22 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 14. 
their own food), atlemiits to extract the honey exiuled hy 
the f^lands, it must touch, especially the lower and most 
irritable part of the fllament, upon which this organ iinme- 
iliatcdy springs up and ])roceeds to cover with its prolific 
dust tlio upxier jiart of the pistil. A process nearly analagous 
may he observed in AristolocJiin, Orchis hifoVta, and some 
few other indigenous instances : caprification has been long 
known to afford remarkable excmiilification among exotics. 
The leaves are gratefully acid. The flowers are offensive 
to the smell, when near, but at a proper distance their odour 
is extremely fine. Dislies for the table are often garnished 
with bunches of the ripe benics. They are so very acid 
that birds will not eat them, but boiled with sugar they form 
a most agreeable rob or jelly. They are used likewise as a 
dry sweetmeat, and in sugar plums. An infusion of the 
bark in white wine is purgative. The roots boiled in lye, dye 
wool yellow. In Poland leather is dyed of a most beautiful 
yellow with the bark of the root. The inner bark of the 
stem dyes linen a fine yellow, with the assistance of alum. 
An opinion is entertained by many who deserve attention. 
sustained as they are by some facts, that the Barbcny causes 
wheat growing near to it to be attacked by the mildew. On 
tlie other hand, there are many evidences that wheat may bo 
grown in its vicinity without being so affected. It is riuitc 
certain that the yellow parasitical fungus found on the 
leaves of the Barberry, is not the fungus that is the cause 
of the mildew. They are not only different species, but of 
different genera ; that on the Barbeiry being jiicidium licr- 
beridis, and that on the wheat is Piicchiia yimninis. 
The peculiar constituent of the bark of the Barberry, 
which renders it not only a powerful tonic in medicine, but 
useful as a dye, has been named IJerhcrilc. It was first ob 
tained pure by M. Buchner, in 18.15. He administered it 
to some of his patients, in doses of ten grains, and found it 
a powerfrd tonic. Bcrberite answers very well as a dye-stuff, 
giving a fixed yellow colour without any mordant. Chloride, 
of tin improves the colour. 'When the cloth is previously im¬ 
pregnated with sulphate of copper, a beautiful greenish-yellow 
colour is obtained. "With nut-galls the colour is yellowish- 
brown. {lAndtry. Smith. Marly ii. Withering. Thomson.) 
1 
The Editor of The Cottage Gardener, as one of the 
Honorary Sooretaries of The Winchester and Southern 
Counties Society for the Encouragement of Poultry, will 
be gi’catly obliged by subscriptions being forwarded to 
bim. Every subscriber of five shillings or upwards, 
thereby becomes a member, and every one wishing to 
become a member is requested to forward bis or her 
subscription immediately. This is desirable, because 
the amount of prizes at the Society's first Exhibition, to 
be held on or before the first of December next, will bo 
increased in proportion to the Society’s funds. 
The followmg excellent classification, first arranged 
by the Rirmingbam Society, is that also adopted by 
The Winchester and Southern Counties Society. 
Spanish. 
JJorkiny ; single-combed. 
JJorking; double or rose- 
combed. 
Dorking; white. 
Cochin-China; cinnamon and 
buff. 
Cochin- China; brown, and 
partridge-featb erod. 
Cochin-China; white. 
Malay. 
Game ; white and piles. 
Game; black - breasted, and 
other reds. 
Game; blacks, and brassy- 
winged, except greys. 
Game; duck-wings, and other 
greys and blues. 
Golden-jienciUed Hamhnrgh. 
Goldcn-sjiangtcd Hamburgh. 
Silver-pencilled Jlambnrgh. 
Silver-spangled Hamburgh. 
Polands; black with white 
crests. 
Polands; golden, with ruffs 
or beards. 
Polands; golden, without 
ruffs or beards. 
Polands ; silver, with ruffs or 
beards. 
Polands ; silver, without ruffs 
or beards. 
Any other distinct breed. 
