1818.] gooseberry-tree stems should not exceed 15 nor be less than 12 inches before they are planted, which, when the roots are covered, as hereafter directed, will be reduced to 12 or 9 inches out of ground. If more than 12 inches out of ground the winds have too much power over them; besides, they are more exposed to keen frosts in spring; and if less than 9 inches it will be difficult, if not impossible, without mossing the surface, to keep them from being bespattered with dirt by the fall of heavy rains. This rule, then, being fixed upon, it will be easy to determine which crown must be pre-served; that is, supposing them to be equal in number and position, for I should certainly prefer a well radiated circle of roots to a few straggling or ill-placed ones, whatever height the stem would be by retaining it. If the lower crown be condemned, let the tree be turned upside down, so that the upper roots may hang downwards; then, with a sharp knife, cut the lower part of the stem neatly off as close as can be to the upper crown of the roots without injuring them; but if the upper roots are condemned let them be pared off quite close to the stem of the tree, leaving all smooth, otherwise the part will be apt to emit fresh roots, or throw up suckers, which should by no means be suffered. Mr. Pimlot on the Cultivation of the Gooseberry Tree. 127 The branches, like the roots, should be radiated, and at regular distances: none nearer than 7 inches at their extremities when shortened as hereafter directed, nor any further than 10 from each other: they should be perfectly horizontal, or rather not bending much downwards; but if they grow perpendicularly up, or forming an angle of more than 30 degrees with the horizon, it will not at all times be possible to book them down without breaking them; and this note, that the middle of the tree must be kept clear from all shoots whatever. The shoots of the same year should annually be shortened one third of their length; but if there be any of a very luxuriant growth, known by their being very thick and spungy, and not clear and firm, these ought to be extirpated, as they are neitheir fit for bearing nor propagation by cuttings or layers. Again, all weakly growths, and the young after-shoots which may have protruded from the branches of the same year's production should be cut off with a pair of short-bladed nail scissars, or a sharp narrow-bladed penknife, so as not to injure the bud at the place of their protrusion, nor the parent branch; always minding, too, to leave a small portion of these useless shoots about the length of one-sixteenth of an inch or less, which will afterwards put forth two, three, or more eyes, which will each of them bear fruit. But this regulation of all luxuriant and after-shoots, and such as grow in the centre of the trees, together with those which protrude too far from the extremities of the preceding year's reserved shoots, should be punctually and constantly performed in May and June, when they are yet tender, in order to have handsome trees and fruits. In shortening the shoots in October, care should be taken to cut to a bud, and sloping upwards from beneath, so that the wound may look towards the ground; and consequently not be exposed to injury from lodging dews and rains. Some make a great secret in being able to discriminate between a fruit and a wood bud: the former is distinguishable from the latter sometimes by being longer, slenderer, and sharper; but it is hard not to mistake this point: many of our pretended connoisseurs frequently fail; as, indeed, may be expected, since, if they shorten the branches at all, it is a chance if they do not cut down to a fruit bud: hence, as this is a nicety not at all times and by all persons attainable, they would needs persuade us that the whole art of pruning rests upon it. However, should a mistake of this sort be made, and the shortened branch put forth a shoot at the next or any other eye below the amputation, all above that should be cut off in spring as being of no use, and moreover unsightly. When the whole tree has been thus trimmed, the next thing to be considered is the manner of planting it: to this end, if a bed or border be determined upon, it should have been before-hand laid out to the breadth of at least 8 feet, and rather higher in the middle than at the edges, in the proportion of one inch for every four feet in breadth. In this bed or border, the trees should be planted in a line at regular distances, and not nearer than 9 feet asunder, which, in four years from the time of planting, will be found close enough if the trees take good ways and are skilfully managed. After preparing the ground, as before advised, and letting it lie a week to settle, let a line be extended along the middle of the bed, and with a staff 9 feet long begin at one end and close by the extremity of the staff thrust a hazie rod pretty deep into the ground, and so continue till you have thus run over the whole compartment. Next, let a circular opening to the full ex 128 Mr. Pimlot on the Cultivation of the Gooseberry Tree. [March 1, tent of the roots be made by removing the earth each way from round the hazle, or other rod, to the depth of 6 inches, making the bottom of each aperture quite smooth, and preserving the general rotundity of the bed—that is, a little higher in the middle than at the edges: this being done, and the rod gently drawn out in its place, let the tree be planted. All the roots must be spread out at full length, as before intimated, like the spokes of a wheel, none doubled or lying over each other: to prevent which, they should be combed out with a very opentoothed horse-comb, or with the fingers rather, so as not to bruise or break any of the tender fibres; and on no account should the roots be shortened, as your gardener will perhaps advise, unless they are broken or cleft by being rudely