April 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
— i 
15 i 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
XI \V 
APRIL 8—14. 1852. 
Weather 
near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
L) D 
1 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R.&S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Year. 
8 Th 
Maunday Thursday. 
29-988 
—29.889 
50—36 
N.E. 
05 
21 a. 5 
43 a. 6 
morn. 
19 
1 
47 
99 
9 F 
Good Friday, 
29.911 
—29.760 
49—28 
N. 
03 
19 
44 
0 
7 
20 
1 
30 
100 
10 s 
29 954 
—29.949 
48—35 
N. 
02 
17 
46 
1 
15 
21 
1 
14 
101 
11 Sun 
Easter Sunday. 
29.931 
— 29.874 
49—32 
N.E. 
04 
14 
48 
2 
11 
@ 
0 
58 
102 
12 M 
Easter Monday. 
29.904 
— 29.885 
52—28 
N.E. 
— 
12 
49 
2 
55 
23 
0 
42 
103 
13 Tu 
Easter Tuesday. 
29.957 
— 29.939 
51—30 
S.E. 
— 
10 
51 
3 
29 
24 
0 
26 
104 
14 VV 
Stinging Fly seen. 
29.931 
— 29-882 
48—38 
E. 
— 
8 
53 
3 
57 
25 
0 
H 
105 
Meteorology of the Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 57 . 7 0 and 36.4° respectively. The greatest heat, 73°, occurred on the 9th in 1843 ; and the lowest cold, 22° on the 11th 
in 1843. During the period 88 days were fine, and on 87 rain fell. 
It is rather a startling fact, that the originators of im¬ 
proved modes of cultivation have usually been unprosperous. 
Tusser, and Tull, and Hartlib, and Plattes, and Mortimer, 
and Arthur Young, with very many others, all contributed, 
by their writings and by their new practices, to advance our 
agriculture and gardening—yet they all damaged or ruined 
their property. Is it true, then, that only the foolish try ex¬ 
periments by which wise men may profit ? We think widely 
otherwise; and William Ellis, of whom we have a few notes 
to produce to-day, will serve to illustrate what we consider 
the usual cause of failure with experimenters. Solomon 
has not advised us to get wisdom alone as the aid to 
success, but he has united wisdom to a help-mate from 
which it should never be separated. “ My son,” he says, 
“ keep sound wisdom and discretion; then shalt thou walk 
in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.” Now, 
if we examine the conduct of all the clever individuals whose 
names we have enumerated, we shall find that “ discretion ” 
formed no part of their mental excellence. Tusser vibrated 
between the court and the country, and had no firmness of 
purpose; Tull found hoeing beneficial, and thence rashly 
concluded it was the most essential portion of plant-culture ; 
Hartlib was generous beyond his resources ; Plattes was an 
alchemist as well as cultivator of the soil; Mortimer was 
more occupied by merchandise than manure heaps; and 
Arthur Young was a parliamentary reporter, and any thing 
but a practical farmer. It is this non-combination of “ prac¬ 
tice with science ” that was the cause of all their failures; 
and this is proved not only by the dictates of common sense, 
but by the success which lias attended the cultivation of the 
soil by those who had not only sufficient intelligence to 
suggest improvements, but sufficient practical knowledge to 
know whether those improvements, if successful, would be 
remunerative for the outlay in securing them. 
Such practical knowledge w 7 as not possessed by William 
Ellis, at one time the proprietor of many broad acres in 
the parish of Little Gaddesden, in Hertfordshire. One who 
knows the parish well, says :—“ The family of ‘ Ellis ’ 
possessed a good home and surrounding lands in the parish. 
I see, that in 1794, a certain 'Phillip Ellis’ was buried 
Ox the 5th of July, 1851, Dr. Lindley, at the end of an 
editorial advocating the perpetuity of the Crystal Palace, 
wrote thus, in the Gardeners Chronicle :—“ If the comfort, 
the health, the enjoyment, the wealth of the metropolis 
would be thus largely increased by converting the Crystal 
Palace into such a park as could only be naturally found 
in Portugal or Madeira, then the last inquiry we should 
make would be, Who will recommend its removal?” 
These capitals are Dr. Lindley’s own emphaticals, yet 
he himself now has signed a public document recom¬ 
mending that removal, and that the Crystal Palace shall 
be broken up and a portion of it re-erected in Kew 
Gardens! Now, we have no such inconsistency to 
explain away, for we have unwaveringly advocated a 
devotion of the Crystal Palace to the formation of a 
Winter Garden; so leaving to the public to decide which 
here, and more than one or two of the female branches 
were married at the church. The family seems to have 
‘ gone down in the world,’ as they say, and their property to 
have frittered away by degrees. A few years ago, I re¬ 
member an Ellis (a branch of the Gaddesden family) living 
at North Church." 
William Ellis possessed a taste for writing books, to show 
others how to gather profit from then- lands, and he allowed 
this to absorb that time and attention requisite for gathering 
that profit from his own. In his work, published in 1733, 
entitled ChiUern and T'ale Farming Explained, he says :—“ My 
residence is constantly among forest trees, and I employ 
workmen in their management in that part of the country 
most famed for such artificers. I occupy my own farm, 
and the glebe land of our parish, in all 24 enclosed fields of 
several sorts of soils ; I have had a very favourable oppor¬ 
tunity, almost 20 years together, iu a country where farmers 
are allowed, in the general, to excel all others in this king¬ 
dom, and so great a difference there now is between the 
present and former practice of agriculture, as made an old 
sagacious farmer, who has acquired a good estate by his 
industry, and is now living, say— 1 1 think I have been asleep 
these 40 years.’ More grain, fruit, and cattle are obtained 
now off an acre, than formerly off two or three acres.” Yet 
Ellis could not reap this treble harvest himself. He neg¬ 
lected his business for more agreeable employment:—“ I 
yearly travel,” he says, “ hundreds of miles, on account of 
the several sorts of books I have (published), and intend 
| to publish, whereby I have an opportunity of acquainting 
1 myself with the methods used in several different counties.” 
| (The Timber Tree Improved , 1738.) He told others of those 
j methods, but he profited nothing by them. He continued 
i to write, but his books did not prove remunerative. New Ex- 
\ periments in Husbandry did not live beyond the first number ; 
j and his Complete Modern Husbandry , though it passed 
through three editions, could not fill up the losses incurred 
by defective farming. The property was “ frittered away," 
and the close of his mistaken career is told in this extract 
from the Parish Register of Burials: “- 1758. Mr. Win. 
Ellis. Author of several books of husbandry. June 10th." 
they think most probably is Dr. Lindley’s genuine 
opinion, we take this first opportunity of assuring our 
readers that, notwithstanding the misrepresentation in 
that public document, Sir Joseph Paxton’s conviction 
iu favour of retaining the Crystal Palace in its present 
position, and devoting it to the formation of a Winter- 
Garden, remains unchanged. 
Most anxious are we that this purpose may he carried 
out, and we rejoice to see that public meetings are being 
held, and committees formed, to carry into effect this 
truly national design. If subscriptions are opened to 
realize this design we hope our readers will add their 
contributions. 
Let it not be forgotten that such an opportunity can 
never recur, and that if advantage be taken of the op¬ 
portunity, it will be the means of securing such a garden, 
No. CLXXX1V., Vol. VIII 
