142 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
summer, unless you have the convenience of a cold pit. I 
In it you may place your plant through July and ] 
August, and then return it to the greenhouse. In the 
! greenhouse keep it through the winter, but in the 
I warmest part of it, and pretty close to the glass, reduc¬ 
ing the quantity of water greatly, only give enough to 
prevent it flagging. 
Propagation. Prepare a cutting-pot about the end 
of June, and a bell-glass to fit it. Fill it half full 
of crocks, and then with the compost within an inch 
of the rim, and that inch fill with silver-sand; water 
it gently, to make the sand firm. Then take off as 
many cuttings as you require ; choose such as are a little 
hardened at the base; cut off even just below a joint, 
and dress off the lower leaves. Insert them into the 
sand, with a small smooth stick, within the bell-glass 
when it is put on, and give and place them in heat, 
shading from the sun. It is not easy to strike, but by 
care and perseverance success may be achieved. 
T. Appleby. 
COTTAGERS AND THEIR HORTICULTURAL 
SHOWS. 
There are few persons who have visited provincial 
Horticultural Exhibitions but who must have been struck 
with the excellent quality of the vegetables shown in 
the Cottager’s class, as well as, now and then, by their 
florists’ flowers and hardy fruits. Such is the general 
good quality of the things they exhibit, that they very 
often equal, if they do not excel, the other classes, where 
the competitors have more extensive means. 
Their success is generally hailed by all parties, and 
we may justly pronounce them entitled to assume a 
little of the honest pride for the merits of which they 
now and then think their productions are worthy. But 
my purpose here is uot to laud their praiseworthy zeal 
in forwarding such things to a show, but to direct 
attention to their little holdings, and then see in what 
condition their respective homesteads are kept; for a 
well-kept cottage garden is not always the one that 
obtains most prizes at a Horticultural Show. On the 
contrary, I have been sometimes pained to see the pre¬ 
parations made to meet that particular time supersede 
everything else, and all crops, and everything else not 
intended to be exhibited, very much neglected. This, I 
need hardly say, is not always confined to the cottager; 
and all must have observed cases where a love of 
“showing" has grown upon certain parties, to the 
exclusion of other pursuits. With the cottager, this 
might be very much altered, if his garden and home 
were to be visited by the same censors who place his 
productions first on the list on show-days; but, as it 
might not be convenient for these parties to do so, 
others might be found to do it, equally competent, on 
whose report his productions at show-time might receive 
an additional interest or detraction, as his merits or 
demerits as a manager might demand. This, however, 
could uot be done without trouble, and might, in some 
instances, assume an invidious aspect. 
Well, then, a better way might be by increasing the 
number of district, or even parochial, shows; for, by 
that means, a greater number of exhibitors would be 
brought forward, and the more general welfare of the 
district promoted; for many, who never thought of 
exhibiting at a county show, would have more con¬ 
fidence to do so in their own respective parish, or 
j district, where they knew whose productions they were 
■ to compete against. All this might be accomplished at 
1 a trifling expense. Prizes of low value, nevertheless, 
! often carry with them an honorary distinction far above 
their intrinsic worth; and the assistance or patronage 
of the wealthy parties in the neighbourhood might 
November 21- 
easily originate and carry out a show of that kind; and 
I know of several cases where such is done by the co¬ 
operation of a few spirited individuals uniting for the 
general good. But it is much oftener done by some 
great landed proprietor, who cannot adopt a better 
course to improve and better the condition of his 
dependants, than by encouraging that kind of industry 
which tends to make a cottager a successful exhibitor. 
Now, whatever may be said of certain exhibitors 
neglecting such produce as they do not contemplate 
showing, it is evident they would be compelled to pay a 
fair share of attention to the whole, were they aware 
that their little holdings would be now and then visited 
by those by whose decision their prizes, at a forth¬ 
coming show would bo either diminished or augmented, 
as their case might deserve. These visitations ought 
also to be without any given notice; for it sometimes 
happens a deal of preparation is made to receive the 
judges on a show-day, while, at other times, their 
gardens do'not exhibit any deserving marks of appro¬ 
bation. These visits ought not to be made to assume 
an official character, but only a friendly look in, on the 
part of some one qualified, as well to give advice and 
encouragement, as to criticise what is present; and there 
is a sort of a' feeling of honourable distinction in a 
great man looking into the garden and homestead of a 
poor cottager; the latter will feel pleased to show what 
is good, and afterwards determine to improve what is 
uot. So that, in all probability, a second look-in will 
present a decided improvement. 
I have known cottagers, of no great pretensions as 
garden-managers, turn out excellent cultivators by the 
little encouragement they received by living next neigh¬ 
bour to a spirited and industrious cultivator; and, as¬ 
suredly, there is no way of employing the leisure hours 
so beneficially as in cultivating a garden or plot of 
ground; for, apart from the pleasure which the labour 
of putting a place into tidy order creates, there is also a 
hope, amounting almost to a certainty, that Nature, too, 
will assist and finish the work successfully that is be¬ 
gun; and to view the progressing way in which such 
operations are going on, forms one of the most delightful 
contemplations the mind can dwell upon; and the 
cottager is not insensible to it; for though his education 
may have been humble, and his other attainments not 
extraordinary, still, he often is a much closer observer of 
Nature than he gets credit for; and if his notions of 
certain things be sometimes tinctured by prejudice, 
they are seldom marred by pedantry; and the man of 
science may often derive a valuable hint from a cottager, 
on subjects he hardly expected him to be acquainted 
with. In the best cultivated districts of the kingdom, 
the mode in which each operation is performed is tole¬ 
rably well known amongst all the rural population, 
where, in fact, a considerable number derive their sole 
livelihood by such work. Where orchards are numerous, 
the different modes of grafting and budding are well 
known ; and where the smaller fruits are grown, pruning 
is equally universally performed by all; so that, in such 
places, encouragement is all that is wanted to raise the 
cottager in the ranks of cultivators: the routine of the 
work ho is well versed in, if ho can only be induced to 
exercise the necessary assiduity and perseverance. It 
is, therefore, to the affluent that i here make the appeal; 
and, assuredly, those who cannot give useful instruction, 
may now and then give encouragement, if it be only in 
the way of looking in, and complimenting the deserving, 
or cheering on the more apathetic. A kindly feeling is 
thus promoted, and the general welfare advanced. 
In recurring again to the subject of Horticultural 
Shows, I need hardly observe, that most provincial 
Societies, possessing any influence or means, have, 
during the last dozen years or so, directed great atten¬ 
tion to the Cottager’s class; but it often happens, where 
