libel, for the Millerias are “ stove annuals, of little beauty, 
rowing in any common soil;” whereas, if ever there was among gar- 
eners a sterling English perennial, of high estimation, and rare occur¬ 
rence—that individual was Philip Miller. 
Meteorology op the Week.— At Chiswick, the observations during 
the last twenty-three years show that the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 46° and 35.1°, respectively. The greatest 
heat, 62°, occurred on the 13th in 1843 ; and the lowest cold, 11°, on the 
same date in 1846. During the time 89 days were fine, and on 72 rain 
fell. 
Insects. —Of all the insects to which 
plants cultivated in an artificial climate 
are liable, none is so much to be dreaded 
by the gardener as the Mealy Bug ( Coccus 
adonidum). If allowed to increase, the 
almost unsubduable consequences have 
, been well described by Mr. Appleby at 
I page 71 of ° ur last volume. The gar¬ 
dener, however, has this comfort, and 
I industry this stimulus—if the insect is 
I attacked the moment the first is seen the 
| pest may be usually avoided. Vines at¬ 
tacked by it should have every branch and 
j stem brushed over sedulously with a hard 
brush, and then with a painter’s brush as 
thoroughly painted over with this mix¬ 
ture:—Soft soap, 2 lbs. ; flowers of sul¬ 
phur, 2 lbs.; tobacco, 1 lb.; and a wine¬ 
glass of spirit of turpentine. Mix the 
sulphur, turpentine, and soap into a paste with warm water; boil the 
tobacco for an hour in a covered saucepan in some more water, strain it, 
1 mix it with the soapy mixture, and then add enough water to make five 
gallons. More tender plants can only have their stems and leaves sponged 
with water at a temperature of 115°, frequently, and so long as a single 
insect can be detected. The Mealy Bug on pine-apples may be destroyed 
by shutting these up in a frame over a bed of hot termentimr horse-dung. 
The Mealy Bug is a foreign insect introduced with exotic plants, but 
which breeds rapidly in our hothouses. Our drawing represents a female 
magnified, and of its natural size. It is somewhat like a woodlouse in 
i form, but reddish, and covered with a white mealy powder. The male is 
slender, gnat-like, with two broad wings, and two brush-like filaments 
behind. 
No. CXV., Vol. IV. 