Bantams ; gold-laced. 
Bantams; silver-laced. 
Bantams ; white. 
Bantams ; black. 
Bantams; any other variety. 
Pigeons. 
Geese. 
Ducks. 
Turkeys. 
Guinea Fowl. 
Sir, —Take them as a body, gardeners are vei’y droll dogs. 
They have the bump of obstinacy, and the bump of self- 
esteem. Gall and Spurzheim tell us tliat these bumps may 
bo exchanged for other and better bumps, provided the 
party owning them will read or listen to advice. In plain 
English, if a conceited man leaves off being conceited, the 
Inimp of conceit or self-esteem would subside, and give 
place to the bump of inquisitiveness. 
■What strides the gardeners in moderate establishments 
would niake, if they could once succeed in being desirous to 
learn, in place of having an idea that they know more than 
any body else. 
Since 1 first had a gardener, now some twenty-five years 
ago, every one who has lived with me has had this unfor¬ 
tunate “ bump of conceit," which has always been a groat 
hindrance to him in bis work, and abvays, in my experience, 
ended in a change. My present gardener is ns ohstinate a 
dog as you can well imagine. I read very regularly and 
very carefully, week by week. The Cottage Gardener, and 
mark every thing I think worth notice, for my man, and at 
the end of the week, when I go round the garden with him 
to see what has been done, and what will require to be done, 
I hand him over your invaluable little work, offering to him 
some remark upon the various items which have been noted 
for his perusal. I always get the same answer— 
“ It’s all very well for them gents to write, but I know a 
great deal more than they do. They only q)ut things in 
their paper to mislead, and then of course when our master 
reads them, he sucks it all in for truth, and that’s the way 
so many poor gardeners are turned adrift.” 
In vain I have told him, that Mr. Beaton, Mr. Errington, 
Mr. Appleby, Mr. Irish, and all the other parties who write 
in The Cottage Gardener, do so with a sincere desire not 
to mislead, but to instruct and encourage both the old and 
the young. 1 have even myself taken the trouble to follow 
out, under my own superintendence, some hints thrown out 
l>y your able contributors. Success lias always attended my 
efforts, but 
“ A man convinced against his will. 
Remains of the same opinion still.” 
And so it is with my man; and yet the man is industrious, 
but his industry is very often lost for want of that liump of 
inquisitiveness ; and nothing, I believe, but a new race of 
men, will ever correct the evils and hcart-biu'ning.s which 
must arise between master and man. 
The life of a common working gardener is, I am quite 
aware, against an increase of knowledge. Ho lahour.s from 
Monday morning to Saturday night, and has only Sunday 
to refresh and recruit his strength and ideas. I have tried 
a different system ; I give my man fom set holidays in the 
year. I send him on those days either to Kew, Chiswick, 
Regent’s I’ark, or Rosherrille Gardens, qiay all Iris ex 
penses, and tell him to pick up some new ideas, and come 
back as lively as a loi'k. 
Last year, I sent him and his wife to the Crystal Palace, 
and desired him, as a matter of course, to look at all the 
new garden things there, with a view to his improvement, 
and my benefit. When lie came home, I asked him how he 
liked the qilaoe, and what he saw, his answer W’as—“ Nothing 
new of note in the garden line.” And the only things he 
thought well of, were the wailike weapons ! The man is 
yoimg (only 3'4), but his ideas are fixed, and nothing seems 
to stir him up; and if I were to change him for another, I 
might, by trying to jump out of the frying-pan, just jump 
into the fire. 
Now, wdiat I w'ant you to do, Mr. Editor, is to write pretty 
regularly some paper on this sad subject, for I know nothing 
more disheartening to a gentleman, than continually seeing 
new faces, without getting even a change of ideas. 
If I were not engaged all day, and every day, in business, 
I w'ould only have a good, honest, willing, steady, and hard¬ 
working labourer, rather than a man calling himself a 
gardener. I’lain directions, and a little common sense, 
