SfcPTEjUBEIt 30. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
417 
weeds, if taken before they seed. It is well, in all such 
cases, to use a sort of scarifying process, if the operator 
can meet with a tool adapted to that end. It is very 
common to resort to the hoe, but we have seen a tool much 
better adapted to the purpose. It is, we believe, a Kentish 
tool, and used to be called the prong hoe; it is in form very 
much like a dung drag, called in some parts of the north a 
muck-hook. The handle may be about four or five feet in 
length, and the tines, of which there are two, about five 01 - 
six inches apart, are fiat, and about one-and-a-half inches 
in width. They are, of course, in a curved form, and in the 
act of using them they may be said to be hump-backed, 
the outer part of the curve being upwards, and the tines 
below so set as to enter the ground at a narrow angle, in 
order to avoid friction. This is one of the best weapons 
with which we are acquainted, for carrying out the double 
operation of working the soil, and of destroying, by ger¬ 
mination, a crop of young weeds. 
It is now time to commence drawing the lower leaves of 
the Mangold TVurtzel; these are of much service to the 
cow, and hungry pigs will greedily devour them. They 
should be removed gradually; one half may be stripped 
away by the middle of the month, and the remainder, with 
the exception of the crown, and a tuft around it, towards the 
end. In the middle of the ensuing month the crown may 
also be cut, and used up; and we generally let them stand 
in the ground a week or two after, in order to heal the 
wound a little. Carrots, too, must be looked to; these 
should be secured by the end of the mouth. It is good 
practice to mow or cut over their tops in the beginning of 
the month, and to let them remain a week or two; aftd, 
when taken up, it is our practice to cut them into the quick, 
as it is termed—that is to say, cutting a slice off the crown ; 
this prevents their sprouting. Parsnips may remain in the 
ground, if requisite, through the winter—dug out as wanted. 
Swedes, of course, may grow on; their tops being hardy, 
the cutting of them may remain to the last. 
The cottager should look sharp after the waste leaves of 
his Cabbage-worts of all kinds, collecting all that show the 
least symptoms of yellowness, in order to pursue a rigid 
economy, without which no man can hope to thrive by the 
allotment system. 
The rest of the business of this month is so familiar to 
our readers, that we must beg to lay before them some 
account of the extensive allotments at Alnwick, on the estate 
of His Grace the Duke of Northumberland. Having been 
staying in this fine old border town for a week, we have had 
every opportunity of inspecting them, and ascertaining the 
character of their foundation, for which information we feel 
much indebted to the great courtesy of Mr. Robertson, an 
intelligent tradesman of this town, who has much assisted 
His Grace in carrying out his benevolent designs of height¬ 
ening the moral, social, and industrial character of these 
stalwart borderers. 
Allotments at Alnwick. —There are three plots appro¬ 
priated to this purpose, situated at the back of the town, in 
three distinct quarters, in order to afford every facility to 
the mechanics and others in reaching their plots without 
loss of time. In this, and, indeed, in everything else con¬ 
nected with this benovolent scheme, His Grace the Duke of 
Northumberland has shewn the nicest discrimination. One 
of these is called the Clayport allotment, and contains six 
acres. This is situated at the west entrance to the toivn, 
contiguous to the ancient gate called Bond-gate. The 
second, called Leeks field, is situated on the eastern side 
of the town, and contains seven-and-a-half acres. The 
third is called Rotten Row, and is situate on the north side 
of the town. This contains seven acres. They were com¬ 
menced about three years since, and His Grace thoroughly 
drained the land, as a very proper beginning, and fenced it 
out, as to the exterior of the allotments. The soil is of 
most excellent staple—a fine, soft, sound, and mellow loam, 
of some thirty inches deep : a finer soil can scarcely be. 
Before proceeding further, we may as well state, the con¬ 
ditions on which these allotments are held, and this we will 
do from a copy of the rules and regulations of the establish¬ 
ment now lying on the table. 
