185 
j December, 25. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
W 
D 
DECEMBER 25—31, 1851. 
Weather 
Barometer. 
NEAR Lo 
Thermo. 
N DON 
Wind. 
N 1850. 
Rain in In. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
25 
Th 
Christmas Day. 
30.030 — 29.995 
45—27 
w. 
_ 
8 a. 8 
53 a. 3 
0 51 
3 
bcf. 11 
359 
26 
F 
St. Stefhen. 
30.155 — 30.150 
46—39 
w. 
— 
8 
53 
7 59 
4 
0 41 
36o 
V 
s 
St. John the Evangelist. 
30.197 — 30.125 
48—28 
S.W. 
-• 
8 
54 
9 7 
5 
1 11 
361 
28 
Son 
1 Sun. after Christmas. Innoc. 
30.265 — 30.235 
46—28 
w. 
— 
8 
55 
10 13 
(3 
1 41 
362 
29 
M 
Velvet Duck conies. 
30.227—30.030 
49—35 
S.W. 
— 
9 
56 
11 18 
7 
2 10 
363 
30 
Tu 
Snowdrop flowers. 
29.995 — 29.841 
51—45 
S.W. 
02 
’9 
57 
morn. 
2 40 
364 
31 
w 
. 
29 . 810 —29.701 
52—50 
S.W. 
05 
9 
58 
0 24 
9 
3 8 
365 
Tiie taste for florists’ flowers was first extensively promoted, if not ori¬ 
ginated in this country, about the close of the sixteenth century, for at 
that time a great increase of information as to their cultivation, as well as 
new varieties, were introduced by the Flemish Worstead Manufacturers, 
who were driven over to Norwich during the persecutions in their country, 
by Philip the II. and by the Duke of Alva, in 1567. They brought over 
with them Gilliflowers, Provence Roses, and Carnations. This was in 
the reign of Elizabeth (1558— 1602 ), who was herself very fond of flowers. 
Tulips and the Damask, and Musk Roses, appear to have been introduced 
early in her reign. Gerarde says, in 1596, that a principal collector and 
propagator of Tulips, had been so for twenty years, and had an immense 
variety. There is mention of a Florists’ Feast at Norwich, so early as 
1037, at which a play, or pageant, termed “ Rhodon and Iris,” was per¬ 
formed. In 1671 , Evelyn mentions Sir T. Brown’s garden there as being 
' a “ paradise of rarities,” and that the parterres of all the inhabitants 
i were rich in excellent flowers. In short., Gerarde, and others, mention 
cultivators of flowers almost in every county of the kingdom. The taste 
I pervaded every rank. The Duke of Somerset, the Duchess of Beaufort, 
J Dr. Turner, Mr. Lete, a London merchant, the artisans of each manu¬ 
facturing towns, are mentioned as delighting in flowers and flowering- 
shrubs. The taste once become general, has never since abated, and 
occasioned the establishment of a distinct branch in the trade of 
plant-culture, Florists by trade are traceable in this country, in un¬ 
broken succession, from the reign of Elizabeth, and we may add, without 
any good ground for contradiction, that among our florists have been 
some of the most skilful, intelligent, and honourable of men. Among 
these was one for whose biography we are much indebted to a friend. 
Thomas Hogg was born in the year 1771, at a small village on the 
banks of the Tees, and when he was of a very early age, his father settled 
at a place called Ronaldkirk, near Barnard Castle, where he pursued the 
calling of a shopkeeper and farmer. When very young, the subject of 
this notice displayed a great fondness for books, and manifested a strong 
desire after attaining information on all subjects. His parents being in 
easy circumstances, and having the advantage of a respectable and well- 
conducted school in the neighbourhood, they lost no opportunity to en¬ 
courage the natural taste of their son, and develope, so far as lay in their 
power, the abilities which he had begun to exhibit. They, thereto re, gave 
him a liberal education, which consisted chiefly of a thoroughly classical 
character, and he soon began to distinguish himself as an excellent Greek 
and Latin scholar. His diligence and assiduity attracted the notice of 
Dr. Bligh, the incumbent of Ronaldkirk, who, having heard of his stu¬ 
dious habits, and become acquainted with his proficiency in classical 
literature, as well as his general well-grounded information on all ordinary 
subjects, determined to introduce him to a more suitable sphere. He 
accordingly brought Mr. Hogg to London, at which time he was only 
about 20 years of age. His first engagement was as assistant to Dr. 
