February 20. 
THE COTTAGE GARDE NEE. 
instantly-coveted construction was requested and granted. 
The smith—our representative here of that important myth, 
Vulcan—would have made a capital hand to assist at the 
forging of Jove’s thunderbolts; though under what other 
name to place him there than Mr. Vulcan lntaself, 1 am at a 
loss to discover. Cyclops will not do, for we learn those 
subterranean assistants had but one eye in their heads! 
whereas our smiter of the anvil has two ; at all events X 
often envy his Herculean muscular proportions. His shill 
very soon satisfied my desires, and a scraper at each corner 
of the walks is the result. I have seen a good many varie¬ 
ties of scrapers in my time, hut none that pleased me so 
much as this simple, unpretending specimen. It requires, I 
think, only to be known to be appreciated.” 
2H n> ; its thickness, a quarter-of-an-inch tapering to an eighth ; space 
for admitting the sole to be scraped, 4£in. wide and i) of an inch deep. 
The other is from J. H. Payne, Esq., of Bury St. 
Edmunds, who says of it— 
“ I herewith enclose you a drawing of a garden scraper, 
which was invented by a gentleman’s gardener in this neigh¬ 
bourhood a few weeks ago, and it appears to me to be too 
simple and efficient a thing of the kind (a really good one 
having never before made its appearance) not to be made 
public.” 
It has the extra advantage of being easily moveable 
and fixable wherever most required. Length of the 
three feet, 18 inches, and one inch broad by half-au-inch 
thick; length of the scraping blade, six inches. It is 
all of iron. 
32!J 
GARDENING GOSSIP. 
We have been obliged by the following from the very 
worthy Rector of Compton, near Winchester: 
“My attention has been called to No. 170 of The Cottage 
Gardener, bearing date January 1, of this present year, in 
which you allude to a walk you had taken in August last, 
with two sapling pilgrims, through the green lanes of Silk- 
stead, near Winchester, in the hope of discovering some 
traces of old John Taverner, who, five half centuries ago (are 
you correct in your date? *), told of his experiments on Irish 
and Fruit. You express your disappointment at not being 
able to discover any notice of the aforesaid John, or of his 
connections, in the registers of the Church of Hursley, an 
adjoining parish. The fact is, that the part of Silkstead in 
which the Harris family resided, one of whom married John 
Taverner’s sister, or daughter, is situate in the parish of 
Compton. There are several memorials of the family, both 
in the church and churchyard; and from an inscription on a 
slab of black marble in the chancel, it appears that a son of 
the above lady was buried beneath it; there is also a mural j 
tablet, in Latin, to the memory of the same person, within 
the communion rails, under a larger one, to Hr. Harris, who 
was Warden of Winchester College. You are in error with 
regard to the house, which no longer exists. Its last inha¬ 
bitant was a Mr. Travers. About half a century ago the 
property was purchased by, I believe, the grandfather of the 
present Sir Wm. Heathcote, and the house was entirely 
taken down within the recollection of several persons now 
living in this parish.” 
Extraordinary Effects of Filtration. — It may 
appear strange, but the following is “ not moro strange 
than true,” that at the Sewage Company’s Works at Ful¬ 
ham, the most offensive drainages of a London sewer 
are put to filter, and come out pure; nobody who tasted 
it in ignorance could tell it was not drawn from a river, 
and the simple medium through which it filters is peat 
charcoal powder, which becomes saturated with all the 
elements of stimulating manure ; and this is known by 
the water losing its brilliance. 
The surcharged peat is doubly valuable as a stimulant, 
and must be carefully used. Like guano, it should he mixed 
with twice its own bulk of sand, or very light soil, and be 
sown on the ground at the rate of five hundred weight to 
the acre ; and, unlike guano, it is not soluble in water. The 
only danger in using it, is its touching the plants; therefore, 
if sown in drills, there must be a little soil between the 
manure and the seeds. It is best sown on the ground 
before planting or cropping, and washed in with two or three 
showers of rain, or one or two good waterings. Seeds may 
then be sown, because some of the strength will have been 
washed below. We, therefore, consider that a most valuable 
manure, more valuable than can be obtained in any other 
form, may thus be secured from the tilth that has been 
allowed to pollute the rivers; and our hope is, that it 
can be made in sufficient quantity, and at such moderate 
prices, as to become generally useful. It may be worth 
while to notice that the filtered water is of a quality to induce 
the manager to contrive some means of saving it, while the 
charcoal is so rich in salts that it cannot be dried even on 
hot plates. It is understood that the saturated charcoal 
may he sold at the same price per ton that the Irish Society 
charge for the charcoal in the first instance, and that the 
difference of weight, after saturation and partial drying, 
gives sufficient profit. 
Covent Garden is literally glutted with splendid Cut 
Flowers, for which great prices are given to gentlemen’s 
gardeners among others. Consequently, among the 
productions may be seen some of the most costly orchi. 
deous and other stove plants; rarities not to be found 
in the trade, and if they were, would be kept as show 
* Yes, we are correct j for John Taverner’s Certain Experiments Con¬ 
cerning Fish and Fruit were published in l 600 .— -Ed. C. G. 
