377 
September 18.} THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
|m 
l D 
W 
D 
SEPTEMBER 18—24, 1851. 
Weather near London 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
N 1850. 
Rain in In. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
18 
Th 
Sycamore leaves fall. 
30.073 — 29.888 69—46 
E. 
_ 
40 a. 5 
8 a. 6 
10 a 17 
€ 
5 47 
261 
19 F 
Acorns fall. 
29.808 —29.700 70—53 
S.E. 
02 
42 
6 
11 9 
24 
6 8 
262 
21) 
s 
Sun’s declination, 1° 8' n. 
29.632 — 29.463 66—53 
S. 
10 
44 
3 
morn. 
25 
6 29 
263 
21 
Sun 
14 Sun. after Trinity. St. Matt. 
29.813 — 29.531 69—41 
s.w. 
50 
45 
1 
0 14 
26 
6 50 
264 
22 
M 
Lime leaves fall. 
29.889 — 29.834 71—46 
s. 
06 
4 7 
V 
1 29 
27 
7 11 
265 
23 Td 
Herald Moth seen. 
29.S03 — 29.753 71—51 
E. 
04 
49 
56 
2 51 
28 
“ 7 31 
266 
24 W 
Beech mast falls. 
29.724 — 29.715 67—45 
S.W. 
12 
50 
54 
4 15 
29 
7 52 
267 
We lately met with a volume so much in advance of the age in which 
j it was published, that we have made even more than our usual research 
I for information concerning its author, though we regret that the harvest 
has not been in proportion to our labour. The volume is a third edition 
| of The Surveyors Dialogue, and was published in 1618. In its fifth 
chapter or book, the author copiously and effectually enforces the im¬ 
portance of draining, “ For,” he says, “ as the ground becomes freed of 
the superfluous moisture, so will the weeds that are nourished by it begin 
to wither, as they are deprived of their nouriture, which is too much water, j 
which also breedeth too much cold.” Now he who thus understood, 
more than two centuries ago, the reasons which render draining so bene¬ 
ficial, was John Norden, a native of Wiltshire, where he was born 
about 1548, was admitted of Hart’s Hall, Oxford, in 1564, and became 
there a Master of Arts in 1573. He had patronage, but little else, from 
the great Burleigh, and in his old age obtained, jointly with his son, the 
place of Surveyor to the Prince of Wales ; but it came to him in his old 
age, when he had little strength to fulfil its duties, or to enjoy the rescue 
from want, which its small emolument afforded ; and even this came to 
him at the recommendation of a foreigner. In his dedication of that 
part of his Speculum which contains an account of Cornwall, he alludes 
to being appointed by the King (James the First), to accompany Don 
Antonio, the exiled King of Portugal, with his suite, when he journied 
to London from the West. He adds—“they were for the most part very 
learned,” and took an interest in his topographical researches. Pleased 
with his acquirements and courtesy, the royal exile recommended him to 
James the first, but, as we have before observed, the preferment which 
was its consequence, came to him only to smoothen his path to the grave. 
He had always been in straitened circumstances, yet he had always been 
enterprising and industrious, and we can only view his indigence as one ' 
of many instances demonstrating of what small account is wealth in the 
estimate of Him who is the disposer of all events. 
The earliest monument of his industry, is the first part of his Spe¬ 
culum Britannire, dated 1593. It is dedicated to Queen Elizabeth, and 
in his address he styles her “ powerful protector of the faith and un¬ 
doubted religion of the Messiah, the most comfortable nursing mother of 
the Israel of God.” There is added an epistle to Lord Burleigh, and we 
hoped to have found in it an acknowledgment that that great statesman 
had aided by his purse, the wants of this, the best of our early topo¬ 
graphers. We regret to find it otherwise, for though the grateful author 
acknowledges that through his lordship he had “ obtained gracious pass 
and privilege for his intended labours,—the description of famous Eng¬ 
land ; ” yet munificence was not a Hatton virtue, and the poor and pious 
author has only to hope for his “ gratious assistance,” rendered doubly 
needful by “long sickness and other impediments.” It was that deferred 
hope which brings to the heart such spirit-sinking sickness. 
