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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 - "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay"
Author: Various
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 - "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay"" ***
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE HORTICULTURE: "Portable boilers are convenient for heating
small areas, and are less expensive to install than those described
above." 'install' amended from 'instal'.
ARTICLE HOUSE: "The end walls were closed with wooden studs and
wattle-and-daub filling. The pairs of trees were known as forks or
crucks." 'daub' amended from 'dab'.
ARTICLE HOUSING: "The argument is confirmed by the very substantial
diminution which actually took place between 1891 and 1901."
'between' amended from 'betweeen'.
ARTICLE HOUSING: "In London the percentage fell by 3.7, and the
number of persons overcrowded was reduced by 103,669 in spite of an
increase of population of 324,798." 'percentage' amended from
'precentage'.
ARTICLE HOWARD: "His grandson Thomas succeeded him in 1554, and in
1556 made the second of those marriages which have given the
Howards their high place among the English nobility." 'marriages'
amended from 'marraiges'.
ARTICLE HRABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS: "Returning after the lapse of
two years to Fulda, he was entrusted with the principal charge of
the school, which under his direction rose into a state of great
efficiency for that age, and sent forth such pupils as Walafrid
Strabo, Servatus Lupus of Ferières and Otfrid of Weissenburg." 'as'
amended from 'at'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME XIII, SLICE VII
Horticulture to Hudson Bay
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
HORTICULTURE HOVE
HORTON, CHRISTIANA HOVENDEN, THOMAS
HORTON, ROBERT FORMAN HOW, WILLIAM WALSHAM
HORTON, SAMUEL DANA HOWARD (family)
HORUS HOWARD, CATHERINE
HORWICH HOWARD, JOHN
HOSANNA HOWARD, OLIVER OTIS
HOSE HOWARD, SIR ROBERT
HOSEA HOWARD, LORD WILLIAM
HOSE-PIPE HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM, WILLIAM HOWARD
HOSHANGABAD HOWE, ELIAS
HOSHEA HOWE, JOHN
HOSHIARPUR HOWE, JOSEPH
HOSIERY HOWE, JULIA WARD
HOSIUS HOWE, RICHARD HOWE
HOSIUS, STANISLAUS HOWE, SAMUEL GRIDLEY
HOSKINS, JOHN HOWE, WILLIAM HOWE
HOSMER, HARRIET GOODHUE HOWEL DDA
HOSPICE HOWELL, JAMES
HOSPITAL HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN
HOSPITIUM HOWITT WILLIAM
HOSPODAR HOWITZER
HOST HOWLER
HOSTAGE HOWRAH
HOSTE, SIR WILLIAM HOWSON, JOHN SAUL
HOSTEL HOWTH
HOSTIUS HÖXTER
HOSUR HOY
HOTCH-POT HOYLAKE
HÔTEL-DE-VILLE HOYLAND NETHER
HÔTEL-DIEU HOYLE, EDMUND
HOTHAM, SIR JOHN HOZIER, PIERRE D'
HOTHAM, WILLIAM HOTHAM HRABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS
HOTHO, HEINRICH GUSTAV HRÓLFR KRAKI
HOTI-MARDAN HROSVITHA
HOTMAN, FRANÇOIS HSÜAN TSANG
HOT SPRINGS (Arkansas, U.S.A.) HUAMBISAS
HOT SPRINGS (Virginia, U.S.A.) HUANCAVELICA
HOTTENTOTS HUÁNUCO
HOTTINGER, JOHANN HEINRICH HUARAZ
HOUBRAKEN, JACOBUS HUARTE DE SAN JUAN
HOUDENC, RAOUL DE HUASTECS
HOUDETOT HUBER, FRANÇOIS
HOUDETOT, ELISABETH DE BELLEGARDE HUBER, JOHANN NEPOMUK
HOUDON, JEAN ANTOINE HUBER, LUDWIG FERDINAND
HOUFFALIZE HUBERT, ST
HOUGHTON, RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES HUBERTUSBURG
HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING HUBLI
HOUND HÜBNER, EMIL
HOUNSLOW HÜBNER, JOSEPH ALEXANDER
HOUR HUC, ÉVARISTE RÉGIS
HOUR ANGLE HUCBALD
HOUR-GLASS HU-CHOW-FU
HOURI HUCHOWN
HOURS, CANONICAL HUCHTENBURG
HOUSE HUCKABACK
HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL HUCKLEBERRY
HOUSEL HUCKNALL TORKARD
HOUSELEEK HUCKSTER
HOUSING HUDDERSFIELD
HOUSMAN, LAURENCE HUDSON, GEORGE
HOUSSAYE, ARSÈNE HUDSON, HENRY
HOUSTON, SAM HUDSON, JOHN
HOUSTON HUDSON
HOUWALD, CHRISTOPH ERNST HUDSON BAY
HÒVA
HORTICULTURE (Lat. _hortus_, a garden), the art and science of the
cultivation of garden plants, whether for utilitarian or for decorative
purposes. The subject naturally divides itself into two sections, which
we here propose to treat separately, commencing with the science, and
passing on to the practice of the cultivation of flowers, fruits and
vegetables as applicable to the home garden. The point of view taken is
necessarily, as a rule, that of a British gardener.
PART I.--PRINCIPLES OR SCIENCE OF HORTICULTURE
Horticulture, apart from the mechanical details connected with the
maintenance of a garden and its appurtenances, may be considered as the
application of the principles of plant physiology to the cultivation of
plants from all parts of the globe, and from various altitudes, soils
and situations. The lessons derived from the abstract principles
enunciated by the physiologist, the chemist and the physicist require,
however, to be modified to suit the special circumstances of plants
under cultivation. The necessity for this modification arises from the
fact that such plants are subjected to conditions more or less unnatural
to them, and that they are grown for special purposes which are at
variance, in degree at any rate, with their natural requirements.
The life of the plant (see PLANTS) makes itself manifest in the
processes of growth, development and reproduction. By growth is here
meant mere increase in bulk, and by development the series of gradual
modifications by which a plant, originally simple in its structure and
conformation, becomes eventually complicated, and endowed with distinct
parts or organs. The reproduction of the higher plants takes place
either asexually by the formation of buds or organs answering thereto,
or sexually by the production of an embryo plant within the seed. The
conditions requisite for the growth, development and reproduction of
plants are, in general terms, exposure, at the proper time, to suitable
amounts of light, heat and moisture, and a due supply of appropriate
food. The various amounts of these needed in different cases have to be
adjusted by the gardener, according to the nature of the plant, its
"habit" or general mode of growth in its native country, and the
influence to which it is there subjected, as also in accordance with the
purposes for which it is to be cultivated, &c. It is but rarely that
direct information on all these points can be obtained; but inference
from previous experience, especially with regard to allied forms, will
go far to supply such deficiencies. Moreover, it must be remembered that
the conditions most favourable to plants are not always those to which
they are subjected in nature, for, owing to the competition of other
forms in the struggle for existence, liability to injury from insects,
and other adverse circumstances, plants may actually be excluded from
the localities best suited for their development. The gardener therefore
may, and does, by modifying, improve upon the conditions under which a
plant naturally exists. Thus it frequently happens that in our gardens
flowers have a beauty and a fragrance, and fruits a size and savour
denied to them in their native haunts. It behooves the judicious
gardener, then, not to be too slavish in his attempts to imitate natural
conditions, and to bear in mind that such attempts sometimes end in
failure. The most successful gardening is that which turns to the best
account the plastic organization of the plant, and enables it to develop
and multiply as perfectly as possible. Experience, coupled with
observation and reflection, as well as the more indirect teachings of
tradition, are therefore of primary importance to the practical
gardener.
We propose here to notice briefly the several parts of a flowering
plant, and to point out the rationale of the cultural procedures
connected with them (see the references to separate articles at the end
of article on BOTANY).
_The Root._--The root, though not precluded from access of air, is not
directly dependent for its growth on the agency of light. The
efficiency of drainage, digging, hoeing and like operations is
accounted for by the manner in which they promote aeration of the
soil, raise its temperature and remove its stagnant water. Owing to
their growth in length at, or rather in the immediate vicinity of,
their tips, roots are enabled to traverse long distances by
surmounting some obstacles, penetrating others, and insinuating
themselves into narrow crevices. As they have no power of absorbing
solid materials, their food must be of a liquid or gaseous character.
It is taken up from the interstices between the particles of soil
exclusively by the finest subdivisions of the fibrils, and in many
cases by the extremely delicate thread-like cells which project from
them and which are known as root-hairs. The importance of the
root-fibres, or "feeding roots" justifies the care which is taken by
every good gardener to secure their fullest development, and to
prevent as far as possible any injury to them in digging, potting and
transplanting, such operations being therefore least prejudicial at
seasons when the plant is in a state of comparative rest.
_Root-Pruning and Lifting._--In apparent disregard of the general rule
just enunciated is the practice of root-pruning fruit trees, when,
from the formation of wood being more active than that of fruit, they
bear badly. The contrariety is more apparent than real, as the
operation consists in the removal of the coarser roots, a process
which results in the development of a mass of fine feeding roots.
Moreover, there is a generally recognised quasi-antagonism between the
vegetative and reproductive processes, so that, other things being
equal, anything that checks the one helps forward the other.
_Watering._--So far as practical gardening is concerned, feeding by
the roots after they have been placed in suitable soil is confined
principally to the administration of water and, under certain
circumstances, of liquid or chemical manure; and no operations demand
more judicious management. The amount of water required, and the times
when it should be applied, vary greatly according to the kind of plant
and the object for which it is grown, the season, the supply of heat
and light, and numerous other conditions, the influence of which is to
be learnt by experience only. The same may be said with respect to the
application of manures. The watering of pot-plants requires especial
care. Water should as a rule be used at a temperature not lower than
that of the surrounding atmosphere, and preferably after exposure for
some time to the air.
_Bottom-Heat._--The "optimum" temperature, or that best suited to
promote the general activity of roots, and indeed of all vegetable
organs, necessarily varies very much with the nature of the plant, and
the circumstances in which it is placed, and is ascertained by
practical experience. Artificial heat applied to the roots, called by
gardeners "bottom-heat," is supplied by fermenting materials such as
stable manure, leaves, &c., or by hot-water pipes. In winter the
temperature of the soil, out of doors, beyond a certain depth is
usually higher than that of the atmosphere, so that the roots are in a
warmer and more uniform medium than are the upper parts of the plant.
Often the escape of heat from the soil is prevented by "mulching,"
i.e. by depositing on it a layer of litter, straw, dead leaves and the
like.
The _Stem_ and its subdivisions or branches raise to the light and air
the leaves and flowers, serve as channels for the passage to them of
fluids from the roots, and act as reservoirs for nutritive substances.
Their functions in annual, biennial and herbaceous perennial plants
cease after the ripening of the seed, whilst in plants of longer
duration layer after layer of strong woody tissue is formed, which
enables them to bear the strains which the weight of foliage and the
exposure to wind entail. The gardener aims usually at producing stout,
robust, short-jointed stems, instead of long lanky growths defective
in woody tissue. To secure these conditions free exposure to light and
air is requisite; but in the case of coppices and woods, or where long
straight spars are needed by the forester, plants are allowed to grow
thickly so as to ensure development in an upward rather than in a
lateral direction. This and like matters will, however, be more fitly
considered in dealing hereafter with the buds and their treatment.
_Leaves._--The work of the leaves may briefly be stated to consist of
the processes of nutrition, respiration and transpiration. Nutri tion
(assimilation) by the leaves includes the inhalation of air, and the
interaction under the influence of light and in the presence of
chlorophyll of the carbon dioxide of the air with the water received
from the root, to form carbonaceous food. Respiration in plants, as in
other organisms, is a process that goes on by night as well as by day
and consists in plants in the breaking up of the complex carbonaceous
substances formed by assimilation into less complex and more
transportable substances. This process, which is as yet imperfectly
understood, is attended by the consumption of oxygen, the liberation
of energy in the form of heat, and the exhalation of carbon dioxide
and water vapour. Transpiration is loss of water by the plant by
evaporation, chiefly from the minute pores or stomata on the leaves.
In xerophytic plants (_e.g._ cacti, euphorbias, &c.) from hot, dry and
almost waterless regions where evaporation would be excessive, the
leaf surface, and consequently the number of stomata, are reduced to a
minimum, as it would be fatal to such plants to exhale vapour as
freely in those regions as the broad-leaved plants that grow in places
where there is abundance of moisture. Although transpiration is a
necessary accompaniment of nutrition, it may easily become excessive,
especially where the plant cannot readily recoup itself. In these
circumstances "syringing" and "damping down" are of value in cooling
the temperature of the air in hothouses and greenhouses and increasing
its humidity, thereby checking excessive transpiration. Shading the
glass with canvas or washes during the summer months has the same
object in view. Syringing is also beneficial in washing away dirt and
insects.
_Buds._--The recognition of the various forms of buds and their modes
of disposition in different plants is a matter of the first
consequence in the operations of pruning and training. Flower-buds are
produced either on the old wood, _i.e._ the shoots of the past year's
growth, or on a shoot of the present year. The peach, horse-chestnut,
lilac, morello cherry, black currant, rhododendron and many other
trees and shrubs develop flower-buds for the next season speedily
after blossoming, and these may be stimulated into premature growth.
The peculiar short, stunted branches or "spurs" which bear the
flower-buds of the pear, apple, plum, sweet cherry, red currant,
laburnum, &c., deserve special attention. In the rose, passion-flower,
clematis, honeysuckle, &c., in which the flower-buds are developed at
the ends of the young shoot of the year, we have examples of plants
destitute of flower-buds during the winter.
_Propagation by Buds._--The detached leaf-buds (_gemmae_ or
_bulbils_), of some plants are capable under favourable conditions of
forming new plants. The edges of the leaves of _Bryophyllum calycinum_
and of _Cardamine pratensis_, and the growths in the axils of the
leaves of _Lilium bulbiferum_, as well as the fronds of certain ferns
(e.g. _Asplenium bulbiferum_), produce buds of this character. It is
a matter of familiar observation that the ends of the shoots of
brambles take root when bent down to the ground. In some instances
buds form on the roots, and may be used for purposes of propagation,
as in the Japan quince, the globe thistle, the sea holly, some sea
lavenders, _Bocconia_, _Acanthus_, &c. Of the tendency in buds to
assume an independent existence gardeners avail themselves in the
operations of striking "cuttings," and making "layers" and "pipings,"
as also in budding and grafting. In taking a slip or cutting the
gardener removes from the parent plant a shoot having one or more buds
or "eyes," in the case of the vine one only, and places it in a moist
and sufficiently warm situation, where, as previously mentioned, undue
evaporation from the surface is prevented. For some cuttings, pots
filled with light soil, with the protection of the propagating-house
and of bell-glasses, are requisite; but for many of our hardy
deciduous trees and shrubs no such precautions are necessary, and the
insertion of a short shoot about half its length into moist and gritty
ground at the proper season suffices to ensure its growth. In the case
of the more delicate plants, the formation of roots is preceded by the
production from the cambium of the cuttings of a succulent mass of
tissue, the _callus_. It is important in some cases, _e.g._ zonal
pelargoniums, fuchsias, shrubby calceolarias, dahlias, carnations,
&c., to retain on the cutting some of its leaves, so as to supply the
requisite food for storage in the callus. In other cases, where the
buds themselves contain a sufficiency of nutritive matter for the
young growths, the retention of leaves is not necessary. The most
successful mode of forming roots is to place the cuttings in a mild
bottom-heat, which expedites their growth, even in the case of many
hardy plants whose cuttings strike roots in the open soil. With some
hard-wooded trees, as the common white-thorn, roots cannot be obtained
without bottom-heat. It is a general rule throughout plant culture
that the activity of the roots shall be in advance of that of the
leaves. Cuttings of deciduous trees and shrubs succeed best if planted
early in autumn while the soil still retains the solar heat absorbed
during summer. For evergreens August or September, and for greenhouse
and stove-plants the spring and summer months, are the times most
suitable for propagation by cuttings.
_Layering_ consists simply in bending down a branch and keeping it in
contact with or buried to a small depth in the soil until roots are
formed; the connexion with the parent plant may then be severed. Many
plants can be far more easily propagated thus than by cuttings.
_Grafting_ or "_working_" consists in the transfer of a branch, the
"graft" or "scion," from one plant to another, which latter is termed
the "stock." The operation must be so performed that the growing
tissues, or cambium-layer of the scion, may fit accurately to the
corresponding layer of the stock. In _budding_, as with roses and
peaches, a single bud only is implanted. _Inarching_ is essentially
the promotion of the union of a shoot of one plant to that of another
of the same or allied species or variety. The outer bark of each being
removed, the two shoots are kept in contact by ligature until union is
established, when the scion is completely severed from its original
attachments. This operation is varied in detail according to the kind
of plant to be propagated, but it is essential in all cases that the
affinity between the two plants be near, that the union be neatly
effected, and that the ratio as well as the season of growth of stock
and scion be similar.
The selection of suitable stocks is a matter still requiring much
scientific experiment. The object of grafting is to expedite and
increase the formation of flowers and fruit. Strong-growing pears, for
instance, are grafted on the quince stock in order to restrict their
tendency to form "gross" shoots and a superabundance of wood in place
of flowers and fruit. Apples, for the same reason, are "worked" on the
"paradise" or "doucin" stocks, which from their influence on the scion
are known as dwarfing stocks. Scions from a tree which is weakly, or
liable to injury by frosts, are strengthened by engrafting on robust
stocks. Lindley has pointed out that, while in Persia, its native
country, the peach is probably best grafted on the peach, or on its
wild type the almond, in England, where the summer temperature of the
soil is much lower than that of Persia, it might be expected, as
experience has proved, to be most successful on stocks of the native
plum.
The soil in which the stock grows is a point demanding attention. From
a careful series of experiments made in the Horticultural Society's
Garden at Chiswick, it was found that where the soil is loamy, or
light and slightly enriched with decayed vegetable matter, the apple
succeeds best on the doucin stock, and the pear on the quince; and
where it is chalky it is preferable to graft the apple on the crab,
and the pear on the wild pear. For the plum on loamy soils the plum,
and on chalky and light soils the almond, are the most desirable
stocks, and for the cherry on loamy or light rich soils the wild
cherry, and on chalk the "mahaleb" stock.
The form and especially the quality of fruit is more or less affected
by the stock upon which it is grown. The Stanwick nectarine, so apt to
crack and not to ripen when worked in the ordinary way, is said to be
cured of these propensities by being first budded close to the ground,
on a very strong-growing Magnum Bonum plum, worked on a Brussels
stock, and by then budding the nectarine on the Magnum Bonum about a
foot from the ground. The fruit of the pear is of a higher colour and
smaller on the quince stock than on the wild pear; still more so on
the medlar. On the mountain ash the pear becomes earlier.
The effects produced by stock on scion, and more particularly by scion
on stock, are as a rule with difficulty appreciable. Nevertheless, in
exceptional cases modified growths, termed "graft-hybrids," have been
obtained which have been attributed to the commingling of the
characteristics of stock and scion (see HYBRIDISM). Of these the most
remarkable example is _Cytisus Adami_, a tree which year after year
produces some shoots, foliage and flowers like those of the common
laburnum, others like those of the very different looking dwarf shrub
_C. purpureus_, and others again intermediate between these. We may
hence infer that _C. purpureus_ was grafted or budded on the common
laburnum, and that the intermediate forms are the result of
graft-hybridization. Numerous similar facts have been recorded. Among
gardeners the general opinion is against the possibility of
graft-hybridization. The wonder, however, seems to be that it does not
occur more frequently, seeing that fluids must pass from stock to
scion, and matter elaborated in the leaves of the scion must certainly
to some extent enter the stock. It is clear, nevertheless, from
examination that as a rule the wood of the stock and the wood of the
scion retain their external characters year by year without change.
Still, as in the laburnum just mentioned, in the variegated jasmine
and in _Abutilon Darwinii_, in the copper beech and in the
horse-chestnut, the influence of a variegated scion has occasionally
shown itself in the production from the stock of variegated shoots. At
a meeting of the Scottish Horticultural Association (see _Gard.
Chron._, Jan. 10, 1880, figs. 12-14) specimens of a small roundish
pear, the "Aston Town," and of the elongated kind known as "Beurré
Clairgeau," were exhibited. Two more dissimilar pears hardly exist.
The result of working the Beurré Clairgeau upon the Aston Town was the
production of fruits precisely intermediate in size, form, colour,
speckling of rind and other characteristics. Similar, though less
marked, intermediate characters were obvious in the foliage and
flowers.
Double grafting (French, _greffe sur greffe_) is sufficiently
explained by its name. By means of it a variety may often be
propagated, or its fruit improved in a way not found practicable under
ordinary circumstances. For its successful prosecution prolonged
experiments in different localities and in gardens devoted to the
purpose are requisite.
_Planting._--By removal from one place to another the growth of every
plant receives a check. How this check can be obviated or reduced,
with regard to the season, the state of atmosphere, and the condition
and circumstances of the plant generally, is a matter to be considered
by the practical gardener.
As to season, it is now admitted with respect to deciduous trees and
shrubs that the earlier in autumn planting is performed the better;
although some extend it from the period when the leaves fall to the
first part of spring, before the sap begins to move. If feasible, the
operation should be completed by the end of November, whilst the soil
is still warm with the heat absorbed during summer. Attention to this
rule is specially important in the case of rare and delicate plants.