Rules and Regulations for the Allotment Gardens in the 
parish of Alnwick, belonging to His Grace the Duke of North¬ 
umberland :— 
1st.—The rent is Cs. 3d. for one-tenth of an acre; to be 
regularly paid. 
2nd.—The tenant to be sober, industrious, and of good 
character. 
3rd.—The ground to be cultivated with the spade, and in no 
other manner ; each tenant regularly manuring and crop- i 
ping his allotment, observing to keep clean and in proper j 
order the roads—their width to be two feet for ordinary ; 
paths, and three feet for the main roads. 
4th.—Any tenant found destroying, trespassing, or otherwise 
injuring the property of another tenant, climbing over or [ 
damaging the fences, will forfeit his allotment. 
5th.—The children of the tenants are not to be permitted ; 
to enter the allotments, unless under the charge of their 
parents, or other proper guardians, who will be held 
responsible for their conduct while there. 
Oth.—No tenant will be allowed to sub let his allotment, or 
to barter his interest therein. 
The above regulations will be strictly enforced. 
N. B.—Dogs are not allowed to be taken into the allotments. 
(Signed) John Bradley 
Thomas Robertson 
Thomas Dixon. 
Thus, then, stands the foundation of the establishment; and 
if any further information be needed, we are assured that 
such will be readily furnished by Mr. Thomas Robertson, 
Cabinet-maker, Narrowgate-street, who takes a great pride in 
all that relates to these valuable gardens. It is worthy of 
remark, that a few tradespeople are permitted to hold allot¬ 
ments. This may seem a strange feature in the affair at 
first sight, but there can be little doubt that the policy is of 
a healthful tendency. His Grace, I am told, has a most 
liberal desire to break down all invidious and uncalled for 
barriers between man and man, as far, at least, as is con¬ 
sistent with the present position of society; and, moreover, 
in addition, he expects, very naturally, that these respectable 
tradespeople will act as fuglemen in setting examples of 
high culture. The tradesman is thus brought in closer 
contact with the labourer, or the working mechanic; and it 
is to be hoped that such may tend to widen the sympathies 
that should exist between these portions of society. Some 
of the parties possess a cow—perhaps about five per cent, 
of the whole—and these obtain a run for their cow on 
Alnwick town moor, at least those who are freemen of 
this town. 
In referring to a history of Northumberland, we find 
the following : — “ The town of Alnwick is an ancient 
borough, consisting of ancient borough houses, for which 
certain small annual burgage rents, or quit rents, are paid 
to the lord of the manor and borough of Alnwick; and 
the freemen of Alnwick are a body corporate by prescrip¬ 
tion, by the name of the Chamberlain, Common Council, 
and Freemen of Alnwick. The Duke of Northumberland 
is lord of the manor and borough of Alnwick, and the forest 
of Haydon, or Alnwick moor ; and the freemen are entitled 
to common pasture on Alnwick moor, upon payment of the 
rent of two shillings per annum, for the liberty of pasturing 
their cattle thereon in the ‘ fence month.’ ” Most of our 
readers will be familiar with the ceremony of making a 
freeman in this ancient borough; it is a most ludicrous 
proceeding. As we have not space to give an extract, we 
may merely observe, that it consists in being dragged 
through a muddy pool, arrayed in white, being first plenti¬ 
fully regaled with brandy. This is done on St. Mark’s day, 
the 25th of April, a somewhat early period for a sound 
ducking in the cool mountain stream. They have a tradi¬ 
tion that King John originated this strange modern con¬ 
sequence of his displeasure at being thrown from his horse 
in the bogs of Haydon forest. 
To return to our point: what with this run on the moor 
all the summer, and some swede turnips grown in the allot¬ 
ment, together with a coarse, rough grass, called by the 
natives “ spart,” a material used for covering stacks, they 
manage to keep their cow “very cannily,” as they term it. 
This, of course, forms a feature in the allotment: the cow- 
keeper’s plot may at once be known by the preponderance 
of swedes. About a fourth of the allotment men keep a 
pig, and crop accordingly. Many keep goats and sheep 
on the moor; and the goats’ flesh is eaten either fresh or 
