Januaby 35. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
235 
M 
w 
JANUARY 15—21, 1852. 
Weather 
near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
D. 
O 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in In. 
1 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
15 
Th 
29.449 — 29.111 
51—28 
s. 
_ 
2 a. 8 
17 a. 4 
1 42 
24 
9 32 
15 
16 
F 
Dandelion flowers. 
29.744 — 29.474 
50—40 
s. 
20 
1 
18 
3 0 
25 
9 63 
16 
!7JS 
Wren sings. 
29.641 — 29.571 
51—27 
S.W. 
48 
1 
20 
4 17 
26 
10 14 
17 
18, Sun 
2 Sunday after Epiphany. Prisca. 
30.081 —29.927 
48—28 
s w. 
— 
0 
21 
5 29 
27 
10 34 
18 
19 M 
30.067 — 29.940 
49—35 
s. 
— 
VII 
23 
6 34 
28 
10 53 
19 
20 Tu 
Fabian. 
29.882—29.422 
50—40 
s. 
48 
58 
25 
7 29 
29 
11 11 
20 
2ljW 
Sun’s declination, 20° 1' s. 
29.527 — 29.465 
50—30 
S.W. 
09 
5 7 
27 
sets. 
© 
11 29 
21 
In answer to a correspondent signing himself Leominster, we know ot 
no work “ devoted to a consideration of the gardening of the ancients ; ” 
and we make our reply in this place because it serves to introduce our 
notice of Lucius Junius Modf.ratus Columella, whose writings on 
Roman horticulture are preserved, and give us a high opinion of the skill 
to which they had attained in the art. He lived under the sway of the 
Emperor Claudius, during the earliest years of the first century. He was 
a native of Cadiz, and thence is surnamed occasionally Gaditanus, and is 
described as having most diligently cultivated the soil on the banks of 
the Guadalquiver, a river of Spain emptying itself into the sea, but a few 
miles from his native place. One who had thoroughly studied his works 
observes that he several times makes mention of his uncle, Marcus Colu¬ 
mella, as a person of great note and distinction, and as having an estate 
in the province of Boetica; probably he was born of Roman parents, for 
no doubt many Romans settled in that delightful country. 
It does not appear at what time he removed to Rome, but there is some 
reason to think that it was in the reign of Tiberius, if not before; for he 
says in his third book that he had possessed lands many years in the 
territory of Ardea, and that he wrote his eleventh book at the desire of 
one Claudius Augustalis, a young man of some learning and distinction. 
That this Claudius is the same who w'as afterwards emperor, cannot indeed 
be affirmed for certain, yet it is not altogether improbable, for Tacitus 
tells us that Tiberius made him a fellow of the College of Priests, w hich 
he had instituted in honour of Augustus ; and we know of no reason why 
he may not be the person mentioned by our author, who, probably, would 
neither have been influenced by him to write the said book, nor would he 
have given him so honourable a character, if he had not been of superior 
rank ; and the character given is, according to Suetonius, applicable to 
Claudius in his younger years. He speaks of Cornelius Celsus and Julius 
Atticus as men of his own time, and it is certain the first flourished 
in the reign of Tiberius. He several times makes mention of Julius 
Grmcinus, without any intimation of the hard fate of that good man, 
who was put to death by the Emperor Caligula, so that there is some 
reason to think that he was living when Columella wrote. If what is 
above said be true, then he wrote a part of his works in the reigns of 
Tiberius and Caligula. 
In his third book he mentions Annteus Seneca as then living, and 
commends him for his great learning, but says nothing of his being ad¬ 
vanced to the dignity of a senator, nor of his being entrusted by Claudius 
with the education of Nero, his adopted son and successor, which, 
probably, he would have taken some notice of if Seneca had been then 
promoted to these dignities; so that it is reasonable to think that he 
wrote this book, at least, some time before this happened—probably in 
the first years of the reign of Claudius, who in the seventh or eighth year 
thereof adopted Nero, and committed him to the care of Seneca, the said 
Nero being then eleven or twelve years of age. Claudius dying five or 
six years after, Nero succeeded, being only seventeen years old, according 
to Suetonius, and, as Eusebius says, in the year of our Lord, 55, at w hich 
time, it is probable, Columella had finished his whole work. There is only 
one thing which may give reason to think that it was some time after this 
before he finished it—namely, in his first book, cap. 7, he makes mention 
of L. Volusius, a very old rich man, of consular dignity; and his words 
seem to intimate that he was then dead. But Tacitus says that this 
Volusius died aged 97, in the 809th year of Rome, which was the 56th 
year of our Lord. If Columella’s words must be so understood as to 
signify that Volusius was dead when he spoke of him, then we must 
conclude that it was some time after this before he published his work ; 
but it was in Seneca’s life-time, who was put to death by Nero, in the 
year 65. Notwithstanding all that has been said, the precise time, either 
of his writing or publishing it, cannot be determined. We doubt not he 
employed many years about it, and wrote some parts of it in all the reigns 
above-mentioned; and that he did not write all the books in the order 
they are now placed, several of them having no dependence on the fore¬ 
going ; and that a great part of the first book, being a preface to the 
whole, w'as written last of all. However, it is evident enough that he 
wrote in Rome, or in some part of Latium, by his manner of expression 
sometimes in mentioning these places. 