Early autumn planting enables wounded parts of roots to be healed
over, and to form fibrils, which will be ready in spring, when it is
most required, to collect food for the plant. Planting late in spring
should, as far as possible, be avoided, for the buds then begin to
awaken into active life, and the draught upon the roots becomes great.
It has been supposed that because the surface of the young leaves is
small transpiration is correspondingly feeble; but it must be
remembered, not only that their newly-formed tissue is unable without
an abundant supply of sap from the roots to resist the excessive
drying action of the atmosphere, but that, in spring, the lowness of
the temperature at that season in Great Britain prevents the free
circulation of the sap. The comparative dryness of the atmosphere in
spring also causes a greater amount of transpiration then than in
autumn and winter. Another fact in favour of autumnal planting is the
production of roots in winter.
The best way of performing transplantation depends greatly on the size
of the trees, the soil in which they grow, and the mechanical
appliances made use of in lifting and transporting them. The smaller
the tree the more successfully can it be removed. The more
argillaceous and the less siliceous the soil the more readily can
balls of earth be retained about the roots. All planters lay great
stress on the preservation of the fibrils; the point principally
disputed is to what extent they can with safety be allowed to be cut
off in transplantation. Trees and shrubs in thick plantations, or in
sheltered warm places, are ill fitted for planting in bleak and cold
situations. During their removal it is important that the roots be
covered, if only to prevent desiccation by the air. Damp days are
therefore the best for the operation; the dryest months are the most
unfavourable. Though success in transplanting depends much on the
humidity of the atmosphere, the most important requisite is warmth in
the soil; humidity can be supplied artificially, but heat cannot.
_Pruning_, or the removal of superfluous growths, is practised in
order to equalize the development of the different parts of trees, or
to promote it in particular directions so as to secure a certain form,
and, by checking undue luxuriance, to promote enhanced fertility. In
the rose-bush, for instance, in which, as we have seen, the
flower-buds are formed on the new wood of the year, pruning causes the
old wood to "break," i.e. to put forth a number of new buds, some of
which will produce flowers at their extremities. The manner and the
time in which pruning should be accomplished, and its extent, vary
with the plant, the objects of the operation, i.e. whether for the
production of timber or fruit, the season and various other
circumstances. So much judgment and experience does the operation call
for that it is a truism to say that bad pruning is worse than none.
The removal of weakly, sickly, overcrowded and gross infertile shoots
is usually, however, a matter about which there can be few mistakes
when once the habit of growth and the form and arrangement of the buds
are known. Winter pruning is effected when the tree is comparatively
at rest, and is therefore less liable to "bleeding" or outpouring of
sap. Summer pruning or pinching off the tips of such of the younger
shoots as are not required for the extension of the tree, when not
carried to too great an extent, is preferable to the coarser more
reckless style of pruning. The injury inflicted is less and not so
concentrated; the wounds are smaller, and have time to heal before
winter sets in. The effects of badly-executed pruning, or rather
hacking, are most noticeable in the case of forest trees, the
mutilation of which often results in rotting, canker and other
diseases. Judicious and timely thinning so as to allow the trees room
to grow, and to give them sufficiency of light and air, will generally
obviate the need of the pruning-saw, except to a relatively small
extent.
_Training_ is a procedure adopted when it is required to grow plants
in a limited area, or in a particular shape, as in the case of many
plants of trailing habit. Judicious training also may be of importance
as encouraging the formation of flowers and fruit. Growth in length is
mainly in a vertical direction, or at least at the ends of the shoots;
and this should be encouraged, in the case of a timber tree, or of a
climbing plant which it is desired should cover a wall quickly; but
where flowers or fruit are specially desired, then, when the wood
required is formed, the lateral shoots may often be trained more or
less downward to induce fertility. The refinements of training, as of
pruning, may, however, be carried too far; and not unfrequently the
symmetrically trained trees of the French excite admiration in every
respect save fertility.
_Sports or Bud Variations._--Here we may conveniently mention certain
variations from the normal condition in the size, form or disposition
of buds or shoots on a given plant. An inferior variety of pear, for
instance, may suddenly produce a shoot bearing fruit of superior
quality; a beech tree, without obvious cause, a shoot with finely
divided foliage; or a camellia an unwontedly fine flower. When removed
from the plant and treated as cuttings or grafts, such sports may be
perpetuated. Many garden varieties of flowers and fruits have thus
originated. The cause of their production is very obscure.
_Formation of Flowers._--Flowers, whether for their own sake or as the
necessary precursors of the fruit and seed, are objects of the
greatest concern to the gardener. As a rule they are not formed until
the plant has arrived at a certain degree of vigour, or until a
sufficient supply of nourishment has been stored in the tissues of the
plant. The reproductive process of which the formation of the flower
is the first stage being an exhaustive one, it is necessary that the
plant, as gardeners say, should get "established" before it flowers.
Moreover, although the green portions of the flower do indeed perform
the same office as the leaves, the more highly coloured and more
specialized portions, which are further removed from the typical
leaf-form, do not carry on those processes for which the presence of
chlorophyll is essential; and the floral organs may, therefore, in a
rough sense, be said to be parasitic upon the green parts. A check or
arrest of growth in the vegetative organs seems to be a necessary
preliminary to the development of the flower.
A diminished supply of water at the root is requisite, so as to check
energy of growth, or rather to divert it from leaf-making. Partial
starvation will sometimes effect this; hence the grafting of
free-growing fruit trees upon dwarfing stocks, as before alluded to,
and also the "ringing" or girdling of fruit trees, i.e. the removal
from the branch of a ring of bark, or the application of a tight
cincture, in consequence of which the growth of the fruits above the
wound or the obstruction is enhanced. On the same principle the use of
small pots to confine the roots, root-pruning and lifting the roots,
and exposing them to the sun, as is done in the case of the vine in
some countries, are resorted to. A higher temperature, especially with
deficiency of moisture, will tend to throw a plant into a flowering
condition. This is exemplified by the fact that the temperature of the
climate of Great Britain is too low for the flowering, though
sufficiently high for the growth of many plants. Thus the Jerusalem
artichoke, though able to produce stems and tubers abundantly, only
flowers in exceptionally hot seasons.
_Forcing._--The operation of forcing is based upon the facts just
mentioned. By subjecting a plant to a gradually increasing
temperature, and supplying water in proportion, its growth may be
accelerated; its season of development may be, as it were,
anticipated; it is roused from a dormant to an active state. Forcing
therefore demands the most careful adjustment of temperature and
supplies of moisture and light.
Deficiency of light is less injurious than might at first be expected,
because the plant to be forced has stored up in its tissues, and
available for use, a reserve stock of material formed through the
agency of light in former seasons. The intensity of the colour of
flowers and the richness of flavour of fruit are, however, deficient
where there is feebleness of light. Recent experiments show that the
influence of electric light on chlorophyll is similar to that of
sunlight, and that deficiencies of natural light may to some extent be
made good by its use. The employment of that light for forcing
purposes would seem to be in part a question of expense. The advantage
hitherto obtained from its use has consisted in the rapidity with
which flowers have been formed and fruits ripened under its influence,
circumstances which go towards compensating for the extra cost of
production.
_Retardation._--The art of retarding the period of flowering in
certain plants consists, in principle, in the artificial application
of cold temperatures whereby the resting condition induced by low
winter temperature is prolonged. For commercial purposes, crowns of
lily of the valley, tulip and other bulbs, and such deciduous woody
plants as lilac and deciduous species of rhododendron, while in a
state of rest, are packed in wet moss and introduced into cold-storage
chambers, where they may be kept in a state of quiescence, it desired,
throughout the following summer. The temperature of the cold chamber
is varied from the freezing-point of water, to a few degrees lower,
according to the needs of the plants under treatment. When required
for use they are removed to cool sheds to thaw, and are then gradually
inured to higher temperatures. The chief advantages of retarded plants
are:--(a) they may be flowered almost at will; (b) they are readily
induced to flower at those times when unretarded plants refuse to
respond to forcing. Cold-storage chambers form a part of the equipment
of most of the leading establishments where flowers are grown for
market.
_Double Flowers._--The taste of the day demands that "double flowers"
should be largely grown. Though in many instances, as in hyacinths,
they are less beautiful than single ones, they always present the
advantage of being less evanescent. Under the vague term "double" many
very different morphological changes are included. The flower of a
double dahlia, e.g. offers a totally different condition of structure
from that of a rose or a hyacinth. The double poinsettia, again, owes
its so-called double condition merely to the increased number of its
scarlet involucral leaves, which are not parts of the flower at all.
It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that the causes leading to the
production of double flowers are varied. A good deal of difference of
opinion exists as to whether they are the result of arrested growth or
of exuberant development, and accordingly whether restricted food or
abundant supplies of nourishment are the more necessary for their
production. It must suffice here to say that double flowers are most
commonly the result of the substitution of brightly-coloured petals
for stamens or pistils or both, and that a perfectly double flower
where all the stamens and pistils are thus metamorphosed is
necessarily barren. Such a plant must needs be propagated by cuttings.
It rarely happens, however, that the change is quite complete
throughout the flower, and so a few seeds may be formed, some of which
may be expected to reproduce the double-blossomed plants. By
continuous selection of seed from the best varieties, and "roguing" or
eliminating plants of the ordinary type, a "strain" or race of double
flowers is gradually produced.
_Formation of Seed--Fertilization._--In fertilization--the influence
in flowering plants of the male-cell in the pollen tube upon the
egg-cell in the ovule (see BOTANY)--there are many circumstances of
importance horticulturally, to which, therefore, brief reference must
be made. Flowers, generally speaking, are either self-fertilized,
cross-fertilized or hybridized. Self-fertilization occurs when the
pollen of a given flower affects the egg-cell of the same individual
flower. Cross-fertilization varies both in manner and degree. In the
simplest instances the pollen of one flower fertilizes the ovules of
another on the same plant, owing to the stamens arriving at maturity
in any one flower earlier or later than the pistils.
Cross-fertilization must of necessity occur when the flowers are
structurally unisexual, as in the hazel, in which the male and female
flowers are monoecious, or separate on the same plant, and in the
willow, in which they are dioecious, or on different plants. A
conspicuous example of a dioecious plant is the common aucuba, of
which for years only the female plant was known in Britain. When,
through the introduction of the male plant from Japan, its
fertilization was rendered possible, ripe berries, before unknown,
became common ornaments of the shrub.
The conveyance of pollen from one flower to another in
cross-fertilization is effected naturally by the wind, or by the
agency of insects and other creatures. Flowers that require the aid of
insects usually offer some attraction to their visitors in the shape
of bright colour, fragrance or sweet juices. The colour and markings
of a flower often serve to guide the insects to the honey, in the
obtaining of which they are compelled either to remove or to deposit
pollen. The reciprocal adaptations of insects and flowers demand
attentive observation on the part of the gardener concerned with the
growing of grapes, cucumbers, melons and strawberries, or with the
raising of new and improved varieties of plants. In wind-fertilized
plants the flowers are comparatively inconspicuous and devoid of much
attraction for insects; and their pollen is smoother and smaller, and
better adapted for transport by the wind, than that of
insect-fertilized plants, the roughness of which adapts it for
attachment to the bodies of insects.
It is very probable that the same flower at certain times and seasons
is self-fertilizing, and at others not so. The defects which cause
gardeners to speak of certain vines as "shy setters," and of certain
strawberries as "blind," may be due either to unsuitable conditions of
external temperature, or to the non-accomplishment, from some cause or
other, of cross-fertilization. In a vinery, tomato-house or a
peach-house it is often good practice at the time of flowering to tap
the branches smartly with a stick so as to ensure the dispersal of the
pollen. Sometimes more delicate and direct manipulation is required,
and the gardener has himself to convey the pollen from one flower to
another, for which purpose a small camel's-hair pencil is generally
suitable. The degree of fertility varies greatly according to external
conditions, the structural and functional arrangements just alluded
to, and other causes which may roughly be called constitutional. Thus,
it often happens that an apparently very slight change in climate
alters the degree of fertility. In a particular country or at certain
seasons one flower will be self-sterile or nearly so, and another just
the opposite.
_Hybridization._--Some of the most interesting results and many of the
gardener's greatest triumphs have been obtained by hybridization, i.e.
the crossing of two individuals not of the same but of two distinct
species of plants, as, for instance, two species of rhododendron or
two species of orchid (see HYBRIDISM). It is obvious that
hybridization differs more in degree than in kind from
cross-fertilization. The occurrence of hybrids in nature explains the
difficulty experienced by botanists in deciding on what is a species,
and the widely different limitations of the term adopted by different
observers in the case of willows, roses, brambles, &c. The artificial
process is practically the same in hybridization as in
cross-fertilization, but usually requires more care. To prevent
self-fertilization, or the access of insects, it is advisable to
remove the stamens and even the corolla from the flower to be
impregnated, as its own pollen or that of a flower of the same species
is often found to be "prepotent." There are, however, cases, e.g. some
passion-flowers and rhododendrons, in which a flower is more or less
sterile with its own, but fertile with foreign pollen, even when this
is from a distinct species. It is a singular circumstance that
reciprocal crosses are not always or even often possible; thus, one
rhododendron may afford pollen perfectly potent on the stigma of
another kind, by the pollen of which latter its own stigma is
unaffected.
The object of the hybridizer is to obtain varieties exhibiting
improvements in hardihood, vigour, size, shape, colour, fruitfulness,
resistance to disease or other attributes. His success depends not
alone on skill and judgment, for some seasons, or days even, are found
more propitious than others. Although promiscuous and hap-hazard
procedures no doubt meet with a measure of success, the best results
are those which are attained by systematic work with a definite aim.
Hybrids are sometimes less fertile than pure-bred species, and are
occasionally quite sterile. Some hybrids, however, are as fertile as
pure-bred plants. Hybrid plants may be again crossed, or even
re-hybridized, so as to produce a progeny of very mixed parentage.
This is the case with many of our roses, dahlias, begonias,
pelargoniums, orchids and other long or widely cultivated garden
plants.
_Reversion._--In modified forms of plants there is frequently a
tendency to "sport" or revert to parental or ancestral
characteristics. So markedly is this the case with hybrids that in a
few generations all traces of a hybrid origin may disappear. The
dissociation of the hybrid element in a plant must be obviated by
careful selection. The researches of Gregor Johann Mendel (1822-1884),
abbot of the Augustinian monastery at Brünn, in connexion with peas
and other plants, apparently indicate that there is a definite natural
law at work in the production of hybrids. Having crossed yellow and
green seeded peas both ways, he found that the progeny resulted in
_all yellow_ coloured seeds. These gave rise in due course to a second
generation in which there were three yellows to one green. In the
third generation the yellows from the second generation gave the
proportion of one pure yellow, two impure yellows, and one green;
while the green seed of the second generation threw only green seeds
in the third, fourth and fifth generations. The pure yellow in the
third generation also threw pure yellows in the fourth and fifth and
succeeding generations. The impure yellows, however, in the next
generation gave rise to one pure yellow, one pure green, to two impure
yellows, and so on from generation to generation. Accordingly as the
green or the yellow predominated in the progeny it was termed
"dominant," while the colour that disappeared was called "recessive."
It happened, however, that a recessive colour in one generation
becomes the dominant in a succeeding one.
_Germination._--The length of the period during which seeds remain
dormant after their formation is very variable. The conditions for
germination are much the same as for growth in general. Access to
light is not required, because the seed contains a sufficiency of
stored-up food. The temperature necessary varies according to the
nature and source of the seed. Some seeds require prolonged immersion
in water to soften their shells; others are of so delicate a texture
that they would dry up and perish if not kept constantly in a moist
atmosphere. Seeds buried too deeply receive a deficient supply of air.
As a rule, seeds require to be sown more deeply in proportion to their
size and the lightness of the soil.
The time required for germination in the most favourable circumstances
varies very greatly, even in the same species, and in seeds taken from
one pod. Thus the seeds of _Primula japonica_, though sown under
precisely similar conditions, yet come up at very irregular intervals
of time. Germination is often slower where there is a store of
available food in the perisperm, or in the endosperm, or in the embryo
itself, than where this is scanty or wanting. In the latter case the
seedling has early to shift for itself, and to form roots and leaves
for the supply of its needs.
_Selection._--Supposing seedlings to have been developed, it is found
that a large number of them present considerable variations, some
being especially robust, others peculiar in size or form. Those most
suitable for the purpose of the gardener are carefully selected for
propagation, while others not so desirable are destroyed; and thus
after a few generations a fixed variety, race or strain superior to
the original form is obtained. Many garden plants have originated
solely by selection; and much has been done to improve our breeds of
vegetables, flowers and fruit by systematic selection.
Large and well-formed seeds are to be preferred for harvesting. The
seeds should be kept in sacks or bags in a dry place, and if from
plants which are rare, or liable to lose their vitality, they are
advantageously packed for transmission to a distance in hermetically
sealed bottles or jars filled with earth or moss, without the addition
of moisture.
It will have been gathered from what has been said that seeds cannot
always be depended on to reproduce exactly the characteristics of the
plant which yielded them; for instance, seeds of the greengage plum or
of the Ribston pippin will produce a plum or an apple, but not these
particular varieties, to perpetuate which grafts or buds must be
employed. (M. T. M.; W. R. W.)
PART II.--THE PRACTICE OF HORTICULTURE
The details of horticultural practice naturally range under the three
heads of flowers, fruits and vegetables (see also FRUIT AND FLOWER
FARMING). There are, however, certain general aspects of the subject
which will be more conveniently noticed apart, since they apply alike to
each department. We shall therefore first treat of these under four
headings: formation and preparation of the garden, garden structures and
edifices, garden materials and appliances, and garden operations.
I. _Formation and Preparation of the Garden._
_Site._--The site chosen for the mansion will more or less determine
that of the garden, the pleasure grounds and flower garden being placed
so as to surround or lie contiguous to it, while the fruit and vegetable
gardens, either together or separate, should be placed on one side or in
the rear, according to fitness as regards the nature of the soil and
subsoil, the slope of the surface or the general features of the park
scenery. In the case of villa gardens there is usually little choice:
the land to be occupied is cut up into plots, usually rectangular, and
of greater or less breadth, and in laying out these plots there is
generally a smaller space left in the front of the villa residence and a
larger one behind, the front plot being usually devoted to approaches,
shrubbery and plantations, flower beds being added if space permits,
while the back or more private plot has a piece of lawn grass with
flower beds next the house, and a space for vegetables and fruit trees
at the far end, this latter being shut off from the lawn by an
intervening screen of evergreens or other plants. Between these two
classes of gardens there are many gradations, but our remarks will
chiefly apply to those of larger extent.
The almost universal practice is to have the fruit and vegetable gardens
combined; and the flower garden may sometimes be conveniently placed in
juxtaposition with them. When the fruit and vegetable gardens are
combined, the smaller and choicer fruit trees only should be admitted,
such larger-growing hardy fruits as apples, pears, plums, cherries, &c.,
being relegated to the orchard.
Ground possessing a gentle inclination towards the south is desirable
for a garden. On such a slope effectual draining is easily accomplished,
and the greatest possible benefit is derived from the sun's rays. It is
well also to have an open exposure towards the east and west, so that
the garden may enjoy the full benefit of the morning and evening sun,
especially the latter; but shelter is desirable on the north and
north-east, or in any direction in which the particular locality may
happen to be exposed. In some places the south-western gales are so
severe that a belt of trees is useful as a break wind and shelter.
_Soil and Subsoil._--A hazel-coloured loam, moderately light in texture,
is well adapted for most garden crops, whether of fruits or vegetables,
especially a good warm deep loam resting upon chalk; and if such a soil
occurs naturally in the selected site, but little will be required in
the way of preparation. If the soil is not moderately good and of fair
depth, it is not so favourable for gardening purposes. Wherever the soil
is not quite suitable, but is capable of being made so, it is best to
remedy the defect at the outset by trenching it all over to a depth of 2
or 3 ft., incorporating plenty of manure with it. A heavy soil, although
at first requiring more labour, generally gives far better results when
worked than a light soil. The latter is not sufficiently retentive of
moisture and gets too hot in summer and requires large quantities of
organic manures to keep it in good condition. It is advantageous to
possess a variety of soils; and if the garden be on a slope it will
often be practicable to render the upper part light and dry, while the
lower remains of a heavier and damper nature.
Natural soils consist of substances derived from the decomposition of
various kinds of rocks, the bulk consisting of clay, silica and lime, in
various proportions. As regards preparation, draining is of course of
the utmost importance. The ground should also be trenched to the depth
of 3 ft. at least, and the deeper the better so as to bring up the
subsoil--whether it be clay, sand, gravel, marl, &c.--for exposure to
the weather and thus convert it from a sterile mass into a living soil
teeming with bacteria. In this operation all stones larger than a man's
fist must be taken out, and all roots of trees and of perennial weeds
carefully cleared away. When the whole ground has been thus treated, a
moderate liming will, in general, be useful, especially on heavy clay
soils. After this, supposing the work to have occupied most of the
summer, the whole may be laid up in ridges, to expose as great a surface
as possible to the action of the winter's frost.
