THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
OCTOBER 9. 
15 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
OCTOBER 9—15, 1851. 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Dav of 
D 1) 
| 
i Barometer. 
| 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R.&S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Year. 
9 Tn 
Hazel leaves yellow, 
29.960 — 29.891 
56—32 
S.W. 
02 
15 a. 6 
20 a. 7 
4 54 
14 
12 35 
282 
10 F 
Oxford and Cambridge Terms begin. 
30.037—29.933 
56—37 
N. 
06 
17 
18 
rises. 
© 
12 51 
283 
11 S 
Old Michaelmas Day. 
17 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.153 — 29.915 
51—34 
N. 
02 
18 
16 
6 a. 16 
16 
13 
6 
284 
12 Son 
30.357 — 30.241 
53—27 
N. 
— 
20 
13 
6 39 
17 
13 21 
285 
13 M 
Elder leaves fall. 
30.306 — 30.151 
49—39 
W. 
— 
22 
11 
7 3 
18 
13 36 
286 
14 To 
Lady-bird retires. 
30.091—29.933 
50—35 
S.W. 
. - 
23 
9 
7 34 
19 
13 50 
287 
15 W 
Gossamer abundant. 
30.069 — 30.030 
54—24 
N. 
— 
25 
. 7 
8 13 
20 
14 
4 
288 
We have had occasion to mention more than one writer on the cultivation 
of the soil, who reluctantly, yet bravely, laid down his pen, and grasped 
his sword, during the perilous struggle between the first Charles and his 
Parliament; such characters ranging, as they did, on opposite sides, add 
to the evidence that that strife was based on principle. Which of them 
we think were in error, has not, in these pages, a fitting place for dis¬ 
cussion ; but of this we are quite sure, both the great parties were equally 
wrong, when as in turns they triumphed, so in turns they became perse¬ 
cutors. No sooner had the orange flag been borne in triumph over the 
field of Naseby, than the work of confiscation began, and many were the 
families, who, nursed in affluence, and used to no labour, but that of en- 
i during uninterrupted pleasure, were ejected from their homes, and 
endured those privations which are so acute, because so unaccustomed. 
In Ireland, the strong hand of the Common uealthsmen grasped widely 
i and unsparingly, and the lands thus seized were distributed among the 
most meritorious of their English partizans. Amongst these was 
Walter Blith —“ Honest Captain Blythe,” as he is called by his con¬ 
temporary, l)r. Beale, but of whom we know little more than we glean 
from his writings. That he bore arms with the Cromwell party is certain, 
from the dedication of his works, and from an address to the soldiers, to 
which he subscribes himself “ your quondam brother, fellow soldier, and 
very servant.” The result from thus inoculating Ireland with English 
skill, is thus told by one who was born soon after Blith died—the Rev. 
Walter Harte :— 
“ Ireland had a wretched method of husbandry, and strong prejudices 
in behalf of that method till about the middle of the last century, when 
Blythe alone (who then lived in Ireland), was sufficient to open mens 
eyes by his incomparable writings. But the truth is, that he, and many 
other English officers and soldiers of Cromwell's army, being inriched by 
military grants and settlements, first laid the right foundations of hus¬ 
bandry in that kingdom ; since which period, a certain spirit of improve¬ 
ment, more or less, has been promoted and carried on with such zeal and 
! constancy by the nobility, gentry, and clergy, that they may seem to 
cast a silent reproof on the nation that was their first instructor. So that 
if they go on thus for one or a couple of centuries more, and are, at the 
| same time, powerfully and generously encouraged, it may perhaps be 
! said, with no small degree of propriety— 
Thus old Romano bow’d to Raphael's fame, 
And scholar of the youth he taught became.” 
How well Blith was qualified for improving the cultivation, is shewn by 
j the volume which Professor Martyn justly terms “ an original and incom¬ 
parable work for the time,” and which is entitled: The English Improver, 
or a new survey of Husbandry. It appeared in 1649, and had for its author 
“ Walter Blitii, a lover of ingenuity ; ” at least, so states the title page, 
and a few lines from some commendatory doggerel at the commencement 
i epitomizes its contents— 
“ Go tell the world of wealth that’s got with ease, 
Of certain profit (gain most men doth please), 
Of lands improvement to a treble worth, 
A five, a tenfold plenty’s here held forth ; 
The greedy Land-lord may himself suffice, 
The toiling tenant to estate may rise, 
The poor may be enriched, England supplied 
^ For twice so many people to provide; 
By floating dry, and purging boggy land, 
The plough old pasture betters to your hand ; 
Directions to inclose to all men’s gain, 
Minerals found out, Land rich’d with little pain ; 
Woods order’d so, in few years yield such store, 
So large, so good, as you’ll desire no more.” 
