32 
THE COTTAGE GARDE NEE. 
April 
That literature was accurate so long as the authors 
confined themselves to what they had seen with then- 
own eyes, and cultivated with their own hands, hut 
if they had restricted themselves to such genuine 
knowledge, there could have been no “ Herbals” of 
two thousand pages in those days. To fill such 
monstrous volumes, recourse was had to classical 
fables, and not less absurd narratives of each plant’s 
medicinal virtues; but in the periodicals now on our 
table, it would be difficult to decide which deserves 
most praise, the varied and accurate horticultural 
knowledge they contain, or the extreme beauty of the 
embellishments. We can imagine old Gerarde to ex¬ 
claim, “ What! have you now three papers published 
weekly devoted to gardening? The Gardeners Jour¬ 
nal, the Gardeners Chronicle, and the Cottage Gar¬ 
dener ? Why, in my time few gardeners could read; 
and then- masters took small delight either in Moun¬ 
tain's* Gardener’s Labyrinth’ or in Dodoen’s ‘ Herbal,’ 
the chief books then to be found on our craft.” 
We would then point to the pile of monthlies on 
the same “ pleasant gentle paradise-workand pass 
before him that three-pennyworth of sterling stuff, 
The Midland Florist. Its editor, Mr. Wood, himself 
a nurseryman and florist, as well as a man of taste 
and candour, secures to its pages such information as 
those who delight in gardens require, and takes 
care that the information is trustworthy. As an 
example, we would draw old Gerarde’s attention to 
the essay on “ The Calceolaria,” by Mr. Woodhouse, 
in this month’s Number, if we did not remember 
that it is a plant from South America—a quarter of 
the globe but just known in Gerarde’s days—and that 
the flower itself is new even to us within these last 
twenty years. Then there is The Florist, published 
under the superintendence of Mr. Beck, of Isleworth, 
almost equally celebrated for the beauty of his pelar¬ 
goniums, and of the vases of slate for gardens which 
he manufactures. The embellishments of each are 
excellent, and well worth the money charged for the 
entire Number. The contents are devoted to floricul¬ 
ture, and are usually valuable, and on topics of in¬ 
terest ; take, for example, in the Number before us, 
“ How to have roses in November,” by Mr. Rivers, of 
Sawbridgeworth. Next would old Gerarde find upon 
our heap, Paxtons Magazine of Gardening and Botany, 
and he would certainly admire its lovely embellish¬ 
ments. Hooker’s Journal of Botany and Kew Garden 
Miscellany would be charitably passed by without 
comment (for we must remember that Gerarde 
would be from a land where “ the weary are at rest) 
if the startling suggestion at p. 95 did not meet his 
eye—that the cedar of Lebanon and the deodar of 
the Himalayali are the same trees. “ A h !” the old 
botanist might then exclaim, “ human knowledge is 
not all truth, any more than when I travelled for 
more certain information in the 16th century. We 
doubted then whether we knew the true cedar of the 
Scriptures, and fresh doubts, I see, are yet accumu¬ 
lating. Dioscorides, Theophrastus, and Pliny, say 
it bore berries, but our cedar of Lebanon had cones; 
and now you bring forward another of still further 
varying form.” Dr. Hooker’s observation is, indeed, 
somewhat startling; and many a planter, many a 
purchaser of novelties, will go forth to look at his 
deodaras with very varied thoughts when he reads 
this—•“ I incline to the opinion that if the deodar 
of the Himalaya had been discovered in a locality 
nearer to the cedar of Lebanon, botanists would 
have consdered it only a variety of that classical 
tree ; and tracing, it as we can do, according to the 
testimony of travellers, from Mount Atlas in the 
west to the chain of Taurus and Atlai on the east, 
we may fairly infer that the same species reaches the 
Himalaya range, and stretches as far as Ivamaon.” 
We should especially draw our old visitant’s atten¬ 
tion to The Botanic Garden, edited by Mr. Maund ; 
nor should the remark be omitted, that this, as well 
as The Midland Florist, is printed at a country 
town scarcely visitable in his day. It is decidedly 
one of the cheapest and most useful of our gardening 
publications, for the name really does not coincide 
with its contents : botany there is in it, but of horti¬ 
culture much more—and of good horticulture too. 
The five coloured drawings of flowers and fruit in 
each Number are beautiful as well as correct. We 
think that we remember its commencement in 1826 ; 
and it has not merely maintained but increased its 
good character throughout. 
Our length of days does not extend so far into the 
past as to enable us also to remember the birth-time 
of the next monthly old Gerarde would find upon 
our table, Curtis's Botanical Magazine, for this was 
commenced in 1787 ; and it could tell a curious tale, 
if able to write an obituary of its species born and 
deceased during its long career. We could ourselves 
tell some odd anecdotes of those who, in days gone 
by, have been its editors, but we have no space to 
spare for such reminiscences, for we have to attend 
most to what is useful. Even this venerable maga¬ 
zine shews symptoms of conformity to the utilitarian 
spirit of the age; for the publishers have found it 
desirable to associate with its accomplished botanical 
editor (Sir. W. J. Hooker), a coadjutor, Mr. John 
Smith, who gives some brief observations on the 
culture of each species figured and described in its 
pages. 
By no publications would the old garden-botanist 
of the Elizabethan age be more delighted than by 
The Ladies' Flower-Garden of Perennials and A nnuals, 
publishing in monthly Numbers, under the care of 
Mrs. Loudon. In no periodical of the present day 
is the beautiful and useful more happily blended. 
Lastly, Gerarde would come to a quarterly publi¬ 
cation, The Journal of the Horticultural Society of 
London, of which he would probably inquire, in the 