Argillaceous or clay soils are those which contain a large percentage
(45-50) of clay, and a small percentage (5 or less) of lime. These are
unfitted for garden purposes until improved by draining, liming,
trenching and the addition of porous materials, such as ashes, burnt
ballast or sand, but when thoroughly improved they are very fertile
and less liable to become exhausted than most other soils. Loamy soils
contain a considerable quantity (30-45%) of clay, and smaller
quantities of lime, humus and sand. Such soils properly drained and
prepared are very suitable for orchards, and when the proportion of
clay is smaller (20-30%) they form excellent garden soils, in which
the better sort of fruit trees luxuriate. Marly soils are those which
contain a considerable percentage (10-20) of lime, and are called clay
marls, loamy marls and sandy marls, according as these several
ingredients preponderate. The clay marls are, like clay soils, too
stiff for garden purposes until well worked and heavily manured; but
loamy marls are fertile and well suited to fruit trees, and sandy
marls are adapted for producing early crops. Calcareous soils, which
may also be heavy, intermediate or light, are those which contain more
than 20% of lime, their fertility depending on the proportions of clay
and sand which enter into their composition; they are generally cold
and wet. Vegetable soils or moulds, or humus soils, contain a
considerable percentage (more than 5) of humus, and embrace both the
rich productive garden moulds and those known as peaty soils.
The nature of the subsoil is of scarcely less importance than that of
the surface soil. Many gardeners are still afraid to disturb an
unsuitable subsoil, but experienced growers have proved that by bringing
it up to the surface and placing plenty of manure in the bottoms of the
various trenches, the very best results are attained in the course of a
season or so. An uneven subsoil, especially if retentive, is most
undesirable, as water is apt to collect in the hollows, and thus affect
the upper soil. The remedy is to make the plane of its surface agree
with that of the ground. When there is a hard pan this should be broken
up with the spade or the fork, and have plenty of manure mixed with it.
When there is an injurious preponderance of metallic oxides or other
deleterious substances, the roots of trees would be affected by them,
and they must therefore be removed. When the subsoil is too compact to
be pervious to water, effectual drainage must be resorted to; when it is
very loose, so that it drains away the fertile ingredients of the soil
as well as those which are artificially supplied, the compactness of the
stratum should be increased by the addition of clay, marl or loam. The
best of all subsoils is a dry bed of clay overlying sandstone.
_Plan._--In laying out the garden, the plan should be prepared in minute
detail before commencing operations. The form of the kitchen and fruit
garden should be square or oblong, rather than curvilinear, since the
working and cropping of the ground can thus be more easily carried out.
The whole should be compactly arranged, so as to facilitate working, and
to afford convenient access for the carting of the heavy materials. This
access is especially desirable as regards the store-yards and framing
ground, where fermenting manures and tree leaves for making up hot beds,
coals or wood for fuel and ingredients for composts, together with
flower-pots and the many necessaries of garden culture, have to be
accommodated. In the case of villas or picturesque residences, gardens
of irregular form may be permitted; when adapted to the conditions of
the locality, they associate better with surrounding objects, but in
such gardens wall space is usually limited.
The distribution of paths must be governed by circumstances. Generally
speaking, the main paths for cartage should be 8 ft. wide, made up of 9
in. hard core covered by 4 in. of gravel or ash, with a gentle rise to
centre to throw off surface water. The smaller paths, not intended for
cartage, should be 4 ft. to 6 ft. wide, according to circumstances, made
up of 6 in. hard core and 3 in. of gravel or ash, and should be slightly
raised at centre.
A considerable portion of the north wall is usually covered in front
with the glazed structures called forcing-houses, and to these the
houses for ornamental plants are sometimes attached; but a more
appropriate site for the latter is the flower garden, when that forms a
separate department. It is well, however, that everything connected with
the forcing of fruits or flowers should be concentrated in one place.
The frame ground, including melon and pine pits, should occupy some
well-sheltered spot in the slips, or on one side of the garden, and
adjoining to this may be found a suitable site for the compost ground,
in which the various kinds of soils are kept in store, and in which also
composts may be prepared.
As walls afford valuable space for the growth of the choicer kinds of
hardy fruits, the direction in which they are built is of considerable
importance. In the warmer parts of the country the wall on the north
side of the garden should be so placed as to face the sun at about an
hour before noon, or a little to the east of south; in less favoured
localities it should be made to face direct south, and in still more
unfavourable districts it should face the sun an hour after noon, or a
little west of south. The east and west walls should run parallel to
each other, and at right angles to that on the north side, in all the
most favoured localities; but in colder or later ones, though parallel,
they should be so far removed from a right angle as to get the sun by
eleven o'clock. On the whole, the form of a parallelogram with its
longest sides in the proportion of about five to three of the shorter,
and running east and west, may be considered the best form, since it
affords a greater extent of south wall than any other.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Plan of Garden an acre in area.]
Fig. 1 represents a garden of one acre and admits of nearly double the
number of trees on the south aspect as compared with the east and
west; it allows a greater number of espalier or pyramid trees to face
the south; and it admits of being divided into equal principal
compartments, each of which forms nearly a square. The size of course
can be increased to any requisite extent. That of the royal gardens at
Frogmore, 760 ft. from east to west and 440 ft. from north to south,
is nearly of the same proportions.
The spaces between the walls and the outer fence are called "slips." A
considerable extent is sometimes thus enclosed, and utilized for the
growth of such vegetables as potatoes, winter greens and sea-kale, for
the small bush fruits, and for strawberries. The slips are also
convenient as affording a variety of aspects, and thus helping to
prolong the season of particular vegetable crops.
_Shelter._--A screen of some kind to temper the fury of the blast is
absolutely necessary. If the situation is not naturally well sheltered,
the defect may be remedied by masses of forest trees disposed at a
considerable distance so as not to shade the walls or fruit trees. They
should not be nearer than, say, 50 yds., and may vary from that to 100
or 150 yds. distance according to circumstances, regard being had
especially to peculiarities occasioned by the configuration of the
country, as for instance to aerial currents from adjacent eminences.
Care should be taken, however, not to hem in the garden by crowded
plantations, shelter from the prevailing strong winds being all that is
required, while the more open it is in other directions the better. The
trees employed for screens should include both those of deciduous and of
evergreen habit, and should suit the peculiarities of local soil and
climate. Of deciduous trees the sycamore, wych-elm, horse-chestnut,
beech, lime, plane and poplar may be used,--the abele or white poplar,
_Populus alba_, being one of the most rapid-growing of all trees, and,
like other poplars, well suited for nursing other choicer subjects;
while of evergreens, the holm oak, holly, laurel (both common and
Portugal), and such conifers as the Scotch, Weymouth and Austrian pines,
with spruce and silver firs and yews, are suitable. The conifers make
the most effective screens.
Extensive gardens in exposed situations are often divided into
compartments by hedges, so disposed as to break the force of high winds.
Where these are required to be narrow as well as lofty, holly, yew or
beech is to be preferred; but, if there is sufficient space, the
beautiful laurel and the bay may be employed where they will thrive.
Smaller hedges may be formed of evergreen privet or of tree-box. These
subordinate divisions furnish, not only shelter but also shade, which,
at certain seasons, is peculiarly valuable.
Belts of shrubbery may be placed round the slips outside the walls; and
these may in many cases, or in certain parts, be of sufficient breadth
to furnish pleasant retired promenades, at the same time that they serve
to mask the formality of the walled gardens, and are made to harmonize
with the picturesque scenery of the pleasure ground.
_Water Supply._--Although water is one of the most important elements in
plant life, we do not find one garden in twenty where even ordinary
precautions have been taken to secure a competent supply. Rain-water is
the best, next to that river or pond water, and last of all that from
springs; but a chemical analysis should be made of the last before
introducing it, as some spring waters contain mineral ingredients
injurious to vegetation. Iron pipes are the best conductors; they should
lead to a capacious open reservoir placed outside the garden, and at the
highest convenient level, in order to secure sufficient pressure for
effective distribution, and so that the wall trees also may be
effectually washed. Stand-pipes should be placed at intervals beside the
walks and in other convenient places, from which water may at all times
be drawn; and to which a garden hose can be attached, so as to permit of
the whole garden being readily watered. The mains should be placed under
the walks for safety, and also that they may be easily reached when
repairs are required. Pipes should also be laid having a connexion with
all the various greenhouses and forcing-houses, each of which should be
provided with a cistern for aerating the daily supplies. In fact, every
part of the garden, including the working sheds and offices, should have
water supplied without stint.
_Fence._--Gardens of large extent should be encircled by an outer
boundary, which is often formed by a sunk wall or ha-ha surrounded by an
invisible wire fence to exclude ground game, or consists of a hedge with
low wire fence on its inner side. Occasionally this sunk wall is placed
on the exterior of the screen plantations, and walks lead through the
trees, so that views are obtained of the adjacent country. Although the
interior garden receives its form from the walls, the ring fence and
plantations may be adapted to the shape and surface of the ground. In
smaller country gardens the enclosure or outer fence is often a hedge,
and there is possibly no space enclosed by walls, but some divisional
wall having a suitable aspect is utilized for the growth of peaches,
apricots, &c., and the hedge merely separates the garden from a paddock
used for grazing. The still smaller gardens of villas are generally
bounded by a wall or wood fence, the inner side of which is appropriated
to fruit trees. For the latter walls are much more convenient and
suitable than a boarded fence, but in general these are too low to be of
much value as aids to cultivation, and they are best covered with bush
fruits or with ornamental plants of limited growth.
_Walks._--The best material for the construction of garden walks is good
binding gravel. The ground should be excavated to the depth of a foot or
more--the bottom being made firm and slightly concave, so that it may
slope to the centre, where a drain should be introduced; or the bottom
may be made convex and the water allowed to drain away at the sides. The
bottom 9 in. should be filled in compactly with hard, coarse materials,
such as stones, brickbats, clinkers, burned clay, &c., on which should
be laid 2 or 3 in. of coarse gravel, and then 1 or 2 in. of firm binding
gravel on the surface. The surface of the walks should be kept well
rolled, for nothing contributes more to their elegance and durability.
All the principal lines of walk should be broad enough to allow at least
three persons to walk abreast; the others may be narrower, but a
multitude of narrow walks has a puny effect. Much of the neatness of
walks depends upon the material of which they are made. Gravel from an
inland pit is to be preferred; though occasionally very excellent
varieties are found upon the sea-coast. Gravel walks must be kept free
from weeds, either by hand weeding, or by the use of one of the many
weed killers now on the market. In some parts of the country the
available material does not bind to form a close, even surface, and such
walks are kept clean by hoeing.
Grass walks were common in English gardens during the prevalence of the
Dutch taste, but, owing to the frequent humidity of the climate, they
have in a great measure been discarded. Grass walks are made in the same
way as grass lawns. When the space to be thus occupied is prepared, a
thin layer of sand or poor earth is laid upon the surface and over this
a similar layer of good soil. This arrangement is adopted in order to
prevent excessive luxuriance in the grass. In many modern gardens
pathways made of old paving stones lead from the house to different
parts. They give an old-fashioned and restful appearance to a garden,
and in the interstices charming little plants like thyme, _Ionopsidium
acaule_, &c., are allowed to grow.
_Edgings._--Walks are separated from the adjoining beds and borders in a
variety of ways. If a living edging is adopted, by far the best is
afforded by the dwarf box planted closely in line. It is of extremely
neat growth, and when annually clipped will remain in good order for
many years. Very good edgings, but of a less durable character, are
formed by thrift (_Armeria vulgaris_), double daisy (_Bellis perennis_),
gentianella (_Gentiana acaulis_) and London pride (_Saxifraga umbrosa_),
_Cerastium tomentosum_, _Stachys lavata_ and the beautiful evergreen
_Veronica rupestris_ with sheets of bright blue flowers close to the
ground, or by some of the finer grasses very carefully selected, such as
the sheep's fescue (_Festuca ovina_) or its glaucous-leaved variety.
Indeed, any low-growing herbaceous plant, susceptible of minute
division, is suitable for an edging. Amongst shrubby plants suitable for
edgings are the evergreen candytuft (_Iberis sempervirens_), _Euonymus
radicans variegata_, ivy, and _Euonymus microphyllus_--a charming little
evergreen with small serrated leaves. Edgings may also be formed of
narrow slips of sandstone flag, slate, tiles or bricks. One advantage of
using edgings of this kind, especially in kitchen gardens, is that they
do not harbour slugs and similar vermin, which all live edgings do, and
often to a serious extent, if they are left to grow large. In
shrubberies and large flower-plots, verges of grass-turf, from 1 to 3
ft. in breadth, according to the size of the border and width of the
walk, make a very handsome edging, but they should not be allowed to
rise more than an inch and a half above the gravel, the grass being kept
short by repeated mowings, and the edges kept trim and well-defined by
frequently clipping with shears and cutting once or twice a year with an
edging iron.
II. _Garden Structures._
_Walls._--The position to be given to the garden walls has been already
referred to. The shelter afforded by a wall, and the increased
temperature secured by its presence, are indispensable in the climate of
Great Britain, for the production of all the finer kinds of outdoor
fruits; and hence the inner side of a north wall, having a southern
aspect, is appropriated to the more tender kinds. It is, indeed,
estimated that such positions enjoy an increased temperature equal to 7°
of latitude--that is to say, the mean temperature within a few inches of
the wall is equal to the mean temperature of the open plain 7° farther
south. The eastern and western aspects are set apart for fruits of a
somewhat hardier character.
Where the inclination of the ground is considerable, and the presence of
high walls would be objectionable, the latter may be replaced by sunk
walls. These should not rise more than 3 ft. above the level of the
ground behind them. As dryness is favourable to an increase of heat,
such walls should be either built hollow or packed behind to the
thickness of 3 or 4 ft. with rubble stones, flints, brickbats or similar
material, thoroughly drained at bottom. For mere purposes of shelter a
height of 6 or 7 ft. will generally be sufficient for the walls of a
garden, but for the training of fruit trees it is found that an average
height of 12 ft. is more suitable. In gardens of large size the northern
or principal wall may be 14 ft., and the side walls 12 ft. in height;
while smaller areas of an acre or so should have the principal walls 12
and the side walls 10 ft. in height. As brick is more easily built
hollow than stone, it is to be preferred for garden walls. A 14-in.
hollow wall will take in its construction 12,800 bricks, while a solid
9-in. one, with piers, will take 11,000; but the hollow wall, while thus
only a little more costly, will be greatly superior, being drier and
warmer, as well as more substantial. Bricks cannot be too well burnt for
garden walls; the harder they are the less moisture will they absorb.
Many excellent walls are built of stone. The best is dark-coloured
whinstone, because it absorbs very little moisture, or in Scotland
Caithness pavement 4 in. thick. The stones can be cut (in the quarries)
to any required length, and built in regular courses. Stone walls should
always be built with thin courses for convenience of training over their
surface. Concrete walls, properly coped and provided with a trellis, may
in some places be cheapest, and they are very durable. Common rubble
walls are the worst of all.
The coping of garden walls is important, both for the preservation of
the walls and for throwing the rain-water off their surfaces. It should
not project less than from 2 to 2½ in., but in wet districts may be
extended to 6 in. Stone copings are best, but they are costly, and
Portland cement is sometimes substituted. Temporary copings of wood,
which may be fixed by means of permanent iron brackets just below the
stone coping, are extremely useful in spring for the protection of the
blossoms of fruit trees. They should be 9 in. or 1 ft. wide, and should
be put on during spring before the blossom buds begin to expand; they
should have attached to them scrim cloth (a sort of thin canvas), which
admits light pretty freely, yet is sufficient to ward off ordinary
frosts; this canvas is to be let down towards evening and drawn up again
in the morning. These copings should be removed when they are of no
further utility as protectors, so that the foliage may have the full
benefit of rain and dew. Any contrivance that serves to interrupt
radiation, though it may not keep the temperature much above freezing,
will be found sufficient. Standard fruit trees must be left to take
their chance; and, indeed from the lateness of their flowering, they are
generally more injured by blight, and by drenching rains, which wash
away the pollen of the flowers, than by the direct effects of cold.
_Espalier Rails._--Subsidiary to walls as a means of training fruit
trees, espalier rails were formerly much employed, and are still used in
many gardens. In their simplest form, they are merely a row of slender
stakes of larch or other wood driven into the ground, and connected by a
slight rod or fillet at top. The use of iron rails has now been almost
wholly discontinued on account of metallic substances acting as powerful
conductors of both heat and cold in equal extremes. Standards from which
galvanized wire is tightly strained from one end to the other are
preferable and very convenient. Trees trained to them are easily got at
for all cultural operations, space is saved, and the fruit, while freely
exposed to sun and air, is tolerably secure against wind. They form,
moreover, neat enclosures for the vegetable quarters, and, provided
excess of growth from the centre is successfully grappled with, they are
productive in soils and situations which are suitable.
_Plant Houses._--These include all those structures which are more
intimately associated with the growth of ornamental plants and flowers,
and comprise conservatory, plant stove, greenhouse and the subsidiary
pits and frames. They should be so erected as to present the smallest
extent of opaque surface consistent with stability. With this object in
view, the early improvers of hot-house architecture substituted metal
for wood in the construction of the roofs, and for the most part
dispensed with back walls; but the conducting power of the metal caused
a great irregularity of temperature, which it was found difficult to
control; and, notwithstanding the elegance of metallic houses, this
circumstance, together with their greater cost, has induced most recent
authorities to give the preference to wood. The combination of the two,
however, shows clearly that, without much variation of heat or loss of
light, any extent of space may be covered, and houses of any altitude
constructed.
The earliest notice we have of such structures is given in the Latin
writers of the 1st century (Mart. _Epigr._ viii. 14 and 68); the
[Greek: Adônidos kêpoi], to which allusion is made by various Greek
authors, have no claim to be mentioned in this connexion. Columella
(xi. 3, 51, 52) and Pliny (_H.N._ xix. 23) both refer to their use in
Italy for the cultivation of the rarer and more delicate sorts of
plants and trees. Seneca has given us a description of the application
of hot water for securing the necessary temperature. The botanist
Jungermann had plant houses at Altdorf in Switzerland; those of
Loader, a London merchant, and the conservatory in the Apothecaries'
Botanic Garden at Chelsea, were among the first structures of the kind
erected in British gardens. These were, however, ill adapted for the
growth of plants, as they consisted of little else than a huge chamber
of masonry, having large windows in front, with the roof invariably
opaque. The next step was taken when it became fashionable to have
conservatories attached to mansions, instead of having them in the
pleasure grounds. This arrangement brought them within the province of
architects, and for nearly a century utility and fitness for the
cultivation of plants were sacrificed, as still is often the case, to
the unity of architectural expression between the conservatory and the
mansion.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Lean-to Plant House.]
Plant houses must be as far as possible impervious to wet and cold air
from the exterior, provision at the same time being made for
ventilation, while the escape of warm air from the interior must also be
under control. The most important part of the enclosing material is
necessarily glass. But as the rays of light, even in passing through
transparent glass, lose much of their energy, which is further weakened
in proportion to the distance it has to travel, the nearer the plant can
be placed to the glass the more perfectly will its functions be
performed; hence the importance of constructing the roofs at such an
angle as will admit the most light, especially sunlight, at the time it
is most required. Plants in glass houses require for their fullest
development more solar light probably than even our best hot-houses
transmit--certainly much more than is transmitted through the roofs of
houses as generally constructed.
Plant houses constructed of the best Baltic pine timber are very
durable, but the whole of the parts should be kept as light as possible.
In many houses, especially those where ornament is of no consequence,
the rafters are now omitted, or only used at wide intervals, somewhat
stouter sash-bars being adopted, and stout panes of glass (usually
called 21-oz.) 12 to 18 in. wide, made use of. Such houses are very
light; being also very close, they require careful ventilation. The
glass roof is commonly designed so as to form a uniform plane or slope
from back to front in lean-to houses (fig. 2), and from centre to sides
in span-roofed houses. To secure the greatest possible influx of light,
some horticulturists recommend curvilinear roofs; but the superiority of
these is largely due to the absence of rafters, which may also be
dispensed with in plain roofs. They are very expensive to build and
maintain. Span and ridge-and-furrow roofs, the forms now mostly
preferred, are exceedingly well adapted for the admission of light,
especially when they are glazed to within a few inches of the ground.
They can be made, too, to cover in any extent of area without sustaining
walls. Indeed, it has been proposed to support such roofs to a great
extent upon suspension principles, the internal columns of support being
utilized for conducting the rain-water off the roof to underground
drains or reservoirs. The lean-to is the least desirable form, since it
scarcely admits of elegance of design, but it is necessarily adopted in
many cases.
In glazing, the greater the surface of glass, and the less space
occupied by rafters and astragals as well as overlaps, the greater the
admission of light. Some prefer that the sash-bars should be grooved
instead of rebated, and this plan exposes less putty to the action of
the weather. The simple bedding of the glass, without the use of over
putty, seems to be widely approved; but the glass may be fixed in a
variety of other ways, some of which are patented.
The _Conservatory_ is often built in connexion with the mansion, so as
to be entered from the drawing-room or boudoir. But when so situated
it is apt to suffer from the shade of the building, and is
objectionable on account of admitting damp to the drawing-room. Where
circumstances will admit, it is better to place it at some distance
from the house, and to form a connexion by means of a glass corridor.
In order that the conservatory may be kept gay with flowers, there
should be a subsidiary structure to receive the plants as they go out
of bloom. The conservatory may also with great propriety be placed in
the flower garden, where it may occupy an elevated terrace, and form
the termination of one of the more important walks.
Great variety of design is admissible in the conservatory, but it
ought always to be adapted to the style of the mansion of which it is
a prominent appendage. Some very pleasing examples are to be met with
which have the form of a parallelogram with a lightly-rounded roof;
others of appropriate character are square or nearly so, with a
ridge-and-furrow roof. Whatever the form, there must be light in
abundance; and the shade both of buildings and of trees must be
avoided. A southern aspect, or one varying to south-east or
south-west, is preferable; if these aspects cannot be secured, the
plants selected must be adapted to the position. The central part of
the house may be devoted to permanent plants; the side stages and open
spaces in the permanent beds should be reserved for the temporary
plants.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Section of Greenhouse.]
