May 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
05 
me, but they are but few. So situate, you must allow an 
agreeable companion a great blessing, and I have some 
intention of taking one for life (I mean a wife). I think I 
know one who, from her good nature and sense, will make 
me happy; she has no money more than myself, but as it 
never adds to happiness I regard it not—if it pleases God to 
give mo competency, witli health, I want no more. I am 
confident I can live much more comfortable married than in 
my present situation, and with much more economy, and it 
will be the means of making me more settled to my studies, 
having company at home I shall have no occasion to seek 
it abroad; and when sickness and infirmity come on a man, 
it is an unpleasing thing to have no one to take care of 
him. And, finding my lot is to this unpleasing country, I 
must make myself as happy in it as I can. 
Marriage is no common ceremony in these islands, and 
attempts to it are often ridiculed and contemned, as a 
substitute for it is as general as infamous to decency and 
morality, as also diametrically opposite to the express com¬ 
mands of the author of nature, that is, the keeping mulatto 
and negro concubines; four or five of them is no uncommon 
tiling in the same house; a numerous offspring of coloured 
children is the consequence: in my opinion no pleasing 
family. This promiscuous intercourse among all colours and 
characters is as common here as lawful connection between 
the sexes with yon, and I can tell you that I am the only 
exception to' it in the Island of St. Vincent; I have always 
regarded it with detestation and abhorrence, and ever shall 
do. I am often ridiculed for not having a black wife, 
indeed, many keep them with an economical view, in taking 
care of a house better and more honestly than a black man, 
and also a great saving in washing, making, and many 
other tilings ; washing alone costs me a guinea every lunar 
month. However, all these difficulties I gladly bear in 
preference to acting a part so disgusting to my inclinations. 
Nothing worthy of extract occurs in the correspondence 
until 1793, the year in which Captain Bligh, commander 
of the unfortunate Bounty , touched at St. Vincent’s to 
deliver a portion of the bread-fruit trees collected from 
the Society Islands, on the second voyage he made for 
the purpose. His first voyage, when he was turned 
adrift in the ship’s launch by the mutineers, occurred 
in 1789. 
The following letter is dated “ Botanical Gardens, St. 
Vincent, February 17lh, 1793.” 
ME. A. ANDERSON TO ME. FORSYTH. 
You no doubt before this have heard of the arrival of the 
bread-fruit ship, Ca^it. Bligh, and a beautiful cargo lie 
brought. He is a man of great ability, and certainly merits 
much. His arrival was some months sooner than I ex¬ 
pected, and, therefore, you may conceive I was, and still am, 
much hurried. There are about three hundred bread fruit 
plants thriving, with all the other Otaheite fruits and useful 
plants, and several from Timor and other parts. I sent on 
board above four hundred different species for them, and 
had I expected the sliip so soon many more would have 
been ready. She remained here only seven days, and the 
confusion to me was so great, in landing and shipping such 
a number of plants, that it was almost too much for me, nor 
permitted me the time to search among the sailors for 
shells, and other curiosities of Otaheite, which I much 
wished on your account. Capt. B. brought none himself, 
his sole attention being engrossed in the plants ; lie even 
applied to me for shells and other matters for his friends in 
England. 
GOSSIP. 
A correspondent points out that we last week spoke of 
a yellow dahlia as a rarity. This error of baste only 
appeared in a few copies, and those who received them 
will know that it is a blue dahlia that is the “ monster ” 
that has not yet been discovered. 
The vote of the House of Commons refusing to grant 
a Committee to inquire into the question of retaining 
The Crystal Palace in its present position, only decides 
that it shall not remain in Hyde Park. This is of very 
little consequence so that it is re-erected in the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of London. This is almost certain of 
being effected, and then our purpose will have been 
gained ; we caro not whether it is on the east, west, 
north, or south side of the metropolis, so that it is close 
to one of those sides. Before leaving this subject we 
must observe upon the gratifying coincidence that, as 
Sir Joseph Paxton raised himself from the rank and file 
of gardeners, so Sir William Cubitt, the engineer selected 
to watch over its erection, is similarly meritorious, as 
having mounted from the anvil to his present high 
position; he began life as a mechanic in the employ¬ 
ment of Messrs. Ransome and Co., the agricultural 
implement makers at Ipswich. 
We recommend to the attention of our readers the 
following hints by Mr. Robert Baker, of Writtle, in 
Essex, on brewing beer from White Silesian Beet-root. 
which appeared in Bell's Weekly Messenger. For keep¬ 
ing to brew with in the summer months the kiln- 
drying is desirable, but for brewing from September 
until April, wo know of no reason why the undried, 
fresh slices, may not bo employed. Wo know that one 
of the best of the home-made wines, Parsnip Wine, is 
made from the undried root. Mr. Baker says;— 
My produce last year was from 10 to 16 tons per acre, 
whilst the mangold-wurtzel was from 16 to 24 tons in the 
same field. The beet should he planted closer than the 
mangold-wurtzel, and perhaps would yield a greater crop by 
leaving double the number of plants. The leaves of this 
plant are much preferred by cattle, and the roots left in iny 
garden for seed have had all the crowns picked out by small 
birds, while they rarely, if ever, touch the mangold-wurtzel. 
The seed may be procured from any of the respectable seed 
merchants. 
The planting will be sufficiently early if effected by the 
12th of May, though the last week of April would be pre¬ 
ferred. The after culture is the same as that pursued with 
mangold-wurtzel; the leaves will repay the whole expanse 
of pulling and collecting tire roots. 
The process necessary to convert it for brewing should bo 
effected early: the middle to the end of October is most 
suiLable. After thoroughly clearing from dirt, the roots 
should be sliced with a Gardener’s patent sheep turnip 
slicer, and spread thinly upon a barn or malting-iloor, and 
thoroughly turned over for three or four days or more, until 
the moisture is partially evaporated; they then should bo 
gradually dried upon a malt or chicory kiln, taking care not 
to burn them in the process, as the colour of the beer, as 
with malt, depends entirely upon this process being carefully 
conducted ; when dry and crisp, it may be removed and kept 
in a dry situation for use. The process of brewing is as 
follows :—If combined with malt, I brew 12 bushels of malt, 
and mash it the first time in the ordinary way. I then add 
18 bushels of the dried root for the second wort; from this 
a third wort is taken, and the whole is put to fermentation 
at 45° to 00° Fahrenheit, and turned separately or together; 
l-,j lb. of good hops to each bushel of malt being added, and 
a bushel-and-a-half' of the beet being used. The wort is 
boiled in the usual way; from this I obtain seven hogs- 
heads of beer, which in three months is quite clear and 
ready for use. 
Or, I brew with the beet-root alone, putting a bushel- and- 
a-half instead of each bushel of malt; but I do not find it 
quite equivalent to a bushel of malt when used alone, 
although when combined with malt it is so, but two bushels 
would bo more than equivalent. The beer brewed entirely 
from the beet, if properly managed, is quite equal to that 
brewed from malt and beet, and is first ready for use; is 
