326 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER.  October  10,  1901. 
whab  he  did  not  fully  accomplish.”  Sir  Joseph  Paxton’s  entire 
career  sustains  that  characteristic  opinion. 
He  was  the  son  of  humble  parents,  born  in  the  year  1803, 
at  Milton  Bryant,  near  Woburn,  in  Bedfordshire,  his  father 
being  a  head  gardener  in  that  county.  When  he  had  grown 
up,  young  Paxton,  adopting  the  same  profession,  received  his 
rudimentary  instruction  in  horticulture  under  his  brother, 
Mr.  John  Paxton,  successively  gardener  to  Sir  G.  P.  Turner 
and  Earl  Hardwicke.  This  gentleman  recommended  the 
young  gardener  to  Abel  Smith,  Esq  ,  and  through  the  latter's 
influence  he  was  placed  at  Chiswick,  in  the  gardens  of  the 
(Royal)  Horticultural  Society.  Owing  to  some  misunderstand¬ 
ing  with  the  Council  of  the  society,  Joseph  (afterwards  Sir) 
was  about  to  leave  their  service  and  proceed  to  America  ; 
but  whilst  this  intention  was  just  on  the  point  of  being 
carried  out,  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  president  of  the  society, 
befriended  him.  He  was  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Duke 
through  his  having  held  a  glowing  cinder  for  his  Grace’s 
cigar  The  Duke  finding  him  intelligent,  and  hearing  of  him 
nothing  but  good,  recommended  him  to  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 
who  employed  him  temporarily  at  Wimbledon.  When  Mr. 
Paxton  thus  attracted  the  notice  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire, 
he  was  under  gardener  in  the  Arboretum  department  at 
Chiswick,  the  latter  being  then  enormously  larger  than  it  is 
now.  This  was  in  1825,  and  the  year  following  he  became  the 
Duke’s  head  gardener  and  forester  at  Chatsworth.  Here  was 
an  arena  just  suited  to  his  powers,  and  genius — not  only  was 
the  space,  as  he  said,  “  unlimited,”  but  so  were  the  funds  at 
his  command  for  its  adornment. 
After  completing  an  extensive  Arboretum,  with  over  2000 
species  of  trees  and  shrubs,  the  next  great  works  he  was 
employed  upon  were  the  water-works,  the  Emperor  fountain 
of  which  tosses  its  waters  to  the  astonishing  height  of  267  feet. 
This,  and  all  his  subsequent  conceptions,  are  among  “  the 
most  surprising  in  the  world.”  In  1840  he  completed  the 
conservatory  at  Chatsworth,  the  largest  ever  constructed.  It 
required  forty  miles  in  length  of  sash-bars,  and  to  meet  this 
enormous  demand  he  invented  a  machine  for  cutting  them, 
which,  to  use  his  own  words,  ‘‘  performed  the  labour  of  twenty 
men  for  one  year,  and  consequently  saved  in  money  £1200.” 
As  a  literary  man  he  appeared  advantageously  as  the 
Editor  of  “  The  Magazine  of  Botany,”  begun  in  1833,  but  now 
no  longer  published  ;  as  the  author,  in  1839,  of  a  little  volume, 
“  On  the  Culture  of  the  Dahlia  ;  ”  as  compiler  of  “  Gardening 
for  Cottagers,”  and  the  “  Botanical  Dictionary,”  the  first  of 
which  was  published  about  the  year  1849,  and  the  other  about 
nine  years  previously.  We  have  now  arrived  at  the  most 
brilliant  period  of  his  life — the  construction  of 
The  First  Crystal  Palace. 
Of  its  origin  in  1850  we  must  republish  the  designer’s  own 
account.  “When  the  six  eminent  architects  and  engineers 
were  selected  as  a  committee  to  choose  a  design,  Mr.  Paxton 
had  no  intention  of  offering  one,  for  he  took  for  granted  that 
something  worthy  of  the  occasion  and  of  the  nation  would  be 
selected  by  them.  When  the  time  approached  for  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  plans  there  was  a  discussion  in  the  newspapers  as  to 
the  design  best  adapted,  and  he  considered  that  the  first 
sketch  he  saw  in  a  number  of  the  “Builder”  did  not  inspire 
him  with  any  exalted  notions,  or  raise  any  very  splendid 
expectations  of  the  result.  It  was  not  until  one  morning  when 
he  was  present  with  his  friend,  Mr.  Ellis,  at  an  early  sitting  of 
the  House  of  Commons,  that  the  idea  of  sending  in  a  design 
occurred  to  him.  A  conversation  took  place  between  them 
with  reference  to  the  construction  of  the  new  House  of 
Commons,  in  the  course  of  which  he  (Mr.  Paxton)  observed 
that  he  was  afraid  they  would  also  commit  a  great  blunder  in 
t  he  building  for  the  Industrial  Exhibition  ;  adding,  that  he 
had  a  notion  in  his  head,  and  that  if  he  (Mr.  Ellis)  would 
accompany  him  to  the  Board  of  Trade  he  would  ascertain 
whether  it  was  too  late  to  send  in  a  design.  He  asked  the 
executive  committee  whether  they  were  so  far  committed  to- 
the  plans  as  to  be  precluded  from  receiving  another.  The 
reply  was,  ‘Certainly  not  ;  the  specifications  will  be  out  in  a 
fortnight,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  a  clause  should  not  be 
introduced,  allowing  of  the  reception  of  another  design.’  He 
said,  ‘Well,  if  you  will  introduce  such  a  clause  1  will  go 
home,  and  in  nine  days  hence  I  will  bring  you  my  plans  all 
complete.’  No  doubt  the  executive  thought  him  a  very 
conceited  fellow,  and  that  what  he  said  was  nearer  akin  to 
romance  than  to  common  sense. 