The _Greenhouse_ is a structure designed for the growth of such exotic
plants as require to be kept during winter in a temperature
considerably above the freezing-point. The best form is the
span-roofed, a single span being better even than a series of spans
such as form the ridge-and-furrow roof. For plant culture, houses at a
comparatively low pitch are better than higher ones where the plants
have to stand at a greater distance from the glass, and therefore in
greater gloom. Fig. 3 represents a convenient form of greenhouse. It
is 20 ft. wide and 12 ft. high, and may be of any convenient length.
The side walls are surmounted by short upright sashes which open
outwards by machinery a, and the roof is provided with sliding upper
sashes for top ventilation. The upper sashes may also be made to lift,
and are in many respects more convenient to operate. In the centre is
a two-tier stage 6 ft. wide, for plants, with a pathway on each side 3
ft. wide, and a side stage 4 ft. wide, the side stages being flat, and
the centre stage having the middle portion one-third of the width
elevated 1 ft. above the rest so as to lift up the middle row of
plants nearer the light. Span-roofed houses of this character should
run north and south so as to secure an equalization of light, and
should be warmed by two flow, and one or two return 4-in. hot-water
pipes, carried under the side stages along each side and across each
end. Where it is desired to cultivate a large number of plants, it is
much better to increase the number of such houses than to provide
larger structures. The smaller houses are far better for cultural
purposes, while the plants can be classified, and the little details
of management more conveniently attended to. Pelargoniums, cinerarias,
calceolarias, cyclamens, camellias, heaths, roses and other
specialities might thus have to themselves either a whole house or
part of a house, the conditions of which could then be more accurately
fitted to the wants of the inmates.
The lean-to house is in most respects inferior to the span-roofed; one
of the latter could be converted into two of the former of opposite
aspects by a divisional wall along the centre. Except where space does
not permit a span-roofed building to be introduced, a lean-to is not
to be recommended; but a house of this class may often be greatly
improved by adopting a half-span or hipped roof--that is, one with a
short slope behind and a longer in front.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Section of Plant Stove.]
Where the cultivation of large specimens has to be carried on, a
span-roofed house of greater height and larger dimensions may
sometimes prove useful; but space for this class of plants may
generally be secured in a house of the smaller elevation, simply by
lowering or removing altogether the staging erected for smaller
plants, and allowing the larger ones to stand on or nearer the floor.
The _Plant Stove_ differs in no respect from the greenhouse except in
having a greater extent of hot-water pipes for the purpose of securing
a greater degree of heat, although, as the plants in stove houses
often attain a larger size, and many of them require a bed of coco-nut
fibre, tan or leaf mould to supply them with bottom heat, a somewhat
greater elevation may perhaps be occasionally required in some of the
houses. For the smaller plants, and for all choicer subjects, the
smaller size of house already recommended for greenhouses, namely 20
ft. wide and 12 ft. high, with a side table of 4 ft. on each side, a
pathway of 3 ft. and a central stage on two levels of 6 ft. wide, will
be preferable, because more easily managed as to the supply of heat
and moisture. It will be seen (fig. 4) that along the ridge of the
roof a raised portion or lantern light b, b is introduced, which
permits of the fixing of two continuous ventilators, one along each
side, for the egress of heated and foul air, openings a, a being also
provided in the side walls opposite the hot-water pipes for the
admission of pure cold air. This type of house is also very suitable
for greenhouse plants, but would not need so much heating apparatus.
Three or four rows of flow and return pipes respectively will be
required on each side, according to the heat proposed to be
maintained.
In their interior fittings plant stoves require more care than
greenhouses, which are much drier, and in which consequently the
staging does not so soon decay. In stoves the stages should be of
slate or stone where practicable, and the supports of iron. These
should be covered with a layer of 2 or 3 in. of some coarse gritty
material, such as pounded spar, or the shell sand obtained on the
sea-coast, on which the pots are to stand; its use is to absorb
moisture and gradually give it out for the benefit of the plants. The
pathways should be paved with tiles, brick or stone, or made of
concrete and cement, and the surface should be gently rounded so that
the water required for evaporation may drain to the sides while the
centre is sufficiently dry to walk upon; they should also have brick
or stone edgings to prevent the water so applied soaking away at the
sides and thus being wasted.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Lean-to Vinery.]
_Fruit Houses._--The principal of these are the vinery, peach house,
cucumber and melon house and orchard house. These, or a portion of them,
especially the vineries and peacheries, are frequently brought together
into a range along the principal interior or south wall of the garden,
where they are well exposed to sun and light, an ornamental plant house
being sometimes introduced into the centre of the range in order to give
effect to the outline of the buildings. When thus associated, the houses
are usually of the lean-to class, which have the advantage of being more
easily warmed and kept warm than buildings having glass on both sides, a
matter of great importance for forcing purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Hip-Roofed Vinery.]
The _Vinery_ is a house devoted to the culture of the grape-vine,
which is by far the most important exotic fruit cultivated in English
gardens. When forming part of a range a vinery would in most cases be
a lean-to structure, with a sharp pitch (45-50°) if intended for early
forcing, and a flatter roof (40°) with longer rafters if designed for
the main and late crops. (1) The _lean-to_ (fig. 5) is the simplest
form, often erected against some existing wall, and the best for early
forcing, being warmer on account of the shelter afforded by the back
wall. In this house the principal part of the roof is a fixture,
ventilation being provided for by small lifting sashes against the
back wall, and by the upright front sashes being hung on a pivot so as
to swing outwards on the lower side. The necessary heat is provided by
four 4-in. hot-water pipes, which would perhaps be best placed if all
laid side by side, while the vines are planted in front and trained
upwards under the roof. A second set of vines may be planted against
the back wall, and will thrive there until the shade of the roof
becomes too dense. (2) The _hip-roofed_ or three-quarter span (fig. 6)
is a combination of the lean-to and the span-roofed, uniting to a
great degree the advantages of both, being warmer than the span and
lighter than the lean-to. The heating and ventilating arrangements are
much the same as in the lean-to, only the top sashes which open are on
the back slope, and therefore do not interfere so much with the vines
on the front slope. In both this and the lean-to the aspect should be
as nearly due south as possible. Houses of this form are excellent for
general purposes, and they are well adapted both for muscats, which
require a high temperature, and for late-keeping grapes. (3) The
_span-roofed_ (fig. 7), the most elegant and ornamental form, is
especially adapted for isolated positions; indeed, no other form
affords so much roof space for the development of the vines. The
amount of light admitted being very great, these houses answer well
for general purposes and for the main crop. The large amount of glass
or cooling surface, however, makes it more difficult to keep up a high
and regular temperature in them, and from this cause they are not so
well adapted for very early or very late crops. They are best,
nevertheless, when grapes and ornamental plants are grown in the same
house, except, indeed, in very wet and cold districts, where, in
consequence of its greater warmth, the lean-to is to be preferred.
This type of house, cheaply constructed, is in general use for raising
grapes for market.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Span-Roofed Vinery.]
The _Peach House_ is a structure in which the ripening of the fruit is
accelerated by the judicious employment of artificial heat. For early
forcing, as in vineries, the lean-to form is to be preferred, and the
house may have a tolerably sharp pitch. A width of 7 or 8 ft., with
the glass slope continued down to within a foot or two of the ground,
and without any upright front sashes, will be suitable for such a
house, which may also be conveniently divided into compartments of
from 30 to 50 ft. in length according to the extent of the building,
small houses being preferable to larger ones. As a very high
temperature is not required, two or three pipes running the whole
length of the house will suffice. The front wall should be built on
piers and arches to allow the roots to pass outwards into a prepared
border, the trees being planted just within the house. Abundant means
of ventilation should be provided.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Peach House.]
For more general purposes the house represented in fig. 8 will be
found more useful. One set of trees is planted near the front, and
trained to an arched trellis b. Another set is planted at the back,
and trained on a trellis c, which is nearly upright, and leans against
the back wall; or the back wall itself may be used for training. There
are no upright front sashes, but to facilitate ventilation there are
ventilators d in the front wall, and the upper roof sashes are made to
move up and down for the same object. Two or three hot-water pipes are
placed near the front wall. The back wall is usually planted with
dwarf and standard trees alternately, the latter being temporary, and
intended to furnish the upper part of the trellis, while the permanent
dwarfs arc gradually filling up the trellis from below. In any case
the front trellis should stop conveniently short of the top of the
sashes if there are trees against the back wall, in order to admit
light to them. They would also be better carried up nearly parallel to
the roof, and at about 1 ft. distant from it, supposing there were no
trees at the back.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Forcing House.]
A span-roofed house, being lighter than a lean-to, would be so much
the better for peach culture, especially for the crop grown just in
anticipation of those from the open walls since a high temperature is
not required. A low span, with dwarf side walls, and a lantern
ventilator along the ridge, the height in the centre being 9 ft.,
would be very well adapted for the purpose. The trees should be
planted inside and trained up towards the ridge on a trellis about a
foot from the glass, the walls being arched to permit the egress of
the roots. A trellis path should run along the centre, and movable
pieces of trellis should be provided to prevent trampling on the soil
while dressing and tying in the young wood.
The _Forcing House_.--Whenever continuous supplies of cucumbers,
melons and tomatoes are required, it is most convenient to grow them
in properly constructed forcing houses. Span-roofed houses (fig. 9)
arc probably the most useful for the purpose. They are usually 12 to
14 ft. wide, by 10 to 12 ft. high, and of any convenient length.
Heating is effected by means of hot-water pipes below the beds, and
against the side ventilators. The walls bordering the central paths
are arched or clotted to admit heat from the chambers below the beds.
Side pipes are occasionally dispensed with, heat being obtained by
means of slots at the back of the beds, communicating with the
chambers. The beds are also of use for plunging pot plants.
Ventilation is provided at sides and top.
Pits and frames of various kinds are frequently used for the
cultivation of cucumbers and melons, as well as hot beds covered by
ordinary garden frames. In these cases the first supply of heat is
derived from the hot bed made up within the pit. When the heat of the
original bed subsides, linings of fermenting dung must be added, and
these must be kept active by occasional turnings and the addition of
fresh material as often as required. It is better, however, to effect
both top and bottom heating by hot-water pipes.
_Orchard Houses_ are span-roofed or lean-to structures, in which
various fruits are cultivated without the aid of artificial heat.
Peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries and the more tender varieties
of plums and pears succeed well in houses of this kind. The types of
houses in general use are substantially as shown in fig. 7, for
span-roofed, and as fig. 5, for lean-to; in each case without the
heating apparatus. The orchard house is among the most generally
useful of all garden structures. These houses require careful
management in early summer so as to induce the more delicate varieties
of peaches and nectarines to complete and ripen their growth before
cold, sunless weather sets in.
In commercial establishments where utility is of more importance than
ornament, the glass houses and hot water apparatus are not of so
elaborate a type as indicated in the foregoing remarks, and in many
cases excellent produce is grown in structures more or less
dilapidated. In some places movable greenhouses have been erected for
market purposes, so that the soil may be exposed to the sweetening
effect of the weather, when the glass roof is moved to an adjoining
patch.
_Pits and Frames._--These are used both for the summer growth and winter
protection of various kinds of ornamental plants, for the growth of such
fruits as cucumbers, melons and strawberries, and for the forcing of
vegetables. When heat is required, it is sometimes supplied by means of
fermenting dung, or dung and leaves, or tanner's bark, but it is much
more economically provided by hot-water pipes. Pits of many different
forms have been designed, but it may be sufficient here to describe one
or two which can be recommended for general purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Ventilated Plant Pit.]
An excellent pit for wintering bedding-out plants or young greenhouse
stock is shown at fig. 10. It is built upon the pigeon-hole principle
as high as the ground level a, a, and above that in 9-in. brickwork.
At a distance of 9 in. retaining walls b, b are built up to the ground
level, and the spaces between the two are covered by thick boarding,
which is to be shut down as shown at c in cold weather to exclude
frost, and opened as shown at d in mild weather to promote a free
circulation of air through the pit. The height of the pit might be
reduced according to the size of the plants; and, to secure the
interior against frost, flow and return hot-water pipe e should pass
along beneath the staging, which should be a strong wooden trellis
supported by projections in the brickwork. The water which drains from
the plants or is spilt in watering would fall on the bottom, which
should be made porous to carry it away. For many plants this under
current of ventilation would be exceedingly beneficial, especially
when cold winds prevented the sashes from being opened. A pit of this
character may be sunk into the ground deeper than is indicated in the
figure if the subsoil is dry and gravelly, bat in the case of a damp
subsoil it should rather be more elevated, as the soil could easily be
sloped up to meet the retaining wall.
_Frames._--Frames (fig. 11) should be made of the best red deal, 1¼
in. thick. A convenient size is 6 ft. wide, 24 in. high at the back
and 15 in front; and they are usually 12 ft. long, which makes three
lights and sashes, though they can be made with two lights or one
light for particular purposes. Indeed, a one-light frame is often
found very convenient for many purposes. The lights should be 2 in.
thick, and glazed with 21 oz. sheet glass, in broad panes four or five
to the breadth of a light, and of a length which will work in
conveniently and economically, very long panes being undesirable from
the havoc caused by accidents, and very short ones being objectionable
as multiplying the chances of drip, and the exclusion of light by the
numerous lappings; panes about 12 in. long are of convenient size for
garden lights of this character. In all gardens the frames and lights
should be of one size so as to be interchangeable, and a good supply
of extra lights (sashes) may always be turned to good account for
various purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Hot-Bed Three-Light Frame.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Span-Roof Frame.]
Span-roof garden frame (fig. 12) may under some circumstances be
useful as a substitute for the three-light frame. It is adapted for
storing plants in winter, for nursing small plants in summer and for
the culture of melons and other crops requiring glass shelter. These
frames are made 11 in. high in front, 22 at the back and 32 at the
ridge, with ends of 1½-in. red deal; the sashes, which are 2 in.
thick, open by gearing, the front and back separately. The lights are
hinged so that they can be turned completely back when necessary. This
more direct and ready access to the plants within is one of the
principal recommendations of this form of pit.
_Mushroom House._--Mushrooms may be grown in sheds and cellars, or even
in protected ridges in the open ground, but a special structure is
usually devoted to them. A lean-to against the north side of the garden
wall will be found suitable for the purpose, though a span-roofed form
may also be adopted, especially if the building stands apart.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Lean-to Mushroom House.]
The internal arrangement of a lean-to mushroom house is shown in fig.
13. The length may vary from 30 ft. to 60 ft.; a convenient width is
10 ft., which admits of a 3½ ft. central path, and beds 3 ft. wide on
each side. The shelves should be of slate a, a, supported by iron
uprights b, b, each half having a front ledge of bricks set on edge in
cement c, c. The slabs of slate forming the shelves should not be too
closely fitted, as a small interval will prevent the accumulation of
moisture at the bottom of the bed. They may be supported by iron
standards or brick piers, back and front, bearing up a flat bar of
iron on which the slates may rest; the use of the bar will give wider
intervals between the supports, which will be found convenient for
filling and emptying the beds. The roof may be tiled or slated; but,
to prevent the injurious influence of hot sun, there should be an
inner roof or ceiling d, the space between which and the outer roof e
should be packed with sawdust. A hot-water pipe f should run along
both sides of the pathway, close to the front ledge of the lowest
beds. The different shelves can be planted in succession; and the
lower ones, especially those on the floor level, as being most
convenient, can be utilized for forcing sea-kale and rhubarb.
_The Fruit Room._--This important store should be dark, moderately dry,
with a steady, moderately cool atmosphere, and with the means of giving
sufficient ventilation to keep the air sweet. It should also be
sufficiently commodious to permit of the fruit being arranged in single
layers on the shelves or trays. A type of building which is becoming
increasingly popular for this purpose, and which is in many respects
superior to the older, and often more expensive structures, is built of
wood, with or without brick foundations, and is thickly thatched with
reeds or other non-conducting material externally--on walls and
roof--while the interior is matchboarded. Ventilation is afforded at the
ends, usually by tilting laths, operated by a cord. Two doors are
provided at one end--an inner, and an outer--the inner being glazed at
the top to admit light. They are generally span-roofed, about 6 ft. high
at the eaves, and 8 or 10 ft. high at the ridge, according to width.
The length and breadth of these stores should be governed by the
amount and character of the storage accommodation to be provided. If
intended for storage only, a width of 9 ft. 6 in. would suffice, but
if intended to combine display with storage, the internal diameter
should be about 13 ft. In the former type, the walls are fitted with
four rows of shelves, about 3 ft. wide, and about 1 ft. 6 in. apart.
The shelves are of deal strips, 2 or 3 in. wide, laid about 1 in.
apart for ventilation. These are being superseded, however, by
sliding-out trays of convenient lengths and about 9 in. deep, working
on fixed framework. By this means the storage accommodation is nearly
doubled and the fruit is more easily manipulated. The central gangway
is about 3 ft. 6 in. wide. In the latter a central exhibition bench
about 3 ft. wide and of convenient height is provided. Gangways 2½ ft.
wide flank this, while the shelves or drawers with which the walls are
fitted are about 2½ ft. wide.
_Care of the Fruit Room._--This consists mainly in the storing only of
such fruits as are dry and in proper condition; in judicious
ventilation, especially in the presence of large quantities of
newly-gathered fruit; in the prompt removal of all decaying fruit; and
in the exclusion of vermin. It is also advisable to wash all woodwork
and gangways annually with a weak solution of formalin, or other
inodorous germicide.
_Heating Apparatus._--Plant houses were formerly heated in a variety of
ways--by fermenting organic matter, such as dung, by smoke flues, by
steam and by hot water circulating in iron pipes. The last-named method
has proved so satisfactory in practice that it is now in general use for
all ordinary purposes. The water is heated by a furnace, and is conveyed
from the boiler into the houses by a main or "flow" pipe, connected by
means of syphon branches with as many pipes as it is intended to serve.
When cooled it is returned to the boiler by another main or "return"
pipe. Heat is regulated in the structures by means of valves on the
various branch pipes. The flow pipe is attached to the boiler at its
highest point, to take the heated water as it ascends. The return pipe
is connected with the boiler at or near its lowest point. The highest
points of the pipes are fitted with small taps, for the removal of air,
which would retard circulation if allowed to remain. Heating by hot
water may be said to depend, in part, on the influence of gravity on
water being to some extent overcome by heating in a boiler. It ascends
the flow pipe by convection, where its onward journey would speedily end
if it were not for the driving force of other molecules of water
following, and the suction set up by the gravitation into the boiler of
the cooled water by the return pipe. The power of water to conduct heat
is very low. The conducting power of the iron in which it is conveyed is
high. It is, however, probable that conduction is to some extent a
factor in the process.
Pipes.--It is a mistake to stint the quantity of piping, since it is
far more economical and better for the plants to have a larger surface
heated moderately than a smaller surface heated excessively. In view
of the fact that air expands, becomes lighter and rises, under the
influence of heat, the pipes should be set near the floor. If intended
to raise the temperature of the structure, they should be set on iron
or brick supports just clear of walls, earth or other heat-absorbing
bodies. Those intended to provide bottom heat, however, are set in (a)
water tanks running under the beds, or (b) in enclosed dry chambers
under the beds, or are (c) embedded in the soil or plunging material.
The first-named method is distinctly superior to the others. Pipes of
2 in., 3 in., 4 in. and 6 in. diameters are mostly used, the 4 in.
size being the most convenient for general purposes. The joints are
packed or caulked with tow, smeared with a mixture of white and red
lead. Flanged joints are made to bolt together on washers of
vulcanized rubber.
_Boilers._--There are numerous types of boilers in use, illustrative
of efforts to secure as much exposure as possible to the action of the
flames. The water-tube type, with multiple waterways, consists of a
number of separate tubes joined together in various ways. Some of
these are built in the form of a blunt cone, and are known as conical
tubular boilers. Others are built with the tubes arranged
horizontally, and are known as horizontal tubular boilers. The
majority of the latter are more or less saddle-shaped. Boilers with a
single waterway are of three principal types, the Cornish, the saddle
and the conical. The Cornish is cylindrical with the furnace occupying
about half the length of the cylinder. The saddle is so named from its
supposed resemblance to a saddle. It is set to span the furnace,
additional exposure to heat being secured in a variety of ways by
flues. Exposure in the conical boiler is direct on its inner surface,
and is supplemented by flues. Tubular boilers, especially the
horizontal types, are very powerful and economical. The Cornish type
is a rather slow and steady boiler, and is much used for providing
heat for large areas. The saddle boiler is very commonly employed to
provide heat for moderately sized and small areas. Both are powerful
and economical. Conical boilers are more expensive to set by reason of
their shape, and are not so convenient to manipulate as the horizontal
kinds. All the above types require a setting of masonry. Portable
boilers are convenient for heating small areas, and are less expensive
to install than those described above. They are less economical,
however, owing to loss of heat from their exposed surfaces. What are
called sectional boilers as used in America and on the Continent are
being introduced to British gardens. Portions can be added or taken
away according to the amount of heating surface required.
_Water Supply._--Wastage of water in the boilers should be made good
automatically from a cistern controlled by means of a ball-cock. It
should be placed as high above the boiler as practicable. The feed
should connect with the return pipe near the point at which it enters
the boiler.
