I 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
July 25.] 
Sir 
! 
i 
M 
D 
w 
D 
JULY 25—31, 1850. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef.Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
25 
Th 
St. James. Dss. Camb. b., 1797. 
T, 67 °—48°. S.W. Rain. 
15 a. 4 
58 a. 7 
8a.41 
16 
26 
27 
F 
S 
St. Anne. Graywing Butterfly seen. 
Blackcap’s song ceases. 
T. 74 °— 47 °. S. Rain. 
T. 75°—45°. W. Rain. 
16 
18 
56 
55 
9 9 
9 32 
17 
18 
6 10 
207 
208 
209 
210 
211 
212 
28 
29 
30 
31 
Sun 
M 
Tu 
W 
9 Sun. aft. Trinity. Admiral Butterfly seen. 
Common Grasshopper crinks. 
Wheat cut. 
Hoary Ragwort flowers. 
T. 73°—57°. S.W. Fine. 
T. 68°—52°. S.W. Rain. 
T. 74 °—50°. S.W. Fine. 
T. 70°—47°. W. Fine. 
19 
2) 
22 
23 
53 
52 
50 
49 
9 54 
10 16 
10 39 
11 2 
19 
20 
21 
22 
6 9 
6 8 
6 6 
6 4 
Somewhere in one of the Churchyards of Westminster, repose the 
remains of the best writer on Landscape Gardening— Thomas Whate- 
i.ey. Many years since, when we first became acquainted with his work, 
we were so struck with the force of the language, its phrases, and elo¬ 
quence, that we traced in them, to our own satisfaction, a strong resem¬ 
blance to the writings of ’ Junius.’* Pursuing the idea, suspicion became 
almost certainty when we found that Mr. Whateley had been one of the 
political characters of his day—being a representative in parliament of 
Castle Rising, successively Secretary to the Earl of Suffolk and the Hon. 
George Grenville, Secretary of the Treasury and Under-secretary of 
State. We are not sure that we did not commence writing an essay, to 
add to the thousand previously published ; and should have given it 
probably some such title as “ Junius Detected.” Fortunately, however 
we communicated our contemplations to Mr. Felton, author of “ Glean¬ 
ings on Gardens,” and other works—a man with a mind abounding with 
universal information, and he at once directed us to Mr. Whateley’s 
tomb. On that, he said, were inscribed the fatal words, “ Died May 26th, 
1772 ’’—fatal to our hopes of having raised the vet unmoved veil; for Wood- 
fall states that he received letters from Junius'in 1773 ! Mr. Whatelev was 
born during this month in the year 1720 ; and was a relative, son or brother, 
of the llev. Joseph Whateley, of Nonsuch Park, near Epsom, who became 
possessed of that residence by the will of his uncle, Joseph Thompson, 
Esq., who, though a dissenter, left it to him on condition that he took 
priest’s orders in the Church of England. When we have added that 
Mr. Whateley had two brothers, we have published nearly all the relative 
biographical information that we have gathered ; for we have already 
noticed that he is one of our classic authors on Landscape Gardening. 
The work on which his title to this fame is founded was first published in 
1770, and designated, Observations on Modern Gardening , illustrated by 
descriptions. It was translated very speedily into French, first by Lata- 
pil, and then by Masson dc Blamont—being praised, yet not above its 
merits, by all the continental Reviews ; though a single letter annihilated 
his fame among the Germans, who generally have called him Whitely ' 
Mr. Loudon justly pronounced these “Observations” to be “the grand 
fundamental and standard work on English Gardening ’’—that copying 
of the beautiful in nature, and gathering the copies together in our 
pleasure-grounds and parks, that is sp admired among us, and which 
Mr. Whateley has described in the very motto of his title-page :— 
“ Where wealth, enthron’d in nature’s pride, 
With taste and bounty by her side, 
And holding plenty’s horn, 
Sends labour to pursue the toil, 
Art to improve the happy soil, 
And beauty to adorn.” 
It would be ridiculous for us to attempt to analyse his work in this brief 
space ; but we can state confidently, that if any one needs a suggestion 
for shaping his grounds, conducting his waters, grouping his woods or 
placing his buildings—any hints for the arrangement of an ornamental 
farm, a park, a garden, or a riding—if he will consult the pages of 
Whateley he shall not turn from them either unbenefited or undelighted. 
W’e think his descriptions of a pleasure-ground, and its parts appropriate 
for enjoyment in the freshness of the morning, in the excess of fervid 
noon, and in the fading splendour of evening, afe among the most beau¬ 
tiful examples of English composition. Only those who know what 
Wright, Brown, Holland, and Eames did then as practical Landscape 
Gardeners, and what .Sironstone and G. Mason—the only practical direc¬ 
tors—had written, can justly estimate Mr. Whateley’s merit. His is the 
first prose work which lays down—and illustrates whilst it teaches—rules 
and directions for Landscape Gardening. Pope had led the way in 
rhyme, and Mason in blank verse. 
