THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, August II, 1857 . 201 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
AUGUST 11—17, 1857. 
Weather nj 
ilarometer. 
£AR London in 1856. 
Thermo. 1 Wind. ? ai “ in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
M 0011 
1 R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
' 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
11 
Tu 
.Meadow Saffron (Colchi). 
29.831—29-787 
87—56 
S.W. I 12 
41 a. 4 
29 a. 7 
I 9 
27 
21 
4 
56 
223 
12 
W 
Waterwort (Elatine). 
29.960—29.910 
so —47 
S.W. — 
42 
27 
9 
49 
€ 
4 
46 
224 
13 
Th 
Hornweed (Ceratophyllum). 
29.959—29.888 
85—50 
S. 66 
44 
25 
10 
18 
23 
4 
36 
225 
14 
F 
Spurges (Euphorbia). 
29.899—29.7‘19 
75—54 
S.W. 09 
46 
23 
11 
2 
24 
4 
25 
226 
15 
S 
Mints (Mentha). 
29978—29.944 
75—40 
S.W. I — 
47 
21 
morn. 
25 
4 
14 
227 
16 
Sun 
10 Sunday after Trinity. 
29 945—29.674 
78—55 
S.E. 22 
49 
19 
1 0 
3 
26 
4 
9 
22.3 
17 
M 
Ds. Kent born, 1786 . 
29.533—29.422 
70—54 
N.E. 1 12 
50 
17 
1 
18 
27 
Q 
it 
49 
229 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 73.3°, and 51.1°, respectively. The greatest heat, 93°, occurred on the 12th, in 1843 ; and the lowest cold 32’ 
on the 13th, in 1839. During the period 109 days were fine, and on 87 rain fell. 
MR. ARCHIBALD GORRIE. 
We regret to have to record the death of Mr. Archi¬ 
bald Gorrie, of Ann at Cottage, Perthshire, an event 
which took place on the 21st of July. He was born in the 
district of Logie Almond, Perthshire, in the year 1777, 
j and had therefore attained the ripe old age of fourscore 
years. During considerably more than half a century 
Mr. Gorrie took a prominent part in the advancement 
of the horticulture and agriculture of Scotland. Pie 
was always found in the foremost ranks, and both by 
his pen and his example contributed to diffuse a taste 
for, and a knowledge of, the pursuits in which he himself 
; took so much interest. In the earliest records of the 
j Caledonian Horticultural Society we find his name 
among some of Scotland’s best gardeners, most if not 
all of whom have now passed away. His first con¬ 
tribution to the Memoirs of the Society was in 1811, 
when he communicated a paper on “ Preventing the 
Depradations of the Turnip Fly.” In 1813 he com¬ 
municated “ An Account of the Orchards of the Carse 
of Gowrie,” in which he gives a most interesting survey 
of the old and new orchards of that district, and many 
other papers of a similar character are scattered through¬ 
out the volumes. During his whole life he was more or 
less engaged in writing for one or other of the numerous 
publications that have risen and fallen, and his contri¬ 
butions may be found in the Transactions of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society, Loudon’s Gardener s Magazine, Loudon's 
Magazine of Natural History , The Prize Essays of the 
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, and the 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. Besides these he 
supplied the monthly Agricultural Report of the Carse 
of Gowrie for the Perthshire Courier, the Dundee Ad¬ 
vertiser, and other local papers, as well as the Perthshire 
Agricultural Report, first for the London Farmer s 
I Journal, and latterly for Bell’s Weeldy Messenger. 
But Mr. Gorrie was not a mere writer. It is a fact 
J not generally known that it was he who first brought 
I the Pansy, the wild little Love-in-Idleness, to rank among 
florists’ flowers. It was he who first broke the strain 
and launched it on its way to what it has now become. 
We have seen it somewhere stated that the Pansy was 
first brought into notice by “ a Scotch florist,” but we 
! trust that all good florists will henceforth learn to 
associate with their favourite flower the name of Archi- 
j bald Gorrie. More than thirty years ago it was with 
the greatest difficulty and in the face of strong opposi- 
i tion that Mr. Gorrie succeeded in getting it introduced 
as a florist’s flower into the schedule of the Perthshire 
Horticultural Society, where, for the first time, it made 
its appearance under the name of “ Violet;” and, as a 
small tribute to his memory, we trust some of our most 
> eminent florists will find a seedliug good enough and 
| sufficiently distinct and permanent in its character to 
bear his name. He it was, also, who first introduced 
the once famed Perthshire Red Potato and the now 
extensively cultivated Annat Barley. There was scarcely 
any branch of country pursuits to which he did not 
direct his attention, even to the raising of new fruits, in 
which he met with considerable success. Lawson’s 
Golden Gage Plum, Annat Park Apricot, Annat Beurre 
Pear, Annat Scarlet Apple, and many others owe their 
origin to him. 
During fifty years Mr. Gorrie acted as general manager 
on the estate of Annat, and for a considerable portion 
of that period rented the neighbouring farm of Sbanry. 
He was well known and highly respected throughout ! 
Scotland, and we know that there are many of our 
readers who will receive the intelligence which we now 
communicate with feelings of sincere regret. It is hut 
little more than a year since we announced the pre¬ 
mature death of his talented son, David, and now we 
have to mourn the loss of the respected sire. 
BEDDING FOR EFFECT IN EARLY AUTUMN. 
GERANIUMS IN MASSES. — FRESH GRA¬ 
VELLING. 
The first or second week in August is the earliest 
time at which a fashionable flower garden in the country 
is at its best. After all that can be done in London for 
the Queen and the great people, there is not a garden 
that I know of within miles of London which is not 
three times better looking just now, when there is 
nobody left to see it, than it was last June, when all the j 
great patrons of gardening were in town. 
Formerly the great country party looked on the 
London flower gardening as they did at the toy shops, 
either to see which most to laugh at, or for what was 
most suitable to please the children. As soon as London 
“broke up” in those days I had to hear up against my 
share of the breakage myself, and for weeks and months 
there seemed no end to it. The only consolation was 
that it was fresh and fresh at every turn, and more 
of the materials. 
There is no such amusement now for country gardeners; 
the world is the same all over England now ; people go 
up and down as they choose, and see both sides of the 
question; their own gardens and gardeners are not a 
whit better than those in London after all; the season 
makes all the difference. There is another class in 
London, however, as good and as highly connected as 
the country party, hut they have no country seats of 
their own; they are fond of country gardens, and 
seldom see any other; and they do not see them, the 
gardens in the country, till they are at their best 
in August and September. They are, therefore, at this 
day as ignorant of how a flower garden is got up as the 
great country party were at the time alluded to at the 
beginning of this note; and when they happen to have 
a “ box” near London they almost tease their gardeners 
to death about the flower garden, because their beds are 
not in bloom and as full of plants the day they are 
planted as those they see in the country at this season 
of the year. 
No. CCCCLXIII. Vol. XVIII. 