_Stokeholds._--These have usually to be excavated to admit of the
boilers being set below the level of the pipes they are intended to
serve. In consequence of their depth, the draining of stokeholds often
presents difficulties. Care should be taken to allow sufficient room
to properly manipulate the fires and to store fuel. It is important
that the ventilation should be as efficient as practicable, especially
where coke fuel is to be used.
_Stoking._--The management of the furnaces is relatively easy, and
consists in adapting the volume and intensity of the fires to
particular needs. It involves the keeping dean of flues, ashpits and
especially the fires themselves. Where coke or ordinary hard coal are
used, the removal of clinkers should be done systematically, and the
fires stirred. Anthracite coal fires should not be stirred more than
is absolutely necessary, and should not be fed in driblets. They
require more draught than coke fires, but care must be taken not to
give too much, as excessive heat is likely to melt or soften the
fire-bars. Draught is regulated in the ashpit by opening or closing
the bottom door of the furnace and by the damper on the smoke shaft.
The latter must be of a fairly good height, according to
circumstances, to secure a good draught.
_Solar Heat._--The importance of sun heat to the general well-being of
plant life, its influence on the production of flowers and the
ripening of edible fruits, has long been appreciated in horticulture.
The practice of "closing up" early in the afternoon, i.e. the closing
of ventilators (accompanied by syringing and damping of surfaces to
produce a humid atmosphere) has for its object the conservation of as
much solar heat as practicable.
_Ventilation._--This consists in the admission of air for the purpose
of preventing stagnation of the atmosphere and for the regulation of
temperature. Means of affording ventilation in all plant houses should
be provided in at least two places--as near the floor as practicable,
and at the top. Mechanical contrivances whereby whole sets of
ventilators may be operated simultaneously are now in common use, and
are much more convenient and economical than the older method of
working each ventilator separately. Efficient ventilating can only be
effected by the exercise of common sense and vigilance, and care must
be taken to avoid cold draughts through the houses.
III. _Garden Materials and Appliances._
_Soils and Composts._--The principal soils used in gardens, either
alone, or mixed to form what are called composts, are--loam, sand, peat,
leaf-mould and various mixtures and combinations of these made up to
suit the different subjects under cultivation.
_Loam_ is the staple soil for the gardener; it is not only used
extensively in the pure and simple state, but enters into most of the
composts prepared specially for his plants. For garden purposes loam
should be rather unctuous or soapy to the touch when moderately dry, not
too clinging nor adhesive, and should readily crumble when a compressed
handful is thrown on the ground. If it clings together closely it is too
heavy and requires amelioration by the admixture of gritty material; if
it has little or no cohesion when squeezed tightly in the hand, it is
too light, and needs to be improved by the addition of heavier or clayey
material. Sound friable loam cut one sod deep from the surface of a
pasture, and stacked up for twelve months in a heap or ridge, is
invaluable to the gardener. When employed for making vine borders, loam
of a somewhat heavier nature can be used with advantage, on account of
the porous materials which should accompany it. For stone fruits a
calcareous loam is best; indeed, for these subjects a rich calcareous
loam used in a pure and simple state cannot be surpassed. Somewhat heavy
loams are best for potting pine apples, for melons and strawberries,
fruit trees in pots, &c., and may be used with the addition of manures
only; but for ornamental plants a loam of a somewhat freer texture is
preferable and more pleasant to work. Loam which contains much red
matter (iron) should be avoided.
_Sand_ is by itself of little value except for striking cuttings, for
which purpose fine clean sharp silver sand is the best; and a somewhat
coarser kind, if it is gritty, is to be preferred to the comminuted
sands which contain a large proportion of earthy matter. River sand and
the sharp grit washed up sometimes by the road side are excellent
materials for laying around choice bulbs at planting time to prevent
contact with earth which is perhaps manure-tainted. Sea sand may be
advantageously used both for propagating purposes and for mixing in
composts. For the growth of pot plants sand is an essential part of most
composts, in order to give them the needful porosity to carry off all
excess of moisture from the roots. If the finer earthy sands only are
obtainable, they must be rendered sharper by washing away the earthy
particles. Washed sand is best for all plants like heaths, which need a
pure and lasting peaty compost.
_Peat_ soil is largely employed for the culture of such plants as
rhododendrons, azaleas, heaths, &c. In districts where heather and
gritty soil predominate, the peat soil is poor and unprofitable, but
selections from both the heathy and the richer peat soils, collected
with judgment, and stored in a dry part of the compost yard, are
essential ingredients in the cultivation of many choice pot plants, such
as the Cape heaths and many of the Australian plants. Many
monocotyledons do well in peat, even if they do not absolutely require
it.
_Leaf-mould_ is eminently suited for the growth of many free-growing
plants, especially when it has been mixed with stable manure and has
been subjected to fermentation for the formation of hot beds. It any
state most plants feed greedily upon it, and when pure or free from
decaying wood or sticks it is a very safe ingredient in composts; but it
is so liable to generate fungus, and the mycelium or spawn of certain
fungi is so injurious to the roots of trees, attacking them if at all
sickly or weakened by drought, that many cultivators prefer not to mix
leaf-mould with the soil used for permanent plants, as peaches or choice
ornamental trees. For quick growing plants, however, as for example most
annuals cultivated in pots, such as balsams, cockscombs, globe-amaranths
and the like, for cucumbers, and for young soft-wooded plants generally,
it is exceedingly useful, both by preventing the consolidation of the
soil and as a manure. The accumulations of light earth formed on the
surface in woods where the leaves fall and decay annually are leaf-mould
of the finest quality. Leaves collected in the autumn and stored in pits
or heaps, and covered with a layer of soil, make beautiful leaf-mould at
the end of about twelve months, if frequently drenched with water or
rain during this period.
_Composts_ are mixtures of the foregoing ingredients in varying
proportions, and in combination with manures if necessary, so as to suit
particular plants or classes of plants. The chief point to be borne in
mind in making these mixtures is not to combine in the same compost any
bodies that are antagonistic in their nature, as for example lime and
ammonia. In making up composts for pot plants, the fibrous portion
should not be removed by sifting, except for small-sized pots, but the
turfy portions should be broken up by hand and distributed in smaller or
larger lumps throughout the mass. When sifting is had recourse to, the
fibrous matter should be rubbed through the meshes of the sieve along
with the earthy particles. Before being used the turfy ingredients of
composts should lie together in a heap only long enough for the roots of
the herbage to die, not to decompose.
_Manures_ (see MANURE).--These are of two classes, organic and
inorganic--the former being of animal and vegetable, the latter of
mineral origin. The following are organic manures:
_Farm-yard manure_ consists of the mixed dung of horses and cattle
thrown together, and more or less soaked with liquid drainings of the
stable or byre. It is no doubt the finest stimulant for the growth of
plants, and that most adapted to restore the fertile elements which
the plants have abstracted from exhausted soils. This manure is best
fitted for garden use when in a moderately fermented state.
_Horse dung_ is generally the principal ingredient in all hot bed
manure; and, in its partially decomposed state, as afforded by
exhausted hot beds, it is well adapted for garden use. It is most
beneficial on cold stiff soils. It should not be allowed to lie too
long unmoved when fresh, as it will then heat violently, and the
ammonia is thus driven off. To avoid this, it should be turned over
two or three times if practicable, and well moistened--preferably with
farm-yard drainings.
_Cow dung_ is less fertilizing than horse dung, but being slower in
its action it is more durable; it is also cooler, and therefore better
for hot dry sandy soils. Thoroughly decayed, it is one of the best of
all manures for mixing in composts for florists' flowers and other
choice plants.
_Pig dung_ is very powerful, containing more nitrogen than horse dung;
it is therefore desirable that it should undergo moderate
fermentation, which will be secured by mixing it with litter and a
portion of earth. When weeds are thrown to the pigs, this fermentation
becomes specially desirable to kill their seeds.
_Night-soil_ is an excellent manure for all bulky crops, but requires
to be mixed with earth or peat, or coal-ashes, so as both to deodorize
it and to ensure its being equally distributed. Quicklime should not
be used, as it dispels the greater part of the ammonia. When prepared
by drying and mixing with various substances, night-soil is sold as
desiccated night-soil or native guano, the value of which depends upon
the materials used for admixture.
_Malt-dust_ is an active manure frequently used as a top-dressing,
especially for fruit trees in pots. It is rapid in its action, but its
effects are not very permanent. _Rape dust_ is somewhat similar in its
character and action.
_Bones_ are employed as a manure with decided advantage both to
vegetable crops and to fruit trees, as well as to flowers. For turnips
bone manure is invaluable. The effects of bones are no doubt mainly
due to the phosphates they contain, and they are most effectual on dry
soils. They are most quickly available when dissolved in sulphuric
acid.
_Guano_ is a valuable manure now much employed, and may be applied to
almost every kind of crop with decided advantage. It should be mixed
with six or eight times its weight of loam or ashes, charred peat,
charcoal-dust or some earthy matter, before it is applied to the soil,
as from its causticity it is otherwise not unlikely to kill or injure
the plants to which it is administered. Peruvian guano is obtained
from the excreta of South American sea-birds, and fish guano from the
waste of fish. Both are remarkable for the quantity of nitrates and
phosphates they contain.
_Pigeon dung_ approaches guano in its power as manure. It should be
laid up in ridges of good loamy soil in alternate layers to form a
compost, which becomes a valuable stimulant for any very choice
subjects if cautiously used. The dung of the domestic fowl is very
similar in character.
_Horn_, _hoof-parings_, _woollen rags_, _fish_, _blubber_ and _blood_,
after treatment with sulphuric acid, are all good manures, and should
be utilized if readily obtainable.
_Liquid manure_, consisting of the drainings of dung-heaps, stables,
cowsheds, &c., or of urine collected from dwelling houses or other
sources, is a most valuable and powerful stimulant, and can be readily
applied to the roots of growing plants. The urine should be allowed to
putrefy, as in its decomposition a large amount of ammonia is formed,
which should then be fixed by sulphuric acid or gypsum; or it may be
applied to the growing crops after being freely diluted with water or
absorbed in a compost heap. Liquid manures can be readily made from
most of the solid manures when required, simply by admixture with
water. When thus artificially compounded, unless for immediate use,
they should be made strong for convenience of storage, and applied as
required much diluted.
The following are inorganic manures:
_Ammonia_ is the most powerful and one of the most important of the
constituents of manures generally, since it is the chief source whence
plants derive their nitrogen. It is largely supplied in all the most
fertilizing of organic manures, but when required in the inorganic
state must be obtained from some of the salts of ammonia, as the
sulphate, the muriate or the phosphate, all of which, being extremely
energetic, require to be used with great caution. These salts of
ammonia may be used at the rate of from 2 to 3 cwt. per acre as a
top-dressing in moist weather. When dissolved in water they form
active liquid manures. The most commonly used nitrogenous manures are
nitrate of soda, nitrate of potash and sulphate of ammonia, the prices
of which are constantly fluctuating.
_Potash_ and _soda_ are also valuable inorganic manures in the form of
carbonates, sulphates, silicates and phosphates, but the most valuable
is the nitrate of potash. The price, however, is generally so high
that its use is practically nil, except in small doses as a liquid
manure for choice pot plants. Cheaper substitutes, however, are now
found in sulphate of potash, and muriate of potash and kainit. The two
last-named must not be applied direct to growing crops, but to the
soil some weeks in advance of sowing or cropping. The manures of this
class are of course of value only in cases where the soil is naturally
deficient in them. On this account the salts of soda are of less
importance than those of potash. The value of wood ashes as a manure
very much depends upon the carbonate and other salts of potash which
they contain.
_Phosphoric acid_, in the form of phosphates, is a most valuable plant
food, and is absorbed by most plants in fairly large quantities from
the soil. It induces the earlier production of flowers and fruits. In
a natural state it is obtained from bones, guano and wood ashes; and
in an artificial condition from basic slag or Thomas's phosphate,
coprolites and superphosphate of lime.
_Lime_ in the caustic state is beneficially applied to soils which
contain an excess of inert vegetable matter, and hence may be used for
the improvement of old garden soils saturated with humus, or of peaty
soils not thoroughly reclaimed. It does not supply the place of
organic manures, but only renders that which is present available for
the nourishment of the plants. It also improves the texture of clay
soils.
_Gypsum_, or sulphate of lime, applied as a top-dressing at the rate
of 2 to 3 cwt. per acre, has been found to yield good results,
especially on light soils. It is also employed in the case of liquid
manures to fix the ammonia.
_Gas lime_, after it has been exposed to the air for a few months is
an excellent manure on heavy soils. In a fresh state it is poisonous
and fatal to vegetation, and is often used for this reason to dress
land infested with wireworms, grubs, club-root fungus, &c.
_Burnt clay_ has a very beneficial effect on clay land by improving
its texture and rendering soluble the alkaline substances it contains.
The clay should be only slightly burnt, so as to make it crumble down
readily; in fact, the fire should not be allowed to break through, but
should be constantly repressed by the addition of material. The
burning should be effected when the soil is dry.
_Vegetable refuse_ of all kinds, when smother-burned in a similar way,
becomes a valuable mechanical improver of the soil; but the preferable
course is to decompose it in a heap with quicklime and layers of
earth, converting it into leaf-mould. Potato haulms, and club-rooted
cabbage crops should, however, never be mixed with ordinary clean
vegetable refuse, as they would be most likely to perpetuate the
terrible diseases to which they are subject. The refuse of such plants
should be burned as early as possible. The ash may be used as manure.
_Soot_ forms a good top-dressing; it consists principally of charcoal,
but contains ammonia and a smaller proportion of phosphates and
potash, whence its value as a manure is derived. It should be kept dry
until required for use. It may also be used beneficially in preventing
the attacks of insects, such as the onion gnat and turnip fly, by
dusting the plants or dressing the ground with it.
_Common salt_ acts as a manure when used in moderate quantities, but
in strong doses is injurious to vegetation. It suits many of the
esculent crops, as onions, beans, cabbages, carrots, beet-root,
asparagus, &c.; the quantity applied varies from 5 to 10 bushels per
acre. It is used as a top-dressing sown by the hand. Hyacinths and
other bulbs derive benefit from slight doses, while to asparagus as
much as 20 lb. to the rood has been used with beneficial effect. At
the rate of from 6 to 10 bushels to the acre it may be used on garden
lawns to prevent worm casts. For the destruction of weeds on gravel
walks or in paved yards a strong dose of salt, applied either dry or
in a very strong solution, is found very effective, especially a hot
solution, but after a time much of it becomes washed down, and the
residue acts as a manure; its continued application is undesirable, as
gravel so treated becomes pasty.
_Garden Tools, &c._--Most of these are so well known that we shall not
discuss them here. They are, moreover, illustrated and described in the
catalogues of most nurserymen and dealers in horticultural sundries.
_Tallies or Labels._--The importance of properly labelling plants can
hardly be over-estimated. For ordinary purposes labels of wood of
various sizes (sold in bundles) are the most convenient. These should be
wiped with a little white paint or linseed oil, and written with a soft
lead pencil before the surface becomes dry. Copying-ink pencils should
not be used, as water will wash away the writing. For permanent plants,
as trees, roses, &c., metallic labels with raised type are procurable
from dealers, and are neat, durable and convenient. Permanent labels may
also be made from sheet lead, the names being punched in by means of
steel type. For stove and greenhouse plants, orchids, ferns, &c., labels
made of xylonite, zinc and other materials are also used.
IV. _Garden Operations._
_Propagation._--The increase of plants, so far as the production of new
individuals of particular kinds is concerned, is one of the most
important and constantly recurring of gardening operations. In effecting
this, various processes are adopted, which will now be described.
1. _By Seeds._--This may be called the natural means of increasing the
number of any particular kind of plant, but it is to be remembered
that we do not by that means secure an exact reproduction of the
parent, especially in the case of plants raised or evolved in the
course of generations by hybridization and selection. We may get a
progeny very closely resembling it, yet each plant possessing a
distinct individuality of its own; or we may get a progeny very unlike
the parent, or a mixed progeny showing various degrees of divergence.
Many seeds will grow freely if sown in a partially ripened state; but
as a general rule seeds have to be kept for some weeks or months in
store, and hence they should be thoroughly ripened before being
gathered. They should be sown in fine rich soil, and such as will not
readily get consolidated. In the case of outdoor crops, if the soil is
inclined to be heavy, it is a good plan to cover all the smaller seeds
with a light compost. Very small seeds should only have a sprinkling
of light earth or of sand, and sometimes only a thin layer of soft
moss to exclude light and preserve an equable degree of moisture.
Somewhat larger seeds sown indoors may be covered to the depth of
one-eighth or one-fourth of an inch, according to their size. Outdoor
crops require to be sown, the smaller seeds from ½ to 1 in., and the
larger ones from 2 to 4 in. under the surface, the covering of the
smaller ones especially being light and open. Many seeds grow well
when raked in; that is, the surface on which they are scattered is
raked backwards and forwards until most of them are covered. Whatever
the seeds, the ground should be made tolerably firm both beneath and
above them; this may be done by treading in the case of most kitchen
garden crops, which are also better sown in drills, this admitting the
more readily of the ground being kept clear from weeds by hoeing. All
seeds require a certain degree of heat to induce germination. For
tropical plants the heat of a propagating house--75° to 80°, with a
bottom heat of 80° to 90°--is desirable, and in many cases absolutely
necessary; for others, such as half-hardy annuals, a mild hot bed, or
a temperate pit ranging from 60° to 70°, is convenient; while of
course all outdoor crops have to submit to the natural temperature of
the season. It is very important that seeds should be sown when the
ground is in a good working condition, and not clammy with moisture.
2. _By Offsets._--This mode of increase applies specially to bulbous
plants, such as the lily and hyacinth, which produce little bulbs on
the exterior round their base. Most bulbs do so naturally to a limited
but variable extent; when more rapid increase is wanted the heart is
destroyed, and this induces the formation of a larger number of
offsets. The stem bulbs of lilies are similar in character to the
offsets from the parent bulb. The same mode of increase occurs in the
gladiolus and crocus, but their bulb-like permanent parts are called
corms, not bulbs. After they have ripened in connexion with the parent
bulb, the offsets are taken off, stored in appropriate places, and at
the proper season planted out in nursery beds.
3. _By Tubers._--The tuber is a fleshy underground stem, furnished
with eyes which are either visible, as in the potato and in some
familiar kinds of _Tropaeolum_ (_T. tuberosum_) and of _Oxalis_ (_O.
crenata_), or latent, as in the Chinese yam (_Dioscorea Batatas_).
When used for propagation, the tubers are cut up into what are called
"sets," every portion having an eye attached being capable of forming
an independent plant. The cut portions of bulky sets should be
suffered to lie a short time before being planted, in order to dry the
surface and prevent rotting; this should not, however, be done with
such tropical subjects as caladiums, the tubers of which are often cut
up into very small fragments for propagation, and of course require to
be manipulated in a properly heated propagating pit. No eyes are
visible in the Chinese yam, but slices of the long club-shaped tubers
will push out young shoots and form independent plants, if planted
with ordinary care.
4. _By Division._--Division, or partition, is usually resorted to in
the case of tufted growing plants, chiefly perennial herbs; they may
be evergreen, as chamomile or thrift, or when dormant may consist only
of underground crowns, as larkspur or lily-of-the-valley; but in
either case the old tufted plant being dug up may be divided into
separate pieces, each furnished with roots, and, when replanted,
generally starting on its own account without much check. Suffruticose
plants and even small shrubs may be propagated in this way, by first
planting them deeper than they are ordinarily grown, and then after
the lapse of a year, which time they require to get rooted, taking
them up again and dividing them into parts or separate plants.
Box-edging and southernwood are examples. The same ends may sometimes
be effected by merely working fine soil in amongst the base of the
stems, and giving them time to throw out roots before parting them.
5. _By Suckers._--Root suckers are young shoots from the roots of
plants, chiefly woody plants, as may often be seen in the case of the
elm and the plum. The shoots when used for propagation must be
transplanted with all the roots attached to them, care being taken not
to injure the parent plant. If they spring from a thick root it is not
to be wantonly severed, but the soil should be removed and the sucker
taken off by cutting away a clean slice of the root, which will then
heal and sustain no harm. Stem suckers are such as proceed from the
base of the stem, as is often seen in the case of the currant and
lilac. They should be removed in any case; when required for
propagation they should be taken with all the roots attached to them,
and they should be as thoroughly disbudded below ground as possible,
or they are liable to continue the habit of suckering. In this case,
too, the soil should be carefully opened and the shoots removed with a
suckering iron, a sharp concave implement with long iron handle (fig.
14). When the number of roots is limited, the tops should be
shortened, and some care in watering and mulching should be bestowed
on the plant if it is of value.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Suckering Iron.]
6. _By Runners._--The young string-like shoots produced by the
strawberry are a well-known example of runners. The process of rooting
these runners should be facilitated by fixing them close down to the
soil, which is done by small wooden hooked pegs or by stones;
hair-pins, short lengths of bent wire, &c., may also be used. After
the roots are formed, the strings are cut through, and the runners
become independent plants.
