THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION, December MO, 1WJH. m 
also, there was a large conservatory full of the commoner 
things. The blind employed for shading is made of neat 
wooden rods, which are attached to one another by means 
of wire, and in such a way that one rod may lie Hat upon 
that which is next to it when the blind is rolled up. Such 
blinds are also much used in Belgium as well as in France; 
but I had never seen them so well made as in the present 
instance. In point of durability they are, perhaps, preferable 
to canvass. The mode of shading on the Continent is 
altogether different from what we generally see in England ; 
for here every greenhouse has its terrace or gangway on the 
top, from which, when necessary, the workman may adjust the 
blinds ; but he may also draw them up or down at pleasure 
without going on the top. In winter, when extra covering 
is sometimes required, it may be supplied with the greatest 
convenience either from the top or bottom without any risk 
of breaking glass. Every gentleman here has an outhouse, 
where he and his friends may smoke and play at billiards. 
This room, of course, contains an enormous billiard-table, 
so many chairs, with an amazing variety of pipes, cigars, 
tobacco, and everything likely to keep one from yawning over 
a tedious game. But I must observe, for the benefit of 
those who may be fond of imitating, as they think, grand 
people, that the French gentleman would never be so lost 
to all sense of propriety and politeness as to abandon the 
ladies after dinner, and shut himself up in a billiard room 
amidst the fumes of tobacco. It is only in England that 
we see such an absurd and unmannerly custom. 
Passing from the garden to the farm, I was much 
interested with the arrangements of the dairy, which is 
under the immediate superintendence of madanie herself 
and one of her daughters. Mademoiselle, though only 
fourteen years old, and though educated in every respect as a 
lady should be, has, nevertheless, been carefully taught all 
those useful domestic duties which young ladies seldom know 
anything about. She has a small churn of her own, which 
altogether is scarcely the size of a hat-box, and in a 
quarter of an hour or twenty minutes she can make as 
much butter as is required in tbe family for two days. My 
visit to Montfermeil happened only a short time after you had 
published my communication on butter, in which 1 recom¬ 
mended the “ Girl’s own Churn,” &c.; and now I had an op¬ 
portunity of seeing in practice the very thing I had fancied, 
besides partaking of the butter thus made.—P. F. Keir. 
MEETING OF CULTIVATED FRUITS AND 
VEGETABLES TO PROTEST AGAINST THE 
WASTE OF THEIR FOOD. 
(Continued, from page 203.) 
There were now loud calls for Mr. Vine, who rose and 
said, that “ no one rejoiced more than he did at this import¬ 
ant meeting. With all his education and training at Hamp¬ 
ton Court, still he was no orator. You are all well aware,” he 
said, “ that our family, for many years, was half poisoned by 
lumps of garbage (hear, hear), until I made it known, many 
years ago, that I had found capital food in a large sewer, 
which I discovered near me. I do not care what soil I am 
grown in, so long as I get plenty of rich liquid (hear, hear). 
I am quite convinced of the great utility of the sediment 
and charred peat mixed. I am quite concerned to hear that 
the sewage of London is proposed to be thrown into the 
sea ” (much cheering). 
The Vice President, Mr. Cabbage, next rose and said, 
“ that he was not accustomed to speak, being more in the 
field; that his family were mostly dummies (laughter). I 
beg pardon, I mean Drumheads (cheers). You may expect 
to hear much from me ; but I assure you that our treatment 
is so simple in the Fulham Fields, that, by proper sowing, 
proper trenching, with plenty of manure, we are always 
good-hearted (‘hear,’ from a half-starved Buckinghamshire 
Turnip). As I understand that we have met here to-day 
to give our opinion on the possibility of converting the 
sewage of London into a rich manure with the Irish 
charred peat, I, for one, am most willing to bear testimony 
to its goodness, and express my conviction that to our 
country friends it will prove a great boon, and I advise 
them to stir their stumps in the matter” (great cheering). 