That he was one of those who had to labour on through that most sub¬ 
duing of all efforts—mental exertion amid poverty and ill-health—admits 
of no doubt. Yet we find no other symptoms of suffering than at one 
time dating his writings “from my poor house at Fulham,” and at 
another time from “ my poor house at Hendon ; ” and that in his dying 
days he sought relief for his penury, as well as consolation to a wounded 
spirit, in the publication of such works as his Pathway to Patience in all 
Manner of Afflictions, and The Husband's Christian Counsel to his Wife 
and Children left Poor after his death. These works are rare, and have 
not fallen in our way; but we have now before us his Poor Man’s Rest, 
one of the most exquisite gems of piety we ever perused, and which 
upholds the rest promised in the 29 th verse of the 11 th chapter of St. 
Matthew, in opposition to that rest, or ease, the rich fool called upon his 
soul to enjoy. This little volume seems to have been the pet of his old 
age; and of the high esteem in which his contemporaries held it, we may 
judge from the fact, that though published first in 1620 , yet, in 1631, its 
title page states it to be “ now the twelfth time augmented, and much 
reformed by the author.” 
If ever there was a man who deserved a first place in the institution 
re-endowed by William of Wickham, Norden was the man. That charity, 
situated near Winchester, received from Wickham the elevated title of 
“ The Alms House of Noble Poverty.” Dr. Lowth thought that by this 
was intended an asylum for the relief of decayed gentlemen. Even under 
that restriction Norden might have claimed to repose there; but we take 
it that, by “ Noble Poverty,” the endower intended a poverty unmerited 
by extravagance or idleness, and borne with resignation. Such was 
exemplified by John Norden, and he who thus conducts himself does, 
indeed, stand high in the nobility of our nature. 
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 66.3° and 45.6° respectively. The greatest 
heat, 81°, occurred on the 24th, in 1842, and the lowest cold, 28°, on the 
19 th, in 1840. During the period, 89 days were fine, and on 79 rain fell. 
Returning to tlie consideration of the food obtained 
by a plant from tlie soil by the agency of its roots, and 
somewhat in connection with what Mr. Fish says to-day, 
we find that silica, or the pure substance of flint, is 
present in all soils; is soluble in water, requiring one 
thousand times its weight of this liquid to dissolve 
it ( Kirwan’s Mineralogy, vol. i., p. 10); is found in 
many plants, and in all the grasses that have been 
.analysed. Alumina, or the basis of clay, present in all 
soils, is so soluble in water as to be inseparable by the 
filter, and is much more so when any of the acids are 
present ( Sennehier’s Pliysiolog. Veget., vol. iii., p. 18); it 
is found in plants in minute quantities, especially in 
the grain of barley, oats, wheat, &c. ( Schrcecler , in 
Oehlen’s Journ., vol. iii., p. 525). Lime is found in 
almost all soils; it is easily soluble in water, and there 
is but one plant that is known to contain none of it 
as a constituent, the Salsula Soda (Ann. de Chimie, 
! vol. xviii., p. 76). Magnesia, generally present in soils, 
is soluble in water, and is found in many plants. Iron 
is present in all soils, in all natural waters, and in all 
plants. Manganese is found in some soils, is soluble 
; in water containing acids, &o., and is found in a few 
plants. But none of these in a state of purity, either 
| simply or combined, have ever been found capable of 
i perfecting a plant through all its stages of growth, when 
moistened with distilled water; the contrary was the 
case, however, when the water contained in solution 
vegetable or animal matters, as the dung of animals. j 
Now these matters contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, j 
nitrogen, and various salts: the three first are abso- I 
lutely necessary for the existence of all plants, every 
part of these is composed of them; nitrogen is found in 
most plants; and the importance of salts to vegetation 
is demonstrated by the facts, that clover will not flourish 
where there is no sulphate of lime ; that nettles follow 
the footsteps of man for the nitrate of potass (saltpetre), 
which always abounds near the walls of his habitation ; 
and that marine plants linger for the common salt of 
their native haunts. Salts of some kind or other are 
found in every species of plant, but none of which the 
constituents have not also been detected in soils. 
During decay, vegetable and animal matters exhale j 
various gases. Carbonic acid, hydrogen, carburetted | 
hydrogen, ammonia, &c., are of the number, all of 
which have been applied to the roots of plants with 
great benefit by Sir H. Davy and others. 
Although plants will not grow upon soils composed 
of the earths only, yet these have a great influence 
over those plants, not merely by their secondary powers 
of regulating the amount of moisture, heat, &c., but j 
by entering directly into the constitution of the plant; j 
No. CLV., Vol. VI. 