Meteorology of tre Week. —At Chiswick, during the above seven 
days, from observations made during the last twenty-three years, the 
average highest and lowest temperatures arc 73-7° and 51.7°, respectively. 
The greatest heat, 92°, occurred on the 25th in 1844 ; and the extreme 
cold, 43°, on the 29 th in 1845. During the period 97 days were dry, and 
on 64 days rain fell. 
Natural Phenomena Indi¬ 
cative of Weather.— Dr. Fors¬ 
ter says that abundance of wasps 
are said to foretell a good fruit 
year; and if so, the present should 
be one most abundantly produc¬ 
tive. We never saw more queen 
wasps than in the May and June 
last past; and the Earl of Bur¬ 
lington, at the other extremity of 
England (Holkar Hall, Cumber¬ 
land), having commissioned his 
gardener, Mr. Wilson, to give a 
penny each for every wasp brought 
to him caught in or about his lord- 
ship’s gardens, from the 23rd of 
April to the end of June had 
taken no less than 2364. As every 
wasp_ killed at this time of the 
year is a nest destroyed, the num¬ 
ber thus prospectively abolished is 
almost incalculable. The converse 
of the abundance of wasps in 
good fruit years has also been 
observed; and in 1824, one of the 
worst for apples and stone fruit, 
scarcely a wasp was seen. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
July 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
£ i 
N 
1848. 
1849. 
25 
B. 
/ 30.127 
29.902 
30.221 
29.956 
29.932 
30.067 
29.947 
29.794 
29.478 
R. 
\ 30. 071 
29.812 
30.176 
29.901 
29.931 
29.575 
29.906 
29.753 
29.434 
30.066 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
0.11 
0.04 
26 
B. 
/ 30.074 
30.249 
30.110 
29.929 
30.152 
30.028 
29.720 
29.626 
\ 30.022 
29-967 
30.171 
29.908 
29.921 
30.123 
29.929 
29.695 
29.549 
R. 
— 
0.02 
0.10 
— 
— 
0.02 
— 
0.08 
0.46 
27 
B. 
r 29.990 
30.156 
30.055 
30.181 
29.8()9 
30.202 
30.075 
29.950 
29.973 
\ 29.943 
30.106 
29.995, 
30.161 
29.774 
30.157 
30.064 
29.823 
29-841 
R. 
— 
0.56 
0.02 
— 
0.07 
— 
— 
0.01 
0.01 
28 
B. 
/ 20.839 
30.055 
30.002 
30.197 
29.746 
30.213 
30.058 
30.081 
30.030 
R. 
129.774 
29.896 
29.995 
0.06 
30.005 
29.577 
0.05 
30.126 
30.064 
29.006 
29.992 
29 
B. 
; 29.760 
29-987 
29.759 
29.965 
29.794 
30.092 
30.076 
29.096 
30.836 
1 29.722 
29.851 
29.634 
29.947 
29.559 
29.981 
30.052 
2Q.055 
29.765 
R. 
0.01 
-p- 
0.07 
— 
— 
— 
_ 
30 
B. 
/ 29.695 
30.064 
29.676 
29.828 
29.790 
29.975 
30.035 
29.927 
29.662 
\ 29.021 
30.018 
99-636 
29.474 
29.577 
29.937 
29.997 
29.654 
29.614 
R. 
— 
— 
0.07 
0.14 
0.33 
— 
— 
0.18 
31 
B. 
/ 2 g .622 
30.224 
29.929 
29708 
29.587 
29.956 
30.058 
29-512 
29.913 
l 29'576 
30.127 
29.792 
29.529 
29.545 
29-870 
30.050 
29.360 
29771 
R. 
0.11 
0.03 
0.02 
0.18 
0.04 
Whoever is conversant with our early literature, whe- 
| t-her in prose or verse, will find a flower mentioned 
' variously by such discordant names as Sops-in-wine, 
Pagiants, Horse-flesh, and Blunket; but more frequently 
as the Clove-gilloflower. This variously-titled ornament 
of “ the year growing ancient” is the first particularized 
of those races now filling our lengthy lists of Carnations 
and Piootees. Its wild parent, known to botanists as 
j the Dianthus caryophyllus, or Clove Pink, was intro- 
1 duced from southern Europe, but is now found native 
! man y parts of England. In this uncultivated form 
its petals are rose-coloured, their edges finely toothed, 
and their fragrance but slight. The florists’ art was 
directed very early towards its improvement; and 
Shakespeare makes Perdita observe, that 
“ the fairest flowers o’ the season 
Are our Carnations, and streak’d Gilly’vors, 
Which some call Nature’s bastards : of that kind 
Our rustic garden’s barren ; and I care not 
To get slips of them. For I have heard it said, 
There is an art which, in their piedness, shares 
With great creating Nature.” 
If, like Perdita, any have the same prejudice against 
No. XCV., Vol. IV. 
X 