This Treatise of Husbandry consists of twelve books, in which he has 
touched upon such a vast variety of things, and explained all the different 
branches of the art with such perspicuity, and delivered his precepts with 
so great judgment, as show him to have been perfectly master of his 
subject; and, throughout the whole, there are so many evidences of his 
having been so well acquainted with all the different parts of learning; 
and that he had so carefully examined all the authors, both Greek and 
Latin, that had treated of the same subject before his own time, and that 
to his theory he had added his own experience, as give us abundant 
reason to think that no man could ever have been better qualified to 
undertake such a w'ork, having, to all his other opportunities of improve¬ 
ment in knowledge and experience, added that of travelling into foreign 
countries; for he tells us that he had been in Syria and Cilicia, and it is 
not probable that a man of his character would pass by Greece without 
visiting it. All these twelve books he inscribes to one Publius Silvinus, 
of whom he gives us no particular account, only insinuates that at his 
desire and request he had undertaken and carried on the said work. We 
may reasonably think that this Silvinus was a person of some considerable 
note and distinction, by the respectful manner in which he always ad¬ 
dresses himself to him ; and, as Columella mentions some lands that they 
both had amongst the Ceratini, a people in Spain, it is not improbable 
j that he also was a Spaniard. 
Besides these twelve books, inscribed to Silvinus, there is a book con¬ 
cerning trees wherein there is no mention made of him. This single book 
appears to be a part of a former Essay of Columella’s upon Husbandry, 
for in the very beginning there is mention made of a preceding book 
concerning the culture of lands. What seems most probable is, that 
| Columella having at first written more briefly upon this subject, it was 
so well received, that at the pressing desire of his friends he enlarged 
it, and put it into a new form, as we have it now, in twelve books, which 
i being a complete system of husbandry, his first essay came to be less 
j used, as being less perfect, and afterwards a part of it was lost; this 
[ some transcribers, and the first editors, not having considered, placed it as 
the third book of his husbandry, which confounded the order of the whole, 
I as has been more fully taken notice of in the note annexed to this single 
j book. 
Columella wrote upon several other subjects besides husbandry. He 
| tells us, lib. xi. cap. 1 , that he had written against astrologers, not those 
who only observed the motions of the heavenly bodies, and made con- 
j jectures of what probably might, or commonly did, happen before, or 
after, or at the rising and setting of certain stars, but such as he calls 
Chaldeans, who vainly pretended to foretel with certainty what alterations 
would happen in the air and weather upon such and such days, &c. He 
also had formed a design to write of the lustrations and sacrifices in use 
j among the ancients, for preserving the fruits of the ground, &c. But 
whether he ever finished this work is very uncertain ; and we do not find 
that any other thing besides his husbandry has been preserved to our 
days. He was a great admirer of Virgil, and cites him upon many occa¬ 
sions, but seldom without some epithet or other expressive of the great 
veneration and regard he had for him, and of the deference he paid to his 
judgment. He seems not only to have been a great lover of poetry, but also 
no mean poet himself, of which he has given sufficient evidence in his tenth 
book on Gardening, which he says he wrote in verse not only to gratify 
Silvinus, but also in obedience to Virgil, who recommended that subject 
i to the care of some future poet; and, considering the nature and difficulty 
thereof, he has succeeded very well. He has not, indeed, greatly em¬ 
bellished his poem with many new poetical conceits of his own, but he 
has introduced into it several old fabulous stories, and applied them 
dexterously enough to his own purpose ; but, as his business was rather 
to instruct than to amuse, it is rather an advantage than a blemish to it 
that it consists more of brief descriptions, and of plain directions and 
precepts, than of fictions—his expression, for the most part, being both 
poetical, natural, and agreeable enough. 
We find our subject so unexhausted, that we must continue our remarks 
in our next number. 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 41.3° and 30.8° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 60°, occurred on the 19th in 1828; and the lowest cold, 4.5° below 
zero, on the 19th in 1839. During the period 108 days were fine, and on 
67 rain fell. 
i 
So anxious are we to impress upon our readers the profit, j 
as well as pleasure, derivable from poultry-keeping, and 
to furnish every relative information, that we shall give 
pre-eminence to-day to a repoit of the first meeting of 
The Cornwall Society's First Exhibition of Ornamental 
and Domestic Poultry, which was held at Penzance, 
December 30th, 1851, and which, but for an accidental 
delay, would have appeared in our last number. 
The English public appear suddenly to have made the 
I pleasing discovery, that they really are, and have long been, | 
in possession of a set of objects, of which the interest and 
value have hitherto been unknown, but are now beginning to 
be acknowledged and appreciated. The present feeling 
amongst no inconsiderable portion of our population may 
be compared to those of the Cornish miner, who long re¬ 
garded his yellow ore as mere poder or dust, which came 
in and spoilt the tin! but which he now knows to be rich and 
valuable; or to those of the parent, whose child, once 
thought talentless, and good for little, turns out to be the 
eminent member of the family. 
“ Cocks and hens ! Yes; all very well in their way; ” 
No. CLXXIL, Vol. VII, 
