September 12.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
303 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
w 
SEPTEMBER 12—18, 1850. 
Weather near London 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Cloelc 
Day of 
D 
D 
m 1849. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
It. & S. 
Age. 
bef.Sun. 
Year. 
12 
Tb 1 
House Flies swarm in windows. 
T. 60°—43°. 
S.W. 
Rain. 
31 a. 5 
21 a. 6 
9 49 
6 
3 
45 
255 
13 
F 
Sycamore leaves dirty brown. 
T. 62°—47°. 
N.W. 
Rain. 
33 
19 
10 29 
3 
4 
6 
256 
14 
S | 
Holy Cross. 
T. 62°—51°. 
S.W. 
Fine. 
35 
17 
11 14 
8 
4 
27 
257 
15 
Sun 
16 Sun. aft. Trinity. Vapourer Moth seen. 
T. 66°—42°. 
s. 
Fine. 
36 
14 
morn. 
9 
4 
48 
258 
16 
M 
Lime leaves yellow. 
T. 70°—52°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
38 
12 
0 5 
0 
5 
9 
259 
17 
Tu 
Lambert. [leaves fall. 
T. 65°—36°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
39 
10 
1 1 
11 
5 
30 
260 
18 
W 
EmberWeek. Geo.I.and II.landed. Sycamore 
T, 57°—38°. 
N. 
Fine. 
41 
8 
2 1 
12 
5 
51 
261 
It used to be true, even to a proverb, that the best writers upon farm¬ 
ing and gardening were the worst practical cultivators. This is not 
surprising when we reflect, that even as late as the commencement of the 
present century very few of the lords of the plough and the spade were 
sufficiently educated to be qualified for venturing out of their own fields 
and gardens into those of literature, and that writing devolved exclu¬ 
sively upon the mere amateur. Take, as examples, Professor Bradley, 
Jethro Tull, Arthur Young, and William Marshall, all of whom were men 
i whose writings arc perused and consulted at the present time, yet not 
I one of whom rose even to mediocrity when they attempted to cultivate 
| the soil. That their works should be full of sound information, though 
I they themselves were deficient in the art of applying it properly, is only 
| another illustration of the truth forced upon us at each step of every-day 
life—that the most trustworthy guide-posts may be unable to advance a 
step along the road to which they truly point. Men who, like Arthur 
Young and William Marshall, have their time fully occupied in preparing 
for publication the stores of knowledge they have gathered, may be 
excused if they fail in keeping that eye upon the works and workmen 
upon their own land which alone can secure regularity and efficiency. To 
such men the farming and gardening community are deeply indebted, for 
it is to their published works that that community are beholden for such 
an interchange of ideas and practices as enables the gardener and the 
farmer, who rarely pass a boundary of which their market town is the 
extreme limit, to be conversant with the cultivation, and the implements 
employed in all other parts of the British dominions. “I like Mr. Mar¬ 
shall’s books,” said a small farmer near l)iss, “ because they tells we 
what they do down in the sheers” (shires—other counties). Let this 
Mr. Marshall be our theme to-day; and we will similarly comment on 
Mr. Arthur Young next week. 
William Marshall is an instance of the futility of that proverb 
which tells us that we may “ bend the sapling ” to whatever direction we 
please. To use his own expression, he was “born to the plough ; ” his 
childhood was passed among those “whose talk is of bullocks;” and 
his heart was occupied with their pursuits; but his friends would not 
yield to his wishes, and he was required to apply to the unravelling of the j 
mysteries of the linen trade. In the furtherance of this commercial ! 
occupation he visited the West Indies, but even here he turned aside into 
the more favoured path, and became a planter. Returning thence, he 
became the occupant of a farm near Croydon, in Surrey, but it was more 
for the sake of testing certain opinions ; so that he held it only for four 
seasons, left it when his experiments were concluded, and published them 
under the title of Minutes in Agriculture made on a farm of 300 acres. 
Between the years 1786 and 1808 he passed his winters in London, di¬ 
gesting and preparing for the press the agricultural knowledge he accu¬ 
mulated during his annual summer tours. The publication of these 
embraced full particulars relative to the agriculture of Yorkshire, Glou¬ 
cestershire, the Midland and Southern Counties, the west of England, 
and the rural economy of Norfolk. During this time he kept constantly 
in view the amassing and arranging of three other great works on Plant¬ 
ing and Rural Ornament. , on The Landed Property of England , and 
A System of Agriculture —the first and second of which he lived to publish, 
but the third remained incomplete at his death. Not one of the least 
honourable testimonies to his firmness and perseverance under difficulties, 
was his courtship of twenty-five years, terminating in his marriage with 
the object of his adherence. Being then in more affluent circumstances, 
he purchased a large estate in the Vale of Cleveland, in his native county, 
Yorkshire ; and died there, after a retirement of eleven years, on the 18th 
of September, 1818. We have not particularised the prominent part he 
took in the formation of the Board of Agriculture, an institution on which 
we shall remark next week ; nor have we given even the titles of all his 
publications, among which is A Review of The Landscape (Mr. Knight’s 
poem), with practical remarks on Rural Ornament; but we must give a 
brief extract from one of those works, because it is eloquently coincident 
with our own opinions upon a subject much more deeply operative upon 
the peace and happiness of our native land than those who glance over 
the surface even of grave subjects may appreciate. We allude to Cottage 
Gardens. “Wholesome and comfortable habitations,” says Mr. Mar¬ 
shall, “with sufficient Garden grounds to employ the leisure hours of 
themselves and their families, and to furnish them with a change of 
wholesome food at little cost, are what labourers might well have a right 
to demand of their country. No farm labourer with a wife and family 
ought to have less than a quarter of au acre laid to his cottage, to afford 
him that variety of food which com¬ 
fort, ifnot health, requires; to supply 
him with fresh vegetables in sum¬ 
mer, and with roots in winter.” 