Thomson, who kept a large and highly respectable classical institution at 
Kensington. lie remained in this situation for a considerable time, 
until the death of the Rev. Mr. Shepherd, the incumbent of Paddington. 
This gentleman also kept a large educational establishment, which be¬ 
came vacant at his death, and which was now succeeded to by Mr. Hogg. 
This establishment he carried on with much success, for a period of 30 
years, during which time he also devoted much of his leisure to floricul¬ 
ture ; but as his health gradually failed, owing to a nervous affection 
brought on by severe study, and close attention to his educational duties, 
bis physician advised him to relinquish the school, and devote his atten¬ 
tion exclusively to floriculture. He obeyed the advice, and we have 
reason for saying that when he published the following, in 1833, it was 
not dictated either by the querulousness, or the self-sufficiency of de¬ 
clining old age : — 
“As to myself, who unfortunately have been an invalid for sixteen 
years, suffering from paralysis, and a diseased state of the nerves, and 
whose memory and faculties have been affected thereby, I cannot expect 
to claim any exemption from the like infirmities attendant more or less on 
old age; yet while I solicit indulgence on this account, I seek not, by 
unmanly concessions, to disarm fair censure and criticism of their just 
right to examine and judge of its merits; I mean as to the subject matter, 
and not the manner of describing it. My object (in publishing) is two¬ 
fold ; in the first place, I have been anxious sometime to amend and 
supply the defects in my former work ; and, in the next place, I have 
been not without hope of deriving some small profit and advantage by 
publishing the Supplement on my own account; for the same necessity 
• which obliged me to attempt seeking a livelihood in the garden, after I 
had been unfortunately rendered incapable of continuing my labours in 
the school, and I had then been gerund-grinding for thirty years, still 
exists in all its force; the gifts of fortune have not fallen to my lot; and 
I am therefore compelled to use the means within my reach for the sub¬ 
sistence of myself and a numerous family. Though my infirmities 
increase, and though I am able to do little or nothing myself, yet 
the same routine of culture and management will be continued, as 
usual, by my two sons, who have been, for some years past, the acting 
managers and florists ifi the business ; so that my friends and customers 
may safely depend on being supplied with healthy plants, correct in every 
respect, as before. It is some consolation in being able to state, that, in 
all the dealings which I have had with florists, both in England, and-in 
different parts of the continent, there is not one of them can say, that I 
have not honestly fulfilled every engagement.” 
The above is extracted from his Supplement to another small volume 
entitled A Practical Treatise on the Culture of the Carnation, Pink, 
Auricula, Polyanthus, Ranunculus, Tulip, Hyacinth, Rose, and other 
flowers. This was published first in 1830, and in nine years passed through 
six editions. They are amusing as well as instructive volumes, and the 
following will give our readers an idea of their varied contents— 
“ One Christopher Nunn, of Enfield, Middlesex, a noted florist in his 
day, was eminent for his skill and dexterity in dressing Pinks and Car¬ 
nations for prize exhibitions; some will even till you, that Kit was the 
father of the art. Upon such occasions he had as many applications to 
dress flowers, as he had to dress wigs ; for he was a barber and friseur by 
trade, and withal a good-natured, facetious, prating barber, and could 
both shave and lay a Carnation with the greatest nicety. The novices of 
that day, who, being unacquainted with his secret art, trusted to Dame 
Nature to open, expand, and perfect their flowers, were no match for 
Nunez ; for he began where she left off, and perfected what she had left 
imperfect.—His arrangement and disposition of the petals were admirable, 
and astonished those novices. Kit’s art of dressing is still an enviable 
art, and attainable only by few. Kit, as a florist, possessed other merit 
besides this : he could mix and temper soils with the same skill as he did 
his pomatum; he was a great experimentalist and compounder of ma¬ 
nures ; it was all the same to him, whether he snuffed up the odour of 
roses, or the less inviting fragrance of animal ordure; it was he that first 
applied sugar-bakers’ scum as a surface dressing to flowers, having wit¬ 
nessed its surprising effect upon the land of a neighbour of his, a sugar- 
refiner from Goodman’s Fields ; and he also had the credit of persuading 
and convincing” Sir Somebody Tressilian or Trevannian, a Cornish 
Baronet, that old rags and old wigs, which contained so much grease and 
human fat, were a much warmer and richer manure for his land than the 
oily carcasses of his pilchards ; and it is further said, that Kit, as agent 
or factor, in one week bought up more than two thousand wigs in the 
neighbourhood of that celebrated mart Rosemary Lane, which were sent 
down to try the experiment.” 
