I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
August 14.] 
!!)0 
m! w 
Weather 
AUGUST 14—20, 1851. 
Barometer. 
near London in 
1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
1 
Id i d 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. 
Si s. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
1 
14 Th 
Meadow Rue flowers. [ 1786 . 30.014 — 29-994 
72—55 
N.E. 
i 
45 a. 4 
24 a. 7 
8 
50 
17 
4 
30 
226 
15.F 
Assumption B.V.M. Ds. Kent b. 30.011— 29.961 
70—52 
N. 
0.01 
46 
22 
9 
8 
18 
4 
19 
227 
16 S 
29 - 972 — 29.944 
78-53 
N.E. 
— 
48 
20 
9 
27 
19 
4 
8 
228 
17 Sun 
9 Sunday after Trinity. 30.003 — 29.966 
76—49 
W. 
— 
49 
IS 
9 
40 
20 
3 
55 
229 
18 M 
Flies abound in windows. 29-996 — 29.767 
76—49 
S.W. 
— 
51 
16 
10 
7 
21 
3 
43 
230 
19 Tu 
Common Tansev flowers. 29-795 — 29.753 
63—45 
W. 
— 
53 
14 
10 
31 
00 
3 
30 
231 1 
20 W 
Redbreast ships again. 29.718 — 29.706 
68—43 
s.w. 
0.01 
54 
12 
11 
1 
€ 
3 
16 
232 
Honest old Anthony Wood, in his “ Autobiography,” under the date 
of March l/th, 1657 , has this entry :—“ John Taverner, son and heir of 
John Taverner, of Soundness, near Nettlebed, in Oxfordshire, Esq., died 
at Greys Inn, and was buried in St. Andrew’s Church, in Holborn, near 
London. His sister Mary, the wife of John Harris of Silksted, near to 
Winchester, was his heir.” 
This brief record led us forth, one bright morning in August, to as 
pleasant a pilgrimage as ever occupied one who loves to wander in green 
lanes, and inquire of wondering rustics where houses are to he found, in 
, which dwelt, "in the olden time,” men then of small note, but now of 
some renown. Men who strove to benefit their kind, were listened to 
with small patience, laughed at behind their backs as “fellows with 
crotchets,” but acknowledged by posterity—that detective of long-neg¬ 
lected truths—as “fellows who were in advance of their age.” On the 
said morning in August, we set forth from the Southgate of Winchester, 
companioned by two sapling pilgrims more intent on butterflies than 
black-letter, wound our way through narrow paths that intersected broad 
fields of corn, waving so sea-like before the wind, and soon mounted to 
the highest point of'Compton Downs—those Downs of which our friend 
versified so well, at page 2/0 of our last volume. Passing over this one 
of the head-quarters of our South-down sheep, we were soon embowered in 
the Silksted green lanes, or as they there pronounce it Silsted—a con¬ 
traction unusually unembarassing, for we would warn our brother pil¬ 
grims who may be less accustomed to the staff than ourselves, that they 
must not at once conclude that they are not near the vicinage of their 
journey’s object, because no peasant ever heard of the place as they may 
pronounce it. When journeying to the Chapel of our Lady of Walsingham, 
we vainly asked for the road to Eye, and were equally unsuccessful in in¬ 
quiring for Bottesdale, until rustics, more acute than their companions, 
guessed that we meant Aye and Busdell! Well, on we paced through 
the Silksted lanes, until we stood before the substantial old red-bricked 
house in which had resided, some two-and-a-half centuries before, the 
sister of John Taverner. However, wc regarded but little the house, for 
it has been renovated and modernized ; but we sought for the relics of the 
orchard, to see if there remained any of those trees of which he said— 
“ In my opinion there be no fruit to be compared to the Pippin, if it 
were not so subject unto the canker as it is ; ” and we were not a little 
interested, to find, though hollow, broken down, and in the last stage of 
_ 
— 
decrepitude, a solitary apple-tree, which let us believe Taverner grafted, 
as it is certain he may have partaken of its fruit, for probably' it is nearly 
three centuries old. Planting and grafting were his especial delight and | 
recreation, when vacations permitted his escape from the less attractive 
claims of his legal studies. The results of these “ vacation pastimes ” 
appeared in the y r ear l6l)0, in the form of a volume bearing this title : — 
Certain experiments concerning Fish and Fruit. Practiced by John 
Taverner , Gentleman, and by him published for the benefit of others. 
