December  24  18t6. 
jonn^AL 
OP  IlOkTICULTlRE  Al^j)  COTTAGE  GAi 
OE.TEk. 
6.1  i 
worth  notice.  The  qtestlon  was,  What  sort  cf  pens  are  the  best,  whether 
line-  pointed  or  broad,  or  quills,  and  what  sort  and  sixe  of  paper  is  the  best 
to  use  in  writing  to  the  press  I  Well,  someone  may  say,  that  is  indeed 
a  small  matter.  Perhaps  it  is  ;  and  yet,  good  friend,  perhaps  it  is  not 
when  yon  come  to  think  it  ont.  After  a  forty-years  connection  with  the 
press  in  one’s  small  way  we  discover  that  there  is  a  right  way,  and  we 
think  we  have  discovered  it.  The  discovery  we  made  was  that  MS.  i 
written  by  a  moderately  fine-pointed  pen  was  read  by  the  compositors  | 
with  fewer  errors  than  when  written  by  a  broad  “  J  ”  or  a  quill.  When  I 
MS.  is  written  with  a  quill  or  broad-pointed  pen,  and  that  not  with  a  | 
practised  hand,  a  lot  of  ink  is  used,  and  a  blurred  and  blotched  copy  is  j 
very  often  the  result.  It  will,  therefore,  be  readily  understood  that  j 
when  this  blurred  and  blotched  copy  comes  to  be  set  up  (if  it  get  the  I 
course  he  coaid  not  do  that  witu  fooliv.ap  u.JesB  he  wrote  on  eve  y  other 
line,  which  'ooks  (it  may  Ir,  right  for  all  that)  like  a  waste  of  good 
paper  by  a  careful  and  economically  minded  r,  -iter. 
But  now  we  come  to  what  'ye  think  is  the  most  practical  pari  of  this 
paper.  Every  gardener  knows  that  not  only  in  the  bothy,  but  also  in 
lodgings,  facilities  for  writing  are  not  yf  the  beet — nay,  in  some  cases 
not  only  are  there  no  facilities,  but  pos.iive  hindrances.  It  is  net  every 
man  who  has  a  desk,  or  'f  he  has  a  desk  there  may  be  no  convenient 
place  to  put  it :  and  even  though  there  may  be  an  apparent  place,  thr.t 
place  may  be  wh  .  e  privacy  is  impossible,  and  every  writer  knows  that 
privacy  in  one’s  writing,  whether  of  instruction,  affection,  or  business,  is 
the  greatest  desideratum  ol;  all. 
Fig.  104.— rhododendron  CLOTH  OF  GOLD. 
Editor’s  fiaf)  there  may  be,  nay,  there  must  be,  mistakes.  Here  the  | 
present  writer  may  say  that  nothing  fills  him  with  more  admiration  and 
wonder  than  the  generally  correct  way  the  printers  set  up  one’s  MS. 
The  mistakes  that  are  made  will  be  made  nine  times  out  of  ten.  Such 
ia  the  contrariness  of  earthly  things  in  those  very  words  which  we  have 
used  to  clothe  the  pet  idea  of  our  effort,  turning  what  we  meant  into 
something  very  different ;  nay,  it  may  be  opposite  to  what  we  intended, 
causing  the  reader  of  it  in  print  to  go  hot  and  cold,  and  indulge  in  some 
mild  but  silent  profanity,  or  aloud,  “  Oh,  what  a  stupid  thing  1  ” 
Then  as  to  paper,  its  size  and  character.  If  we  may  venture  to  give 
a  little  advice,  we  should  say.  Let  the  paper  be  white  and  the  i.  k  good, 
like  Field’s  dr  Stephen’s  ;  and  as  to  paper,  many  recommend  foolscap  in 
full  size,  but  we  find  foolscap — a  sheet  cut  up  into  four  parts— is  handier 
than  a  full  sheet,  but  ordinary  commercial  nott  paper  8  inches  by  o  is  | 
most  useful,  only  if  the  writer  cannot  write  straight  across  the  paper  he  | 
had  better  stick  to  ruled  foolscap — though  here  he  must  be  cnreful, 
because  the  Editor  a  week  or  two  ago,  in  commenting  on  one  of  our  | 
young  scribe’s  note,  told  him  to  write  the  lines  wider  apart,  and  of  j 
Here  there  is  ohe  remedy  for  that,  A  lady  visitor  to  our  place  was  a 
clergyman’s  daugh;,..,  who  seemed  to  do  a  good  deal  of  writing,  and  in 
the  summer  time  would  come  info  the  flower  garden  or  on  the  lawn, 
taking  a  seat,  or  sitting  on  a  camp  stool,  would  write  away  juite  freely. 
Her  writing  arrangements  attracted  our  notice.  On  passing  her  once, 
she  noticed  that  she  was  being  looked  at,  and  being  a  true  lady,  amicable 
and  genial,  she  looked  up  with  a  smile,  and  said,  “  What  do  you  think  of 
my  writing-desk  ?”  The  reply  was  that  it  seemed  very  handy  and  con¬ 
venient.  "  i'es,”  she  said,  and  showed  i*,  turning  it  abort.  “  It’s  an  idea 
of  my  own,  and  I  find  it  most  useful  and  bandy.  You  see  it  is  just  a 
plain  board,  about  20  inches  long  and  11  wide.  I  had  it  planed 
smooth,  and  then  covered  it  with  some  dark  stuff,  pinned  with  drawing 
board  pins  a  double  sheet  of  white  blotting  papdr  in  the  cen’re,  had  a 
place  made  at  the  top  right-hand  come'' to  hold  my  safety  inkstand,  a 
loop  or  two  of  clastic  beneath  it  to  hold  pen  ami  pencil  ('but  if  you  have 
a  fountain  pen,  you  can  dispense  with  the  inkstand),  had  elastic  bauds 
pat  on  the  left-hand  side  to  hold  paper  and  cn  elopes,  and  there  you  t.;e. 
■  la  these  sweet  summer  days  I  can  come  oui  and  get  on  with  my  wrinng, 
c  irrounded  by  all  these  beautiful  and  enjoyable  things.”  Notes  were 
A 
