460 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— September 23, 1856. 
dung or some other stimulant, and then going ahead and 
gaining predominance over ten other adjacent plants, which 
are kept in the back-ground as useless ; but this one plant, 
i if it ever becomes a good one, is sure to be at the expense of 
some ten smaller spritty ones, not fit even to be seen in a 
garden, and if it were worth sixpence it would not pay the 
grower. Late Turnips are, in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred, spoiled in this way, not being set out uniformly 
and early.—H akdy and Son, Seed-growers, &c., Maldon. 
STORING FLOWER-SEEDS.—EARLY-PLANTED 
POTATOES LEAST DISEASED. 
I think it is about two years ago since Mr. Beaton urged 
us to collect our seeds, and told how to do it without having 
them littering about; and as you must have a good many 
fresh readers since that time, perhaps, if I state how near 
I have approached Mr. Beaton’s ideas, it may remind some 
of the fresh subscribers to do likewise, or make some 
farther improvement in the matter. But, before I begin, 
I should be very glad if Mr. Beaton would just point out to i 
flower gatherers how it should be done. It is rather galling 
: to see the very bloom you have tied up and marked for 
seed cut and slashed all to pieces just as you are priding 
; yourself on your success ; or, perhaps, in some conspicuous 
j part of the flower-beds you have placed the specimen plants 
I that have cost much time and attention, and, just as you 
think you have got a plant worth looking at, along come the 
shears, and away goes a branch, and the plant looks like a 
pig with one ear; and not because there were no other 
flowers of the same kind, but because it showed itself well 
where it was, and, as a matter of course, must look so much 
better than others when placed in a vase in the drawing¬ 
room, and, after all, perhaps, is never noticed by a single 
individual after being placed there, whereas, had the flower 
remained unmutilated, it may have gratified the eye for 
months.. 
Mr. Beaton, do stand our friend, and tell the ladies to take 
a little more interest in the flower-borders, and learn the 
difference between flowers that are grown to cut from, and 
those that are grown as specimen plants for the borders. 
Now for the seeds. Mr. Appleby told young gardeners, 
• in his instructive papers, to keep on good terms with 
the cook. I thought it a hint worth taking, and as cooks 
have a taste for a pot or two of flowers to put in the kitchen 
window, and to call their own (and I have seen flowers of 
no mean character in those windows, and am always ready 
to keep up a supply of them), and the cook in return keeps 
every paper bag that comes from the grocer’s or elsewhere, 
so that my store-room and potting-shed at this season of 
the year look like a paper-bag warehouse ; for throughout 
the year, as they come to hand, I place them in sizes on 
flies made of wire, and as the seeds ripen they are put into 
one of the bags head downwards, and then hung up against 
the wall to dry, there being a draught all through the room, 
and when there comes a wet day I rub the seed out. Now, 
to keep a great variety of seeds in little papers takes time 
to put them up, and in the spring it is troublesome to search 
for the different sorts as they are wanted; and when any 
plan becomes troublesome it is almost sure to get cast aside, 
or, at least, only about half carried out; therefore, my first 
thought is, Will it save time, or can I arrange it so that it 
will give me but very little extra trouble ? and some three or 
four dozen little papers of seeds to be rummaged over every 
time you want a pinch would be no slight tax on your time, 
with the untying and tying up again; so, to remedy this, I had 
to call the cook to my assistance, and collect all the wooden 
match-boxes that were to be met with, and save all that 
came to hand in future; and, as I rubbed out the seeds, I had 
a box with the name of the seed written on a strip of paper 
and pasted on the head of the box, and so with the seeds 
that are purchased ; and as they are filled I lay them on their 
sides in a cupboard with their top in front, and four dozen 
boxes take up but a very little Space, and when any seed- 
box is wanted it can be seen at a glance, and can be taken 
out and put in again without disturbing the rest. By just 
soaking the top, the rough glass stuff will easily scrape off, 
and if the box is washed and the top painted white, instead 
of the strip of paper, it would give them a very neat ap¬ 
pearance, and if they get dirty they can be washed again, 
and will last a lifetime. 
As most people are now getting up their Potatoes, perhaps 
you may like to hear how the crop is in the different parts 
of the country. I am happy to inform you that I have the [ 
best crop I have seen for years ; they are Fortyfolds, with 
the exception of about a perch, which was planted on the 
30th of April. These were quite green when the rain came 
in August, and here I had more diseased Potatoes than I 
had from about eight sacks of sound ones on the other part 
of the garden. Even the earlier planted on the same bed 
were almost free from disease.— The Doctor's Boy. 
NOTES ON ENGLISH HOUSEHOLDRY 
DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. 
The following are from Mr. Roberts's work recently j 
published:— 
A barrel of olives given to the Mayor of Poole in 1561 
cost 8s. 6d. Saffron was a choice present also. 
Pepper and ginger are mentioned in the archives of 
Southampton in the reign of Edward III. 
The saucers were dealers in sauces, herbs, and vegetables. 
The spicers, besides spices and condiments, dealt in | 
medicinal drugs. 
In 1523 Sir George Trenchard had a box of marmalade 
and six oranges presented by the Mayor of Lyme, at a cost 
of 7s. Two years after appears this entry in the Lyme 
records:—“1595. Given to Sir George Trenchard a fail 1 
! box of marmalade gilted, a barrel of- conserves, oranges, 
lemons, and potates, 22s. lOd.” 
In the same year was “ given to my Lord Marquis of 
: Winchester a box of marmalade gilted, containing 7£lbs. at 
2s.; a barrel of conserves, containing -Mbs. at Is. Id. the lb.; 
Mbs. of dry conserves at 2s. the lb.; oranges and lemons at 
6s. the hundred—32s. 10d.’’ 
In 1608, at a public dinner, we find “ a piece of boiled 
beef and cabbage ” cost Is. 4d., a capon Is. 6d., and “ fruit 
and cheese” Is. “ Did Sir Anthony Ashley, of Wimborne 
St. Giles, introduce the Cabbage, a vegetable unknown to 
our countrymen, or did the specimen at his feet on his tomb 
indicate he introduced that variety ?” 
When Sir Richard Reynell entertained Charles I., in the 
September of 1625, at Hinton House, though there are 
long catalogues of fish, game, “ chickens, capons, ducks, 
pullets, geese, turkeys, and pigeons,’’ yet there is but one 
dish of vegetables mentioned, and this consists of “ six 
Artichokes'' 
When the Archbishop of Canterbury visited his lands at 
Tarring, in Sussex, about the year 1277, the prices of 
articles to be supplied by his tenant the latter agreed should 
be as follows :— 
A bushel of Wheat . 0 2J 
„ „ Oats . 0 1 
Carcass of Beef . 1 4 
Yearling Hog . 0 8 
Four gallons of Beer . 0 1 
Two good Hens . 0 1 
Five score Eggs . 0 1 
{Cartwright's Rape of Bramber.) 
In 1613 Potatoes were sold at 2s. per lb. Then they were 
a luxury, and so continued until ninety years ago, when, in 
1765, Lord Sheffield bought some, and soon after the farmers 
in Sussex began to plant them in the fields. This novelty 
experienced the usual fate, viz., that of exciting prejudice 
against it. At an election at Lewes, Potatoes shared with 
Popery the popular indignation, and “ No Popery, no 
Potatoes ! ” was the party cry. 
Those delighting in poultry will be interested in learning 
that Bucks used to be marked as Swans now are. A man 
(25. Elizabeth) was presented at Seaford, by a Jury, for 
marking three ducks with his own mark, and cutting out 
the owner’s marks. 
W," MV a - * ,. T ■ " 
