March 11. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
365 
In 1790 Dr. Anderson, for he had ten years before been 
raised to this degree by the College of Aberdeen, established 
in Edinburgh a weekly periodical called The Bee. Here 
again appears a demonstration how much he was in advance 
of his times, for in that period of quartos, and other dear 
forms of literature, rendering knowledge sealed against the 
many, he had upon his title page —“ a work calculated to 
disseminate useful knowledge among all ranks of people, at 
a small price.” Dr. Anderson was a noble example to those 
who preside over our periodical literature. Avoiding all the 
petty squabblings, because he was above the petty jealousies, 
which show that editors think more of their own piques than 
the instruction of their readers, his pages are free from all 
personalities; and yet, when the occasion arose, he stood 
forth boldly to guard the rights of all connected with the 
public press. He was the only one of Dr. Cullen’s pupils 
who took notes of his lectures ; and when these notes were 
unfairly obtained from him, he at once crushed the attempt 
to publish them, fearing, as he said, “ that his imperfect 
transcripts might injure the fame of his master.” Again, 
when a series of Essays on the Political Progress of Great 
Britain so far excited the displeasure of government that 
the Sheriff of Edinburgh was directed to discover their 
author, Dr. Anderson refused to betray from whose pen they 
proceeded,—to use his own words, “ I am personally re¬ 
sponsible for what I have published.” The inquiry was 
abandoned; but subsequently, when the author of those 
Essays —a creature named Callender—had the malicious 
audacity to attribute them to Lord Gardenston, a judge of 
the Court of Session, Dr. Anderson at once held up Callen¬ 
der to public scorn by avowing the truth. 
The work on wool bearing animals, also noticed in 
the following letter, was published at Edinburgh in 
1794, under the title of An account of the different kinds 
of sheep found in the Russian dominions. 
DR. ANDERSON TO MR. FORSYTH. 
Colfield, near Leith, 15th Nov., 1793. 
Sir,—I have been much out of my duty to you in not 
having sooner made my acknowledgments for the honour 
you have done me in admitting me a member of the Loudon 
Society of Natural History; but my time has been so en¬ 
tirely occupied for three years past, in publishing a periodi¬ 
cal work here, called The Bee, that I have not been able to 
attend to other matters as I otherwise should have done. 
I have it not in my power, even now, to send any articles to 
the Society that rvould be worthy their attention, but I 
transmit along rvitli this a part of a book I am now printing, 
on the Natural History of the Sheep, to the care of a son of 
mine, now in London, who wall get it conveyed to you, and 
which, if after reading you think would be agreeable to the 
members of that Society, and if it is any part of your plan 
to have books in it, you will be so good as present in my 
name ; but if unsuitable, I beg you will honour it with your 
own acceptance, at any rate, you will please to keep it till 
the whole be printed, and I shall take care to have the 
remainder of it transmitted to you. Perhaps my son, whose 
name is Alexander, will wait upon you himself when he goes 
to see the menagerie of the late Mr. John Hunter, which is, 
I think, in your neighbourhood; and I will take it as a 
favour, in case there be any difficulty in getting admittance 
to it, that you will be so kind as facilitate that, if it puts you 
to no trouble. Among the animals there kept is a Thibet 
goat, which I have desired my son to take a drawing of, as 
that is one of the articles I mean to introduce into the 
appendix. 
I expect when this little volume is published it will con¬ 
tain a more complete natural and economical history of the 
sheep, and some other wool-bearing animals, than has ever 
yet been published. The first part of it was written by the 
celebrated Dr. Pallas, in Russia, and was translated and 
abridged from his Latin MS. by an obliging correspondent 
in St. Petersburg, who chooses to assume the name of 
Arcticus, the whole being revised by Dr. Pallas himself 
before it was transmitted to me. The notes that are sub¬ 
joined for illustration are most of them by myself, and are 
principally intended to correct improprieties in regard to the 
economical management of that animal, which is an object 
that has attracted my attention for many years past. To 
that I have subjoined one appendix, containing observations 
on what are called varieties of animals, which is fully printed 
off: this is appendix 1. 
The 2nd will be observations on the effect of climate in 
altering the quality of wool: it is just begun to be printed. 
The 3rd wall be on the influence of saline and bitter pas¬ 
turage upon sheep. 
The 4th, remarks on the shawl wool of Thibet, containing 
a specification of the difference between the wool of sheep 
and of goats; for I have discovered that it is not the Thibet 
goat alone that yields that kind of soft, unelastic wool ot 
which shawls are made, but that all the European goats 
yield it of the same quality, though in trifling quantity. 
The 5th will be a catalogue raisonnee, or what I would 
call a prospective catalogue of such wool-bearing animals as 
have not yet been introduced into Britain, but which might 
probably be introduced there with profit. 
And the 6th and last, directions for choosing sheep or 
other animals that are to be brought from a distance to 
Britain, so as to obtain only the very best of each kind. 
Such is the general plan of the work. It will be accom¬ 
panied with three or four more plates. The two last essays 
I have just received back from Mr. Pennant, with his addi 
tions and corrections ; but he cannot tell me where is to be 
found a very good drawing of the Louisana Bison : Do you 
know of any? I am, &c., James Anderson. 
FORMATION OF FRUIT AND KITCHEN- 
GARDENS. 
In compliance with the wishes of some correspondents, 
we proceed to offer some practical advice on this head ; 
albeit, other matters incidental to the season rapidly 
force themselves into notice. 
Our correspondent, who seems to embody the demands 
of the majority, writes thus:—“You would greatly 
oblige some of your subscribers about to. form new 
gardens, by giving a ground plan or description ol a 
fruit and kitchen-garden of ordinary size; showing the 
arrangements of various' kinds of fruit-trees on walls, 
as standards, and as espaliers, also vegetable-beds, 
borders, walks, &c.” 
Now, to go into a thorough detail on this subject would 
he, of course, to produce a goodly pamphlet, equal to 
some three or four Cottage Gardeners. We must, there¬ 
fore, rest content with chalking out the main features, 
leaving a little to exercise the mind of the reader; 
which, indeed, gives a zest to such procedures. As 
to ground plans, space will scarcely permit it, neither 
will such be required ; the description will be suffi¬ 
ciently explicit to enable the veriest tyro to measure 
out the lines, positions, &c. 
Size.— in order to steer a medium course between a 
large garden, and a very small one, let us suppose from 
one to one-and-a-lialf acre to be enclosed, and to illus¬ 
trate the subject fully, let us also suppose that it has 
what is termed “slips,” or at least two sides. I he de¬ 
finition of a “slip” will fall in its proper place. To 
plot a larger one, would be to shoot over the heads of 
one-lralf of our readers, and is scarcely called _ for by 
the parties to whom it would be addressed. 01 course 
the planning of cottage gardens belongs more to allot¬ 
ment matters, and will be dealt with in its proper place. 
Form. — Universal consent has been given in late 
years to rectangular forms. Curves of various kinds, 
pilasters or buttresses, forming what were beforehand 
presumed to he sheltered bays or niches, were at one 
period thought to be a step in advance, but after le- 
peated trials they were abandoned for more simple lines. 
It was found amongst other evils that eddies or cool 
currents were induced. Opinions still vary amongst 
men equally eminent for a sound knowledge ol the pro¬ 
fession. We therefore give an opinion with deference. 
We should prefer a parallelogram, placed as near as may 
be to the cardinal points; and having the two lines 
of walling running north and south, one-third longei 
| than those running cast and west. 