7. _By Proliferous Buds._--Not unlike the runner, though growing in a
very different way, are the bud-plants formed on the fronds of several
kinds of ferns belonging to the genera _Asplenium_, _Woodwardia_,
_Polystichum_, _Lastrea_, _Adiantum_, _Cystopteris_, &c. In some of
these (_Adiantum caudatum_, _Polystichum lepidocaulon_) the rachis of
the frond is lengthened out much like the string of the strawberry
runner, and bears a plant at its apex. In others (_Polystichum
angulare proliferum_) the stipes below and the rachis amongst the
pinnae develop buds, which are often numerous and crowded. In others
again (_Woodwardia orientalis_, _Asplenium bulbiferum_), buds are
numerously produced on the upper surface of the fronds. These will
develop on the plant if allowed to remain. For propagation the
buibiferous portion is pegged down on the surface of a pot of suitable
soil; if kept close in a moist atmosphere, the little buds will soon
strike root and form independent plants. In _Cystopteris_ the buds are
deciduous, falling off as the fronds acquire maturity, but, if
collected and pressed into the surface of a pot of soil and kept
close, they will grow up into young plants the following season. In
some genera of flowering plants, and notably in Bryophyllum, little
plants form on various parts of the leaves. In some Monocotyledons,
ordinarily in Chlorophytum, and exceptionally in Phalaenopsis and
others, new plants arise on the flower stems.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Propagation by Layers--a, tonguing; b,
ringing.]
8. _By Layers._--Layering consists in preparing the branch of a plant
while still attached to the parent, bending it so that the part
operated on is brought under ground, and then fixing it there by means
of a forked peg. Some plants root so freely that they need only
pegging down; but in most cases the arrest of the returning sap to
form a callus, and ultimately young roots, must be brought about
artificially, either by twisting the branch, by splitting it, by
girding it closely with wire, by taking off a ring of bark, or by
"tonguing." In tonguing the leaves are cut off the portion which has
to be brought under ground, and a tongue or slit is then cut from
below upwards close beyond a joint, of such length that, when the cut
part of the layer is pegged an inch or two (or in larger woody
subjects 3 or 4 in.) below the surface, the elevation of the point of
the shoot to an upright position may open the incision, and thus set
it free, so that it may be surrounded by earth to induce it to form
roots. The whole branch, except a few buds at the extremity, is
covered with soil. The best seasons for these operations are early
spring and mid-summer, that is, before the sap begins to flow, and
after the first flush of growth has passed off. One whole summer,
sometimes two, must elapse before the layers will be fully rooted in
the case of woody plants; but such plants as carnations and picotees,
which are usually propagated in this way, in favourable seasons take
only a few weeks to root, as they are layered towards the end of the
blooming season in July, and are taken off and planted separately
early in the autumn. Fig. 15 shows a woody plant with one layer
prepared by tonguing and another by ringing.
In general, each shoot makes one layer, but in plants like the
_Wistaria_ or _Clematis_, which make long shoots, what is called
serpentine layering may be adopted; that is, the shoot is taken
alternately below and above the surface, as frequently as its length
permits. There must, however, be a joint at the underground part where
it is to be tongued and pegged, and at least one sound bud in each
exposed part, from which a shoot may be developed to form the top of
the young plant.
9. _By Circumposition._--When a plant is too high or its habit does
not conveniently admit of its being layered, it may often be increased
by what is called circumposition, the soil being carried up to the
branch operated on. The branch is to be prepared by ringing or
notching or wiring as in layering, and a temporary stand made to
support the vessel which is to contain the soil. The vessel may be a
flower-pot sawn in two, so that the halves may be bound together when
used, or it may be a flower-pot or box with a side slit which will
admit the shoot; this vessel is to be filled compactly with suitable
porous earth, the opening at the slit being stopped by pieces of slate
or tile. The earth must be kept moist, which is perhaps best done by a
thick mulching of moss, the moss being also bound closely over the
openings in the vessel, and all being kept damp by frequent
syringings. Gardeners often dispense with the pot, using sphagnum moss
and leaf-mould only when propagating india-rubber plants, perpetual
carnations, dracaenas, &c.
10. _By Grafts._--Grafting is so extensively resorted to that it is
impossible here to notice all its phases. It is perhaps of most
importance as the principal means of propagating our hardy kinds of
fruit, especially the apple and the pear; but the process is the same
with most other fruits and ornamental hardy trees and shrubs that are
thus propagated. The stocks are commonly divided into two
classes:--(1) free stocks, which consist of seedling plants, chiefly
of the same genus or species as the trees from which the scions are
taken; and (2) dwarfing stocks, which are of more diminutive growth,
either varieties of the same species or species of the same or some
allied genus as the scion, which have a tendency to lessen the
expansion of the engrafted tree. The French Paradise is the best
dwarfing stock for apples, and the quince for pears. In determining
the choice of stocks, the nature of the soil in which the grafted
trees are to grow should have full weight. In a soil, for example,
naturally moist, it is proper to graft pears on the quince, because
this plant not only thrives in such a soil, but serves to check the
luxuriance thereby produced. The scions should always be ripened
portions of the wood of the preceding year, selected from healthy
parents; in the case of shy-bearing kinds, it is better to obtain them
from the fruitful branches. The scions should be taken off some weeks
before they are wanted, and half-buried in the earth, since the stock
at the time of grafting should in point of vegetation be somewhat in
advance of the graft. During winter, grafts may be conveyed long
distances, if carefully packed. If they have been six weeks or two
months separated from the parent plant, they should be grafted low on
the stock, and the earth should be ridged up round them, leaving only
one bud of the scion exposed above ground. The best season for
grafting apples and similar hardy subjects in the open air is in March
and April; but it may be commenced as soon as the sap in the stock is
fairly in motion.
_Whip-grafting_ or _Tongue-grafting_ (fig. 16) is the most usual mode
of performing the operation when there is no great difference in
thickness between the stock and scion. The stock is headed off by an
oblique transverse cut as shown at a, a slice is then pared off the
side as at b, and on the face of this a tongue or notch is made, the
cut being in a downward direction; the scion c is pared off in a
similar way by a single clean sharp cut, and this is notched or
tongued in the opposite direction as the figure indicates; the two are
then fitted together as shown at d, so that the inner bark of each may
come in contact at least on one side, and then tied round with damp
soft bast as at e; next some grafting clay is taken on the forefinger
and pushed down on each side so as to fill out the space between the
top of the stock and the graft, and a portion is also rubbed over the
ligatures on the side where the graft is placed, a handful of the clay
is then taken, flattened out, and rolled closely round the whole point
of junction, being finished off to a tapering form both above and
below, as shown by the dotted line f. To do this deftly, the hands
should be plunged from time to time in dry ashes, to prevent the clay
from sticking to them. Various kinds of grafting wax are now
obtainable, and are a great improvement upon the clay process. Some
cold mastics become very pliable with the warmth of the hands. They
are best applied with a piece of flat wood; or very liquid waxes may
be applied with a brush.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Whip-grafting or Tongue-grafting.]
_Cleft-grafting_ (fig. 17) is another method in common use. The stock
a is cleft down from the horizontal cut d (but not nearly so much as
the sketch would indicate), and the scion, when cut to a thin wedge
form, as shown at c and e, is inserted into the cleft; the whole is
then bound up and clayed as in the former case. This is not so good a
plan as whip-grafting; it is improved by sloping the stock on one side
to the size of the graft.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Cleft-grafting.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Crown-Grafting.]
_Crown-grafting_ or _Rind-grafting_ (fig. 18) is preferable to
cleft-grafting, inasmuch as it leaves no open spaces in the wood. The
stock b is cut off horizontally or nearly so in January or February.
At grafting time a slit is cut in the bark f, f, a wedge-shaped piece
of iron or a small chisel being inserted to raise the bark; the scion
is then cut to the same wedge-shaped form g, h, and inserted in the
space opened for it between the alburnum and the bark, after which it
is tied down and clayed or waxed over in the manner already described.
_Side-grafting_ is performed like whip-grafting, the graft being
inserted on the side of a branch and not at the cut end of the stock.
It may be practised for the purpose of changing a part of the tree,
and is sometimes very useful for filling out vacant spaces, in trained
trees especially.
_Inarching_ is another form of side-grafting. Here the graft is fixed
to the side of the stock, which is planted or potted close to the
plant to be worked. The branches are applied to the stock while yet
attached to the parent tree, and remain so until united. In the case
of trained trees, a young shoot is sometimes inarched to its parent
stem to supply a branch where one has not been developed in the
ordinary way.
For the propagation by grafts of stove and greenhouse plants the
process adopted is whip-grafting or a modification of it. The parts
are, however, sometimes so small that the tongue of the graft is
dispensed with, and the two stems simply pared smooth and bound
together. In this way hardy rhododendrons of choice sorts, greenhouse
azaleas, the varieties of the orange family, camellias, roses, rare
conifers, clematises and numerous other plants are increased.
Raffia--which has taken the place of bast--is generally used for
tying, and grafting wax is only used occasionally with such plants
under glass. All grafting of this kind is done in the propagating
house, at any season when grafts are obtainable in a fit state--the
plants when operated on being placed in close frames warmed to a
suitable temperature. Roses and clematis, however, are generally
grafted from January to March and April.
_Root-grafting_ is sometimes resorted to where extensive increase is
an object, or where stem-grafting or other means of propagation are
not available. In this case the scion is grafted directly on to a
portion of the root of some appropriate stock, both graft and stock
being usually very small; the grafted root is then potted so as to
cover the point of junction with the soil, and is plunged in the bed
of the propagating house, where it gets the slight stimulus of a
gentle bottom heat. Dahlias (fig. 19), paeonies, and Wistarias may be
grafted by inserting young shoots into the neck of one of the fleshy
roots of each kind respectively--the best method of doing so being to
cut a triangular section near the upper end of the root, just large
enough to admit the young shoot when slightly pared away on two sides
to give it a similar form. In the case of large woody plants thus
worked (fig. 20) the grafted roots, after the operation is completed,
are planted in nursery beds, so that the upper buds only are exposed
to the atmosphere, as shown in the figure.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Root-grafting of Dahlia.]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Root-grafting of Woody Plant.]
11. _By Buds._--Budding is the inserting of a bud of a choice variety
cut with a portion of bark into the bark of the stock of an inferior
nature where it is bound gently but firmly. Stone fruits, such as
peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, &c., are usually propagated in
this way, as well as roses and many other plants. In the propagating
house budding may be done at any season when the sap is in motion; but
for fruit trees, roses, &c., in the open air, it is usually done in
July or August, when the buds destined for the following year are
completely formed in the axils of the leaves, and when the bark
separates freely from the wood it covers. Those buds are to be
preferred, as being best ripened, which occur on the middle portion of
a young shoot, and which are quite dormant at the time.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Shield-budding.]
The simplest and most generally practised form of budding is that
called _shield-budding_ or T-_budding_ (fig. 21). The operator should
be provided with a sharp budding knife having a thin ivory or bone
handle, for raising the bark of the stock. A horizontal incision is
made in the bark quite down to the wood, and from this a perpendicular
slit is drawn upwards to the extent of perhaps an inch, so that the
slit has a resemblance to the letter T, as at a. A bud is then cut by
a clean incision from the tree intended to be propagated, having a
portion of the wood attached to it, and so that the whole may be about
1 in. long, as at d. The bit of wood e must be gently withdrawn, care
being taken that the bud adheres wholly to the bark or shield, as it
is called, of which f is a side view. The bark on each side of the
perpendicular slit being then cautiously opened, as at b, with the
handle of the knife, the bud and shield are inserted as shown at c.
The upper tip of the shield is cut off horizontally, and brought to
fit the bark of the stock at the transverse incision. Slight ties of
soft cotton wool or worsted, or moist raffia, are then applied. In
about a month or six weeks the ligatures may be removed or slit with
the knife to allow for the swelling stem, when, if the operation has
been successful, the bud will be fresh and full, and the shield firmly
united to the wood. In the following spring a strong shoot will be
thrown out, and to prevent its being blown out by the wind, must be
fastened to a stake, or to the lower portion of the old stock which
has been left for the purpose.
To be successful the operation should be performed with a quick and
light hand, so that no part of the delicate tissues be injured, as
would happen if they were left for a time exposed, or if the bud were
forced in like a wedge. The union is effected as in grafting, by means
of the organizable sap or cambium, and the less this is disturbed
until the inner bark of the shield is pressed and fixed against it the
better. Trees to be grown in the form of a bush are usually budded low
down on the stem of the stock as near the root as possible to obviate
the development of wild suckers later on. Standard trees, however, are
budded on a sturdy young shoot close to the top. In either case the
stocks should have been carefully planted at least the previous
November when the work is to be done in the open air the following
July or August.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Propagation by Cuttings.]
12. _By Branch Cuttings._--Propagation by cuttings is the mode of
increase most commonly adopted, next to that by seeds. It is effected
by taking a portion from a branch or shoot of the plant, and placing
it in the soil. There are great differences to be observed in the
selection and treatment of cuttings. Sometimes soft green leafy
shoots, as in _Verbena_ (fig. 22, a), are used; sometimes the shoots
must be half-ripened, and sometimes fully matured. So of the mode of
preparation; some will root if cut off or broken off at any point and
thrust into wet earth or sand in a warm place (fig. 22, a); others
require to be cut with the utmost care just below a joint or
leaf-base, and by a keen blade so as to sever the tissues without
tearing or bruising; and others again after being cut across may be
split up for a short distance, but there seems to be no particular
virtue in this. It is usual and in most cases necessary to cut away
the lower portion of a cutting up to just below the node or joint
(fig. 22, b, d, e). The internodal parts will not often divide so as
to form separate individual plants; sometimes, however, this happens;
it is said that the smallest piece of _Torenia asiatica_, for
instance, will grow. Then as to position, certain cuttings grow
readily enough if planted outdoors in the open soil, some preferring
shade, others sunshine, while less hardy subjects must be covered with
a bell-glass, or must be in a close atmosphere with bottom heat, or
must have the aid of pure silver sand to facilitate their rooting
(fig. 22, c). Cuttings should in all cases be taken from healthy
plants, and from shoots of a moderate degree of vigour. It is also
important to select leafy growths, and not such as will at once run up
to flower. Young shoots which have become moderately firm generally
make the best cuttings, but sometimes the very softest shoots strike
more readily. For all indoor plants in a growing state spring is a
good time for taking cuttings, but at any time during the summer
months is also favourable if cuttings are obtainable.
Cuttings of deciduous plants should be taken off after the fall of the
leaf. These cuttings should be about 6 in. to 1 ft. in length, and
should be planted at once in the ground so as to leave only the top
with the two or three preserved buds exposed. If a clean stem,
however, is desired, a longer portion may be left uncovered.
Gooseberries, currants, roses and many hardy deciduous trees and
shrubs are easily propagated in this way if the cuttings are inserted
in well-drained soil about the end of October or early in November.
Cuttings of growing plants are prepared by removing with a sharp
knife, and moderately close, the few leaves which would otherwise be
buried in the soil; they are then cut clean across just below a joint;
the fewer the leaves thus removed, however, the better, as if kept
from being exhausted they help to supply the elaborated sap out of
which the roots are formed. Free-rooting subjects strike in any
lightish sandy mixture; but difficult subjects should have thoroughly
well-drained pots, a portion of the soil proper for the particular
plants made very sandy, and a surfacing of clean sharp silver sand
about as deep as the length of the cutting.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Leaf Cuttings.]
Such difficult plants as heaths are reared in silver sand, a stratum
of which is placed over the sandy peat soil in a specially prepared
cutting pot, and thus the cuttings, though rooting in the sand under a
bell-glass, find at once on the emission of roots congenial soil for
them to grow in (fig. 22, c).
Hardy plants, such as pinks, pansies, &c., are propagated by cuttings
planted during early summer in light rich soil. The cuttings of pinks
are called pipings (fig. 22, d), and are planted about June, while
pansies may be renewed in this way both in spring and in autumn.
13. _By Leaf Cuttings._--Many plants may be propagated by planting
their leaves or portions of the leaves as cuttings, as, for example,
the _Gloxinia_ (fig. 23, a) and _Gesnera_, the succulent
_Sempervivum_, _Echeveria_, _Pachyphytum_ and their allies, and such
hard-leaved plants as _Theophrasta_ (fig. 23, b). The leaves are best
taken off with the base whole, and should be planted in well-drained
sandy soil; in due time they form roots, and ultimately from some
latent bud a little shoot which forms the young plant. The treatment
is precisely like that of branch cuttings. Gloxinias, begonias, &c.,
grow readily from fragments of the leaves cut clean through the thick
veins and ribs, and planted edgewise like cuttings. This class of
subjects may also be fixed flat on the surface of the cutting pot, by
means of little pegs or hooks, the main ribs being cut across at
intervals, and from these points roots, and eventually young tubers,
will be produced (fig. 24).
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Leaf-Propagation of Begonia.]
14. _By Root Cuttings._--Some plants which are not easily increased by
other means propagate readily from root cuttings. Amongst the indoor
plants which may be so treated, _Bouvardia_, _Pelargonium_, _Aralia_
and _Wigandia_ may be mentioned. The _modus operandi_ is to turn the
plant out of its pot, shake away the soil so as to free the roots, and
then select as many pieces of the stouter roots as may be required.
These are cut up into half-inch lengths (more or less), and inserted
in light sandy soil round the margin of a cutting pot, so that the
upper end of the root cutting may be level with the soil or only just
covered by it. The pots should be watered so as to settle the soil,
and be placed in the close atmosphere of the propagating pit or frame,
where they will need scarcely any water until the buds are seen
pushing through the surface.
There are various herbaceous plants which may be similarly treated,
such as sea-kale and horseradish, and, among ornamental plants, the
beautiful autumn-blooming _Anemone japonica_, _Bocconia cordata_,
_Dictamnus Fraxinella_--the burning bush; the sea hollies
(_Eryngium_), the globe thistle (_Echinops ritro_), the Oriental poppy
(Papaver orientale), the sea lavender (_Statice latifolia_), _Senecio
pulcher_, &c. The sea-kale and horseradish require to be treated in
the open garden, where the cut portions should be planted in lines in
well-worked soil; but the roots of the others should be planted in
pots and kept in a close frame with a little warmth till the young
shoots have started.
Various hardy ornamental trees are also increased in this way, as the
quince, elm, robinia and mulberry, and the rose amongst shrubs. The
most important use to which this mode of propagation is put is,
however, the increase of roses, and of the various plums used as
stocks for working the choicer stone fruits. The method in the latter
case is to select roots averaging the thickness of the little finger,
to cut these into lengths of about 3 or 4 in., and to plant them in
lines just beneath the surface in nursery beds. The root cuttings of
rose-stocks are prepared and treated in a similar way.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Cutting of Single Eye.]
15. _By Cuttings of Single Eyes._--This mode of propagation is by
cutting the ripened young branches into short lengths, each containing
one well-matured bud or eye, with a short portion of the stem above
and below. It is a common mode of propagating vines, the eyes being in
this case cut from the ripened leafless wood. The eyes (fig. 25, a)
are planted just below the surface in pots of light soil, which are
placed in a hot bed or propagating pit, and in due time each pushes up
a young shoot which forms the future stem, while from about its base
the young roots are produced (fig. 25, b) which convert it into an
independent plant. In the case of plants with persistent leaves, the
stem may be cut through just above and below the bud, retaining the
leaf which is left on the cutting, the old wood and eye being placed
beneath the soil and the leaf left exposed. In this way the
india-rubber tree (_Ficus elastica_), for example, and many other
tender plants may be increased with the aid of a brisk bottom heat.
Many of the free-growing soft-wooded plants may also be grown from
cuttings of single joints of the young wood, where rapid increase is
desired; and in the case of opposite-leaved plants two cuttings may
often be made from one joint by splitting the stem longitudinally,
each cutting consisting of a leaf and a perfect bud attached to half
the thickness of the stem.
_Planting and Transplanting._--In preparing a fruit tree for
transplantation, the first thing to be done is to open a trench round it
at a distance of from 3 to 4 ft., according to size. The trench should
be opened to about two spades' depth, and any coarse roots which may
extend thus far from the trunk may be cut clean off with a sharp knife.
The soil between the trench and the stem is to be reduced as far as may
seem necessary or practicable by means of a digging fork, the roots as
soon as they are liberated being fixed on one side and carefully
preserved. By working in this way all round the ball, the best roots
will be got out and preserved, and the ball lightened of all superfluous
soil. The tree will then be ready to lift if carefully prized up from
beneath the ball, and if it does not lift readily, it will probably be
found that a root has struck downwards, which will have to be sought out
and cut through. Whenever practicable, it is best to secure a ball of
earth round the roots. On the tree being lifted from its hole the roots
should be examined, and all which have been severed roughly with the
spade should have the ends cut smooth with the knife to facilitate the
emission of fibres. The tree can then be transported to its new
position. The hole for its reception should be of sufficient depth to
allow the base of the ball of earth, or of the roots, to stand so that
the point whence the uppermost roots spring from the stem may be 2 or 3
in. below the general surface level. Then the bottom being regulated so
as to leave the soil rather highest in the centre, the plant is to be
set in the hole in the position desired, and steadied there by hand.
