Mardi  30,  1S99. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
255 
AN  AMATEUR’S  REMINISCENCES. 
r  On  reading  the  .spring  number  of  “our  Journal,"  with  its  “portrait.s 
of  some  famous  writers  of  the  past,  and  of  some  veteran  contributors,” 
I  was  stirred  by  an  irrepressible  impulse  to  send  a  few  reminiscences 
of  one  of  the  “  veteran  readers  ”  of  the  time-honoured  publication, 
which,  under  its  original  name  of  the  Cottage  Gardener,  gave  me  my 
first  book  knowledge  of  “  the  purest  of  human  pleasures.” 
Tt  is  now  forty-seven  years  since  I  purchased  my  first  number  of 
the  Cottage  Gardener.  I  was  then  a  young  man  contemplating 
marriage.  Though  born  and  bred  in  a  large  manufacturing  town  1 
had  a  large  quantity  of  country  blood  in  my  body,  for  my  father  and 
mother  were  both  natives  of  ons  of  the  most  rural  parts  of  Worcester¬ 
shire,  as  were  their  ])arents  and  grandparents  before  them.  They  both 
possessed  ingrained  country  tastes,  which  survived,  spite  of  the  many 
antagonistic  tendencies  and  influences  of  town  life.  T  was  thus 
fortunately  surrounded  by  many  things,  the  result  of  these  country 
tastes,  which  the  bulk  of  townspeople  in  those  days  had  few  oppor¬ 
tunities  of  being  acquainted  with.  For  instance,  my  parental  home 
was  always  brightened  with  well-grown  window  plants,  which  were 
the  admiration  of  everyone  who  saw  them  ;  we  usually  had  cut  flowers 
in  the  living  rooms;  and  we  kept  poultry  and  pig^.  I  thus  had  from 
my  earliest  days  a  loving  familiarity  with  plants  and  flowers,  and  knew 
the  taste  and  goodness  of  new  laid  eggs  and  home-cured  bacon. 
My  parents  had  many  country  relatives  and  friends  at  whose  houses 
and  farms  I  usually  spent  my  holidays  from  school;  and  these  good- 
natured  peof)le  kept  us  well  supplied  with  all  sorts  of  country  produce, 
which  arrived  by  coach  or  carrier  in  well-remembered  hampers — 
poultry,  honey,  and  fruit.  Doubtless  my  surroundings  and  daily 
experiences  had  a  share  in  giving  me  a  taste  for  country  life  and 
pursuits,  though  heredity,  probably,  had  quite  as  much,  if  not  more, 
to  do  with  it.  Anyway,  it  seems  to  me  quite  natural  that  I  should 
have  made  up  my  mind  to  possess  a  garden  as  soon  as  I  commenced 
housekeeping  and  had  a  house  of  my  own. 
Looking  forward  to  the  possession  of  a  garden  some  day,  I,  as  a 
matter  of  ccurse,  felt  that  I  ought  to  know  something  of  the  manage¬ 
ment  of  one.  But  the  problem  was  “  How  to  get  this  knowledge  ?  ” 
Present  day  readers  will  probably  think  this  a  rather  silly  question, 
for  to  them  the  obvious  answ-er  would  be  to  get  a  good  manual  and 
subscribe  for  the  “  Journal.”  Ah  !  but  in  those  far  off  days  there  were 
practically  no  such  boobs  as  there  are  now;  and  what  townsmen  fifty 
years  ago  knew  anything,  about  gardening  weeklies  ?  Even  then, 
however,  two  such  publications  had  commenced  their  long  careers  of 
usefulness — “The  Gardeners’  Chronicle”  and  the  Cottage  Gardener, 
but  I  had  never  heard  of  either. 
Among  my  friends  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  possess  one  who,  as 
I  afterwards  found,  was  one  of  the  best  amateur  gardeners  of  his  day. 
He  was  one  of  the  earliest  men  to  advocate  the  establishment  of 
village  flower  shows  ;  and  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  Cottage 
Gardener  had  much  to  do  with  the  worthy  ])art  he  took  as  a  pioneer 
in  that  woik.  He  was  a  subscriber  from  the  issue  of  the  first  number  ; 
and  it  was  from  him  I  learned  of  its  existence,  and  on  his  recommen¬ 
dation  that  I  became  a  subscriber  in  the  j^ear  1852.  Later  on  he  gave 
me  a  complete  set  of  bound  volumes,  from  vol.  i.  to  vol.  xiii.  From 
that  time  I  read  the  Cottage  Gardener  sedulously,  and  from  it  gained 
all  my  earliest  idea^  about  gardening.  Bit  by  bit  I  slowly  acquired 
knowledge,  for  the  articles  were  many  of  them  written  with  special 
reference  to  the  needs  and  requirements  of  those,  who  like  myself, 
knowing  nothing  about  the  subject,  earnestly  desired  to  know 
everything. 
