24-2 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
wonder why it lias not been publicly noticed; but, as 
“ everybody’s business is nobody’s business,” I suppose 
it is right to attribute it to that cause. 
Apart from the common purpose of using Russian 
mats to cover up frames, &c., large quantities are bought 
expressly for tying up plants of various kinds, and, 
generally, when a lot is brought in, the best are selected 
for that purpose. Now, instead of this, could we not 
have the same matting material dressed and tied up in 
bundles, so that we might use it withotit its having 
undergone the ordeal ot weaving, and, perhaps, seen 
some service : besides which, we might stipulate to have 
only the good and useful matting, and let the coarse, or 
secondary kind, be made up as it now is. Assuredly, we 
ought to have our tying material cheaper than we now 
have it, for the labour and expense of manufacture 
would be confined simply to that of dressing it a little, 
and the article might be brought to our hands in a 
condition fit for use, and not impaired by any work it 
may have incidentally or otherwise performed. We all 
know that the bast material is much finer one way than 
the other, in the mats that are made for use; but the 
coarse, or strong way, is often useless for tying purposes, 
at least, for small things, and, in some instances, there 
is not anything else to use it upon, and hence the 
waste. Now, it we had our “ matting ” brought to us in 
bundles containing only what was really useful, we 
might then see it all without any sucli waste, and, 
probably, we might receive a better description than any 
wo have had yet, were our wants fully made known on 
the subject. 
Many things come to market now in a widely altered 
form from what they did years ago, the alterations being, 
in all cases, made to suit the customers, some, certainly, 
neither creditable to seller nor buyer ; but, if some will 
have a cheap article, regardless of every thing else, we 
must not blame the manufacturer for pandering to that 
fancy, at the expense of everything else; but in the 
article I ask for, utility, as well as cheapness, would be 
combined, were the thing fairly got into a system, and 
our bundles (or whatever name might be given them,) 
of tying bast might form an item in the cargoes of 
our North Sea or Baltic traders, the same as “ garden 
mats have done in times past. Now, apart from the 
sending of us tying material in a suitable shape, I think 
the mats we do use might be made more to our wants 
than they are now; for, in spite of thethousand-and-one 
substitutes we have for them, a considerable demand 
will be made on them again, as soon as they are to be 
obtained.. Now, when the trade does again commence, 
before which, for the welfare of society, we hope may not 
be long, could not some one send word to the districts 
where these articles are made, that they must make them 
stouter and better than they have of late years? for they 
are not half so good as formerly; and, likewise, direct 
them to preserve some of the best and finest of the 
material, for the purposes named above. 
While on this head, I may say, that I have not seen 
anything as a substitute far garden-mats for covering up 
with that seems to answer so well in the long run; 
asphalted felt is expensive, and soon falls to pieces; 
while the article called “ Frigi domo,” is too thin to 
endure much service and do any good. 1 have, myself, 
used wooden shutters and thatched hurdles, but, of 
course, these things only cover a flat surface, like a 
frame or liot-bed; but I almost despair of seeing a good, 
usetul article so cheap as mats once were. Nevertheless, 
j we must not despair; our manufacturers are ingenious, 
i an d have responded to our call in the way of glass, and 
1 there seems no roason why they should not do so in the 
article “ covering.” 
I had almost forgotten to mention that the Cuba 
I matting was strongly recommended a few years ago, and 
many people were very fond of it; but I could never see 
December 20. 
any particular merit it had over the old kind, and as it 
seems not to be very plentiful, and, latterly, has almost 
disappeared from our pottiug-benches, &c., we must 
either return to our old acquaintance again or adopt 
something else. Eor my part, I would rather see the 
original reformed a little, and retain him in service, than 
trust to a stranger, who promises much and performs 
little; but, though the means lie in our hands, we 
cannot attain it without an effort; which is, ot the 
potting-time to make our wants known at the right place: 
to advise which is the object of my present chapter. 
J. Robson. 
THE EEATHER-IIEADED. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers.” 
(Continued from page 183.) 
j Lydia became the mother of two daughters; she had a 
| son and a daughter by the first marriage also. I never 
i heard anything of the young man, except that lie is a settler 
; in America, and doing well; but her daughter gave her 
J trouble,-—she was wild and unsteady, but has since married 
respectably, and is no longer a cause of anxiety to her 
j mother. 
i The lady with whom Lydia lived after her husband’s 
death, frequently saw her in her poor little cottage, and 
heard all her sorrows. She was perfectly wretched, dis¬ 
gusted and miserable. Unfit by birth, bringing-up, habits 
and disposition, to be the wife of a labouring man ; he was 
as uncomfortable with her, as she was with him. She was 
always poorly, lying in bed, and unable to help herself, or 
him, and nothing is more disastrous to a poor man of any 
rank, than a sickly, helpless wife. Davis had to get up and 
make his own fire and breakfast, while she came creeping 
down stairs, long afterwards, into a dirty kitchen, which she 
could not clean, and received him in the evening with a pale, 
dismal face, a creaking, sick voice, and nothing comfortable. 
Could a good-tempered man go on long after this fashion, 
without being ‘‘ by the head,” as the Irish say? What, then, 
was to be expected from such a rough specimen of his class, 
as Davis ? 
I am not quite clear as to what was done with the eldest 
of her two last children, at this period. I have reason, 
however, to think she was taken and brought up by Lydia’s 
| own family for a time, because Lydia, exasperated at her 
j husband’s behaviour, and her own privations, determined to 
j enter service again, and took a situation, leaving her 
; youngest child, a little toddling thing, behind her, with its 
father. A woman has no right to leave the man she has 
married, and the child she has borne. There is no clause 
in the oath she took before the Lord to give her leave to 
do so. 
Lydia took a cook’s place, with a kitchen-maid under her. 
She was a good cook, a trusty character; and living in the 
Channel Islands, where the climate is exceedingly mild, her 
health improved greatly, and she was very much regarded 
by her master and mistress. But it came across her 
iviffiing mind, all of a suddeD, that she was wrong in leaving 
her little girl without a mother’s care, and then she wanted 
to go home again. It seemed that a wavering disposition 
was at the root of her doings, for a sound principle would 
have kept her from leaving her child at all. However, 
home she came, and found little Emma running about like 
a gypsies child, with no one to look after her. So Lydia 
again entered upon the duties of a wife and mother, with 
the same consequences as before. 
Davis always twitted her with her “ laming.” “What was 
she fit for with all her laming; she could not make him 
comfortable, or keep him out of debt!” and, indeed, Davis 
was right, so far; but his fault was in marrying for worldly 
reasons, and taking a woman who was above his rank in 
life. Things grew worse and worse. Sickness of a serious 
kind came upon him, and added to their misery. Lydia did 
herduty then, faithfully. I cannot help loving and honouring 
my own half of the creation, in spite of their many failings; 
and when a woman is fairly “in the trenches,” she does her 
work with unshrinking British devotedness. [I cannot 