Such is the language, not of presumption, but of conscious merit. The 
work is dedicated to Sir Edmund Anderson, Lord Chief Justice of the 
Common Plens, and the dedication commences by stating that the author 
| happened “ lately to light upon a book dedicated unto his lordship by one 
| Mr. George Churchy, intitled—‘ A new book of Good Husbandry,’ and 
treating of fish-ponds and ordering of the same, which book, as it should 
seem, was first written in Latin by one James Duhravius, but translated 
into English by the industry of the said Master Churchy.” That trans¬ 
lation we have never yet met with, but it probably taught those lessons of 
the ancients, which Taverner thus condemns :—“ Some writers teach that 
apples may be grafted upon the Willow, the Elm, the Ash, Alder, and 
such others, but a man had better be without such fruit-trees in his 
orchard, than to have them, for that they will have a taste of the stock 
that they are grafted on. An apple is not good to be grafted but upon 
the stock of the wild apple or crab, as likewise the pear and warden upon 
the wild pear-stock.” Taverner’s is a practical book, and among other 
good recommendations, he says:—“ I have found for apples, pears, and 
| most kinds of plums, to graft in the cleft sawn four inches from the 
ground, to be the best.” He deserves, however, most especial notice as 
being the first writer to recommend strenuously the adoption of budding. 
Mascall merely mentions it under the name of “grafting in the leaf,” 
but Taverner insists upon its adoption, adding that “ the Abricock Plum, 
the Vine, and such other as have great store of pith, are fittest to be 
grafted in the leaf, or eye, as they call it.” 
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 73 ° and 51.6° respectively The greatest 
heat, 83 °, occurred on the 20th in 1826, and the lowest cold, 37°, on the 
20th in 1839. During the period 95 days were fine, and on 73 rain 
fell. 
1 To-day we resume our undertaking of describing and 
: criticising the horticultural implements and tools exhi¬ 
biting in the Crystal Pavilion. The descriptions and 
comments, for the most part, will he from the pen of a 
thoroughly practical gardener, after personal inspection; 
and we think our readers may rely upon the soundness, 
as we are sure they may upon the honesty, of the judg¬ 
ments. 
25 A ,- Al.sop’s SULPHURATOR AND FuMIGATOR. 
This is a double implement for diffusing sulphur, also 
for fumigating houses with tobacco. It consists of a 
barrel with fan blower, and a tube from the front side of 
the barrel, with a hopper for the sulphur, which is car¬ 
ried by a grooved axle into the tube below, and blown 
out by the fan. This axle is worked by a wooden wheel, 
near the circumference of which is a small handle, for 
the operator to hold when working the axle and the fan 
by the aid of another small wooden wheel fixed on the 
axle of the fan blower. The implement is made of zinc, 
with the exception of the box for the tobacco, which is 
of coppei’, and fixed on the side of the barrel containing 
the fan blower, with small holes pierced in the lower 
side of the box. The tobacco is put in the box, and 
lighted on the top. 
There are many sulphurators and fumigators on the 
same principle; but we have not seen one before com¬ 
bining both implements, which certainly increases its 
relative value. For small houses, or frames, the fumi- 
gator is a very excellent invention, as a cool stream of 
smoke can be thrown into them, which, with the most 
ordinary management, will not injure the most tender 
plants, an effect liable to be caused by the pot and 
bellows. In using the sulphurator, care is required to 
have the sulphur quite dry ; for if not perfectly so, the 
grooves in the axle are liable to get clogged, which, 
consequently, prevents the sulphur from falling into the 
tube. Sulphur vivum, or black sulphur, is the best for 
using with this implement. 
51. —Seward’s Conifers Supporter. 
This is simply an old-fashioned iron tree supporter 
with three points to be driven into the ground for fixing 
the pole firmly in its place, the upright is about seven . 
feet high, to which three rings are screwed, and through 
these rings a pole is placed, by means of which another 
length may be placed at the top of the first pole as the 
tree advances in height. Iron supports for trees are 
much preferable to wooden stakes, as they are not blown 
down by winds, an accident to which wooden stakes are 
liable, much to the detriment of many a valuable plant. 
56 A. —Ebbs’ Lady’s Garden Rake 
Consists of a hoe, spud, and rake, all united. The 
No. CL., Vol. VI. 