Next the roots from the lower portion of the ball are to be sought out
and laid outwards in lines radiating from the stem, being distributed
equally on all sides as nearly as this can be done; some fine and
suitable good earth should be thrown amongst the roots as they are thus
being placed, and worked in well up to the base of the ball. The soil
covering the roots may be gently pressed down, but the tree should not
be pulled up and down, as is sometimes done, to settle the soil. This
done, another set of roots higher up the ball must be laid out in the
same way, and again another, until the whole of the roots, thus
carefully laid, are embedded as firmly as may be in the soil, which may
now receive another gentle treading. The stem should next be supported
permanently, either by one stake or by three, according to its size. The
excavation will now be filled up about two-thirds perhaps; and if so the
tree may have a thorough good watering, sufficient to settle the soil
closely about its roots. After twenty-four hours the hole may be
levelled in, with moderate treading, if the water has soaked well in,
the surface being left level and not sloping upwards towards the stem of
the tree. In transplanting trees of the ornamental class, less need be
attempted in respect to providing new soil, although the soil should be
made as congenial as practicable. Generally speaking, fruit trees are
best transplanted when three or four years of age, in which time they
will have acquired the shape given by the nurseryman, who generally
transplants his stock each autumn to produce large masses of root
fibres. Nowadays, however, quite large trees, chiefly of an ornamental
character, and perhaps weighing several tons, are lifted with a large
ball of soil attached to the roots, by means of a special tree-lifting
machine, and are readily transferred from one part of the garden to
another, or even for a distance of several miles, without serious
injury. The best season for transplanting deciduous trees is during the
early autumn months. As regards evergreens opinions are divided, some
preferring August and September, others April or May. They can be
successfully planted at either period, but for subjects which are at all
difficult to remove the spring months are to be preferred.
In transplanting smaller subjects, such as plants for the flower garden,
much less effort is required. The plant must be lifted with as little
injury to its rootlets as possible, and carefully set into the hole, the
soil being filled in round it, and carefully pressed close by the hand.
For moving small plants the garden trowel is a very convenient tool, but
we are inclined to give the preference to the hand-fork. For larger
masses, such as strong-growing herbaceous plants, a spade or
digging-fork will be requisite and the soil may be trodden down with the
feet.
When seedlings of vigorous plants have to be "pricked out," a dibble or
dibber is the best implement to be used. The ground being prepared and,
if necessary, enriched, and the surface made fine and smooth, a hole is
made with the dibble deep enough and large enough to receive the roots
of the seedling plants without doubling them up, and the hole is filled
in by working the soil close to the plant with the point of the dibble.
The pricking out of seedlings in pots in the propagating pit is effected
in a similar way. The plants, indeed, often require to be removed and
set from ½ in. to 1 in. apart before they have become sufficiently
developed to admit of being handled with any degree of facility, and for
these a pointed stick of convenient size is used as a dibble. In
delicate cases, such as seedling gloxinias and begonias, it is best to
lift the little seedling on the end of a flattish pointed stick, often
cleft at the apex, pressing this into the new soil where the plant is to
be placed, and liberating it and closing the earth about it by the aid
of a similar stick held in the other hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Section of Pot showing Crocks.]
_Potting and Repotting._--Garden pots are made with a comparatively
large hole in the bottom, and those of the largest size have also holes
at the side near the bottom; these openings are to prevent the soil
becoming saturated or soured with superabundant water. To prepare the
pot for the plant, a broadish piece of potsherd, called a "crock," is
placed over the large hole, and if there be side holes they also are
covered. The bottom crock is made from a piece of a broken garden pot,
and is laid with the convex side upwards; then comes a layer of
irregular pieces of crock of various sizes, about 1 in. deep in a 5-in.
pot, 2 in. in an 11-in. or 12-in. pot, &c. The mode of crocking a pot is
shown in fig. 26. A few of the coarser lumps from the outer edge of the
heap of potting soil are spread over the crocks. The same end, that of
keeping the finer particles of the soil from mixing with the drainage
crocks, may be attained by shaking in a little clean moss. A handful or
two of the soil is then put in, and on this the plant with its roots
spread out is to be set, a trifle higher than the plant should stand in
the pot when finished off; more soil is to be added, and the whole
pressed firmly with the fingers, the base of the stem being just below
the pot-rim, and the surface being smoothed off so as to slope a little
outwards. When finished off, the pots should be watered well, to settle
the soil; but they should stand till the water has well drained away,
since, if they are moved about while the fresh soil is very wet, there
will be a risk of its becoming puddled or too much consolidated. Larger
plants do not need quite such delicate treatment, but care should be
taken not to handle the roots roughly. The soil for these may be
somewhat coarser, and the amount of drainage material more ample. Larger
bodies of soil also require to be more thoroughly consolidated before
watering; otherwise they would settle down so as to leave an unsightly
void at the pot-rim.
Some plants, especially when potted temporarily, may be dealt with in a
simpler way. A single crock may be used in some cases, and in others no
crock at all, but a handful of half-decayed leaves or half-decayed dung
thrown into the bottom of the pot. This mode of potting does well for
bulbs, such as hyacinths, which are either thrown away or planted out
when the bloom is over. The bedding plants generally may be potted in
this way, the advantage being that at planting-out time there is less
risk of disturbing the roots than if there were potsherds to remove.
Plants of this character should be potted a little less firmly than
specimens which are likely to stand long in the pot, and indeed the soil
should be made comparatively light by the intermixture of leaf-mould or
some equivalent, in order that the roots may run freely and quickly into
it.
For epiphytal plants like orchids the most thorough drainage must be
secured by the abundant use of potsherds, small pots being sometimes
inserted inside the larger ones, or by planting in shallow pots or pans,
so that there shall be no large mass of soil to get consolidated. For
most of these the lightest spongy but sweet turfy peat must be used,
this being packed lightly about the roots, and built up above the
pot-rim, or in some cases freely mixed before use with chopped sphagnum
moss and small pieces of broken pots or nodules of charcoal. The plants
under these conditions often require to be supported by wooden pegs or
sticks. Some of the species grow better when altogether taken out of the
soil and fixed to blocks of wood, but in this case they require a little
coaxing with moss about the roots until they get established. In other
cases they are planted in open baskets of wood or wire, using the porous
peat and sphagnum compost. Both blocks and baskets are usually suspended
from the roof of the house, hanging free, so that no accumulation of
water is possible. These conditions of orchid-growing have undergone
great changes of late years, and the plants are grown much as other
stove and greenhouse plants in ordinary pots with composts not only of
peat but of leaf-mould, and fibres from osmunda and polypodium ferns.
When repotting is adopted as a temporary expedient, as in the case of
bedding-out plants which it is required to push forward as much as
possible, it will suffice if provision is made to prevent the drainage
hole from getting blocked, and a rich light compost is provided for the
encouragement of the roots. When, however, a hard-wooded plant has to be
repotted, the case is different; it may stand without further potting
for one year or two years or more, and therefore much more care is
necessary. The old ball of earth must be freed from all or most of the
old crocks without doing injury to the roots, and the sharp edge of the
upper surface gently rubbed off. If there be any sour or sodden or
effete soil into which the roots have not run, this should be carefully
picked out with a pointed stick. The ball is to be set on the new soil
just high enough that when finished the base of the stem may be somewhat
below the pot-rim, and the space between the old ball and the sides of
the pot is to be filled in gradually with the prepared compost, which is
from time to time to be pressed down with a blunt-ended flat piece of
wood called a potting-stick, so as to render the new soil as solid as
the old. The object of this is to prevent the plant from starving by the
water applied all running off by way of the new soil, and not
penetrating the original ball of earth. When this amount of pressure is
necessary, especially in the case of loamy composts, the soil itself
should be rather inclined to dryness, and should in no case be
sufficiently moist to knead together into a pasty mass. In ordinary
cases the potting soil should be just so far removed from dryness that
when a handful is gently pressed it may hang together, but may lose its
cohesion when dropped.
When plants are required to stand in ornamental china pots or vases, it
is better, both for the plants and for avoiding risk of breakage, to
grow them in ordinary garden pots of a size that will drop into the more
valuable vessels. Slate pots or tubs, usually square, are sometimes
adopted, and are durable and otherwise unobjectionable, only, their
sides being less porous, the earth does not dry so rapidly, and some
modification of treatment as to watering is necessary. For large
conservatory specimens wooden tubs, round or square, are frequently
used; these should be coated with pitch inside to render them more
durable.
Various other contrivances take the place of garden pots for special
purposes. Thus shallow square or oblong wooden boxes, made of light,
inexpensive wood, are very useful for seed-sowing, for pricking out
seedlings, or for planting cuttings. When the disturbance of the roots
incidental to all transplanting is sought to be avoided, the seed or
plant is started in some cases in squares of turf (used grassy-side
downwards), which can when ready be transferred to the place the plant
is to occupy. Cucumber and melon plants and vines reared from eyes are
sometimes started in this way, both for the reason above mentioned and
because it prevents the curling of the roots apt to take place in plants
raised in pots. Strips of turf are sometimes used for the rearing of
early peas, which are sown in a warmish house or frame, and gradually
hardened so as to bear exposure before removal to the open air.
_Watering._--The guiding principle in watering plants is to do it
thoroughly when it is required, and to abstain from giving a second
supply till the first has been taken up.
When watering becomes necessary for kitchen-garden crops, the hose
should be laid on and the lines of esculents allowed to drink their
fill, if fresh succulent vegetables are desired. So also, if
well-swelled and luscious fruits, such as strawberries, are required,
there must be no parching at the roots. This applies even more strongly
to conservatory borders and to forcing-houses than to the outside
fruit-tree borders, because from these the natural rain supply is in
most cases more distinctly cut off. In the case of forcing-houses, the
water should be heated before being applied to the borders containing
the roots of the trees.
In the watering of pot plants the utmost care is requisite if the plant
be a shy-growing or valuable one, and yet it is almost impossible to
give any intelligible instruction for performing the operation. The
roots should never be suffered either to get thoroughly dry or to get
sodden with excess of water. An adept will know by the ring of the pot
on striking it with his knuckles whether water is wanted or not,
according as it rings loud and clear or dull and heavy. With very choice
subjects watering may be necessary two or three times a day in drying
summer weather. It is a wrong though common practice to press the
surface of the soil in the pot in order to feel if it is moist enough,
as this soon consolidates it, and prevents it from getting the full
benefit of aeration.
In all heated houses the water used should be warmed at least up to the
temperature of the atmosphere, so as to avoid chilling the roots. This
is also necessary in the case of water used for syringing the plants,
which should be done two or three times a day in all stoves and
forcing-houses, especially during the period when the young growth is
being developed. The damping of all absorbent surfaces, such as the
floors or bare walls, &c., is frequently necessary several times a day
in the growing season, so as to keep up a humid atmosphere; hence the
advantage of laying the floors a little rounded, as then the water draws
off to the sides against the kerbstone, while the centre remains dry for
promenaders.
In cooler structures it becomes necessary in the dull season of the year
to prevent the slopping of water over the plants or on the floor, as
this tends to cause "damping off,"--the stems assuming a state of
mildewy decay, which not infrequently, if it once attacks a plant, will
destroy it piece by piece. For the same reason cleanliness and free
ventilation under favourable weather conditions are of great importance.
_Pruning._--Pruning is a very important operation in the fruit garden,
its object being twofold--(1) to give form to the tree, and (2) to
induce the free production of flower buds as the precursors of a
plentiful crop of fruit. To form a standard tree, either the stock is
allowed to grow up with a straight stem, by cutting away all side
branches up to the height required, say about 6 ft., the scion or bud
being worked at that point, and the head developed therefrom; or the
stock is worked close to the ground, and the young shoot obtained
therefrom is allowed to grow up in the same way, being pruned in its
progress to keep it single and straight, and the top being cut off when
the desired height is reached, so as to cause the growth of lateral
shoots. If these are three or four in number, and fairly balanced as to
strength and position, little pruning will be required. The tips of
unripened wood should be cut back about one-third their length at an
outwardly placed bud, and the chief pruning thereafter required will be
to cut away inwardly directed shoots which cross or crowd each other and
tend to confuse the centre of the tree. Bushy heads should be thinned
out, and those that are too large cut back so as to remodel them. If the
shoots produced are not sufficient in number, or are badly placed, or
very unequal in vigour, the head should be cut back moderately close,
leaving a few inches only of the young shoots, which should be pruned
back to buds so placed as to furnish shoots in the positions desired.
When worked at the top of a stem formed of the stock, the growth from
the graft or bud must be pruned in a similar way. Three or four leading
shoots should be selected to pass ere long into boughs and form a
well-balanced framework for the tree; these boughs, however, will soon
grow beyond any artificial system the pruner may adopt.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Dwarf-Tree Pruning.]
To form a dwarf or bush fruit tree the stock must be worked near the
ground, and the young shoot produced from the scion or bud must be cut
back to whatever height it is desired the dwarf stem should be, say 1½
to 2 ft. The young shoots produced from the portion of the new wood
retained are to form the framework of the bush tree, and must be dealt
with as in the case of standard trees. The growth of inwardly directed
shoots is to be prevented, and the centre kept open, the tree assuming a
cup-shaped outline. Fig. 27, reduced from M. Hardy's excellent work,
_Traité de la taille des arbres fruitiers_, will give a good idea how
these dwarf trees are to be manipulated, a showing the first year's
development from the maiden tree after being headed back, and b the form
assumed a year or two later.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Pyramid Pruning.]
In forming a pyramidal tree, the lateral growths, instead of being
removed, as in the standard tree, are encouraged to the utmost; and in
order to strengthen them the upper part of the leading shoot is removed
annually, the side branches being also shortened somewhat as the tree
advances in size. In fig. 28, reduced from M. Hardy's work, a shows a
young tree with its second year's growth, the upright shoot of the
maiden tree having been moderately headed back, being left longer if the
buds near the base promise to break freely, or cut shorter if they are
weak and wanting in vigour. The winter pruning, carried out with the
view to shape the tree into a well-grown pyramid, would be effected at
the places marked by a cross line. The lowest branch would have four
buds retained, the end one being on the lower side of the branch. The
two next would be cut to three buds, which here also are fortunately so
situated that the one to be left is on the lower side of the branches.
The fourth is not cut at all owing to its shortness and weakness, its
terminal bud being allowed to grow to draw strength into it. The fifth
is an example where the bud to which the shoot should be cut back is
badly placed; a shoot resulting from a bud left on the upper side is apt
instead of growing outwards to grow erect, and lead to confusion in the
form of the tree; to avoid this it is tied down in its proper place
during the summer by a small twig. The upper shoots are cut closer in.
Near the base of the stem are two prominent buds, which would produce
two vigorous shoots, but these would be too near the ground, and the
buds should therefore be suppressed; but, to strengthen the lower part,
the weaker buds just above and below the lowest branch should be forced
into growth, by making a transverse incision close above each. Fig. 28,
b, shows what a similar tree would be at the end of the third year's
growth.
In order to bring a young tree into the cordon shape, all its side
branches are shortened back, either to form permanent spurs, as in the
case of pears, or to yield annual young shoots, as in peaches and
nectarines. The single-stemmed cordon may be trained horizontally,
obliquely at any required angle, or vertically if required, the first
two arrangements being preferable. If a double cordon is required, the
original young stem must be headed back, and the two best shoots
produced must be selected, trained right and left, and treated as for
the single cordon.
The forms chiefly adopted for trees trained to walls and espalier rails
are the fan-shaped, the half-fan and the horizontal, with their various
modifications.
The maiden tree is headed down, and two shoots led away right and left.
Two laterals should be allowed to grow from the upper side of them, one
from near the base, the other from near the middle, all others being
pinched out beyond the second or third leaf during summer, but cut away
to the last bud in winter. The tree will thus consist of six shoots,
probably 3 ft. to 4 ft. long, which are not to be pruned unless they are
unequal in strength, a defect which is rather to be remedied by summer
pinching than by winter pruning. The second year three young shoots are
to be left on each of the six, one close to the base, one about the
middle, and one at the point, the rest being rubbed off. These three
shoots will produce laterals, of which one or two may be selected and
laid in; and thus a number of moderately strong fertile shoots will be
obtained, and at the end of the season a comparatively large tree will
be the result.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Pruning for Fan-shaped Tree.]
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--The same--third year.]
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--The same--fourth year.]
The method of pruning formerly adopted for the formation of a fan-shaped
tree was to head down the maiden plant to about two eyes, so placed as
to yield a young shoot on each side (fig. 29), the supernumerary shoots
being rubbed off while quite young, and the reserved shoots trained
against the wall during the summer so as to get them well matured. The
next year they were cut back again; often nearly to the base, in order
that the lower pair of these shoots might each produce two well-placed
young shoots, and the upper pair three young shoots. The tree would thus
consist of ten shoots, to be laid out at regular distances, and then if
closely cut the frame-work of the tree would be as in fig. 30. These
main shoots were not again to be shortened back, but from each of them
three young shoots were to be selected and trained in two, on the upper
side, one near the base, and the other halfway up, and one on the lower
side placed about midway between these two; these with the leading
shoot, which was also to be nailed in, made four branches of the current
year from each of the ten main branches, and the form of the tree would
therefore be that of fig. 31. The other young shoots produced were
pinched off while quite young, to throw all the strength of the tree
into those which were to form its basis, and to secure abundant light
and air. In after years the leading shoot was not to be cut back, but
all the lateral shoots were to be shortened, and from these year by year
other shoots were to be selected to fill up the area occupied by the
tree.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Pruning for Horizontally trained Tree.]
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--The same--third year.]
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--The same--fifth year.]
In pruning for a horizontal tree the young maiden tree has to be headed
back nearly to its base, and from the young shoots three are to be
selected, the two best-placed lower ones to form an opposite or nearly
opposite pair of main branches, and the best-placed upper one to
continue the erect stem (fig. 32). This upper shoot is at the next
winter pruning to be cut down to within about a foot of the point whence
it sprung, and its buds rubbed off except the upper one for a leader,
and one on each side just below it to furnish another pair of side
shoots; these being trained in position, the tree would appear as in
fig. 33. The same course is to be followed annually till the space is
filled. Sometimes in very favourable soils and with vigorous trees two
pairs of branches may be obtained in one season by summer-stopping the
erect shoots and selecting others from the young growths thus induced,
but more commonly the trees have to be built up by forming one pair of
branches annually. The shoots are not at first lowered to the horizontal
line, but are brought down gradually and tied to thin stakes; and while
the tree is being formed weak shoots may be allowed to grow in a more
erect position than it is ultimately intended they should occupy. Thus
in four or five years the tree will have acquired something of the
character of fig. 34, and will go on thus increasing until the space is
filled.
The half-fan is a combination of the two forms, but as regards pruning
does not materially differ from the horizontal, as two opposite side
branches are produced in succession upwards till the space is filled,
only they are not taken out so abruptly, but are allowed to rise at an
acute angle and then to curve into the horizontal line.
In all the various forms of cordons, in horizontal training, and in fan
and half-fan training, the pruning of the main branches when the form of
the tree is worked out will vary in accordance with the kind of fruit
under treatment. Thus in the peach, nectarine, apricot, plum and cherry,
which are commonly trained fan-fashion, the first three (and also the
morello cherry if grown) will have to be pruned so as to keep a
succession of young annual shoots, these being their fruit-bearing wood.
The others are generally pruned so as to combine a moderate supply of
young wood with a greater or less number of fruit spurs. In the pear and
apple the fruit is borne principally on spurs, and hence what is known
as spur-pruning has to be adopted, the young shoots being all cut back
nearly to their base, so as to cause fruit buds to evolve from the
remaining eyes or buds. Cordons of apples and pears have to be similarly
treated, but cordons of peaches and nectarines are pruned so as to
provide the necessary annual succession of young bearing wood.
Fruit trees trained as espaliers, fans or cordons against walls,
trellises or fences, are not only pruned carefully in the winter but
must be also pruned during the early summer months. Many of the smaller,
useless shoots are rubbed out altogether; the best are allowed to grow
perhaps a foot or more in length, and then either have the tips pinched
out with the finger and thumb, or the ends may be cracked or broken, and
allowed to hang down, but are not detached completely. This is called
summer pruning, and is an important operation requiring knowledge on the
part of the gardener to perform properly. Shoots of peaches, nectarines
and morello cherries are "laid in," that is, placed in between fruiting
shoots where there is the space to be ripened for next year's crop.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Summer Pruning for Spurs.]
_Summer Pruning_ should be performed while the shoots are yet young and
succulent, so that they may in most cases be nipped off with the
thumb-nail. It is very necessary in the case of trees trained to a flat
surface, as a wall or espalier rail, to prevent undue crowding. In some
cases, as, for example, with peaches, the superfluous shoots are wholly
removed, and certain selected shoots reserved to supply bearing wood for
next year. In others, as pears, the tops of the young shoots are
removed, leaving three or four leaves and their buds at the base, to be
developed into fruit buds by the additional nourishment thus thrown into
them (fig. 35, a). One or two may push out a late summer growth, b; this
will serve as a vent for the vigour of the tree, and if the lowermost
only go to the formation of a fruit spur, the object will have been
gained. They are cut to the last dormant bud in winter.
But summer pruning has been much extended since the introduction of
restricted growth and the use of dwarfing stocks. Orchard-house trees,
and also pyramidal and bush trees of apples, pears and plums, are mainly
fashioned by summer pruning; in fact, the less the knife is used upon
them, except in the necessary cutting of the roots in potted trees, the
better. In the case of orchard-house plants no shoots are suffered to
lengthen out, except as occasionally wanted to fill up a gap in the
outline of the tree. On the contrary, the tops of all young shoots are
pinched off when some three or four leaves are formed, and this is done
again and again throughout the season. When this pruning is just brought
to a balance with the vigour of the roots, the consequence is that fruit
buds are formed all over the tree, instead of a thicket of sterile and
useless wood. Pyramidal and bush trees out of doors are, of course,
suffered to become somewhat larger, and sufficient wood must be allowed
to grow to give them the form desired; but after the first year or two,
when the framework is laid out, they are permitted to extend very
slowly, and never to any great extent, while the young growths are
continually nipped off, so as to clothe the branches with fruit buds as
closely placed as will permit of their healthy development.
