February 20.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
to be so exquisitely clean, with all her sicknesses and 
infirmities, I never could tell; but I believe, nay, I am sure, 
that those who are brought up to be thoroughly clean, can 
never bo dirty, let their after circumstances be what they 
may; and Hannah’s family had always been strictly cleanly 
in all their ways. 
With the exception of the walls, which were always a 
trouble to her, not a grain of dust or dirt could be seen, no 
litter was evpr laying about, no dirty corners, no cobwebs, or 
rags were to be found; but everything was in its place, and 
as clean as hands could make it. On the chair in the little 
bedroom, by the side of the cleanest quilt and curtains, 
stood a little basket containing the snow-white articles of 
linen she possessed, all mended and patched with care, but 
very few in number. How trilling are the real wants of 
man! 
Every one liked to help Hannah, and she had many 
friends. The kind wife of the village butcher would send 
her in a little bit of meat sometimes, and her special friend, 
the laundress, washed for her for years, without seeking 
any return. The sawyer would often bring her a heap of 
sawdust, with which she backed up her fire; and others 
would remember her when they could spare a little from 
their Sunday meal. She was so clean, so uncomplaining, so 
thankful, and so patient, that no one ever wearied of doing her 
service; and she loved best of all, to be read to from the 
Book of books, for her own eyes were growing weak and dim. 
It seemed that the peace/)f God, did, indeed, dwell within 
those humble walls; for her trials were wonderfully softened, 
and her end was joy in the Lord. 
From such a smiling picture, ifris painful to turn to one of 
a very opposite character, in the case of Widow T-, who 
sits in her dirty, wretched cottage, the image of loathsome 
poverty. She has a more comfortable, cheerful dwelling 
than poor Hannah had; but she is innately dirty, and it is 
impossible to make her clean or comfortable. She sits 
rocking in a chair with all sorts of dirty rags hanging over 
it, her fireplace is rarely swept, a dirty saucepan and kettle 
are al ways boiling, a box stands close to her, on which are 
two or three dirty basins, and in the corner is a heap of 
wood, and coal, and dirt, and spiders, and all uucleanness. 
Her bodily sufferings are great and increasing, but there is 
no comfort in helping her; no one likes to go near her, or do 
anything for her; and her complaints of her neighbours’ 
neglect, are as continual as poor Hannah’s testimony was 
to their kindness and attention. 
The poor are very seldom unkind to each other in sickness 
or helplessness. We have frequently witnessed their readi¬ 
ness and untiring exertions, where little except thanks could 
be returned; audit is a pleasure to bear this testimony to 
their kind heartedness. But with regard to Dame T- 
there is no cheerful assistance given. The woman who is 
paid by the parish for waiting upon her hurries away as 
quickly as she can ; and it is very rarely that a neighbour 
will go and sit a few minutes to cheer her loneliness. It is 
melancholy and distressing to see old age, and sickness, and 
poverty, stripped of all, their charms—for charms there are 
in all, when they are borne as Christians ought to bear them; 
and this poor old woman would be interesting in another 
way, if she were only clean and quiet in spirit like Hannah 
A-. She was the wife of a marine, who was lost in 
H.M.S. St. George, many years ago, and she bad gone 
through many varied scenes with him. She had been with 
him in the West Indies; she remembers well the mutiny at 
the Nore; and almosts forgets her bodily anguish when 
relating all her adventures by sea and land. Her life has 
been a most eventful one; and probably her roving and 
unsettled habits may have led to much of the untidiness and 
wretchedness of her household ways; but she never could 
have been clean; she never could have had a love of neat¬ 
ness, or she would not, under any circumstances, be what 
she is. 
If the poor knew how much more respectable they would 
be in the eyes of tbeir neighbours, and of those in the 
higher classes, by clean and orderly habits—and if they were 
at all aware of the greater degrees of comfort they would 
experience themselves, in sickness and old age, from strict 
attention to them—they would not be so careless and so dirty 
as they often are, or allow their children to grow up idle 
and slatternly, to be dirty, untidy mothers in their turn. 
325 
In our attempts to help one another, we ought not to 
neglect the wants and sufferings of those who are disagree- * 
able, improvident, anil unsatisfactory; for God “ sendetli rain 
upon the just, and upon the unjust,” too; but we cannot help 
feeling how much more good to the one class of persons, our 
money or food do than to the other; and how disheartening 
it is to our earthly nature to show mercy, when so miserable a 
return is made ! Let us, however, persevere in doing good, 
wherever we see sickness or destitution, in spite of our own 
tastes and preferences; and let us ever remember the 
patience and long-suffering of our Father towards our cold 
returns and base ingratitude. This will quicken, and cheer 
us on. 