and unskilfully torn up, in which case they should be shortened to the first side shoot. If the roots refuse to stay in the position assigned them, they must be either hooked gently down or secured by a handful of earth if hooked down the hooks must be extracted as soon as the roots are covered sufficiently to keep them right. When the roots and fibres are laid in order, let them be covered one inch deep with an equal mixture of sea or river sand and rotten wood or wood-pile earth: and I ought to have premised, that a coat of the same compost should, antecedently to the planting, have been laid over the whole surface of the aperture for the same depth. Next to this covering let another be applied of the rottenest cowdung, to speak in plain terms, and if two years old the better; this should be broken fine with the hand and spread regularly over all, but not close to the stem of the tree, nor thicker in one place than another: lastly, finish up with the earth thrown out of the opening. : The next thing to be done is to fix every branch horizontally and at equal distances from each other; to effect which, there must be provided a quantity of hooked and forked sticks two feet long and upwards, made of the young shoots of hazle, alder, or any kind of wood that will not strike root. The forks are to support such shoots as have an inclination downwards; and those shoots must be fastened to their respective forks by soft woollen bandages, otherwise, when they have produced two or three long shoots each in the ensuing summer, they will be blown off them unless such newlyformed shoots be themselves secured as they ought to be by forks or poles, &c. When the trees have extended four feet from the stem their branches ought to be turned up, and each of them fastened to a hoop made of cleft hazle, ash, willow, or brambles disarmed of their prickles, and spliced together if too short to make a circle large enough to give the trees when finished the form of a punch bowl rather than a goblet, for the greater the horizontality of the branches the better in all respects save that of gathering the fruit, which if the trees were perfectly horizontal and trained at full length, unless against a wall or espalier, it would be no easy matter to get without "kicking against the pricks." To make vigorous trees the shoots of each year should be annually shortened, and those chiefly selected which grow either on the upper or under side of the parent branch and forming an angle neither right nor too acute; but ifa shoot of the formerdescription must be chosen, it should be gently bent when young towards the parent shoot and secured by soft bandage, so as to make an angle with it of about 30 degrees; and those shoots should be reserved which grow the nearest to the extremities of the parent ones for this very obvious reason, the enlargement of the trees, and to prevent that exuberance of shoots, which are always prejudicial to the trees themselves and to their produce. All that remains to be said is, that the hooks and forks used in the training of gooseberrytrees must be made quite sharp and smooth at the ends, and all the knots and protuberances shaved off perfectly even, that the tender fibres of the roots may neither be bruised nor forced deeper into the ground. Nor should any vegetables, except some small sallading or turnips, and these beyond the extremities of the roots, be sown or planted for more than the first or second year; and whatever weed springs up should be immediately extirpated either with a sharp Dutch hoe or a triple-pronged table-fork, taking care to keep clear of the roots. Particularly to give the fruit every advantage, it should be thinned in June or early in July, for culinary uses, leaving none nearer than two inches, and reserving those chiefly which are apparently inclined to swell much in girth rather than the long and conic formed ones, and preferring those with three strong veins equidistant from each other to those with no more than two. In the spring the young blossoms should be protected from keen frosts by suitable awnings made of mats, and from piercing N. and E. winds by portable reed fences. In the heats of summer, especially if the situation be dry, 1818.] Mr. Pimlot on the Cultivation of the Gooseberry Tree. the surface should be covered with mulch, and this again with moss, and duly watered every third evening, both roots and branches, to encourage the fruit to swell; and in October the ground should be manured by merely spreading over the bed or border a quantity of manure proportioned to the age and size of the trees, that it may not force too much wood in them, nor make that wood too luxuriant. When the fruit begins to grow soft or change colour, the effects of approaching maturity, all watering must be abstained from: at this period, without the interference of the grower, there are too often a combination of causes which render all his past and best care utterly abortive; for heavy and continued rains, or flying showers succeeded by hot gleams of sun, will occasion the ripe berries to burst; and though they should escape the caprice of the elements, they have still to encounter the longing of a wife, a child, or a friend, or the more powerful crav ings of the redbreast, the blackbird, or thrush; which, nevertheless, will be more favourable to the owner, perhaps, than either wife, child, or friend, in that, having scooped out the pulp and seed, they will very complaisantly leave him the bare skeleton, having every semblance of a well-filled berry; a sight worse to him than the fabled apple of Sodom replete with dust and ashes; inasmuch as, that during a very slight and momentary repast, consisting of half a dozen pecks at a gooseberry, this lawless banditti have "filched from him his great name" as a grower, and swallowed a silver cup into the bargain! There are other schemes of enlarging the