December 20.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
18.") 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
ir w 
I) D 
1 
1 Weather near London in 1819. 
DEC. 26 —JAN. 1, 1850-51. — f ] . . . 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
! 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
26 Th 
"■ " 1! ! 
St. Stephen. ! 30.491—29-798* 42—34 
N.W. 
0.02 
8 a. 8 
54 a. 3 
0 
1 
23 
0 
48 
360 
27 F 
St. John Evangelist. j 29.539 — 29.4341 41—24 
N. 
— 
8 
54 
1 
17 
24 
1 
18 
361 
28 S 
Innocents. ||29*552— 29.340 27—16 
N. 1 
— 
9 
55 
2 
31 
25 
1 
48 
362 
29 Sun 
i Sunday aft. Christmas. Velvet 29.641—29.548 36—26 
N.W.; 
0.02 
9 
56 
3 
43 
26 
2 
17 
353 
30 M 
[Duck conics.' 30.219 — 29.9321 38—28 
N.E. 
— 
9 
57 
j 
53 
27 
2 
46 
364 
31 To 
Silvester. 30.322 — 30.3021 38—17 
N.W. , 
— 
9 
58 
5 
59 
28 
3 
15 
365 
1 W 
Circumcision. 130.271—30.213 : 35—19 
W. 1 
— 
1 8 
IV 
7 
0 
29 
3 
44 
1 
If we were asked what science is most important for the gardener to 
study as an assistant to his practice, we should reply—Botany ; and if the 
querist proceeded to enquire whose work he should select for his first 
teacher, we should add—one by Sir James Edward Smith — An 
Introduction to Physiological and Systematical Botany. It is true that 
the author was bigotedly attached to the artificial system of Linnaeus, 
but that system is an admirable index to the contents of the large 
groupes in the Natural System; and he who neglects to make himself 
well acquainted with that index needlessly deprives himself of an efficient 
guide. Independently, however, of the book we have named being such 
a guide, it abounds with sound information and views relative to the 
structure and nomenclature of plants, and is in every respect the most 
powerful lamp the student can take to illuminate his path. 
The author was born on the 2nd of December, 1759, at his father’s 
residence in that nursery of florists and botanists—Norwich; but it is 
probable that he would have been devoted to the paternal study of crapes 
and bombazines, in which that city rejoices for equal celebrity, had it 
not been that a delicate and unhealthy boyhood had more even than usual 
consigned him to the companionship and solicitude of his mother. The 
flowers she loved to cultivate became also his associates and sources of 
j amusement; and the lessons she taught, and the love for knowledge, 
“ all about plants,” which she imparted, determined his future career. 
I Let the mother who reads pause over this fact, and let us add, before we 
pass on, this testimony from one of the best of men :—“ The mother it is 
who presides over those home virtues, the cultivation or neglect of which 
in the first ages of life often gives a right or wrong bias to its after years.” 
Fortunately, Sir James’s father was a man of cultivated mind, and did 
not thwart his son’s desire to pursue science rather than trade—so he 
was permitted to proceed to Edinburgh, and enter upon the studies 
desirable for a graduate in medicine. It is not probable that he took 
much delight in the healing art; for though he obtained Dr. Hope’s 
gold medal for his proficiency in botany, yet he protested against this 
science being valued “ only in proportion as it affords nauseous drugs or 
salves.” It is certain, moreover, that though he attained a doctor’s degree, 
he never was anxious for professional employment. After removing to 
London to complete his medical studies, and happening to breakfast with 
Sir Joseph Banks, the latter mentioned that the entire library, manu¬ 
scripts, and collections of Linmeus were purchasable for one thousand 
guineas. The ardent young student saw the importance of possessing 
such a treasure, and laboured assiduously to obtain the necessary funds. 
His father eventually consented to provide them : the purchase was com¬ 
pleted in 1/84 ; and the whole, in twenty-six cases, had just departed 
when Gustavus III. returned to Sweden. He despatched a vessel to 
intercept what should have been a portion of the national museum, but 
the attempt was too late. The freight arrived safe in England ; and on 
the death of Sir James this memorable collection was purchased by the 
Linneean Society, and now forms a portion of its illustrations of Natural 
History. This Society owes its foundation, in 1/88, to Sir James, and he 
became its first president. There had previously existed a Natural 
History Society, but it had never flourished, and finally died of exhaustion 
in 1794. Previously to the foundation of the Linnaean Society, in 1786 
and 1787, he graduated at Leyden, and extended his travels through 
Italy and France, the record of which is preserved in his Sketch of a Tour 
on the Continent. During his residence in London he at first lodged at 
Chelsea, that favourite roosting-place of our early botanists ; but upon 
becoming President of the Linmean Society—an office he continued to 
hold until his death—he removed to a house in Great Marlborough- 
street, and remained there until his marriage in 1797 , when he finally 
adopted a residence at Norwich, returning to London for two months 
annually. 
