250 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[July 24. 
Kidney-beans “ almost infinite sorts and colours,” “ more oftentimes at 
rich men’s tables than at the poore.” Melons (three kinds). The best 
seed from Spain, formerly “ only eaten by great personages,” “ but now 
divers others that have skill and convenience of ground for them, do 
plant them, and make them more common.” 
His directions for grafting are generally correct, and in accordance with 
our present practice. He especially insists upon budding, in preference 
to grafting, for all stone fruit, “but though sufficiently known in many 
places of this land, yet as I understand, good gardeners in the north 
parts, and likewise in some other places, can scarce tell what it meaneth.” 
He recommends vinegar to be applied to the canker of trees, a practice 
chemistry supports, since Vauquelin has demonstrated the disease arises 
from the alkaline state of the sap. His plan of preventing ants ascending 
trees by tarring the stems, and of preventing the attacks of hares and 
rabbits, by smearing the trunks with a mixture of cow-dung and urine, 
are practices still in use. The Vine, he says, is a fruit-tree formerly 
grown in abundance in vineyards, especially by the Monks, the wine of 
which supplied them year by year ; “but they have long since been de¬ 
Never was a saying more true than that “man is a 
bundle of habits,” and it is equally true that no practice 
is so absurd that habit cannot render it agreeable. 
What but habit could reconcile a New Zealander to a 
long bone thrust through his nose? and upon what 
other plea could the Irish defend attaching their horses 
to the plough by their tails ? Habit is, indeed, second 
nature ; and it is only upon the plea of habit that we 
find that we can defend our adherence to the old form 
of our Hoes, without any suspicion that that form might 
be advantageously modified, according to the purpose 
for which the hoe is intended. For loosening the sur¬ 
face, or destroying the weeds of hard soils, our common 
hoes, or their modification, the Guernsey prong, are very 
efficient implements; and as we have mentioned this 
prong of the Channel Islands, and it is not so generally 
used as it deserves, we will make it known to all our 
readers. It was thus delineated and described in the 
pages of the Gardeners' Chronicle :— 
“ It is something in the shape of 
a hammer, the head flattened into 
a chisel an inch wide, and the fork 
the same. The whole length of 
_ this prong is nine inches, and it is 
D attached to a staff five feet long. 
Such an implement is light and 
easy to use, it requires no stooping, 
and will tear up the deepest-rootecl 
weeds.” 
Now no one will argue that this implement is not a 
more efficient tool for weeding our hard surfaces than 
our common hoes; nor is Gulneys Improved Prussian 
Hoe less superior for weeding on loose surfaces. Its 
manufacturer thus speaks of it:— 
“ It is an exceedingly useful hand-tool, both for the flower 
and kitchen-garden; it will do twice the work with half the 
labour of any description of hoe now in use; and it not only 
cuts and destroys the weeds, but leaves the ground perfectly 
level without the use of the rake. To the farmer it will 
prove of great utility, not only in eradicating all kinds of 
weeds from crops, but in clearing grass-lands of thistles, &c.” 
Now we can say of this report, what cannot always be 
said of a proprietor’s laudatory statement, every word of 
it is truth. We have tried the hoe, and we say, without 
stroyed, and the knowledge how to order a vineyard is also utterly 
perished with them.” He mentions many gentlemen having tried to 
have them, bringing Frenchmen over to attend them, but the produce 
was uniformly “small and heartless;” and the Vine in his time was 
scarcely attended to, even when grown against a wall.—Oranges, he says, 
were grown in large boxes, to be pulled into the house, or under a wall, 
covered with a sear cloth, and “ some comfort in the colder times” was 
given them by a stove. This is the first rude attempt that we have notice 
of by an English writer, approaching to the idea of a hothouse or con¬ 
servatory, and which with the notice we have before of bell-glasses, was 
evidently leading to their construction ; no tent or mean provision, he 
continues, will preserve them. 
Meteorology of the Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations 
during the last twenty-four years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 74.4° and 51.8° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 92°, occurred on the 25th in 1844, and the lowest cold, 40°, on the 
24th in 1838. During the period 102 days were fine, and on 66 rain fell. 
any reservation, that it is the best weeding implement 
for garden borders, beds, and smooth side paths, that 
we ever employed. The blade is set at such an angle 
that it shaves down the weeds, just below the surface, 
and leaves them uncovered; whereas the old hoe covers 
up the fallen weeds, and thus aids them to root afresh. 
The Improved Prussian Ploe reduces the amount of 
labour, being worked with the greatest ease, and from 
the position of the blade keeps itself sharp ; and is in 
this also superior to the common hoe, which is worked 
at an angle constantly rounding off its edge. 
We have restricted our praise to the Prussian Hoe’s 
employment upon soft beds and smooth paths, and for 
working upon them no one, whether a professional, 
amateur, or lady gardener, but will thank us for inducing 
them to try it; but for weeding harder soils, for earthing 
up, for drawing drills, &c., the old hoe is not yet super¬ 
seded, but it may be improved; and one of its deficien¬ 
cies, which all must have noticed, is the usual mode of 
fixing it to its handle, by wedging this through an eye 
welded to the blade. In wet weather, such an imple¬ 
ment becomes clogged by adhesions in the angle between 
the blade and the handle; and in dry weather, the blade 
becomes loose, thus decreasing its efficiency, and often 
separating from the handle entirely. To remedy this in 
Norfolk, they employ the Bloomfield Hoe, which, as 
represented in this sketch, is fastened into the handle 
by a strong spike, having a long narrow neck terminat¬ 
ing in a broad head, to which the steel blade is attached 
by three rivets, whilst the handle is kept from splitting 
by a deep ferule. Of this hoe Mr. Gidney, who is an 
ironmonger at East Dereham, in Norfolk, thus speaks:— 
“ It has been in use in this part of the county for 
some few years, and I believe has not been introduced 
into any other county. It is called by us the Bloom¬ 
field Hoe, after the inventor, who resides in this part of 