gooseberry, some of which, in my opinion, have a tendency to spoil the tree in the end; which, for my own part, I do not think worth while to practise. The Crown Bob, and Rifleman are the first reds in some years, and the Sportsman in others; but they win rather by the firmness and solidity of their contents than by their superlative magnitude. I have seen one of another kind -I have forgotten the name-which would not pass through a ring, though exactly of the circumference of the first coined penny pieces: such as these are the fruit for my money: even Fisher's Conqueror makes a better appearance than the famed Crown Bob. Of whites, the Fuddler, I think, is the best tasted; and that,with the White Rock and Northern Hero, are the first now going: of greens, the Laurel, Lord Nelson, and Green Ocean: of yellows, the Creedus and 129 Golden Purse;-but amongst reds, Ham- JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN ENGLAND, IN From the M. S. Notes of their Imperial (Continued from p. 5.) THE Cathedral of Litchfield, where we arrived on the 9th of November, 1815, is built in the most ancient style: in this cathedral there is a monument of the celebrated Garrick. From Litchfield the road lies along the side of the great canal, through a beautiful valley. This canal crosses the river Trent, over which it is conducted by means of a brick bridge (or aqueduct) supported by twelve arches. At Derby we halted: the town lies upon the river Derwent at the foot of the mountains which form the north side of the county of Derby, and all of which contain mines. Of the five churches in this town, that of All Saints is admired on account of its steeple, which was built in the reign of Henry VIII. and, as we were informed, is 178 feet in height. We examined a silk mill which is remarkable as being the first that was ever erected in England. John Lombe, the person who erected it, had travelled to Italy for the purpose of procuring drawings and models of the very ingenious and complicated machines which are employed in that country. In the year 1716 he obtained a patent for fourteen years. This mill furnishes 3 or 4 cwt. of spun silk per week, and employs between 200 and 300 workmen. In Derby there are many warehouses of the beautiful vases, candlesticks, lamps &c. which are made of spar; a white calcareous stone, which is found about three miles from Derby, is used for similar purposes. Brown's warehouse for these articles appeared to us the most complete. The utensils and ornaments of dark blue spar were particularly beautiful. Some were shewn to us, consisting of a single piece, and which are fifteen inches in height and nine or ten in diameter. The most beautiful pieces, of a dark blue, inclining to violet, are not quite of their natural colour, but are changed by the operation of heat. After 130 Tour of the Austrian Archdukes in England. the spar is sawed, the vessels are turned upon the lathe, with steel tools. A steam engine sets in motion four large sawing machines, as well as the various turning lathes. The iron foundry produces founder's work of every kind. Steam engines are also manufactured here, the action of each of which is calculated to produce the effect of the labour of the number of horses, whose place it is to supply. The prices of these engines are:-Of one horse power 100l. sterling-two ditto 170.-three ditto 2201.—four ditto 270l. From this foundry we went to a manufactory of porcelain. The paste (or clay) is good; but the painting is very indifferent. The colours, with the exception of the blue, are by no means beautiful. The lathe is set in motion by a large wheel, moved by a child: this is advantageous to the workman who gives the form, because, not being obliged to tread with his foot, he can hold faster, and work with greater certainty and accuracy. Two canals unite at Derby, and pour their water into the Derwent. We left the town on the 10th. The country becomes more and more irregular. The eminences are entirely cultivated. At a pretty village, the road divides into two branches, one of which leads to Belper, the other to Wirksworth. We took the latter. It continually ascends, and the country becomes gradually more barren. Here, as well as in other parts of England, we met men on horseback, with women sitting behind them on a saddle contrived for the purpose. In the neighbourhood of Wirksworth, the openings of the mines are to be seen on all the surrounding hills. The lead-mines in the county of Derby produce annually five or six thousand tons. In many of them the lead is mixed with calamine, which is separated in reverberatory furnaces, then calcined, levigated, and washed. In a valley near Cromford, we were shewn a great cotton mill, which was erected by Sir Richard Arkwright in 1792. He was the first who introduced the great cotton machinery, and led to the flourishing state of this branch of industry. In the neighbourhood of Matlock we saw a spring, which possesses the property of covering things that are dipped in it, in the space of six minutes, with a calcareous crust. The water is lukewarm, [Machr I, being of the temperature of 68° Fahrenheit. The proprietor of the spring, which is in a cavern that is closed up, has built a shed or hut near it, in which the incrusted things are sold; they consist of eggs, little baskets, skulls of animals, birds' nests, &c. The sale of them is considerable, especially to the company who come to take the water at Matlock. The crust which thus covers the articles put into the water, is of a brown colour. The warm springs at Matlock were discovered in the 17th century. There are three bathing houses, and sufficient accommodation for 400 persons. We went down into the celebrated cavern, known by the name of Cumberland Cavern. It did not appear to us very interesting, except for mineralogists, who visit it with a hammer in their hands, and make rich collections of