His Royal Highness the Strawberry wished to say one 
word before this meeting separated. “ My family are well 
known to you all (hear, hear). It matters but little where 
we came from—Chili, Virginia, or the back-woods of Great 
Britain. Travelling has altered us much; we were like the 
rest of you at ono time, very wild, and always produced run¬ 
ners (laughter). Education does wonders to us all. We 
were at one period called Woodherry; but since tbe days of 
two celebrated Dutch gardeners we have been called Strawber¬ 
ries, because they put straw for us to lie upon to keep us from 
being soiled (bear, hear). Feeling as we do so lively an 
interest in this great meeting concerning additional food 
for tbe masses of the vegetable kingdom, I feed it my incum¬ 
bent duty to give my most cordial consent, for charred peat 
alone has proved good to my family " (tremendous ap¬ 
plause). 
The meeting becoming impatient, loud cries came from all 
parts of the room for Mr. Bdack-hi*ink Cucumber, from Cam ; 
herwcll. He coolly rose and said, “ May il please your Royal j 
Highness and gentlemen, J have no drawing to show you, 
as my only practice in that has been with the family of the 
Vico President (great laughter, and ‘hoar, hear,’ from Mr. 
Radish). 1 have listened with profound respect to all that has | 
been said, and it does seem to me strange that an enlightened | 
country as this is should so long misunderstand, arid, above 
all, have such a prejudice against, the very food of the earth, 
You may call it muck, or dung, or litter, or filth ; but 
1 tell you all that it ought to go by its proper name—the j 
food of plants (greatcheering), deposited in the earth forour : 
benefit” (‘hear, hear,’ from Mr. Parsnip. The I’resi- 
dent here interrupted, and said that he had had a tele¬ 
graphic message that, unless the speeches were short, The 
Cottage Gardener reporter could not slay, as lie had to 
attend elsewhere). “Quite right; I shall give just a few 
humble ideas of my own upon this interesting subject. I 
really turned yellow when Mr. Onion told us how they do in 
Spain—that even the children in his country know the value 
of the food of plants. My family in this country have nothing 
to complain of. We belong to the aristocratic side, arid very 
often complain of the gout, arid have white powder on our 
head (roars of laughter). My plan is simply this—that 
wherever the sewage of London may he carried down Father 
Thames, it is at the terminus that we should have to do with 
it. I propose there to have at least six enormous reservoirs, 
each to hold the flow of at least forty-eight hours, and 
parallel to each other, with thorough drainage to draw off 
the clear water (hear, hear), with engine house, with glass 
and iron-roofed drying sheds. The space occupied might be 
some fifty acres (hear, hear). We all know that there are 
some three millions of acres of rich black vegetable peat iri 
Ireland. It is now in a ripe state. Why allow it any longer 
to lie there in waste? I have tried it for years upon my 
family in its naked state ; but, had it been mixed with the 
sediment of our great sewers, it would have been the best of 
food. I also know many other relations who have used it I 
for years. I am well uware that this is a momentous ques¬ 
tion, and aware, also, that many valuable salts will be lost in 
the solution; but to tell me that the sediment will not be 
worth saving is just saving that there is no goodness in the 
mud of ponds (‘ hear, hear,’ from Mr. Melon). The reason 
why the mud of a pond is not rich when first taken out is 
owing to its having been excluded from the. air. Turn it 
over a hit, arid then try its strength (‘ hear, hear,’ from Mr. 
Swede). J wish to make this London manure portable to all our ; 
country friends; and I wish every town to husband up arid 
| assist in saving the food of the land. Let townspeople only 
i think that if we were to keep back our good things for even j 
one week (‘ hear, hear,’ from the Staff of Life ) from this great 
metropolis, they, to say the least of it, would he in a terrible 
pickle (great laughter). In conclusion, 1 beg to say that 
1 am no civil engineer, but 1 do think that the works of this t 
great undertaking might all he on the Kentish side. Can¬ 
not the north sewage be brought over iri the bed of the river 
in large pipes—at London Bridge for one place? Why 
not one division of the Thames Tunnel for another? It is 
only fit for a sewer, and would then be of some use ” (great 
cheering). 
The President concluded the meeting by saying, “You 
have every one done famous duty. This great meeting will j 
go forth to the world through the active columns of The i 