•‘Mode of Dressing a Flower.—I hardly dare attempt to draw 
an outline even of this sublime art of dressing a flower, because I have 
neither studied nor practised it myself; and therefore not being entitled 
to a diploma, I must neither assume the title nor degree of A.M., that is, 
Artis Magister, by which alone I might be held qualified to teach it, but 
must be content to be considered only as a pretender and quack upon this 
abstruse point. However, let us see what sort of a handle I shall make 
of it. In the first place, then, provide yourselves with proper instruments, 
namely, a pair of brass or ivory etui, commonly called tweezers, and a 
small ivory bodkin. As soon as the guard-leaves drop, clap a card on, 
and with your bodkin, from time to time, assist the petals in falling into 
their places ; then fix a glass cap over the blossom, to bleach the white, 
and to enable the leaves, by the warmth, to expand freely; shade the 
glass, when the sun is out, with a cabbage leaf or bit of canvass; take the 
glass off for an hour or two in the evening to expose the blossom to the 
air, lest the colours become faint by too much confinement, and lose 
their lustre. Dissolve a little nitre or saltpetre in the water, before you 
put your flowers in it; this will help to stiffen the leaves. After they 
have been in water a couple of hours, take your etui, and pull the guard- 
leaves quite round and circular ; then place the second, third, and fourth 
tier of petals in an imbricated form, that is, like slates upon a roof, or 
scales upon a fish,—a leaf covering each division of the leaves in each row 
or tier, till they are all arranged in a convex form, like the outside of a 
dome or cupola; place the bizarred and finely-striped leaves in full sight, 
pluck out all white and or self-coloured, all pouncy and superfluous dull 
leaves ; and those that will not lie, whirl with your bodkin into the crown 
of the flower ; let the blooms be set in the cellar, or coolest part of the 
house, all night over a tub of water; mind that the clefts or fissures 
down the sides of the pod do not reach below the bottom external cup, 
and that the guard-leaves stand firm and support themselves without the 
card. A practical lesson, after all, upon the flower, is worth a dozen 
theoretical upon paper : learn this art by practice, and practise to learn.” 
Mr. Hogg, contrary to his own expectations, lived for nine years after 
the publication of his Supplement, and died as much regretted as he had 
lived respected. He, was buried on the south side of Paddington church, 
near the road, where a small altar-tomb may be seen with this in¬ 
scription : — 
Sacred 
to the Memory of 
Mr. Thomas Hogg, 
many years a resident in 
this Parish, 
who died March 12 th 1841, 
in the 7 °th year of his age. 
Also Mrs. Elizabeth Hogg, 
wife of the above, 
who died February 15th, 1822, 
aged 49 years. 
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 42.6° and 31.1° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 58°, occurred on the 25th in 1827, and the lowest cold, 10°, on the 
24th, in 1830. During the period, 112 days were fine, and on 56 rain fell. 
No. CLXTX., Vol. VJI 
