June 5.] THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 143 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
w 
JUNE 5—11, 1851. 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Uay of 
D 
D 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
. Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Year 
5 
Th 
K. Hanover b. 177L Pink flowers. 
29-937— 
29795 
85—57 W 0.20 
48 a. 3 
8 a. 8 
0 
8 
6 
1 
56 
156 
6 
F 
Common Blue Butterfly seen. 
30.109 — 
30.090 
66—51 I N.E. 0.07 
47 
9 
0 
38 
3 
1 
46 
15 7 
7 
S 
Oxford Term ends. 
30.137— 
29.920 
71—50 N.W. — 
4 7 
10 
1 
5 
8 
1 
35 
158 
8 
Son 
Whit Sunday. Portugal Laurel fl. 
29.990— 
29.892 
66—42 1 N.E. — 1 
46 
11 
1 
30 
9 
1 
24 
159 
9 
M 
Whit Monday. Bladder Campion fl. 
29 . 918 — 
29.792 
65—43 N.E. — 
46 
12 
1 
53 
10 
1 
12 
160 
10 Tu 
Whit Tuesday. 
29 . 728 — 
29.668 
60—42 I N.E. | — 
45 
13 
2 
16 
11 
1 
1 
161 
nlw 
Oxford Term begins. St. Barnabas. 
29.851 — 
2 9-797 
65—37 l N.E. 1 — 
45 
13 
2 
40 
12 
0 
49 
162 
Whitsuntide is usually one of the most brilliant holiday-tides of the 
wholeyear. It is almost always a time of sunshine and soft breezes, and 
being also the high festival time of our flowers, we may then realize, as 
nearly as is permitted to exiles from Paradise, that happy period when might 
be heard “ the voice of God, walkingin the midst of the Garden.” Perhaps 
Thomas Fairchild felt this, and for that reason provided those funds 
which ever since his death have been devoted to secure the delivery, on 
each Whit-Tuesday, of a Lecture “ On the wonderful works of God in the 
Creation ; or. On the certainty of the Resurrection of the dead, proved 
by the certain changes of the animal and vegetable parts of the Crea¬ 
tion.” Bright themes are these, and around them the scienced and the 
eloquent have concentrated illustrations which demonstrate, beyond 
dispute, that an all-wise and all-powerful Being formed the world, and 
formed it, too, with an all- benevolent design. Nor is that design abortive ; 
for, as Paley remarked, even in the pain and weakness of his dying 
hours—“ It is a happy world after all.” Happy, not only because enjoy¬ 
ment prevails here, but because the same design assures us that the day, 
or rather the eternity, shall come when there shall be no more death—’but 
as the seed dies to become fruitful, and as the perfect Golden-eyed Lace¬ 
wing comes forth from the cerements of the chrysalis, so we have the 
glorious hope that we shall rise from the grave to rejoin, and be ever 
present with, those loved ones who have passed before, to abide with Him 
who lived and died, also, “to prepare a place” for them. 
Connections and thoughts such as these comforted and elevated the 
heart of Fairchild, for he not only founded the lecture on such themes 
which we have mentioned, but he tells us—■“ When we are not yet 
arrived at the pleasures of a large garden, or cannot enjoy the benefit of 
a large piece of ground, we content ourselves with a nosegay rather than 
fail. There is, I confess, a very wide ditference ; but where a little is only 
to be had, we should be content with a little ; industry will always find 
out more: and if their riches do not too much engage their mind, they 
may have content too, for whoever understands and loves a garden may 
have content if he will, because he has opportunity every day of contem¬ 
plating the works of the Creation, and admiring the power and wisdom 
of the Creator ; which I think is the greatest happiness.” 
Mr. Fairchild was one of the few gardeners of his time who united a 
love of science with the practice of his art. He was a nurseryman and 
florist residing at Hoxton, where his establishments, known as “ The 
City Gardens,” were the most extensive and best near London, and were 
greatly frequented, not only for their agreeable situation, but for the 
variety, rarity, and excellence of their productions. He was also one of 
the latest English cultivators of a vineyard, for he had one there as late 
as 1/22. Long residence in the vicinity of the metropolis made him pain¬ 
fully conscious how, by degrees, plants ceased to be cultivatable there, 
which had flourished amid its houses in his younger days. To enable the 
citizens to contend against this growing plant-mortality, he published, in 
1722 , The City Gardener, containing the most experienced method of 
cultivating and ordering such evergreens, fruit-trees, flowering shrubs, 
flowers, exotick plants, tjc., as wilt be ornamental, and thrive best in 
the London Gardens. In its preface, he says;—“ I have, for upwards of 
thirty years been placed near London, on a 3pot of ground where I have 
raised several thousand plants, both from foreign countries, and of the 
English growth, and in that time, and from observation I have made in 
the London practice of gardening, I find that everything will not prosper 
in London, either because the smoke of the sea-coal does hurt to some 
plants, or else because those people who have little gardens in London, 
do not know how to manage their plants when they have got them. Yet, 
one may guess at the general love my fellow-citizens have for gardening, 
in the midst of their toil and labour, by observing how much use they 
make of every favourable glance of the sun to come abroad, and of their 
furnishing their rooms or chambers with basons of flowers or bough-pots, 
rather than not have something of a garden before them.” 
