Novembeu 28. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
157 
Jamie Sinclair, the garden-boy, and a natural genius, 
played the violin. Lady Cumining had this boy educated 
by the family tutor, sent him to Loudon, where ho was 
well known in 1836-7-8 for his skill in drawing and 
colouring. Mr. Knight, of the Exotic Nursery, for 
whom he used to draw orchids and new plants, sent him 
to the Crimea, to Prince Woronzoff, where he practised 
j for thirteen years. He laid out those beautiful gardens 
which the Allies so much admired the other day; had 
a thousand acres of vineyards belonging to the Prince; 
was well known to the Czar, who often consulted 
[ him about improvements, and who gave him a 
“ medal of merit,” and a diploma, or kind of pass¬ 
port, by which he was free to pass from one end of 
the empire to the other, and also through Austria and 
Prussia. I have seen these instruments. He returned 
to London in 1851, and was just engaged with a London 
publisher for a three year’s job, when Menschikoff found 
the Turks too hot for him last April twelvemonth ; the 
Russians then made up for blows, and Mr. Sinclair was 
more dangerous for them in London than Lord Aberdeen. 
He was the only foreigner who was ever allowed to see 
all that was done in and about Sebastopol, and over all 
the Crimea; the Czar, however took care that Sinclair 
could not join the “ Alliesbut where he is, and what 
he is about, I must not tell until the war is over; 
except that he is not in Russia, and that he will never 
play first fiddle again in Morayshiro, from which I re¬ 
moved to Perth, after a regular parting ball. 
Perth was then the gayest place in Hor Majesty’s 
dominions ; the best neighbourhood in Scotland for 
good gardening; and the finest placo for scenery I ever 
saw; and there, in the best conducted nursery I know, 
that of the Messrs. Dickson and Turnbul, I worked 
nearly two years, whence I went to Edinburgh, to the 
garden of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. Two 
years after that I saw Burke the murderer, missed daft 
Jamie from the streets, saw the row at Dr. Knox’s, a 
better row at the college, and then sailed for London, 
and was thirteen days on the passago. 
The sight of London disappointed me much. For a 
long time I could see nothing better than the Cowgate 
in Edinburgh; at all events, not bettor than the Cannon- 
gate; and when I got to Buckingham Palace, I tlmuked 
my stars that I missed being a soldier to defend such a 
rookery; but things are altered since those days. I 
seldom missed an opportunity of picking up all I could 
about gardening, from Beaufort Castle to Buckingham 
Palace, and I had a fair idea of all gardening, including 
a light purse. I got into the Clapton Nursery, then 
held by Mr. John Mackay, and Mr. Low was foreman. 
Six weeks after landing, I was sent into Herefordshire, 
to Haffield, near Ledbury. 
When parting with Mr. Mackay, he gave me excellent 
advice, saying that every family had a tune of their own, 
and that all servants who wished a quiet life, and to 
rise in the world, ought to learn to whistle the particular 
tune of the family they lived with. “ Gardening, and 
all that sort of thing, is easy enough, if you study to 
ylease\" and I can now vouch for the saying. 
Mr. Gordon, my employer at Haffield, was a practical 
botanist, a great lover of experiments, and a most kind 
and liberal master; through his influence, and at his 
cost, I got into correspondence with the principal 
botanic gardens in this country, and with the best 
private gardens. I travelled every summer to see what 
was going on round London, and all over tho country. 
I travelled three thousand miles, in England alone, in 
1832; saw 200,000 people at one reform meeting in 
Yorkshire; found Mr. Marnock pulling down the large 
conservatory at Briton Hall; saw all the Crinums at 
Woutworth House; tho number of pot plants at Chats- 
wortli, about a dozen or so, barring the Pine-Apples ; 
the best Orangery in England, near Prescot; the first 
Petunia that flowered in England, at Lower Bougliton, 
near Manchester; the celebrated rock garden of Lady 
Boughton, near Chester; the first of the Calceolarias in 
the Epsom Nursery; the Geranium houses of Sir 
Richard Hoar, near Bath; a waggon load of dried 
bulbs, and the Pinetum, at Dropmore; the Pine-Apples 
growing on dry shelves at Downton Castle, &c., all in 
one season. I fruited and proved forty-six sorts of 
Grapes, from all parts of Europe, in a house for the 
purpose; planted beds of stove plants in the shrub¬ 
bery ; proved the old Camellias to be hardier than the 
Portugal Laurel; crossed all sorts of plants; and had more 
than an acre of cross seedlings, one year; for Mr. Gregory, 
nurseryman, Cirencester, measured the ground; collected 
all the pinuses and bulbs, that could be bought or ex¬ 
changed, and in 1836, that was the best collection in the 
west of England. But alas! how vain are all our gather¬ 
ings in this way. Mr. Gordon was cut off at the age of 
forty-one, and the whole had to be dispersed; but I had 
to remain for nearly twelve-months, to see everything 
finished on a different scale for the widow, as I had the 
management of the estate as well as the garden. 
After that I went to Scotland, to see the farming of 
the Lotliians, on the Carse of Gowrie, and all the way 
round the coast to Inverness and Beauly, and at the 
latter place I found the best kept farm, and the best 
crops, I had seen in Scotland. 
On my return to London, I engaged with Thomas 
Harris, Esq., who was beginning that celebrated col¬ 
lection which was dispersed, three years afterward, 
under the hammer of Mr. Stevens ; the first collection 
of plants he ever sold. After this sale, I engaged with 
Sir. W. F. F. Middleton, Bart, Shrubland Park. My 
doings there are known to gardening readers from my 
own writings in The Gardeners' Chronicle and in The 
Cottage Gardener ; and all that remains for me to 
close this sketch is, to express my warmest gratitude for 
the great kindness I experienced from Sir William and 
Lady Middleton while in their service, and for not 
neglecting me in my retirement. 
To Lady Middleton’s and Sir William’s good taste I 
owe my success in flower-gardening, and I shall never 
forget their kindness; they loaded me with favours 
whon I left Shrubland Park, and ever since, I am 
presented with the first-fruits of Sir \\ illiaui s gun at 
the shooting-season. If I have met with disappoint- 