“Then, while the important works 
of husbandry were prosecuted with¬ 
out interruption, the labourer would 
have nothing to allure him from 
the path of industry. His whole 
attention would be paid to his 
work, and all his comforts looked 
for at home.” We rejoice in this 
testimony, and hope that it will 
from year to year be more effectual, 
for it is the unbiassed testimony of 
one who had witnessed the state of 
the labourer and its consequences 
in every county of England. 
Meteorology of the Week. 
From observations at Chiswick, 
during the last twenty-three years, 
the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 
67.4° and 4G.6°, respectively. The 
greatest heat, 84°, was on the l/th 
in 1843; and the extreme cold, 
29°, on the 17th in 1840. During 
the period 88 days were fine, and 
on 7*1 rain fell. 
Insects. —Having in previous numbers figured and described the 
working and queen bees, we have lastl}’ to treat similarly of the Drone, or 
male lice. Spence describes him as the very reverse of his royal para¬ 
mour—being thick, short, clumsy, and very blunt at each extremity. 
Head , depressed and round ; tongue, shorter and more slender than the 
females ; mandibles (upper jaws), smaller ; eyes, very large, and meeting 
at back of the head. Trunk, large; wings, longer than body; legs, 
short and slender; hind tibice (shanks), long, club-shaped, hairy ; hind 
planter, (under part of the feet), brushy, for rubbing their bodies ; 
abdomen, heart-shaped, short, tawny, having seven segments. It is 
destitute of sting. There are usually 700 or 800 drones produced in a 
hive annually. The eggs producing them are laid in April and May, and 
the drones are all killed by the working bees in July and August. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
Sept. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849- 
12 
B. 
f 29.923 
29-930 
30.200 
30.080 
29.955 
30.382 
29.917 
30.312 
29.094 1 
l 29.589 
2y./88 
30.183 
30.011 
29-934 
30.375 
29.884 
30.272 
29.011 
R. 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
0.36 
13 
B. 
r 29-843 
.10.126 
30.133 
30.159 
29.930 
30.360 
29.78s 
30.255 
29.355 : 
l 29.815 
30.071 
29-931 
30.138 
29.750 
30.281 
29.762 
30.2 i0 
29.410 
R. 
— 
— 
— 
— 
0.04 
— 
0.27 
— 
0.01 
14 
B. 
i 29.803 
30.167 
29-847 
30.078 
29.599 
30.257 
29.911 
30.300 
30.166 
129-589 
30.149 
29.824 
30.030 
29.470 
30.236 
29.863 
30.219 
30.095 ! 
R. 
— 
— 
0.01 
0.03 
0.02 
_ 
0.01 
— 
— 
B. 
1 29.886 
30.144 
29.956 
29.857 
29.611 
30.235 
29.889 
30.409 
30 170 1 
129-817 
30.101 
29.796 
29.830 
29-355 
30.204 
29.70** 
30.359 
30.139 | 
R. 
0.06 
— 
— 
0.05 
0.45 
— 
0.16 
— 
— 
16 
B. 
f29-876 
30.087 
30.053 
29.848 
29.699 
30.210 
29.742 
30.433 
30.164 
129-320 
29.918 
29.994 
29.838 
29.487 
30.115 
29.391 
30.377 
30.128 
R. 
0.01 
— 
— 
— 
0.47 
— 
0.01 
— 
— 
17 
B. 
( 29.967 
29-787 
30.128 
29.729 
29.476 
30.050 
29.553 
30.361 
30.353 
1 29.913 
29.720 
30.082 
29.708 
29.397 
29.909 
29-389 
30.280 
30.296 1 
R. 
— 
0.29 
— 
0.47 
0.19 
0.22 
— 
— 
j 18 
B. 
r 29.90s 
29.757 
30.148 
29.989 
29.492 
29,889 
29.707 
30.260 
30.415 
\ 29-893 
29.611 
30.090 
29.729 
29.271 
29.559 
29.455 
30.122 
30.343 
R. 
0.10 
0.20 
0.1 1 
0.07 
— 
0.03 
_I 
No. C1I., Vol. IV. 
