THE COTTAGE GARDENEB. 
September 30. 
be peopled by a race capable of understanding and obeying 
tbe precepts of the Gospel, and through their means 
Christianity, according to the Word of God, will cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea. The Anglo-Saxon race 
seems to be God’s principal instrument to perform this 
work; for we see them, as if they were the real descendants 
of Abraham, to whom the promise was given, spreading like 
the sand upon every shore. And is it not extraordinary, 
that wherever the white man plants his foot, the savage 
recoils and retreats before him, and wastes away, till, as in 
numerous cases, the mere fact that he ever existed is found 
only on the recording pages of liistory. Let us now see 
how this applies to our subject. Nothing but necessity will 
drive most men from their homes and their country, and we 
have seen how the potato has enabled ours, both English 
and Irish, to live in degraded sloth, and how the Almighty 
has removed from us this stumbling-block. Now, then, the 
food that cannot be obtained at home they are obliged to 
seek in other countries; and thus we behold hundreds of 
thousands docking to the sea-ports, and shipping them¬ 
selves off to people the waste lands I have described, driven 
by God’s agent, the potato murrain. This, however, was 
not sufficient, and He employs a bait as well as a scourge, 
and He says, let the lands be scattered over with gold dust, 
and what starvation cannot accomplish the lust for gold 
will. Oh ! how inscrutable are the ways of Providence, and 
how clearly may the close observer see that nothing is too 
great, nothing too small, to be made an instrument in God’s 
hands; and it becomes us all to bow humbly before Him, 
and say, Thy will be done, and not ours. — J, C-n." 
Most unreservedly do we record our assent to this 
evangelical view of the good purposed to arise out of 
the evil, but we must, at the same time, express our 
equal conviction that we may gather the great comfort 
from such view, that when the murrain has completed 
its mission it will pass away. We are justified in thus 
concluding, because we find precedents for such con¬ 
viction in the Bible—“ I smote you with blasting, and 
with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your 
hands; ”—but it is added, when the intention of the 
chastisement was realised,—“from this day will I bless 
you.” Above all, although the “blasting” is upon our 
potato crop, let no one shrink from cultivating it, for no 
one can pre-determine when the plague will he stayed. 
Although the “ blasting” had smitten the plantations of 
the Israelites, yet they continued their exertions—the 
vine, the pomegranate, and the olive were still the 
objects of their hopeful care, and then came the assur¬ 
ance,—“ from this day will I bless you.” This, added to 
our own experience, and the experience of many others, 
makes us wish that our correspondent had not given up 
early planting until after further trial and further failure. 
Had we known that he resided in the wettest of all the 
counties of England, we should have recommended him, 
and do now recommend him, to keep his seed potatoes 
between layers of sand, or coal ashes, in a dry shed 
until February, and then to plant. Let him plant none 
hut the very earliest ripening varieties, and if he will 
cultivate no other than the Walnut-leaved Kidney , Fox's 
Early Delight, and the Hopetoun Early, all of which 
he may obtain from Messrs. Lawson, of Edinburgh, we 
think he may take up his crop ripe at the end of July, 
even in Westmoreland. These varieties are all first- 
rate in quality, and, though not such productive hearers 
as the Forty-fold, are much more likely to escape from 
the disease. 
400 
GOSSIP. 
Referring to some Garden Scrapers of which we gave 
drawings last February, Mr. G. S. Win tie, of Gloucester, 
has written to us as follows 
I send you a drawing of mine, believing it to be better 
than either you mention, for the following reasons:—In 
your Fig., No. 1, I object to the wooden leg and iron 
ferrule, and in No. 2 to the extra leg, and way of fixture of 
the scraper in the shoulder, as being liable to become 
ricketty, and out of its purchase. Mine, you will perceive, 
is held together by two rivets; tbe lower part, below the 
rivets, to the shoulder, being hammered close together while 
the iron is hot. The head of the scraper being rivetted to 
the legs, a perfect steadiness is obtained when fixed in the 
ground. 
Length of feet, 17 inches ; length of scraper, 93 inches; total height, 
25 inches ; total weight, 6 £ lbs. 
A press of other subjects has hitherto prevented our 
noticing the Liverpool Horticultural Society’s Slioxc, 
which took place on the 2nd of this month. Mr. Er- 
rington, who was one of the judges, says :— 
The chief feature of the exhibition tables was the fruit , 
which surpassed all I ever saw there in quantity and 
excellence; surely our neighbours from the continent who 
were there w'ould take home a very favourable impression 
of the British gardeners’ skill and perseverance. Space will 
not permit me to make honourable mention of the winners 
of prizes, but I may point to a few good things in the plant 
way. There v r ere fine specimens of Allamanda, Witsenia, 
Stephanotis, Tritonia, Crowea, Echites, Cyrtoceras, CEschy- 
nanthus, Liliums, Mussoenda, Ac,, and a collection of trained 
stove plants, of gigantic stature, from Mr. Thomas, gardener 
to C. Wilson, Esq., would not have disgraced the Chiswick 
benches. Boses were inferior : I am astonished that they 
are not better done in a neighbourhood so famous for its 
gardens. There was a splendid specimen of the Testudi- 
naria Elephantipes, or Elephant’s foot, one of the most 
grotesque plants in existence. Geraniums, as might be 
expected, were on the vane, and Ericas rather scarce. The 
Orchids were rather inferior. Liverpool should produce 
better things in this way, after the immense advantages they 
have so long enjoyed as to obtaining importations. Florists’ 
flowers were abundant, and of good quality; and Exotic 
Ferns, in considerable quantity, showed plainly that the 
taste for these is on the increase. It may be here named, 
that the rare Lapageria rosea graced the tables ; for this the 
Show was indebted to Mr. W. Skirving, the eminent Nur¬ 
sery and Seedsman of Liverpool, to whom the agricultural 
world, both here and abroad, is indebted for our present 
superior breed of Swede turnips. Prizes were given for 
British plants properly labelled, and their localities given. 
A great impulse appears to be given to the manufacture of 
wax flowers, if we may judge by the increased quantity 
produced; there were three or four exhibitors, and their 
productions characterized by much merit, but, as before, 
Miss Newton bore off the principal prize. Great credit is 
due to Mr. Leatherbarrow, the very active Hon. Sec., for the 
clever arrangements, and for taking every means to place 
the awards of the Judges beyond the possibility of suspicion. 
Long may this Society prosper! 
