350 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
September 2. 
“ When foreigners witness our Lancashire gooseberries, 
they are ready to consider them as forming quite a dif¬ 
ferent kind of fruit.” 
Of the prize gooseberries now before us, there is the 
red, Conquering Hero, weighing 28 dwts. 7 grs.; of 
relates, Eagle, 24 dwts. lgr.; of greens, Lady Morley, 
22 dwts. 10 grs.; General, 24 dwts. 3 grs. ; Thumper, 
23 dwts. 4 grs. ; and of yellows, Drill, 23 dwts. 9 grS.; 
Catherina, 26 dwts. 9 grs. ; and Two-to-one, 25 dwts. 
6 grs. All the berries are symmetrical and well-grown, 
excepting Conquering Hero. This, from its appearance, 
we should think had been unfairly treated to make it 
weigh heavier; and we conclude that the judge must 
have thought so too, for he did not award it a prize. 
It would not be easy to point out greater evidences of 
the superior mental tastes and pursuits of the mechanic 
mind of England, when compared with its agricultural 
mind, than are the one hundred and sixty-eight goose¬ 
berry shows, supported by artisans alone, at which such 
fruit is exhibited. True, it is only a gooseberry that is 
the object of excellence, hut the same artisan-mind sus¬ 
tains Celery shows, and also other shows for encouraging 
the growth of the Auricula and Polyanthus. These, too, 
are only vegetables and flowers, but the mind that has a 
taste for these has a fund of happiness, a bias in that 
upward direction, more rarely enjoyed and more rarely 
aimed at by the mere rustic. It has been argued that 
the employments of the tiller of the soil are slow, and 
cloddy, and that as they are pursued usually solitary, 
there is little opportunity for that collision of thought, 
that general activity which occurs to the artisan, whose 
occupations bring many actively together. Others urge 
that what is a man’s constant labour, rarely forms also 
the amusement of his leisure, and, therefore, he who 
ploughs all day cannot be expected to dig for amuse¬ 
ment in the evening. There is considerable force in 
these defences, or excuses, for the country labourer not 
usually being a distinguished gardener; but we know 
there are too many exceptions not to warrant the con¬ 
clusion that, even when wages are not sufficient to do 
more than barely keep rags and starvation from benumb¬ 
ing the spirit of the household, the farming labourer, 
if duly encouraged, will strive vigorously and emulously 
for the rewards held out for superior cottage gardening. 
Those not conversant with the labouring classes form 
no just estimate of the intellectual tastes and powers 
that are there working, and gladdening, and improving 
the mass of our population. We have mingled with the 
miners of the north, and can bear testimony to the high 
mathematical acquirements that may be there found 
deep beneath the surface of the earth; and we have 
found among the weavers of the west an amount of cor¬ 
rect botanical knowledge that astonished as much as it 
delighted us. How this taste prevails, and is fostered, 
may be, in some degree, appreciated from the printed 
List of Botanical Meetings for 1852, to be held in Lan¬ 
cashire by the working men of the factories. The meet¬ 
ings, forty-two in number, commenced on the llth of 
January, and the following are those yet to be held, 
which we print with the concluding notes entire, that 
our readers generally may appreciate the merits and cer¬ 
tain benefits derivable from such meetings:— 
Sept. 5, Mrs. Snape, Bay Horse, Chapelfield, near White- 
field. 
„ 12, Mrs. Alice Coupe, Golden Lion Inn, Blackley. 
„ 19, Mrs. Worsley, King o’ Bells, Middleton. 
„ 20, Mr. John Baker, Mount Sion Lane, Radcliffe. 
Oct. 3, Mr. John Blackley, Kirkham’s, Prestwicli. 
„ 10, Mr. John Shaw, Hare and Hounds, Outwood, 
near Stand, in Pilkington. 
„ 24, Mr. Benjamin Wolstencroft, New White Lion, 
Blackley. 
„ 31, Mr. James Meanook, White Bear, Blackwater-st., 
Rochdale. 
Nov. 21, Mr. Joseph Fletcher, Horse Shoe, Rochdale Road, 
Blackley. 
Dec. 5, Mr. Jacob Kent, Dusty Miller, Middleton. 
„ 20, Mr. George Wood, Besses-o’th’-Barn, near White- I 
field. 
As specific discrimination and accuracy in Botanical 
Nomenclature are the chief objects sought to be obtained 
by the aid of these meetings, all persons who attend are 
hereby respectfully solicited to bring with them specimens 
of such plants, either indigenous or exotic, but particularly 
the former, as they can conveniently procure. 
N.B. At the last meeting in December, will be agreed 
upon where the meetings are to be held the next year. 
JOHN HORSEFIELD, President. 
JAMES PERCIYAL, Vice-President. 
JOHN HAWORTH, Steward. 
THOMAS WHITTAKER, Secretary. 
gsy The first meeting is where lists are to be served out 
for the whole year; also, they may be had of the President, 
or the Secretary, at one penny each. 
Being somewhat puzzled by the terms employed by . 
the northern gooseberry growers, and published by them 
in their annual Gooseberry Growers Register, we sent 
some queries to Mr. J. Turner, of Parkwood Springs, j 
Neepsend, Sheffield, and this is his explanatory reply * : — 
What is making-up t The lists, or books, as the case may 
be, are left open for any grower to enter himself as a mem¬ 
ber until March or April, and sometimes May, and any per¬ 
son neglecting to enter himself on or before that time, can¬ 
not do so that year; the books are said to be made up at 
that time, and, in consequence, this is called “ making-up,” or . 
“ making-up meeting.” At the making-up, each member is j 
required to pay all or part of his subscription, or not allowed | 
to show for a steward's prize. 
Can a man take money instead of kettles or tea pots ? No. 
They are bought expressly for the show, and consequently 
he must take them ; but being bought generally by quan¬ 
tities, they are bought cheaper, and a person has seldom 
any difficulty in disposing of them for the same price as ! 
they are charged to the show, and very often he can get more. 
They are generally sold as soon as they are won, but I have 
known persons who would not sell one even though they ; 
were offered double the money they cost. I have seen one 
house with every available hook, or nail, on the top of the 
ceiling, hung with kettles, all kept very nice and bright. 
What are the value of kettles and tea-pots ? Kettles, accord¬ 
ing to size and weight, from 7s. to 12s.; tea-pots, irom 6s. i 
to 10s. and 12s. 
What is meant by prizes, 40s., in each colour '! Forty shil- ’ 
lings to each class ; viz., red, yellow, green, and white. After | 
the payment by the society for the pans, kettles, and tea¬ 
pots, are deducted, there would be 40s. for the reds in 
classes, the same sum for yellows, greens, and whites; which 
40s. are generally divided as Cs. for the first hr the class, 
5s. 9d. second, 5s. Gd. third, 5s. the fourth, Ac. 
You will see Cup, or P. P. (Premier Prize), this is gene¬ 
rally money from 10s. to 20s ; Little Cup, from 9s. to 12s.; 
Brass Pans range in value from 7s. to 14s.; brass pans, cup, 
premier prize, kettles, tea pots, &c., are called Stewards’ 
Prizes. A steward is a person who, having duly paid his sub- 
* Those who wish for plants of these gigantic gooseberries had better 
apply to him. 
