| September 11.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
W 
SEPTEMBER 11—17, 1851. 
Weather near London in 1850. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of j 
Year, j 
D 
D 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
bef. Sun. 
Tn 
Bean harvest begins. 
30.272 — 30.230 
69—37 
E. 
_ 
29 a. 5 
24 a. 6 
7 a 14 
16 
3 19 
254 
12 
F 
Ivy flowers. 
30.250 — 30.219 
70—32 
E. 
— 
31 
22 
7 32 
17 
3 40 
255 
13 
S 
Elder berries ripe. 
30.266 — 30.241 
68—32 
E. 
— 
33 
20 
7 50 
18 
4 
1 
256 
14 Sun 
13 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.239 — 30.221 
59—40 
E. 
— 
34 
17 
8 11 
19 
4 22 
257 
15 M 
Vapourer Moth seen. 
30.252 — 30.247 
65—52 
E. 
— 
36 
15 
8 35 
20 
4 43 
258 
16 Tu 
Horse Chestnut brown. 
30.284 — 30.251 
67—51 
E. 
— 
37 
13 
9 1 
21 
5 
4 
259 
17 
W 
Ember Week. Peewits flock. 
30.290 — 30.197 
69—39 
E. 
— 
39 
10 
9 34 
22 
5 25 
260 
The Horticultural Society of London had its origin in 1804, from a 
few individuals of wealth and talent, who associated for the improvement 
of the art in which they delighted. Their views soon enlarged, and on 
the 17th of April, 1809, they were incorporated into the above-named 
Society. The Charter states the Societj* to he for the improvement of 
Horticulture in all its branches, ornamental as well as useful, and the 
Society has power to purchase lands, &c., and is liable to be sued, and 
able to sue ; to have a common seal ; an indefinite number of Fellows, a 
Council of fifteen Fellows, a President, Treasurer, and Secretary. The 
first President was the Earl of Dartmouth ; Charles Greville, the first 
Treasurer; and R. A. Salisbury, first Secretary. In 1821 the Society 
founded a garden at Chiswick, covering thirty-three acres, which they 
have on a lease renewable for ever, of the Duke of Devonshire. To enrich 
the garden no pains have been spared, the whole pecuniary power of the 
Society, and the personal interest of the Fellows having been employed to 
render it as perfect as possible. In 1821 the Society sent out to Bengal 
, and China, Mr. John Potts, and to the latter country Mr. J. D. Parks, in 
1823. Mr. John Forbes, in the last-named year, was sent to the eastern 
shore of Africa; Mr. D. Douglas to the United States, and in 1824, the 
same gardener proceeded to Colombia, as did Mr. J. M’Rae to the Sand¬ 
wich Islands, Mr. Hartwegto California, and Mr. Fortune to China, all for 
the purpose of collecting new plants. The result of their researches has 
been most gratifying. Besides these especial collectors, the Society has 
numerous corresponding members in every quarter of the globe, who, 
from time to time, have much forwarded the views of the Society. 
In 1809 they commenced publishing their Transactions, but these 
■ were abandoned in 1830, when the Society was found to have been mis¬ 
managed, almost to ruin. At present they publish a more moderate- 
| priced quarterly, under the title of The Journal of the Horticultural 
Society, the first number of which appeared in 1846. 
The affairs of such a Society are necessarily chiefly under the direction 
of one officer, usually the Secretary, and if a paid servant of the Society, 
and without the power to expend its income, except under the control of 
the council, no better system of management could be devised. We have 
stated that Mr. Salisbury was the Society’s first Secretary, but it was, 
unfortunately, an honorary office—that worst of all tenures, for the 
I “ honorary ” confers an obligation on those he serves, ar.d his masters are 
I repugnant to chide for what is neglected, inasmuch as that what is done 
is a favour, rather than a duty. Mr. Salisbury retired from the office in 
1810, being succeeded, but still as Honorary Secretary, by Joseph 
Sabine, Esa-, and as the mismanagement by this gentleman offers many 
useful lessons, we will glance over his career, give praise where it is due, 
yet not disguise, nor fail to castigate, his errors. 
When Mr. Sabinejoined the Society, in 1810, its accounts were in great 
confusion, nor was it in any way rising in the public estimation ; a state of 
affairs which he so energetically and successfully rectified, that the Society, 
j in 1816, marked its sense of his services by the award of its gold medal. 
There can be no doubt that to his personal exertions were owing the in- 1 
crease, not only of noble, but of royal patronage, which the Society ob¬ 
tained ; nor were his services limited to Regent-street and Chiswick, for 
it is equally*certain as that he revived the Society, that he promoted the 
existence of many local Societies, and aided, by the publication of its 
Transactions, anil the distribution of new plants and improved varieties, 1 
[ to improve the gardening of the British islands. Such success, unfor¬ 
tunately, was the origin of eventual failure ; for dashing on in triumph, 
and in a position of uncontrolled trust, one outstretch of power was but a 
leading string to another, until at lasthebecaine “not only the Secretary, 
but the President, Council, and even the head gardener of the Society.” 