Much  as  1  have  read  since  about  gardens  and  gardening,  I  still  look 
back  on  the  articles  which  appeared  week  after  week  from  the  pen  of  dear 
old  Donald  Beaton  and  his  revered  fellow  workers  with  the  warmest 
appreciation  of  their  interest  and  merits,  and  think  they  gave  me  more 
pleasure  than  anything  has  done  which  I  have  read  since.  The 
writings  of  “  D.  B.,”  from  their  suggestive  unusualness,  originality, 
practical  value,  and  quaint  humour  have  always  had  a  special  charm 
for  me.  and  I  shall  always  regard  th,at  worthy  old  man  as  my  first 
master  in  the  refining  art  of  gardening. 
It  did  not  take  me  long  to  find  out  that  I  should  understand  the 
articles  in  the  Cottage  Gardener  to  more  purpose  if  I  knew  more  of 
the  technology  and  technique  of  the  subject;  hence  I  was  early  led  to 
buy  anothe”  work  by  the  contributors  to  the  Cottage  Gardener — 
namely,  the  “Cottage  Gardeners’  Dictionary.”  Thus  equipped  I 
made  enough  progress  in  theoretical  knowledge  to  make  one  yearn  for 
personal  acquaintance  with  some  good  gardener,  so  that  I  might  have 
the  chance  of  seeing  something  of  practical  work.  Now,  armoug  my 
country  friends  was  one  who  farmed  somewhat  largely  on  the  estate 
of  the  late  Sir  William  Smith,  of  Eardiston,  in  Worcestershire,  and 
the  worthv  baronet  bad  a  fine  garden  in  the  heart  of  one  of  the  fruit¬ 
growing  disiricts  of  that  beautiful  county.  During  one  of  my  summer 
holidays  my  farmer  friend  made  me  acquainted  with  his  landlord’s 
head  gardener,  Mr.  John  INIiller,  the  elder  brother  of  a  still  more 
famous  gardener,  Mr.  William  Miller,  whose  recent  retirement  from 
Combe  Abbey  Gardens  was  chronicled  by  the  gardening  press  a  few 
weeks  ago.  This  worthy  man  gave  me  my  first  introduction  to  high- 
class  gardening.  The  cultivation  of  dwarf  fruit  trees  in  gardens, 
especially  Pears,  had  not  long  before  been  introduced  by  the  late 
Thomas  Pivers  of  Sawbridgew’orth  ;  and  in  the  Eardiston  gardens  1 
saw  numbers  of  such  trees  finely  burdened  with  handsome  fruit,  of 
which  Mr.  iNIiller  was  very  justly  proud.  It  was  no  doubt  the  sight 
of  these  trees  at  a  very  impre.ssionable  period  of  my  life  that  gave  my 
mind  a  bias  towards  outdoor  fruit  growing,  the  pursuit  of  which  has 
been  one  of  the  greatest  ])leasure8  of  my  life. 
In  March,  1854,  I  entered  into  posses.sion  of  my  first  garden.  It 
was  situated  in  a  pleasant  village  outside  of  the  town  of  my  birth,  and 
overlooked  a  finely  wooded  park,  now  alas  !  covered  with  roads  and 
houses.  A  more  neglected  ])lot  of  ground  1  never  saw.  The  ground 
was  trampled  hard,  as  though  it  had  been  a  playground,  and  it 
possessed  neither  tree  nor  plant  of  any  kind,  except  a  few  weeds.  Its 
only  merit  was  that  it  was  pleasantly  situated  in  pure  air,  unconta¬ 
minated  by  smoke.  I  afterwards  proved  that  it  was  capable  of  growing 
good  crops  of  flowers  and  vegetables,  and  the  salubrity  of  the  situation 
was  shown  by  the  success  I  subsequently  had  wdth  such  susceptible 
plants  to  the  smoke  of  towns  as  the  old  China  Rose.  On  my  first 
gaze  I  did  not  think  it  an  ideal  spot  for  a  young  would-be  gardener  to 
make  his  first  attempt  at  cultivation. 
