274 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
and not unfrequently, stand three and four together. A tree 
recently felled measured about 300 feet in length, with a dia¬ 
meter, including bark, 29 feet 2 inches, at 5 feet from the 
ground; at 18 feet from the ground it was 14 feet 6 inches 
through ; at 100 feet from the ground, 14 feet; and at 200 
feet from the ground, 5 feet 5 inches. The bark is of a pale 
cinnamon-brown, and from 12 to 15 inches in thickness. 
The branchlets are round, somewhat pendent, and resem¬ 
bling a Cypress or Juniper. The leaves are pale grass- 
green; those of the young trees are spreading, with a sharp 
acuminate point. The cones are about 2§ inches long, and 
2 inches across at the thickest part. The trunk of the tree 
January 12. 
in question was perfectly solid, from the sap-wood to the 
centre; and judging from the number of concentric rings, its 1 
age has been estimated at 3000 years. The wood is light, , 
soft, and of a reddish colour, like redwood or Taxodiwm j 
sempervirens. Of this vegetable monster, 21 feet of the ' 
bark, from the lower part of the trunk, have been put in tho I 
natural form in San Francisco for exhibition; it there forms ! 
a spacious carpeted room, and contains a piano, with seats 
for 40 persons. On one occasion 140 children were admitted 
without inconvenience. An exact representation of this 
tree, drawn on the spot, is now in the hands of the litho¬ 
graphers, and will be published in a few days.” 
Former periods of our national history have been 
variously described as the Dark, the Crusading, and the 
Augustan Ages; and if we were asked as tersely to 
characterize that in which we are now living, we should 
say it is the Common Sense Age. 
We remarked, last week, upon tho absurd system, now 
abolished, of keeping Kew Gardens closed against the 
people, it being now reasonably concluded, that if 
natural beauties and intellectual pleasures are placed 
within the easy reach even of the poorest, there is still 
so much of good in human nature, that very many 
would prefer such gratifications before more sensual 
indulgences. That the conclusion was just, is told by 
the myriads frequenting Kew, the Parks, tho British 
Museum, and the National Gallery. 
Encouraged by this, Common Sense has carried the 
facilities for mental improvement a step further; and 
in the Mechanics Institutes, their lectures and libraries, 
all well attended, we observe another attractive power 
at work to wean the labouring classes from debasing 
habits 
Common Sense, wo think, now suggests to go another 
step onward. Mechanics Institutes provide rational 
amusement and wholesome instruction for the artisans 
and the residents in towns, but we now require Village 
Institutes. 
A great movement in that direction is organising, 
under Lord Shaftesbury, for the better supply of rural 
districts with cheap and good literature; and Lord 
Ashburton’s proposal to have the Diocesan School¬ 
masters better instructed in “ common things” will he 
a powerful auxiliary. His lordship offers prizes to the 
Schoolmasters now training in the Winchester Diocesan 
School ; the prizes to he awarded to those most fully 
conversant with the things of every-day life. The 
importance of having the Village Schoolmaster a centre 
of “ science with practice” in all that relates to our 
bodies, our clothing, our food, our dwellings, and our 
gardens, is a suggestion laden with most beneficial 
results. 
We had written thus far when we received the fol¬ 
lowing from Mr. Fish. It is highly valuable, as offering 
the suggestions of a reflecting mind in one well con¬ 
versant with the wants and habits of those with whom 
Village Institutes and Village Schoolmasters will have 
to be in intimate connection:— 
“ One of our old winters has returned.” Many “ a 
merry Christmas, and a happy new year,” has been 
expressed to old friends in the sounds of the living 
voice that would have been unheard hut for the iron- 
cased roads which old Jack Frost had kindly provided 
for all pedestrian tourists. Writing this on the second 
day of 1854, after a fortnight of weather below the 
average in temperature, the days of my teenliooil seemed 
to come again at seeing many a sturdy youth and rosy- 
faced damsel, with buoyant steps, hastening on to a 
father’s home, or a grandfather’s fireside; and if a dark 
shade passed over the happy recollections conjured up 
by such a bright scene, it was my knowledge of the 
well-known fact, that in the homo of many an honest 
and industrious peasant, the high price of provisions, 
the cost of fuel, the comparative inadequate remune¬ 
ration for labour, the uncertainty of obtaining constant 
work in such circumstances, combined to render the 
larder less well filled, and the genial fire less crackling 
and bright than usual. 
“ Blessings, many, rest on those, who, feeling their 
responsibility as stewards of the bounties of Providence, 
have, by distributing clothing, fuel, and food, insured 
tho practicability of their humbler neighbours rejoicing 
at this season along with them ! May more blessings 
come to those, who, whatever the extent of their chari¬ 
ties, never make charity an opiate for concealing from 
themselves tho demand of justice that a fair day’s 
work should receive a fair day’s wages; and who, less or 
more, are imitating the conduct of a Nobleman, who, 
according to one of our best correspondents, has raised 
every man’s wages 4s. per week; thus guaranteeing the 
possession of the necessaries, and some of the comforts, 
of existence, without breaking in upon that self-respect 
and high-minded independence of feeling so intimately 
bound up with the honour and power of a people, that 
they never can he too much encouraged among our 
workingcomrades ; hut which an indiscriminate charity, 
approaching to almsgiving, never fails to uproot and 
destroy. 
“ Let us look around us still further. What is the 
aspect of our peasantry, as respects knowledge and 
morals? We hear much talk about “ the schoolmaster 
being abroad;” and how nicely it swells a period, and turns 
a sentence, to introduce something about the “march 
of intellect,”—the progress of thought—the force ot 
public opinion —the wonderful doings, as respects 
advancement and purity in this nineteenth century of 
ours! No doubt, contrasted with the past, every philan¬ 
thropist has reason to take heart aud rejoice; but, if we 
compare general attainments with advantages and 
privileges, we have reason to hang our heads in very 