The cottage in which poor Hannah A-lived so peace- [ 
fully, is, like herself, no more; but I never pass the yard in 
which it stood without a lively recollection of her. The 
hammer and anvil that used incessantly to ring close to her 
aching head, are ringing still, but she is beyond their reach; 
and all the neighbours who used to be so kind to her, are 
sleeping round her in the same churchyard. How much I 
wish that all the poor would strive to follow her good 
example! 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
To all Correspondents. — Having so many queries to answer 
weekly, we beg you will put only a few questions at a time, otherwise our 
answers must be less full than we wish them to be. 
Feeding off Lucerne (J. B. H.). —-It depends how late you make 
the last cutting, and whether the land is dry, and incapable of becoming 
“ poached,”—that is to say, its texture injured by the tread of the sheep. 
We should say, that it would be better policy to make the most of the 
cutting, and to give the lucerne time to rally again in the autumn, ! 
preparatory to a good spring crop. We certainly would prefer avoiding 
putting the sheep on the young plants, 
Iron Trellis—Greenhouse Building (Rev, R. Blackburn).- —We 
should have little fear of iron trellises , provided they are painted once 
in every three years. When the paint becomes corroded, or worn away, 
however, they will rust, and all trees are somewhat averse to the drip 
from rust. In heating your greenhouse, be cautious of introducing 
stoves : we would rather depend on liot-water piping from a little “ Bur- 
bidge ” boiler, fixed especially for the purpose. This will be as econo¬ 
mical in the end, and by far more certain and satisfactory. If the 
grounds are of a decorative character outside, you can easily sink your 
little furnace below the ground level, and cover it with a trap door, 
hinged, and around this a trellis of ornamental creepers may be thrown. 
In such case, a couple of four-inch pipes—a flow and a return—along 
the front would suffice; for your back wall will be always warm. Or, 
what would be better, one tank a foot wide, with a flow and return in it, 
and a lid moveable at pleasure. This would be of immense service to 
the vines during their “breaking” period, as furnishing a wholesome 
and moist air. As you want to combine vine and pot culture, pray keep 
your vines to the rafters, on the spurring system. You may then grow 
anything on the back wall. We do not know what you mean by 
“Muscatel” grapes; there are Muscadels, Moscatels, andMuscatellcrs— 
perhaps you mean Frontignan : these are too uncertain to recommend, 
where only three are required. We should choose the Hambro, Mus¬ 
cadine, and the West St. I’eter’s. These would produce, in succession, 
from July to November; and you could graft a twig, here and there, 
with fancy sorts. Eighteen feet long should give you five rafters, each 
carrying a vine. By all means, place a partition wall, if other trees grow 
near. Do not sink your floor—rather raise it. Your back wall may be 
from ten to twelve feet; your front just enough to make a convenient angle. 
You must get a handy mechanic, who has been used to such things. Mr. 
Errington thinks that the position of the border trees next the walk may 
be amended, by planting them about a couple of feet or so from the 
edge. However, by his plan the walks must be of prepared soil, for he 
intends the trees to take possession of them with their roots. 
Keeping a Horse (7. S. /,.).— Your problem is a somewhat hard one. 
Had the case been cows and pigs, instead of a horse, we could have 1 
■ better advised. We are quite aware, that a horse may be in part dieted 
on steamed roots, &c.; but, after all, good hay, find some other dry and 
more concentrated diet, is necessary. Two acres, you say: well, one 
acre, if good soil, may possibly produce hay enough, in conjunction with 
a system of mashes and steamed roots, chaff, &c.; but we cannot discern 
much economy in the affair. In this case, it is obvious that the roots 
must take the place of pasturage. Give your Beurre Biel Pear a rich 
and loamy top-dressing, three inches thick, very shortly. B. Biel is 
certainly only second rate. 
Flower-garden ( Montem ).—Mr. Beaton cannot “decline” so old 
an acquaintance as your plan, which was published by the late Mr. 
Loudon, just twenty years ago, in the 7th volume of his Gardener’s 
Magazine, page 33, where you will find a good list of plants to fill it, in 
the mixed style. Nothing is easier than to plant this garden, and your 
own planting is very well arranged, except 9 and 5—carnations—and they 
are objectionable for that style, as they do not flower in the autumn: 
put some blue flowering plant in both of them. Salvia chamcedrioides is j 