Uncontrolled power is ever prone to be corrupted into despotism, and at 
length not only w'as every material transaction the result of his order, but 
even the head gardener had no power to hire or dismiss, to punish or re¬ 
ward his labourers, and scarcely a tree could be moved, or a border dug, 
without Mr. Sabine’s assent 1 If he had vowed to be the horticultural 
Caesar, he could not have more perfectly effectuated his resolve, and then 
he went one step further, and directed that an under-gardener should attend 
each party who visited the Chiswick Garden, that that gardener should 
make notes of their private conversation, whether relative to the garden 
or otherwise, and that such conversation should be reported to himself, 
the grand chieftain of the espionage. This un-English spy-system led 
to the Society’s extrication from the ruin to the brink of which it had 
suffered itself to be blindly led. A conversation in the garden between the 
late Mr. Bellenden Ker and his wife, was reported to Mr. Sabine, and was 
so offensive to him, that he actually was rash enough to propose to the 
Council the expulsion of Mr. Ker. This naturally roused that gentleman 
to denounce the dictator and his system, and one discovered wrong en¬ 
couraging to the revelation of others, a committee of enquiry was ap¬ 
pointed, and it was then discovered that the Society was becoming hope¬ 
lessly involved. The expenditure had been most lavish, and instead of 
the debts being no more than ^’3,350 as represented by Mr. Sabine, they 
actually amounted to more than d?18,300. Yet there was not a shadow 
of suspicion on Mr. Sabine’s honesty, and all the expenditure had been 
in increasing the imposing aspect of the Society. The mistake was, that 
Mr. Sabine did not stop to calculate whether the income of the Society 
was equal to his determined expenditure ; but, with a rashness as fatal to 
a Society’s, as to an individual’s prosperity, he resolved on an expenditure, 
and trusted to hope for increasing the income up to the outlay. Mr. 
Sabine resigned, not without the accompaniment of a threatened vote of 
censure, vigorous retrenchment and economy took the place of lavish 
extravagance, and the Society, it is to be hoped, is gradually extricating 
itself from its difficulties. 
Mr. Sabine was originally educated for the bar, but obtaining the 
almost sinecure appointment of inspector of Assexed Taxes, he abandoned 
Westminster Hall for the more congenial Courts of the Linmean and 
Horticultural Societies. When his connection with the latter ceased, he 
devoted his energy, which was great, to the service of the Zoological 
Society, of whose council he was member, and whose garden was greatly 
enriched with plants by his exertions. Death came to him whilst thus 
engaged. He died on the 24th of January, 1837, and deserves our notice 
not only from his connection with the Horticultural Society, but as the 
author of many papers which were published in its Transactions. 
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 67 . 6 ° and 46.9° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 84°, occurred on the 17 th in 1843, and the lowest cold, 29°, on the 
17 th in 1840. During the period 9 fi days were fine, and on 72 rain 
fell. 
Journeying down tlie old road which still spreads its 
broad and level face between Bath and the metropolis, 
and not many miles beyond that town where more than 
once Cavalier and Roundhead fought fiercely for the 
rulership of England, a mansion may be seen, flanked 
by sheltering woods, too far off to be inconvenienced by 
the inquisitive gaze of the passing traveller, yet near 
enough for him to conclude that it classes with the 
homes of “the gentles of England.” Nor is the con¬ 
clusion a hair’s breadth from the truth, for there dwell 
three sisters, in whose veins courses the blood of “ Peve- 
rell of the Peak,” and one of whom now tells in our 
pages, of the “ Villagers,” in whose welfare they all 
share an equal interest. Those truthful sketches of 
peasant life—those best of sermons, witli breathing 
examples for the text, and real consequences to point 
the moral—work out a large and wide-spread measure 
of good, and are worthy successors to that series of 
“ My Flowers ,” which first appeared in our pages, and 
now published in a small and cheap volume, are lying 
upon our table. When we look upon that volume, and 
when we remember, for vanity is a subtle prompter, that 
we first persuaded our gentle relative that she could 
write, and that those essays, which coming from the 
heart go to the heart, first appeared in our pages—we 
are tempted like the organ bellows-blower to say— 
“ Our music is good.” 
“My Flowers” in a volume, except by some ad¬ 
ditions and amplifications, and by being arranged in 
monthly sections, are tire same as when they appeared, 
some two years since, in all their freshness, beauty, and 
purity, in our pages. From us they need no other cri¬ 
ticism, and we think now as we thought then, that few 
studies of nature ever surpassed them, and that none 
but the vicious can read them without delight. Pure in 
thought, pure in language, and on topics in which all 
No. CLIV., Vol. VI 