“  Well,  this  was  on  Friday,  the  11th  of  June.  From  London 
he  went  to  the  Menai  Straits,  to  see  the  third  tube  of  the 
Britannia  Bridge  placed,  and  on  his  return  to  Derby  he  had  to 
attend  to  some  business  at  the  board-room,  during  which,  how¬ 
ever,  his  whole  mind  was  devoted  to  his  project ;  and  whilst 
the  business  proceeded  he  sketched  his  design  on  a  large  piece 
of  blotting-paper.  He  was  sorry  he  had  not  the  original  with 
him,  but  the  fact  was,  Mrs.  Paxton  had  taken  possession  of 
it,  and  if  they  were  at  all  anxious  to  see  it,  the  only  possible 
way  of  gratifying  their  desires  was  by  sending  for  her  to  the 
meeting.  Having  fetched  his  design  on  blotting-paper,  he 
sat  up  all  night  until  he  had  worked  it  out  to  his  own 
satisfaction  ;  and  by  the  aid  of  his  friend,  Mr.  Barlow,  on  the 
15th  he  was  enabled  to  complete  the  whole  of  the  plans  by 
the  Saturday  following,  on  which  day  he  left  Rowsley  for 
London.  On  arriving  at  the  Derby  station  he  met  Mr. 
R.  Stephenson,  a  member  of  the  building  committee,  who  was 
also  on  his  way  to  the  metropolis.  Mr.  Stephenson  minutely 
examined  the  plans,  and  became  thoroughly  engrossed  with 
them,  until  at  length  he  exclaimed  that  the  design  was  just 
the  thing,  and  he  only  wished  it  had  been  submitted  to  tho 
committee  in  time.  Mr.  Stephenson,  however,  laid  the  plans 
before  the  committee,  and  at  first  the  idea  was  rather  pooh- 
poohed  ;  but  his  plans  gradually  grew  in  favour,  and  by 
publishing  the  design  in  the  ‘  Illustrated  News,’  and  showing 
the  advantage  of  such  an  erection  over  one  composed  of 
fifteen  millions  of  bricks  and  other  materials,  which  would 
fiave  to  be  removed  at  a  great  loss,  the  committee  did  in  the 
end  reject  the  abortion  of  a  child  of  their  own,  and  unani¬ 
mously  recommended  his  bantling.” 
We  have  but  little  more  to  add,  for  having  achieved  one, 
the  construction  of  the  second  Crystal  Palace  was  com¬ 
paratively  easy.  He  was  justly  honoured  with  knighthood  in 
1851,  and  the  words  accompanying  the  Queen’s  smiling 
greeting  in  1854  might  have  been  those  used  by  another 
monarch  to  another  man  of  many  victories — “  If  you  go  on  at 
this  rate  we  shall  have  to  invent  marks  of  distinction  for  you.” 
This  great  gardener  died  in  June,  1865. 
.  - - 
An  Amateur’s  Melon?. 
The  accompanying  illustration  portrays  ten  fruits  of  a 
crop,  of  which  there  were  twelve  in  all,  the  variety  being 
Sutton’s  Ringleader,  represented  by  a  single  plant.  This, 
was  grown  in  a  wooden  one-light  frame,  on  an  ordinary  bed 
of  stable  litter,  by  Mr.  James  Deaman,  a  baker  and  con¬ 
fectioner,  at  Selly  Oak,  near  Birmingham.  The  judges  of  the 
exhibits  at  the  Selly  Oak  Horticultural  Show,  held  on 
July  27th,  were  invited  to  inspect  the  crop,  then  upon  the 
eve  of  ripening,  with  the  foliage  in  a  robust  and  healthy 
state.  The  only  ripe  fruit  that  was  exhibited  in  a  small 
collection  at  the  show  in  question  proved  superior  in 
flavour,  and,  at  the  persuasion  of  the  writer,  the  highly 
successful  owner  was  induced  to  have  the  crop  photo¬ 
graphed,  with  a  view  of  reproduction  in  the  J ournal  of 
Horticulture. 
The  crop  was  secured  without  the  aid  of  artificial  .fertili¬ 
sation,  an  additional  testimony  in  favour  of  the  free  setting 
attributes  of  the  variety.  The  frame  (which  is  an  improve¬ 
ment  on  the  ordinary  garden  kind)  was  designed  and  made 
by  the  owner  himself,  the  principal  feature  being  a  strip  of 
wood  forming  a  flange  upon  the  sides  of  the  sash,  so  as  to- 
prevent  rain  from  penetrating  to  the  framework  beneath. 
In  an  adjoining  one-light  frame  there  was  also  an  excellent 
crop  of  Cucumbers,  whilst  the  crops  of  vegetables,  flowers, 
and  fruit  growing  around  in  the  small,  cottage-like  garden, 
bore  additional  testimony  to  the  owner’s  industry  and 
prowess  as  a  novitiate  in  the  art  of  gardening. — G. 