crystallized spar, &c. We were told that finer specimens were to be found in Rutland Cavern, on the other side of Matlock. Copper combined with vitriol has lately been discovered in it. At Matlock, as well as Derby, there are magazines of spar vases. In that of Messrs. Brown and Mawe, which contains an uncommonly beautiful collection of these articles, we saw specimens of the newly-discovered red spar. We were informed that Mr. Mawe is one of the first mineralogists in England: he has written a work on the minerals of Derbyshire. The Chesterfield road, which we took, leads through a barren tract; instead of the pleasant green hedges, which made the country so agreeable, we met here with stone walls. No trees are to be seen, and only a few single houses at great distances from each other. As you approach Chesterfield, the scene is rendered more animated by the numerous iron-works and forges. As night came on, the flames, bursting from the openings of the chimneys, afforded a singular spectacle. Chesterfield contains many iron-works. The county of Derby produces, in all, fifteen or sixteen thousand tons of iron annually: the ore is washed, and thea melted in the furnaces, with the addition of lime all this is done with coke. In the neighbourhood of Chesterfield we saw a course for horse-racing. In these parts they cover the houses with a kind of slate, which is nothing more than an indurated clay or marl. (To be continued.) 1818.] [ 131 ] MEMOIRS OF EMINENT PERSONS. DON MANUEL GODOI, PRINCE OF THE PEACE. IT is an axiom insisted upon by various writers that the private vices of a sovereign or a statesman have nothing to do with his public character, and are not a fair subject of censure in the considera tion of the latter. To this doctrine we never could, for our own part, assent, and we have on a former occasion entered our unqualified protest against it; but to those who entertain doubts respecting its fallacy, we beg leave to recommend an attentive perusal of the following Memoir. It would certainly be difficult to find any instance in history, ancient or modern, which more strongly manifests the value of private virtue in the picture which it presents of the calami ties brought upon a mighty nation by the indolence and profligacy of those who have wielded its sceptre. Don MANUEL GODOI, PRINCE OF THE PEACE, was born in 1764 at Badajoz. Descended from a noble family, but which had been reduced to indigence, he repaired when very young to Madrid with his eldest brother Louis, to seek his fortune. He possessed all the qualifications for the hero of a novel-a fine figure, an interesting countenance, an excellent voice, and he played very skilfully on the guitar. For some time after his arrival at Madrid, he lived in great privacy; but in the sequel he was introduced into distinguished companies, where he met with powerful patrons, who placed him, as well as his brother, in the Life Guards, though they had not the fortune required to entitle them to admission into that corps. All their resources were long confined to their slender pay of a franc (10d.) per diem. It is related that Manuel had frequently no other food than a penny loaf a day, and that he was often obliged to lie in bed while the only shirt he had in the world was gone to be washed. It is, however, necessary to receive with some degree of caution, all the stories circulated by the Spaniards respecting a man of whom they have such reason to complain. His best friend at this period was the keeper of an eating-house, to whom he went to enjoy a meal when his pocket would afford the indulgence. This man, feeling for his distress, was very kind to him, and gave him credit for upwards of a year, requiring no other pay ment than boleros or seguedillas, which Manuel sung delightfully to his guitar. Such was the situation of Godoi, when his brother Louis, who also sung and played on the same instrument, became acquainted with one of the queen's women, who, with a view to please her mistress, proposed to introduce to her the handsome musician. Leave was easily obtained; and the life-guardsman was so favourably received, that from the first moment the whole court looked upon his fortune as made. But it was to benefit his brother that Don Louis availed himself of the kindness of the queen. Seizing an opportunity when the princess applauded his skill, he replied: "Ah! what would your Majesty say, if you were to hear my brother!" The queen immediately ordered this prodigy to be conducted to her; and Manuel in reality so far eclipsed his brother, that the latter was not again invited. So highly did he find means to ingratiate himself into the favour of the queen, that, from the very first interview, she laboured with extraordinary zeal to promote his advancement. The King, Charles IV., was surrounded by a crowd of courtiers who were incessantly extolling the talents of the young favourite. His curiosity being excited by their eulogiums, his Majesty also desired to hear him, and like the queen was inexpressibly delighted. He spoke to him several times, and Godoi answered with a good deal of address. The courtiers applauded; the king applauded still more: and at length conceived such an affection for the minstrel that no office seemed to him too elevated for a man whose ascendancy over him was destined to become so fatal. Godoi was almost immediately promoted from the ranks to be major of a corps of which the monarch was colonel, and no sooner was he thus advanced than he became a counsellor of state. As might naturally be supposed he was very deficient in the attainments necessary for such a post: but that he might not appear quite strange in it, the queen, who was acquainted with all the springs of the administration and the secrets of state, took good care to instruct him. Though a man of very or At the time of his death, in 1801, he was captain-general of Castile. |