THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 23, 1858. 31 ) j 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
FEB. 23 to MARCH 1, 1858. 
Weather n 
Barometer. 
ear Lon 
Thermo. 
DON IN 1 
Wind. 
857. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.andS. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
afterSun 
Day of 
Year. 
1 
23 
Tu 
Gnidia imberbis. 
30.264—30.230 
52—24 
S.W. 
.03 
1 af 7 
27 af 5 
4af50 
10 
13 
37 
54 
24 
w 
Ember Week. St. Matthew. 
30.154—30.039 
53—22 
s.w. 
— 
59 af 6 
29 
5 38 
11 
13 
28 
aa 
25 
Th 
Hovea purpurea. 
30.280—30.128 
42—22 
S.W. 
.03 
56 
31 
6 10 
12 
13 
19 
56 
26 
F 
Pimelia decussata. 
30.461—30.451 
51—23 
s.w. 
— 
54 
32 
6 32 
13 
13 
9 
57 
| 
27 
S 
Salvia gesneraeflora. 
30.453—30.392 
53—29 
s.w. 
— 
52 
34 
rises 
© 
12 
58 
58 
28 
Sun 
2 Sunday in Lent. 
30.498—30.465 
59—28 
s.w. 
— 
50 
36 
6 37 
15 
12 
47 
59 
i 
1 
1 
M 
Acacia grandis. 
30.496—30.472 
54—32 
S.E. 
46 
50 
7 54 
16 
(0 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-one years, the average highest and lowest ■ 
temperatures of these days are 47.6° and 32.7°. respectively. The greatest heat, 64°, occurred on the 28th, in 1846 ; and the lowest cold, 18°, ' 
on the 23rd, in 1855. During the period 114 days were line, and on 103 rain fell. 
PRESIDENT AND SECRETARY OF THE 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY — SOWING 
SEEDS —SPRING PROPAGATION. 
Another very important step lias just been taken 
to render the influence and authority of the Horticul¬ 
tural Society more popular, and therefore more useful, 
than it has ever yet been among practical gardeners— 
the gardening “ influence ” of the entire country. 
There is no class of men in the British isles which 
has a more direct influence on the nature of their 
calling than gardeners, and, at the same time, a more 
private influence, which can never be got at, or be 
influenced by what we call public opinion. The 
nature and mode of this influence is most powerful, 
and yet almost imperceptible to those who are, or may 
be, guided by it—that is, to the best patrons of garden¬ 
ing. I have been so long accustomed to the nature of 
this influence, that I can foretel, in some measure, 
how the movements in the Horticultural Society are 
likely to be affected by it; and being, as I believe 
myself to be, one of the best friends to the interests 
of the Horticultural, of all the public writers on gar¬ 
dening at the present day, I shall briefly endeavour 
to explain the influence, and the way it will tell for or 
against the Society. 
Be it, therefore, known, to all those who are not 
already aware of it, that nine-tenths of the best gar¬ 
dening families in the three kingdoms keep private 
secretaries and privy councillors, to whom all their gar¬ 
dening resolves are entrusted, and by whom all their 
great gardening “questions” are determined. Both 
| offices are centered in one individual, and that; indi¬ 
vidual is the head gardener. What the secretary and 
privy councillor may say, about any “ movement,” may 
“go in at one ear and out at the other;” but if the 
thing is “ worth mentioning,” it is sure not to die out. 
It will first be “thought about,” then “ talked of” by 
the family; after that the “subject” will run the 
round of a dinner party, and every one in the party 
wonders that his “opinion of the thing” squares so 
exactly with that of all the rest. The secret being, 
that they all had their inspiration “ of the thing ” from 
the same source—the “ mind ” of the privy councillor. 
Gardeners are like the rest of the Queen’s subjects 
—they never agree among themselves ; but let an 
Emperor “cast a slur” on the poorest gardener in 
the country, and we are all up in arms against that 
Emperor the next day; and before the week is out, 
the whole “mind” of the privy council is at work 
| against the power and influence of “that man” all 
j over the three kingdoms. 
When it is known in the privy council that his 
Royal Highness the Prince Consort has consented to 
I become President of the Horticultural Society, in the 
room of the late Duke of Devonshire, the whole body 
| will congratulate itself and its numerous patrons on 
i the appointment. The Prince is a popular man—he 
No. 491. Vol. XIX. 
is fond of improvements, and of all branches of natural 
science ; but, after all, the great source of his popu¬ 
larity is his natural kindness and affability—two of the 
strongest qualities under heaven for uniting the most 
opposite minds into one compact body; and a “ body,” i 
which is influenced by natural kindness and affability, 
will attract other bodies towards itself and its interests, 
as surely as the magnet gathers metallic fragments 
together. 
The next step for the Horticultural Society is to 
find out another person, who is known for his kind¬ 
ness and affability among gardeners- —the privy coun¬ 
cillors of the gardening w^orld—and elect him Secretary 
in the room of Dr. Royle. Then let the Society cancel, 
for ever, the office of Yice-Secretary. “ Double govern¬ 
ment ” never worked well for the Society, any more 
than for India ; and the “ Court ” of Direction for the 
last thirty years never “put up their horses ” at the 
same stable with those of the privy councillors. Hence 
the source of all the failures and misfortunes of the j 
Society. Play the same game over again, as is now j 
rumoured in the privy council, and we shall have our j 
dessert after dinner. 
i 
w Spring-sown Seeds.—I have said that all garden j 
seeds may be sown in the spring, whenever the ground 
is in a good, dry, working order, without the least fear 
that cold will hurt them. On the west coast of Scot¬ 
land, and in some of the islands round that coast, I 
have heard of “ spring crops ” being sown six weeks 
out of time, because the air is moister there, and the 
rains come oftener than more inland, making it very 
difficult to “ catch ” the surface-soil in a good condi¬ 
tion at the proper moment, or the customary time, for 
sowing such and such seeds. But those who are for¬ 
tunate enough to be on a sound foundation, with an 
easily-workable soil above, need not heed the advice; 
they can “sow, reap, and mow,” whenever it suits 
them best. Last autumn I wrote about sowing the 
Chinese Larkspurs in September, October, and No- ! 
vember, and have done so myself, and most success¬ 
fully, too, as I shall tell when the chickens are hatched. 
Indeed, although I have no idea of such a thing this 
moment, I should not wonder if I were to exhibit a 
bed of China Larkspurs next May, at the Chiswick 
Show, in full bloom, if only to show how easily one 
may have them in bloom, by that time, for the open 
garden. But more of this after a conference in the 
privy council. 
One of our correspondents Said, last autumn, that 
he sowed seeds of the new Larkspur, called Delphinium 
formosum, about this time last year ; that he kept them 
under glass till May, that he planted them out, and 
that some of the seedlings were then in bloom. That 
was a very good hit, and well worth following up in 
after years, with other such novelties; but, when a 
plant of this description is common, as this Larkspur is 
now, the best way, the easiest, and which will be the 
least expensive, is to sow the seeds at the end of April, 
