254 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
most other great and good things, by the earnest exertions 
of a very few individuals. Those individuals proceeded 
upon a very wise principle, namely, that in an institution of 
this kind the main object should be, not so much to keep 
up a fund for charitable purposes merely, as to stimulate 
the principle of self-denial and economy on the part of 
those who constituted its members. There were two or 
three peculiar features in the institution, to which he would 
; call attention. The first was the rule which provides that 
i none but gardeners who have subscribed fifteen years con¬ 
secutively to the funds of the institution, or their widows, 
shall be considered eligible while a sufficient number of 
such fifteen-year subscribers are on the list (the object 
being to give a decided preference to those persons who 
have been contributing to assist others), so that if the 
funds should enable the committee to call for the election 
of five persons, and there were two or three candidates 
who had been subscribing fifteen years, such persons would 
be appointed pensioners in preference to the other can¬ 
didates who had not subscribed for so long a period, or who 
had not been subscribers, and the election would be for the 
remaining number to make up the five. Another most 
excellent rule was the seventh, both as encouraging 
domestic affection, and removing an obstacle often felt by 
working men in the way of joining similar institutions, 
namely, that in the event of their own death, no provision 
is made for their widow. The rule in question provides 
that, in the event of a pensioner dying and leaving a widow, 
she shall, on producing the proper testimonials and certi¬ 
ficates as to age, character, and marriage, and answering 
any other requisition to the satisfaction of the committee, 
be placed upon the list of pensioners without the trouble 
and expense of an election. The great and immediate 
object of the Society, therefore, is to provide pensions for 
necessitous gardeners and their widows, at the scale of 
sixteen pounds per annum to males, and twelve pounds per 
annum to females. As before stated, the Society had to 
endure at its commencement a long and ungenial spring. 
The first gleam of sunshine which broke upon it was when 
the Duke of Devonshire, at the suggestion of Sir Joseph 
Paxton, mentioned it to Her Majesty, and she, with the 
public spirit which has characterised her reign throughout, 
consented to become its patroness, and presented it with a 
donation of fifty pounds. From that time the career of the 
Society lias been one of uninterrupted prosperity. At the 
same time, it should yet be regarded as only in its com¬ 
mencement. When we consider the number of gardeners 
receiving respectable wages, and able to support the insti¬ 
tution, we must feel that the number receiving pensions 
(thirty-three), though large in respect to the amount of 
suffering actually relieved, is quite inconsiderable compared 
with what we may hope to achieve in a short time. What 
was the object for which they were there met together? To 
the eye of a superficial observer, to eat a very excellent 
dinner, drink some very good wine, and spend a very 
pleasant evening. But one who looked below the surface 
would see they were doing much more—in fact, playing a 
very important part in the institutions of the country, 
because he (the chairman) believed that the practice of 
meeting together in public, for these public dinners in 
support of charitable institutions, really played no incon¬ 
siderable part in the prosperity of those institutions. The 
practice is only a single instance of what pervades the 
whole framework of British society. Though not an old 
man, he could recollect when things were very different— 
when there was much animosity among different classes— 
when the working classes thought the middle classes were 
their enemies, and these looked with similar feelings upon 
the aristocracy. Now it was a matter of daily occurrence 
for members of the aristocracy, connected with some of the 
oldest families in the country, to meet on occasions like the 
present with members of the different professions, and 
those who have raised themselves from a humble position 
in society, some by the labour of their hands, others by 
the labour of the brain and the pen, on terms of the most 
perfect and unassuming equality, to strive together for one 
object, feeling themselves united in one common work. 
What is most remarkable is, that this fusion of parties has 
taken place when the working classes have been rising most 
rapidly in that knowledge which is power, and, therefore^ 
July 7. 
political power—when the democratic element of the state 
has been extending itself with the greatest rapidity. Instead 
of this leading to embittered feelings and hostility, we find 
ourselves more cordially disposed towards the aristocracy 
than at any former period of British history. Anything 
which contributes to such a happy result is of great political 
importance, and ‘ I do believe,’ said Mr. Laing, ‘ that the 
numerous public dinners which take place in. the City of 
London have no inconsiderable share in the work, by 
breaking through the reserve natural to Englishmen, making 
them understand each other, and making them act together j 
to cement our institutions into one harmonious whole.’ 
Nothing inEnglish institutions and customs strike foreigners ! 
more than the blending of classes at our dinners. A 
foreigner had declared to him (the chairman), that of 
all our institutions he envied us none so much as our 
public dinners (laughter and cheers). If all this was 
true of public dinners in general, much more was it 
true of that at which they were then met. They were j 
assembled to sing a sort of triumphal song In honour of the 
noble science of horticulture. There were many considera¬ 
tions which must make them feel that gardening had a 
peculiar claim upon their support. First, its antiquity, as 
practised by our first parents in Paradise; and then what 
carried more weight with him as a man of progress, was its 
universality. It comes home to every man. Nothing had 
struck him more when travelling by railway over some of the 
more crowded and poorer neighbourhoods of the metropolis, | 
which presented a complete chaos of bricks and mortar, 
reminding one almost of Dante’s Inferno, than, in looking 
down from the windows of the carriage, to see everywhere a 
Geranium blooming, or some other plant—some symptom of 
taste for the natural beauties of creation—an evidence of capa 
bility for better things if the opportunity were only afforded. 
Sweep away the art of the gardener, and you deprive the 
people of the only glimmering of beauty it is possible to 
bring before them. Gardening, moreover, is thoroughly and 
peculiarly English. In travelling on the Continent, nowhere, 
except in Holland, do we meet with anything like an English 
cottage-garden; and it would be hard to say how much of 
the pre-eminence of England in arts and manufactures may 
be due to the habits of industry and order developed and 
derived from the taste of her people for gardening. Horti¬ 
cultural ff-tes are the most popular of all our English 
exhibitions. Other fashionable amusements are continually 
varying. One year we have the polka mania, and everybody, 
old and young, amuse themselves with turning round and 
round to the sound of a cornet-a-piston ; another year, instead 
of turning themselves, they set the chairs and tables turning. 
But however we may for a time amuse ourselves with such 
fancies, we always come back in the long run to gardening; 
of that we never get tired. There was another view of the • 
subject to which he would call attention. The great move¬ 
ment which is now going on is a movement for the elevation of 
the working classes. He looked upon the gardener as the 
bean ideal of a working man. The intelligent gardener 
possesses, necessarily, an amount of intelligence which places 
him on the highest level that can be attained by those who 
live by the labour of their hands. How important, then, 
that he should not be behind in setting an example to his 
fellow-workmen of that economy and self-denial which may 
enable them, during health and activity, to provide for the 
contingencies of want and old age. One good result of the 
recent gold discoveries he believed would be, to lift the 
working classes to such a position that they had only to 
know and take advantage of it to do almost what they liked. 
If they can only be brought to feel that economy and self- 
denial are virtues, the right step will be taken, and the only 
step necessary to raise them higher in the scale of civilization. 
Physical difficulties, it is to be hoped, are at an end. Tf a 
man cannot get work at home, he can get it by going abroad. 
He hoped he should never again see the time when a man, 
able and willing to work, should go about seeking employ¬ 
ment, and be unable to find it.” 
We have numerous communications from various dis¬ 
tricts of England, the latest dated the 25th and 27th of 
June, all concurring in the statement, that “at present 