Whilst residing in Great Marlborough-street he was selected to give 
instructions in'botany to the Queen and the Princesses, then residing at 
Frogmore; and that he was well qualified for the office will need no testi¬ 
mony to those who had the pleasure of listening to his lectures at the 
Royal Institution and elsewhere. In 1818 he attempted to deliver a 
Continuing our observations from page 172, we may 
remark, that although an excess of water applied to the 
roots of plants is injurious to them, yet all of them are 
benefited by a due supply of that liquid, and the supply 
has to be regulated by the amount of their daily trans¬ 
piration. The gardener knows that this differs in every 
species, and during different seasons. For instance, in 
a dry hot day, a sunflower three feet and a half high 
transpired lib. 4ozs., being seventeen times more than 
the human body; during a hot dry night, 3 ozs.; during 
similar course of lectures at Cambridge; and he owed it to his own 
uncandid designs and arrogance that he was prevented. Dr. Martvn, the 
Professor of Botany, incapacitated by old age and infirmity from lecturing 
on the science, had solicited Sir James to supply his place, and so far all 
was unobjectionable; but when the tutors of the University found that 
Sir James, who was not a member either of the University or of the 
Church, purposed to make his lectures a stepping-stone to the Professor¬ 
ship, to the exclusion of men every way qualified to fill it, and who 
belonged to both, they very justly interfered effectually to exclude him. 
Sir James attacked the University in a pamphlet, entitled, Cotisiderations 
Respecting Cambridge, which is only one more example how very foolish 
wise men can become when they are their own advocates. 
We have nothing to add to the particulars with which one of his 
biographers thus concludes his narrative:—The health of Sir James 
Edward Smith had been for some time declining, but pursuing the even | 
tenor of his scientific pursuits, and blessed with every comfort which a j 
congenial union can afford, his time glided on without the slightest ! 
relaxation of ardour in his botanical pursuits, while his latest and even 
unfinished works attest there was no diminution either of his zeal or his 
success in affording both information and satisfaction to those who were 
proud to look up to him as the first botanist of the age. Although none of 
his friends could be altogether unprepared for the melancholy event, still 
the decease of Sir James was somewhat sudden. The feebleness of his frame 
seemed to have in some degree recovered a little of its former tone during 
the last week of his existence, so that he was enabled to pursue his accus¬ 
tomed labours, and even to enjoy the exercise of taking a walk without 
any great fatigue. He was attacked, however, on Saturda 3 % March 15, 
with such an alarming degree of debility as almost immediately to 
extinguish the hopes of his recovery. Under this attack he gradually 
sunk, till at about 6 o’clock a.m. of March 17, 1823, he placidly 
resigned his breath, and his spirit returned to Him of whom Sir James 
hath said—“ He who feeds the sparrows, and clothes the golden lily of 
the fields (Iris Pseudacorus) in a splendour beyond that of Solomon him¬ 
self, invites us, his rational creatures, to confide in his promises of 
eternal life. The simple blade of grass, and the grain of corn to which 
‘He gives his own body,’ are sufficient to convince us that our trust cannot 
be in vain. Let those who hope to inherit these promises, and those who 
love science for its own sake, cherish the same benevolent dispositions. 
Envy and rivalsliip in one case are no less censurable than bigotry and 
uncharitableness in the other. The former are incompatible with the 
love of Nature, as the latter are with the love of God ; and they altogether 
unfit us for the enjoyment of happiness here or hereafter.” 
Among the numerous works of which Sir James E. Smith was the 
author, it may be desirable here to point out one or two, perhaps, besides 
his Tour, as those upon which his fame was in a great measure reared, 
and upon which it may be said to be permanently established. Of these, 
English Botany is entitled to the first consideration, as containing a 
description and a coloured figure of every plant known to be indigenous. 
This work consists of 36 octavo vols., and contains 2592 figures of British 
plants. 
It is a curious but a melancholy coincidence, that on the very day 
he entered his library for the last time, the packet containing the 4th 
volume of his English Flora reached him ; and he had the gratification 
of witnessing the completion of a work upon which his friends have fre¬ 
quently heard him express an opinion that it was the one which would 
eventually redound most to the estimation of his knowledge as a botanist 
and his credit as an author. 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, observations during the 
last twenty-three years show that the average highest and lowest temper¬ 
atures of these days are 42.8° and 32°, respectively. The greatest heat 
j observed, 56°, was on the 30th of December, 1833 ; and the lowest cold, 
' 12 °, on New Year’s day, 1837. Rain fell on 57 days during the period, 
, and 104 days were fine. 
a dewy night there was no transpiration; and during a 
rainy night the plant absorbed 3 ozs. 
Therefore the gardener finds it best to apply water 
during dry weather, early in the morning, just before 
the chief demand occurs, which is from six a.m. till two 
in the afternoon; and during moist weather he refrains 
from the application entirely. Then again, the gardener 
keeps his agaves and other fleshy-leaved plants in a dry 
stove, for they transpire but sparingly in proportion to 
their mass, and require watering but seldom, and then 
No. CXVir., Vol. IV. 