As Mr. Fairchild was alarmed by the gradual extinction of plants, so we, 
on the other hand, are now astonished to find such statements of what 
still flourished in his time within the city’s bounds, as are contained in 
these extracts : 
“ Pears bear very good fruit, as may be observed in very close places 
and confined allies about Barbican, and other places about Aldersgate- j 
street, Bishopsgate-street, &c.” “To these we may add the Vine, which 
will do very well in London, either against walls, or without them. In 
Leicester Fields, there is a Vine that bears good grapes every year.” 
“ Figs prosper extremely in the city, and the smoke has no ill-effect 
upon them. The Reverend Mr. Bennet has some of them in his garden 
at Cripplegate. They have ripened very well in the Roll’s Garden in 
Chancery Lane.” 
“ There are now two very large Mulberry-trees growing in a little 
square yard, about 16 foot square, at Sam’s Coffee House in Ludgate- 
street.” 
Hoxton is in the parish of Shoreditch, and when Mr. Fairchild died, 
October 10th, 1 / 29 , he gave, by his will, the sum of £2b, to the trustees 
of the Charity School, and the churchwardens, to be by them placed out 
at interest, for the payment of 20s. annually for ever, for a sermon on 
Whitsun Tuesday, in the afternoon, at the parish church, on the sub¬ 
jects we have already particularized. The bequest, in 1746, was increased 
to £ 100, South Sea Stock, and vested in the President and Fellows of the 
Royal Society, and the interest is paid to the lecturer annually. Of the 
Fairchild Lectures, the following have been published ; — 
By Dr. Denne, {Matt. vi. 28—30), in 1730 . (Gen. i. 11—13), in 1733, 
on vegetable Creation. And ( Psalm viii. 4—6), in 1745, on God’s regard 
to man in his works of Creation. By Dr. Wm. Stukeley, (Gen. i. 11), in 
1760—63, three sermons. And by the Rev. Wm. Jones, one on Bota¬ 
nical Philosophy, another on the Economy of Beasts and Cattle ; and a 
third, (Gen. i. 9 , 10), on the Natural History of the Earth, and its 
Minerals. 
Besides these, among the preachers we find the Rev. H. Wheatley, 
Rev. John Brigden, Rev. John Vade, Rev. Michael Marlow, Rev. Ur. 
Anselm Bayley, Rev. Henry Owen, and Rev. Samuel Ayscough. 
Besides the work we have mentioned, Mr. Fairchild communicated a 
paper to the Royal Society, On the different and sometimes contrary 
motion of the sap in Plants, (Phil. Trans., No. 384, 1724), and the follow¬ 
ing extracts will show his thoughts and experiments relative to subjects 
which still interest the gardener and botanist. He grafted Laureola, 
an evergreen, upon Mezereon, a deciduous shrub, and Evergreen Oak of 
Virginia, upon the common English Oak, yet both retained their leaves 
and flourished, “ which plainly shows that the juices rise upwards in 
winter.” Mr, Fairchild adds, that “ the Crab stock makes the wood of 
the Apple-tree (grafted on it) more firm and lasting than that on the 
Apple stock; and Peaches and Almonds budded on Plums, are more 
lasting than those on Peach-trees.” “ I inarched a Pear-tree upon two 
Pear stocks in March, 1721 - 2 , which is now in a good flourishing condition, 
with a branch in blossom, and receiveth no nourishment but by the two 
inarched branches, the roots being out of the ground, and though it was 
done above two years ago, it is now shooting suckers out of the roots, 
which proveth that the branches are as useful to support the roots, as the 
roots the branches, and it is, therefore, no wonder that so many trees 
miscarry in planting, when there are no branches left on the head.” 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days, are 74.1° and 48°, respectively. The greatest 
heat 90°, was on the 7 th, 1846, and the lowest cold, 35°, on the 8 th, in 
1838. During the time 100 days were line, and on 68 rain fell. 
A beautiful volume lias just issued from the press, 
entitled Sertum Ecclesice : The Church's Flowers.* Even 
were the work insipid and insignificant, it could have 
no unfriendly criticism in our pages, for we find tills 
sentence in its preface : “ The profits of the volume (if 
any) will go to assist in the education, as governess, of a 
young person from the Isle of Skye, whose parents have 
been reduced, by accumulated misfortunes, from a 
higher condition to one of exceeding privation; their 
support, and the education of their younger children) 
must now chiefly depend on her exertions.” We need 
say no more to awaken an interest and a sympathy 
* Published by R. Grant and Son, Edinburgh; and F. and J. Riviugtou, 
London. 
among our readers, nor need we recommend them to 
purchase the work—but we may add, that the purchase 
money is calculated to secure more than one harvest of 
good, for the volume has more than the one hallowed 
purpose we have named. 
Its, object, an object as old as the Olive-spray Dove- 
borne into the Ark, is to associate particular plants with 
particular events. It quotes at length the statements in 
Holy Writ relative to each, adding such poetical quota¬ 
tions as are strikingly applicable, and giving with each 
a drawing of a flower, which might have been much 
better, and yet not have justified the cynical criticism 
that they were needlessly superior. 
It is a volume excellently suited to the season of the 
No. CXL., Vol. VI. 