It is clear, also, from the pages of this volume, that what is now known 
by the name of “ tenant right,” is no new suggestion, for Blith says— 
“ If a tenant be at never so great pains or cost for the improvement of 
his land, he doth thereby but occasion a greater rack upon himself, or else 
invests his landlord into his cost and labour gratis, which occasions a 
neglect of all good husbandry; ” and the suggested remedy, as now, was 
a valuation of the improvement, or an increased length of tenure. He 
also asked “ The high and honourable Houses of Parliament,” to whom 
he dedicated the volume, for some law to protect irrigation, for he says :— 
“ I made a good improvement upon a little brook above half-a-mile above 
a water-mill. I turned the water-course upon my land, and turned it 
again into the course half-a-mile before it came unto his mill; he sues me 
at common law, and recovers against me ; my improvement was from six 
load of hay to twenty, his prejudice little or nothing, for which no com¬ 
position would serve, but the ruin of it, which by this verdict was accom¬ 
plished.” 
In 1652, he published The English improver improved, or the Survey 
of Husbandry surveyed, with an illustrated title page, well applicable to 
himself as a retired officer, being a picture of soldiers in arms, and be¬ 
neath, with their swords beaten into plough-shares, and their spears into 
pruning-hooks. It shews, also, the author’s discreet observation of the 
times, for as his first publication was dedicated to the Parliament, this is 
similarly addressed to Cromwell and the Council of State. It contains ad¬ 
ditions for the culture of Clover, “ St. Foyne or La Lueern,” Liquorice, 
Hops, Hemp, Flax, and Orcharding. 
Insects. —We were lately shewn some small insects which had been 
a source of no small irritation to the exhibitor’s family, and we recognized 
them as the Spider Fly, or Swallow Fly ( Craterina hirundinis). Whence 
they came was easily explained, for the eaves of our friend’s residence 
sheltered a colony of swallows, and in their nests these flies are hatched. 
This is only one among thou¬ 
sands of instances of insect in¬ 
stinct (which is reason with a 
larger name), for the eggs, or 
rather egg-like pupse require a 
greater and more uniform heat 
than they would acquire by open 
air exposure, therefore, they de¬ 
posit them where they are hatched 
by the heat of the birds, which 
sit upon them along with their 
own eggs. There is little doubt 
that as their near relative, the 
Forest Fly ( Hippoboscn. equina), 
torments the horse, so this Swal¬ 
low Fly is a vampire to the Swal¬ 
low. Our friend was not singular 
in being troubled by them, for 
Mr. Spence relates, that though its 
natural food is the bird after 
which it is named, yet it has been 
known to repast on the human 
species. One found its way into 
the bed of the Rev. R. Sheppard, where it first, for several nights, sorely 
annoyed a friend of his, and afterwards himself. Our drawing shows it 
of the natural size, and magnified. Its body is yellowish. 
Meteorology of the Week. — At Chiswick from observations 
during the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 6(1.3° and 43.2° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 71°, occurred on the 14tli in 1834, and the lowest cold, 29°, on the 
9th, in 1329. During the period, 86 days were fine, and on 82, rain fell. 
Our readers in every district of tlie United Kingdom 
will oblige us by sending us drawings of the Gardening 
Implements used in their neighbourhoods. We purpose 
to have all such as we think desirable of adoption en¬ 
graved, and published in our columns. Mr. Barnes has 
furnished us with his hoes and scarifiers, and one or 
two other excellent implements are ready i'or our drafts¬ 
man, all of which shall be inserted in due time. Let 
no one think the tools he has been accustomed to are 
“ known to everybody,” because we can assure all wbo 
do so think, that those they call “ everybody ” usually 
includes no greater proportion of our population than a 
small section of a county. Every district almost has a 
peculiar wheelbarrow ; many we know of have peculiar 
draining tools; the difference in spades is very great 
even in adjoining parishes; hoes we. have already shown 
varieties of, and there are many more. Now, we should 
like to have drawings of all these, and let no one mind 
how rough his drawing may be, because a draftsman 
soon puts that all right. To increase the utility of such 
drawings, it is very desirable for them to be accompanied 
by particulars of the size of every part, and the nature of 
the soil of the district where the implements are used. 
No. CLYIII., Vol. YII. 