My  course  of  reading  for  a  year  or  more  in  the  Cottage  Gardener 
and  the  “  Dictionary”  fortunately  led  me  to  think  that  deep  trenching 
was  the  best  thing  to  be  done,  and  this  was  my  first  job  in  practical 
gardening.  The  soil  proved  deep  enough  to  suggest  this,  rather  than 
bastard  trenching,  as  the  more  advisable  operation.  *As  the  work 
progressed  plenty  of  well  decomposed  stable  manure  was  inter¬ 
mingled  with  the  soil.  My  next  step  was  to  lay  out  the  part  nearest 
the  house  into  a  small  geometrical  flower  garden,  based  on  one  of  the 
designs*  in  my  beloved  Cottage  Gardener.  These  small  beds  I  filled 
with  herbaceous  plants  and  the  seeds  of  a  quantity  of  the  best  annuals, 
selected  from  an  excellent  list  furnished  me  by  Mr.  Miller,  whose 
directions  as  to  sowing  and  cultivation  I  most  carefully  followed. 
The  remainder  of  the  plot  was  devoted  to  vegetables  and  a  few  fruit 
trees.  My  succe.'^s  with  this,  my  maiden  attempt,  was  sufficiently 
great  to  encourage  me  to  more  ambitious  efforts  later  on.  It  is  need¬ 
less  to  say  I  made  a  few  mistakes,  but  even  they  proved  excellent 
helps  in  the  way  of  training. 
Such  was  the  commencement  of  my  career  as  an  amateur  gardener ; 
and  looking  back  to  that  time  I  feel  that  I  owed  whatever  success  I 
achieved  to  the  wise  teaching  of  the  Cottage  Gardener,  and  can  never 
be  grateful  enough  that  I  made  acquaintance  with  it  so  early  in  my 
career.  From  that  day  to  this,  as  the  Cottage  Gardener  or  the 
Journal  of  Horticulture,  it  has  always  had  a  first  place  in  my  regard, 
and  always  will  have,  I  feel  sure.  Should  the  worthy  Editor  encourage 
me  with  his  approval  of  this  communication  I  may  at  some  future 
time  attempt  a  few  more  of  my  reminiscences,  and  give  more  proofs 
of  my  indebtedness  to  “our  Journal.” — Amateur. 
[We  shall  welcome  further  reminiscences  from  an  ardent  lover  of 
gardening  who  has  made  great  progress  in  the  world,  and  induced 
many  other  amateurs  by  bis  teaching  to  learn  to  love  and  labour  in 
the  pursuit  that  has  added  so  much  to  the  happiness  of  his  life.] 
THE  AURICULA— A  HINT. 
Whatever  the  future  ot  the  Auricula  in  Scotland,  may  be,  its  fortunes 
are  at  present  at  a  low  ebb.  I  speak  of  what  are  called  stage  varieties. 
Of  my  acquaintance,  eight  growers  of  the  flower  have  died  within  fifteen 
years.  Of  two  large  collections  the  remnants  still  exist,  I  believe,  in  their 
owners’  hands,  and  now  I  know  of  only  four  who  make  a  speciality  of  the 
Auricula,  one  of  these  being  an  enthusiast,  and  the  only  recruit  to  the 
dwindling  ranks.  It  is  so  far  satisfactory  that  the  flower  is  so  much 
esteemed  and  well  cared  for  iii  the  south. 
To  the  inexperienced,  a  repeated  word  of  timely  advice  may  be  useful. 
At  this  season  many  a  plant  may  be  lost  or  saved.  I  have  just  been  over 
my  stock,  giving  each  a  little  fresh  surface  soil.  This,  besides  improving 
their  appearance,  encourages  the  emission  of  r<)Ots  at  the  neck.  But  in  a 
few  cases  I  turned  out  the  plants  altogether  and  repotted.  Growth  had 
generally  well  begun,  but  these  were  laggard.s,  and  in  one  or  two  there 
was  slight  rotting  of  th  stem  and  fibres.  Where  this  is  the  case,  and  the 
inward  turn  of  the  edge  of  the  leaf  is  an  indication  of  something  wrong, 
scrape  the  affected  part  quite  clean,  rub  with  pow'dered  charcoal,  repot, 
and  a  plant  is  saved  that  would  otherwise  probably  dwindle  and  go  off. 
If  the  rot  be  slight  and  near  the  surface,  repotting  may  not  be  necessary. 
I  know  that  beginners  hesitate  to  turn  out  their  plants.  I  do  so  at  any 
season,  and  1  have  trequentiy  exhibited  successiully  in  May  Auriculas 
repotted  in  March.  In  fact  the  Auricula  rather  likes  to  be  knocked  about 
in  this  way. 
Severe  weather  at  this  time  makes  protection  advisable,  not  that  the 
plant  itself  would  suffer,  but  the  truss,  in  some  cases  already  well  above 
the  foliage,  would  be  spoiled  by  the  frost. — A  NORTHERN  Amateur. 
