118 
The cottage; GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 13, 165C. 
A Meeting of the British Pomologioal Society was 
held ou Monday the 5th, at the Society’s Rooms, 20, 
Bedford Street, Covent Garden. Mr. Lane, of Berk- 
ham pstead, in the chair. 
A collection of late Pears was exhibited by Mr. 
Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, some of which were dessert, 
and others cooking varieties. Among the former, 
Susette de Bavay was found to be an excellent Pear 
for the season, and well worthy of cultivation. The 
llesk was rather gritty, crisp, juicy, and sweet. Foriunee 
Parmentier, a small Pear, covered with light brown 
russet; flesh rather coarse, crisp, juicy, and sweet, with 
that peculiar musky astringent flavour which is found 
in the Golden Knap, and some other varieties. Beurre 
Bretonneau has the flesh tender, and, though without 
much flavour, is good for the season. Bergamotte 
d'Esperen. This variety, which at this season is generally 
of excellent quality, appeared to have been touched by 
frost; it was dry and woolly, and without much flavour. 
This, like all late-keeping Pears, requires a warm 
summer to ripen sufficiently, and then it is rich and 
melting. The cooking varieties were— Franc Beal 
d'hirer, Beurre boreal, Bczi des Veterans, Colmar des 
Involutes, Bonchretien Tare. Mr. Rivers also produced 
very fine specimens of Stunner Pippins, in excellent 
preservation, and of fine aromatic flavour. This was 
pronounced to bo one of the best late Apples. Among 
the Pears— Blanc Feme, and Leon le Olerc de Laval, 
were found to bo synonymous. 
The collections of Apples and Pears from Mr. McEwen, 
of Arundel Castle, which were exhibited at the previous 
meeting, were again produced at this, and their merits 
compared. Beurre de Bailee was found to bo very juicy 
and sweet, of a crisp texture, and altogether in very 
line condition. Easter Beurre was very melting and 
very juicy, sweet aud excellent. Knight's Monarch, 
richly flavoured and aromatic, aud very good to be so , 
late in the season. Knight’s Winter Crasanne was with¬ 
out flavour, aud woolly. Ne Plus Meuris had no flavour, 
but was quite firm and remarkably well kept. Coclclc 
Pippin, flesh tender, aud of excellent flavour. Brabant 
Bellejleur, good culinary Apple, with a tender flesh. 
Hamilton Pippin, a variety which was not known by 
any of the members present, is large, and an excellent 
bite dessert Apple, with yellow flesh, and keeps well. 
Margil. This old favourite was in excellent condition ; 
flesh tender, crisp, juicy, and aromatic. Herefordshire 
Pearmain was remarkably fine, and considered one of the 
best Apples in the collection; the flesh was very tender, 
but firm, sweet, juicy, and aromatic. There were, also, 
very excellent specimens of Ribston Pippin and 
Stunner Pippin. 
Mr. Alexander Davidson, of Weston, near Shiffnal, 
was elected an ordinary member. 
Having applied to Mr. Erringtou for some notes of his 
life’s events, he has obligingly supplied us with the 
following 
“ My course has been little varied, and I have been much 
less given to change than many gardeners. Lorn and reared in 
a nursery, and having from a child the run of both grounds 
and seed-shop, I was, from the first, accustomed to tilings 
belonging to gardening; and as I was on holidays, and on 
every possible occasion, close to my father's heels, a love 
of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, became, as it were, a part 
of my nature. I, moreover, came frequently in contact with 
the gardeners of the day; for it was my father’s constant 
practice, when he found me idle, or tired of my play, to 
place me at the counter, where I used to scribble the names 
on the packets for him, or enter them in the journal. Of 
this, however, more shortly. 
“I was born at Putney, on the 2nd of November, 1799. 
I received my education at a school, opposite the old 
church; the school, at that time, bearing a high name, 
and conducted by Mr. Chapman, who afterwards left it 
for a similar establishment at Tooting, called, I believe, 
Eldon House. The school was transferred to a Mr. Murr, 
who carried it ou for some years afterwards. Eduea- 
I tion of a classical, mathematical, aud general character, 
was here carried out; but, for my part, being only a day- 
I scholar, I merely managed to get, beyond the ordinary rou¬ 
tine,—about a year-and-a-lialf of Latin and French ; but 
even this little I have since found of much use. I left 
school in the year 1812. It was the winter of the celebrated 
frost; and as I had not yet buckled on my armour, I re- 
| member spending a portion of my holidays—the last that 
I were to fall to my lot, perhaps—in wandering ou I he ice 
with my school-fellows, watching the doings of the booth 
and tent people, and the priming.press; and, indeed, en¬ 
joying all the humour of the great fair on the Thames. 
“ This, however, was of short duration, for my father was 
very anxious to get me into harness, so he made me come 
into the nursery, and presented me with a new spade. 
“ Ly way of showing how things stood, I may observe 
that my father was manager of a nursery of twenty-four 
acres, and a respectable seed business; at that period 
known as’Howey s Nursery,’ and situated at the end of 
the Richmond Road, nigh to the Fox and Hounds Inn, at 
the upper end of the town of Putney. This Nursery was 
accounted the oldest in England but one, then existing; 
the oldest being Lromptou Park. How correct this re¬ 
ceived opinion was I know not, but we had old journals 
dating as far back (1 speak from memory) as about 
1702, or, as 1 think, much earlier. Great amusement these 
old leathern-backed, mummy-looking journals used to afford 
me ; the entries strongly reminded me of what I had read 
in that funny old gardening book, ‘ Flora, Geres, and Po¬ 
mona, by John Rea, Gentleman,’ of which I then had a 
copy—worm-eaten. This nursery had been in the hands of 
the Hunt family for a considerable period previous to the 
Iloweys; and I should fancy that Hunt had been a contem¬ 
porary of London and Wise. The Hunts failed, and Mr. William 
Howey, a Northumberland gardener of some standing, suc¬ 
ceeded to the Nursery. He left two sons, John and Robert; 
they both died in a short period after succeeding to the busi¬ 
ness ; and John, a married man, left his share to his widow, and 
Robert, unmarried, left his to his aunt, Mrs. Martha Howey, 
a sage old lady, and sister to old Mr. William who succeeded 
the Hunts. Thus were two middle-aged females left a 
business which they were by no means able to conduct; 
and my father, a Northumberland gardener, was engaged 
to conduct it for them, which he did from about 1805 to 
about 1822, as near as I cau remember; much respected by 
practical gardeners for miles around. 
“ I hope to he pardoned for this digression, but I cduld 
scarcely carry out my tale without stepping aside for a 
moment. I now return to my own little history. I was 
kept in the nursery entirely for several months, in order to 
teach me how to “rough it,” and afterwards spent my time 
between the counting-house, the seed shop, and the nur¬ 
sery. I was then about fourteen years of age, and after 
being there several months, my father was induced to put 
me to the law, aud accordingly I went on trial for a couple 
of months to a house in Fenchurch Street; but I soon 
gladly returned to my homestead. There were no birds’ 
nests in Fenchurch Street, and I was not, I suppose, of the 
right material to make a lawyer of. 1 now continued in the 
