264 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[January 30. 
buried in the churchyard at Kew, near the graves of his distinguished 
friends, Zoffany, Meyer, and Gainsborough. He was succeeded by his 
son, \V. Townsend Aiton, Esq., who was no less esteemed by King 
George III. than his father had been, and who, besides conducting the 
botanical department, and taking charge of the extensive pleasure 
grounds, was also employed in the improvement of the other royal 
gardens, in all which he displayed great skill and judgment, and an 
intimate acquaintance with his profession. 
George III. duly appreciated the talents and services of Mr. Aiton, and 
rewarded them in 17^3, upon the promotion of Mr. Haverfield, by adding 
to his other appointment the lucrative superintendancy of the pleasure 
and kitchen gardens at Kew- Nor did Mr. Aiton acquire the esteem only 
of his sovereign, for when the power to serve had passed for ever, the 
good and the highly gifted still demonstrated their regard—for Sir Joseph 
Banks, Dr. Goodenough, Mr. Dryander, Dr. Pitcairn, Mr. Dundas, and 
Mr. Zoffany accompanied him to the grave as supporters of the pall. 
That he merited such a demonstration of regard we may believe from this 
testimony of one who knew him—“ The evenness and mildness of his 
temper, founded in real piety, were almost beyond example; hence he 
became admirable in every social office : a steady friend, a most affection¬ 
ate husband, a kind father, and to the meanest of his servants and 
attendants uniformly gentle and humane.” 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, according to the ob¬ 
servations of the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 43.*7° and 32°, respectively. The greatest 
heat, 56°, was on the 2nd of February, 1845. On 69 days rain fell, and 
99 were fine. 
We are in that position now, with our amount of cir¬ 
culation—a circulation far larger than that of any other 
gardening paper,—to make an effort to supply what we 
find to he more than one want felt by our readers. The 
most prominent of these wants is told in many post¬ 
scripts of letters now before us, and they all coincide 
with this one from a well-known clergyman :—“ Why 
do you not give us more advertisements relative to seed 
dealers?" And the gardener of a large establishment 
writes to us specially for an answer to this query— 
“ Where can I get cheapest, good glass for our new 
pinery?" Now, the answer to these queries is one and 
the same—The seed dealers and the glass manufacturers 
do not send us their advertisements, and we cannot feel 
justified in saying to any one, Deal with such a firm 
in particular, when wc know there are many equally 
deserving. 
Now, we are quite ready to increase the size of The 
Cottage Gardener, without any extra charge, if adver¬ 
tising parties will aid us. We will devote four addi¬ 
tional pages exclusively to advertisements. We can 
hold out no other inducements to advertisers than the 
three facts, that we find our readers very generally 
require such advertisements—that we are at liberty to 
refer to some of those who do advertise with us for 
information as to the results—and that we circulate 
among the gentry and gardeners of the United King¬ 
dom thousands more than our gardening contempora¬ 
ries. These considerations ought to have the influence 
we wish; hut we beg no one to anticipate that we pur¬ 
pose making any reduction in our charges — this we 
shall not do, not only because of the extra expense 
for paper and printing that we shall incur, but because 
we give fuller advantages to the advertiser than he can 
reap elsewhere for similar charges, advantages greatly 
increased by our having made arrangements for insert¬ 
ing all future advertisements in botli our Weekly Num¬ 
bers and Monthly Parts, without additional charge. We 
may refer to Mr. Duncan Hairs, Seedsman and Florist, 
109, St. Martin's Lane, London, and to Mr. Turner, 
Neepsend, Sheffield, for testimonies as to the benefits they 
have derived from advertising in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener. 
So many have been the applications we have recently 
received for information relative to the Knol-hohl, or 
Kohl-rubi, that we have taken some pains to gain 
information we can rely upon relative to this very desir¬ 
able vegetable; hut before we give the results of our- 
information, we will insert this extract from the letter 
of a Jersey correspondent; because the evidence it con¬ 
tains from General Le Couteur, sustains that which we 
have gathered from elsewhere :— 
“ A field officer, a most accurate observer, to whom Jersey 
is indebted much for its marked advance of late years, men¬ 
tioned to me that he has found the Knol-kohl one of the 
most productive crops which he has yet tried. He considers 
the fiesh more solid than, ancl the size nearly equal to, that 
of the Swede turnip ; while it resembles the cabbage in ap¬ 
pealing to improve in growth by transplantation. But the 
really superior point in his estimation is, that it communi¬ 
cates no flavour to the milk or butter of cows fed upon it. 
This last quality would render it second only to the parsnip; 
but I confess the well-known chemical composition of the 
Crucferoe makes me sceptical of their enjoying such an 
immunity. 
“ The General, however, is very anxious to have your 
opinion on the subject, and the benefit of either your own 
experience, or of that of some of your truly scientific corre¬ 
spondents, from whom we so often get valuable hints, the 
result of observation and reflection, not the mere chronicle 
of some lucky accident.” 
The Knol-kohl, or Kolil-rubi of the Germans, is the 
Brassica caulo-rapa of botanists, the Turnip-stemmed 
Cabbage of the English, and the Chou-rave of the 
French. It is sometimes called, also, the Cape Cabbage. 
The stem is thick, rises about eight inches out of the 
ground, is swollen into a globular form, very like a large 
Swedish turnip growing above ground, and is crowned 
with leaves, slightly scolloped on the edges, undulated, 
and milky green, like those of the turnip we have men¬ 
tioned. There are several varieties of it, and some one 
or other of them are very common in the north of 
Europe, especially in the cottage-gardens of Poland and 
Sweden; but the green-stemmed and the purple-stemmed 
(especially the latter) are to be preferred. 
The summary of the highly satisfactory testimony we 
have received in its favour, amounts to the following:— 
It is sweeter, more nutritious, and more solid than either 
the Cabbage or White turnip; will produce a greater 
weight per acre than the turnip, and prefers a heavier 
soil than that root; is hardier and keeps better than 
any other bulb ; and imparts very little of that flavour 
either to milk or butter known as turnipy, and so objec¬ 
tionable to all palates. So much relished is it both by 
cows aud sheep, that they will leave either turnips or 
cabbages to partake of it. Hai-es and rabbits are so 
fond of it, that where they abound Knol-kohl can scarcely 
he grown. It deserves remark, also, that cattle eat the 
leaves more readily than they do those of the turnip, as 
they are less bitter. 
The mode of culture usually pursued is to sow them 
in the first week of March, and the plants are put out in - 
