276 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
January 12. 
similar effort, I would do away with the entrance- 
money, reduce the fees to 2s. or 3s. a-year, and thus 
encourage the peasantry to be members; for though con¬ 
tending against making working men recipients of 
charity, in any shape, let us advocate knowledge being 
placed within their reach on the easiest possible terms. 
Instances are known to me in which such institutions 
never got beyond Struggle Point, until the terms were 
made so low as to invite the masses. Numbers here are 
everything as respects energy and usefulness. A man 
that can pay sixpence is nothing to six men who pay 
one penny each. 
“ Then, as hinted above, if our friend was to give a 
snort lecture on gardening, and the worthy tutor, and 
the good clergyman, were to do the same as respects 
natural history, mechanical philosophy, social econo¬ 
mics, &c., a variety and interest would be added that 
would be both pleasing and improving. 
“Knowing the exciting temptations of the liquor-shop, 
we have but slender hope of seeing great improvements ! 
in our large villages until such institutions are intro¬ 
duced, combined with good-sized gardens, or an allot¬ 
ment for every cottager.” 
We shall be much obliged by our readers informing us 
the lowest degrees of cold they have observed, recorded 
by their self-registering thermometers. One corres- 
pondent, at Bury, in Lancashire, says :— 
“My registering thermometer, last night (Dec. 27th), 
indicated 7°, viz.25° below freezing point, and at 
8 o’clock stood at 13°. I am anxious to hear if the 
frost has been as severe elsewhere.—W. N. W.” 
On the same night, at Southampton, the thermometer 
was at 24°, but on the 29th it fell as low as 18°. At 
Chiswick, on the 16th of December, it was at 7°, and 
on the 28th at 8°. At Croydon, in Surrey, on the 29th, 
it was 15°. 
These temperatures, however, are far above that of the 
night of January the 3rd, when, near Nottingham, the 
thermometer sank to 4° below zero, or 36° below the 
freezing point of water. We shall be glad to know 
what was the lowest temperature of that night in different 
parts of England. 
Mr. E. J. Lowe, of the Observatory, Highfiekl House, 
near Nottingham, says, 
“ The following are the temperatures of the coldest days 
here since 1809 :— 
1810 
.. Feb. 21 
12° above zero. 
1814 
.. Jan. 9 
-u „ 
oo 
„ Id 
„ 11 
*) ,, 
5° „ 
1815 
.. „ 23 
11° „ 
1H1G 
.. Feb. 9 
2° 
1820 
.. Jan. 1 
0.5° ” 
1823 
.. „ 19 
0.5° „ 
1820 
.. „ 15 
H° » 
1830 
•• „ 19 
10° „ 
1838 
• • „ 20 
9° „ 
1841 
• • )> 
1845 
.. March 14 
13° 
1854 
.. Jan. 3 
4° below zero. 
“ On the 14th of March, 1845, the temperature, on the 
grass, fell to l 9 below zero ; to-day (Jai:. 3) that tempera¬ 
ture was 6° below zero (as indicated by several corrected 
thermometers), and at 4 feet above the ground, upon a flat 
board, 8° below zero.” 
CULTURE OF COLE WORTS—SUGGESTIVE. 
About thirty years since the culture of these most 
useful vegetables was principally confined to the market- 
gardens about the metropolis; our ordinary country 
gardeners knew and cared little about them. In later 
years, however, their culture has been much on the 
increase; our markets have been so abundantly sup¬ 
plied with them at all periods, that their importance 
lias become familiar to all classes, and almost every j 
private garden of importance possesses, at least, a winter J 
supply. Indeed, so much have they increased in esteem, 
that they have gone far towards supplanting the larger j 
Cabbages. As some confused notions are abroad con¬ 
cerning them, it will be well to state here in what their 
peculiarity consists. The fact is, that a new race of ! 
Cabbages may be said to have sprung up, of which, pro¬ 
bably, the Dwarf Early York is the parent, at least, on 
one side; but most of them are far superior to that once 
useful kind, in being more succulent and fuller in the 
head, for the Old York had a sort of twisted character, 
which detracted sadly from its value. It is well known 
that our market-gardeners select for seed from those 
with thick and succulent midribs in the leaves, as 
making them of superior quality, and as bunching 
better for market; aud in this respect such kinds as 
Barnes's Early Dwarf, Atkins's Matchless, &c., when 
from a true stock, are far superior to the Old York. 
Now, it so happens that most of these improved 
dwarf and early-hearting kinds produce a very superior- 
amount of sprouts to the old Early Yorks, and although 
the market-gardeners care not a fig for sprouts, private 
gardeners frequently find them of great service. Market- 
gardeners have to pursue a more rapid rotation, based, ! 
in the main, on the peculiar demands of the market,— 
they must produce any given crop when it fetches the 
highest price; the private gardener, on the contrary, 
has to consider the peculiar needs of a given family; 
and it not unfrequently happens that his crops are "of - 
the greatest importance in this respect, when they would 
be of least value in the market. In this way, then, 
stands the relative position of the parties; and I con¬ 
sider it very necessary to all little gardeners, whenever 
old blue aprons undertake to explain sound maxims of ; 
culture, to clear away those mists which have too 
long formed a kind of halo around common sense 
matters, and either dimmed the eye of the would-be 
learner, or so refracted the rays of light, as to make 
plain matters appear distorted or unsatisfactory. 
1 well remember that when the “ Atkins's Matchless" 
Cabbage first came up, and when, of course, it might be 
had in much purity, planting about ten poles of ground 
with it about the beginning of July. The land had 
been deeply trenched for the preceding crop, and much ! 
of the subsoil brought to the surface,—this subsoil a 
reddish sand, called, in Cheshire, “ hooted ” sand, from a 
slight tendency it has to the clayey principle, for when 
squeezed in the hand it is slightly adhesive. The 
ground was well-manured with old hotbed linings, 
which was first dug in a spade deep, aud then forked 
over,—a favourite practice with me when I can spare 
so much labour, for I find that it makes the soil, for 
about ten inches in depth, a well-mixed compost, and 
the dung being old hotbed linings chopped into mince¬ 
meat, a most complete mixture takes place, and not a 
fibre but has food close to it—the soil, also, thus pre¬ 
serving moisture in a summer's drought. These Cole- 
worts were planted at a distance averaging one foot 
apart, and when they came in use, which was through 
September and October, their heads, or shoulders, fairly j 