The nature of the cut itself in pruning is of more consequence,
especially in the case of fruit trees, than at first sight may appear.
The branches should be separated by a clean cut at an angle of about
45°, just at the back of a bud, the cut entering on a level with the
base of the bud and passing out on a level with its top (fig. 36, a),
for when cut in this way the wound becomes rapidly covered with new
wood, as soon as growth recommences, whereas if the cut is too close the
bud is starved, or if less close an ugly and awkward snag is left. Fig
36, b and c, are examples of the former, and d, e, f of the latter. In
fact there is only one right way to cut a shoot and that is as shown at
a.
The _Pruning of flowering plants_ is generally a much lighter matter
than the pruning of fruit trees. If a young seedling or cutting of any
soft-wooded plant is to be bushy, it must have its top nipped out by the
thumb-nail or pruning-scissors at a very early stage, and this stopping
must be repeated frequently. If what is called a well-furnished plant is
required, an average of from 2 to 3 in. is all the extension that must
be permitted--sometimes scarcely so much--before the top is nipped out;
and this must be continued until the desired size is attained, whether
that be large or small. Then generally the plant is allowed to grow away
till bloom or blooming shoots are developed. To form a pyramidal plant,
which is a very elegant and useful shape to give to a decorative pot
plant, the main stem should be encouraged to grow upright, for a length
perhaps of 6 or 8 in. before it is topped; this induces the formation of
laterals, and favours their development. The best-placed upper young
shoot is selected and trained upright to a slender stake, and this also
is topped when it has advanced 6 or 8 in. further, in order to induce
the laterals on the second portion to push freely. This process is
continued till the required size is gained. With all the difficult and
slow-growing plants of the hard-wooded section, all the pruning must be
done in this gradual way in the young wood as the plant progresses.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Cuts--Good and Bad.]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.]
Some plants, like pelargoniums, can only be kept handsomely formed and
well furnished by cutting them down severely every season, after the
blooming is over. The plants should be prepared for this by keeping them
rather dry at the root, and after cutting they must stand with little or
no water till the stems heal over, and produce young shoots, or "break,"
as it is technically termed. The appearance of a specimen pelargonium
properly pruned is shown in fig. 37, in which a shows a young plant, the
head of which has been taken off to form a cutting, and whose buds are
ready to break into young shoots. Three shoots will be produced, and
these, after growing from 4 to 6 in. in length, should be stopped by
pinching out the point, this giving rise to lateral shoots. These will
blossom in due course, and, after being ripened thoroughly by full
exposure to the sun, should be cut back as shown at b. This is the
proper foundation for a good specimen, and illustrates how all such
subjects should be pruned to keep them stocky and presentable in form.
_Root-pruning_ is most commonly practised in fruit-tree cultivation. It
is often resorted to as a means of restoring fertility in plants which
have become over rank from an excess of nourishment in the soil, or
sterile from want of it. The effect of root-pruning in the first case is
to reduce the supply of crude sap to the branches, and consequently to
cause a check in their development. In the second case all roots that
have struck downwards into a cold uncongenial subsoil must be pruned off
if they cannot be turned in a lateral direction, and all the lateral
ones that have become coarse and fibreless must also be shortened back
by means of a clean cut with a sharp knife, while a compost of rich
loamy soil with a little bone-meal, and leaf-mould or old manure, should
be filled into the trenches from which the old sterile soil has been
taken. The operation is best performed early in autumn, and may be
safely resorted to in the case of fruit trees of moderate age, and even
of old trees if due care be exercised. In transplanting trees all the
roots which may have become bruised or broken in the process of lifting
should be cut clean away behind the broken part, as they then more
readily strike out new roots from the cut parts. In all these cases the
cut should be a clean sloping one, and made in an upward and outward
direction.
The root-pruning of pot-plants is necessary in the case of many
soft-wooded subjects which are grown on year after year--pelargoniums
and fuchsias, for example. After the close pruning of the branches to
which they are annually subjected, and when the young shoots have shot
forth an inch or two in length, they are turned out of their pots and
have the old soil shaken away from their roots, the longest of which, to
the extent of about half the existing quantity, are then cut clean away,
and the plants repotted into small pots. This permits the growing plant
to be fed with rich fresh soil, without having been necessarily
transferred to pots of unwieldy size by the time the flowering stage is
reached.
_Ringing._--One of the expedients for inducing a state of fruitfulness
in trees is the ringing of the branches or stem, that is, removing a
narrow annular portion of the bark, by which means, it is said, the
trees are not only rendered productive, but the quality of the fruit is
at the same time improved. The advantage depends on the obstruction
given to the descent of the sap. The ring should be cut out in spring,
and be of such a width that the bark may remain separated for the
season. A tight ligature of twine or wire answers the same end. The
advantages of the operation may generally be gained by judicious root
pruning, and it is not at all adapted for the various stone fruits.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Diagram illustrating Branch Distribution.]
_Training._--What is called training is the guiding of the branches of a
tree or plant in certain positions which they would not naturally
assume, the object being partly to secure their full exposure to light,
and partly to regulate the flow and distribution of the sap. To secure
the former object, the branches must be so fixed as to shade each other
as little as possible; and to realize the second, the branches must have
given to them an upward or downward direction, as they may require to be
encouraged or repressed. Something of the same vegetative vigour which
is given to a plant or tree by hard pruning is afforded by training in
an upward direction so as to promote the flow of the sap; while the
repression effected by summer pruning is supplemented by downward
training, which acts as a check. One main object is the preservation of
equilibrium in the growth of the several parts of the tree; and for this
various minor details deserve attention. Thus a shoot will grow more
vigorously whilst waving in the air than when nailed close to the wall;
consequently a weak shoot should be left free, whilst its stronger
antagonist should be restrained; and a luxuriant shoot may be retarded
for some time by having its tender extremity pinched off to allow a
weaker shoot to overtake it.
By the prudent use of the knife, fruit trees may be readily trained into
the forms indicated below, which are amongst the best out of the many
which have been devised.
The training of standard and bush trees in the open ground has been
already referred to under the section _Pruning_. When the growth of
pyramids is completed, the outline is something like that of fig. 39,
and very pretty trees are thus formed. It is better, however, especially
if the tendency to bear fruit is rather slack, to adopt what the French
call _en quenouille_ training (fig. 40), which consists in tying or
weighting the tips of the branches so as to give them all a downward
curve. Pear trees worked on the quince stock, and trained en quenouille,
are generally very fertile.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Pyramidal Training.]
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Training _en quenouille_.]
Wall trees, it must be evident, are placed in a very unnatural and
constrained position, and would in fact soon be reduced to a state of
utter confusion if allowed to grow unrestricted; hence the following
modes of training have been adopted.
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Horizontal Training.]
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Forms of Horizontal Training.]
_Horizontal Training_ (fig. 41) has long been a favourite form in
England. There is one principal ascending stem, from which the branches
depart at right angles, at intervals of about a foot. Horizontal
training is best adapted to the apple and the pear; and for the more
twiggy growing slender varieties, the forms shown in fig. 42 have been
recommended. In these the horizontal branches are placed wider, 18 to 20
in. apart, and the smaller shoots are trained between them, either on
both sides, as at a, or deflexed from the lower side, as at b. The
latter is an excellent method of reclaiming neglected trees. Every
alternate branch should be taken away, and the spurs cut off, after
which the young shoots are trained in, and soon produce good fruit.
In _Fan Training_ (fig. 43) there is no leading stem, but the branches
spring from the base and are arranged somewhat like the ribs of a fan.
This mode of training is commonly adopted for the peach, nectarine,
apricot and morello cherry, to which it is best adapted. Though
sometimes adopted, it is not so well suited as the horizontal form for
apples and pears, because, when the branches reach the top of the wall,
where they must be cut short, a hedge of young shoots is inevitable. A
modification of the fan shape (fig. 44) is sometimes adopted for stone
fruits, such as the plum and apricot. In this the object is to establish
a number of mother branches, and on these to form a series of
subordinate members, chiefly composed of bearing wood. The mother
branches or limbs should not be numerous, but well marked, equal in
strength and regularly disposed. The side branches should be pretty
abundant, short and not so vigorous as to rival the leading members.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Fan Training.]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Modified Fan Training.]
The _Half-fan_ mode of training, which is intermediate between
horizontal and fan training, is most nearly allied to the former, but
the branches leave the stem at an acute angle, a disposition supposed to
favour the more equal distribution of the sap. Sometimes, as in fig. 45,
two vertical stems are adopted, but there is no particular advantage in
this, and a single-stemmed tree is more manageable. The half-fan form is
well adapted for such fruits as the plum and the cherry; and, indeed,
for fruits of vigorous habit, it seems to combine the advantages of both
the foregoing.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Half-Fan Training.]
Trees must be fixed to the walls and buildings against which they are
trained by means of nails and shreds (neat medicated strips are now sold
for this purpose), or in cases where it is desired to preserve the wall
surface intact, by permanent nails or studs driven in in regular order.
Sometimes the walls are furnished with galvanized wires, but this has
been objected to as causing cankering of the shoots, for which, however,
painting is recommended as a remedy. By crossing the tying material
between the wire and the wood, however, and so preventing them from
coming in contact, there is no danger. If they are adopted, the wires
should be a few inches away from the wall, to allow free circulation of
air between it and the tree, and thus avoid the scorching or burning of
leaves and fruits during the summer months in very hot places. Care
should be taken that the ties or fastenings do not eventually cut into
the bark as the branches swell with increased age. When shreds and nails
are used, short thick wire nails and "medicated shreds" are the best;
the ordinary cast iron wall nails being much too brittle and difficult
to drive into the wall. It must be remembered that nails spoil a wall
sooner or later, whereas a wire trellis is not only much neater, but
enables the gardener to tie his trees up much more quickly.
For tying plants to trellises and stakes soft tarred string or raffia
(the fibre from the Raphia palm of Madagascar) is used.
[Illustration: FIG. 46.--Clematis trained on Balloon-Shaped Trellis.]
In training greenhouse plants the young branches should be drawn
outwards by means of ties fastened to a string or wire under the
pot-rim; the centre then fills up, and slender stakes are used as
required; but the fewer these are in number the better. Climbers are
trained from the bottom around or across trellises, of which the
cylindrical or the balloon-shaped, or sometimes the flat oval or
circular, are the best forms. The size should be adapted to the habit of
the plant, which should cover the whole by the time flowers are
produced. Bast fibre and raffia fibre are to be preferred for light
subjects of this character, as they can be split to any degree of
fineness. Very durable trellises for greenhouse climbers are made of
slender round iron rods for standards, having a series of hooks on the
inner edge, into which rings of similar metal are dropped; the rings may
be graduated so as to form a broad open top, or may be all of the same
size, when the trellis will assume the cylindrical form. Fig. 46 shows a
pot specimen of clematis trained, over a balloon-shaped trellis.
The training of certain bedding plants over the surface of the soil is
done by small pegs of birch wood or bracken, by loops of wire or cheap
hair-pins, or sometimes by loops of raffia having the ends fixed in the
soil by the aid of the dibble. The object is to fill up the blank space
as quickly and as evenly as possible.
_Forcing_ is the accelerating, by special treatment, of the growth of
certain plants, which are required to be had in leaf, in flower or in
fruit before their natural season,--as, for instance, the leaves of mint
at Eastertide or the leafstalks of sea-kale and rhubarb at Christmas,
the flowers of summer in the depth of winter, or some of the choicest
fruits perfected so much before their normal period as to complete, with
the retarded crops of winter, the circle of the seasons.
In the management of artificial heat for this purpose, a considerable
degree of caution is required. The first stages of forcing should, of
course, be very gentle, so that the whole growth of the plants may
advance in harmony. The immediate application of a very hot atmosphere
would unduly force the tops, while the roots remained partially or
wholly inactive; and a strong bottom heat, if it did not cause injury by
its excess, would probably result in abortive growth.
Any sudden decrease of warmth would be very prejudicial to the progress
of vegetation through the successive stages of foliation, inflorescence
and fructification. But it is not necessary that one unvarying range of
temperature should be kept up at whatever pains or risk. Indeed, in very
severe weather it is found better to drop a little from the maximum
temperature by fire heat, and the loss so occasioned may be made good by
a little extra heat applied when the weather is more genial. Night
temperatures also should always be allowed to drop somewhat, the heat
being increased again in the morning. In other words, the artificial
temperature should increase by day and decrease by night, should rise in
summer and fall in winter, should, in short, imitate as nearly as
possible the varying influence of the sun.
For the growth of flowers generally, and for that of all fruits, every
ray of light to be obtained in the dull winter season is required, and
therefore every possible care should be taken to keep the glass clean. A
moist genial atmosphere too is essential, a point requiring unremitting
attention on account of the necessity of keeping up strong fires. With
moisture as with heat, the cultivator must hold his hand somewhat in
very severe or very dull weather; but while heat must not drop so as to
chill the progressing vegetation, so neither must the lack of moisture
parch the plants so as to check their growth.
There are some few subjects which when forced do not require a light
house. Thus amongst flowers the white blossoms of the lilac, so much
prized during winter, are produced by forcing purple-flowered plants in
darkness. Rhubarb and sea-kale among esculents both need to be forced in
darkness to keep them crisp and tender, and mushrooms also are always
grown in dark structures. In fact, a roomy mushroom house is one of the
most convenient of all places for forcing the vegetables just referred
to. The lilac would be better placed in a dark shed heated to about 70°
or 80°, in which some dung and leaves could be allowed to lie and
ferment, giving off both a genial heat and moisture.
One of the most important preliminaries to successful forcing is the
securing to the plants a previous state of rest. The thorough ripening
of the preceding season's wood in fruit trees and flowering plants, and
of the crown in perennial herbs like strawberries, and the cessation of
all active growth before the time they are to start into a new growth,
are of paramount importance. The ripening process must be brought about
by free exposure to light, and by the application of a little extra heat
with dryness, if the season should be unfavourable; and both roots and
tops must submit to a limitation of their water supply. When the
ripening is perfected, the resting process must be aided by keeping the
temperature in which they await the forcing process as low as each
particular subject can bear. (See _Retardation_ above.)
V. _Flowers._
_Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds._--Wherever there is a flower garden
of considerable magnitude, and in a separate situation, it should be
constructed on principles of its own. The great object must be to
exhibit to advantage the graceful forms and glorious hues of flowering
plants and shrubs. Two varieties of flower gardens have chiefly
prevailed in Britain. In one the ground is turf, out of which
flower-beds, of varied patterns, are cut; in the other the flower-beds
are separated by gravel walks, without the introduction of grass. When
the flower garden is to be seen from the windows, or any other elevated
point of view, the former is to be preferred; but where the surface is
irregular, and the situation more remote, and especially where the
beauty of flowers is mainly looked to, the choice should probably fall
on the latter.
The flower garden may include several different compartments. Thus, for
example, there is the "Rock Garden," which should consist of variously
grouped masses of large stones, those which are remarkable for being
figured by water-wearing, or containing petrifactions or impressions, or
showing something of natural stratification, being generally preferred.
In the cavities between the stones, filled with earth, alpine or
trailing plants are inserted, and also some of the choicest flowers. In
proper situations, a small pool of water may be introduced for the
culture of aquatic plants. In these days the rock-garden is a most
important feature, and it requires a good deal of care and skill to
arrange the boulders, walks, pools or streams in natural and artistic
fashion. The selection of suitable alpines, perennials and shrubs and
trees also necessitates considerable knowledge on the part of the
gardener. A separate compartment laid out on some regular plan is often
set apart for roses, under the name of the "Rosery." A moist or rather a
shady border, or a section of the pleasure ground supplied with bog
earth, may be devoted to what is called the "American Garden," which, as
it includes the gorgeous rhododendrons and azaleas, forms one of the
grandest features of the establishment during the early summer, while if
properly selected the plants are effective as a garden of evergreens at
all seasons. The number of variegated and various-coloured hardy shrubs
is now so great that a most pleasant plot for a "Winter Garden" may be
arrayed with plants of this class, with which may be associated hardy
subjects which flower during that season or very early spring, as the
Christmas rose, and amongst bulbs the crocus and snowdrop. Later the
spring garden department is a scene of great attraction; and some of the
gardens of this character, as those of Cliveden and Belvoir, are among
the most fascinating examples of horticultural art. The old-fashioned
stereotyped flower garden that one met with almost everywhere is rapidly
becoming a thing of the past, and grounds are now laid out more in
accordance with their natural disposition, their climatic conditions and
their suitability for certain kinds of plants. Besides the features
already mentioned there are now bamboo gardens, Japanese gardens, water
gardens and wall gardens, each placed in the most suitable position and
displaying its own special features.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Turf-Beater.]
_Lawns._--In the formation of lawns the ground must be regularly broken
up so that it may settle down evenly, any deep excavations that may have
to be filled in being very carefully rammed down to prevent subsequent
settlement. The ground must also be thoroughly cleared of the roots of
all coarse, perennial weeds, and be worked to a fine tilth ready for
turfing or sowing. The more expeditious method is of course to lay down
turf, which should be free from weeds, and is cut usually in strips of 1
ft. wide, 3 ft. long, and about 1 in. in thickness. This must be laid
very evenly and compactly, and should then be beaten down firmly with
the implement called a turf-beater (fig. 47). When there is a large
space to cover, it is much the cheaper plan to sow the lawn with
grass-seeds, and equally effective, though the sward takes much longer
to thicken. It is of the utmost importance that a good selection of
grasses be made, and that pure seeds should be obtained (see GRASS AND
GRASSLAND). The following sorts can be recommended, the quantities given
being those for sowing an acre of ground:--
_Cynosurus cristatus_--Crested Dog's-tail 6 lb.
_Festuca duriuscula_--Hard Fescue 3 lb.
_Festuca ovina_--Sheep's Fescue 3 lb.
_Lolium perenne tenue_ 18 lb.
_Poa nemoralis sempervirens_--Evergreen Meadow-grass 3 lb.
_Poa trivialis_--Trivial Meadow-grass 3 lb.
_Trisetum flavescens_--Yellow Oat-grass 2 lb.
_Trifolium repens_--Dutch Clover 6 lb.
The seeds should be thoroughly mixed, and very evenly sown, after which
the surface should be raked over to bury them, and then rolled down
while dry so as to finish it off smooth and level. When thus sown, lawns
require to be promptly weeded. During the growing season established
lawns should be mown at least once a week. They should be occasionally
rolled, and towards autumn they require frequent sweepings to remove
worm-casts.
HARDY ANNUALS.--Annual plants are those which grow up from seed,
flower, ripen seed, and die in the course of one season--one year.
They are useful in the mixed garden, for though in some cases they are
of short duration, many of them are possessed of much beauty of hue
and elegance of form. Annuals may be divided into three classes: the
_hardy_, which are sown at once in the ground they are to occupy; the
_half-hardy_, which succeed best when aided at first by a slight hot
bed, and then transplanted into the open air; and the _tender_, which
are kept in pots, and treated as greenhouse or stove plants, to which
departments they properly belong. Some of the more popular annuals,
hardy and half-hardy, have been very much varied as regards habit and
the colour of the flowers, and purchases may be made in the seed shops
of such things as China asters, stocks, Chinese and Indian pinks,
larkspurs, phloxes and others, amongst which some of the most
beautiful of the summer flowers may be found.
The hardy annuals may be sown in the open ground during the latter
part of March or beginning of April, as the season may determine, for
the weather should be dry and open, and the soil in a free-working
condition before sowing is attempted. In favourable situations and
seasons some of the very hardiest, as _Silene pendula_, Saponaria,
Nemophila, Gilia, &c., may be sown in September or October, and
transplanted to the beds or borders for very early spring flowering.
Those sown in spring begin to flower about June. The plants, if left
to flower where they are sown, should be thinned out while young, to
give them space for proper development. It is from having ample room
that pricked out transplanted seedlings often make the finest plants.
The soil should be rich and light.
The half-hardy series are best sown in pots or pans under glass in
mild heat, in order to accelerate germination. Those of them which are
in danger of becoming leggy should be speedily removed to a cooler
frame and placed near the glass, the young plants being pricked off
into fresh soil, in other pots or pans or boxes, as may seem best in
each case. All the plants must be hardened off gradually during the
month of April, and may generally be planted out some time in May,
earlier or later according to the season.
The class of tender annuals, being chiefly grown for greenhouse
decoration, should be treated much the same as soft-wooded plants,
being sown in spring, and grown on rapidly in brisk heat, near the
glass, and finally hardened off to stand in the greenhouse when in
flower.
We add a select list of some of the more distinct annuals desirable
for general cultivation as decorative plants for the open air:--
_Acroclinium roseum_: half-hardy, 1 ft., rose-pink or white;
everlasting.
_Agrostis pulchella_: hardy, 6 in.; a most graceful grass for
bouquets.
_Amberboa moschata atropurpurea_ (Sweet Sultan): hardy, 1½ ft.,
purple: musk-scented.
_Antirrhinum majus_ (Snapdragon): hardy, 6 in. to 2 ft., white, yellow
and red. This plant is perennial, but is best treated as an annual.
_Arnebia cornuta_: hardy, 1½ to 2 ft. yellow.
_Bartonia aurea_: hardy, 2 ft., golden yellow; showy and free.
_Brachycome iberidifolia_: half-hardy, 1 ft., blue or white with dark
disk.
_Calendula officinalis Meteor_: hardy, 1 ft., orange striped with
yellow.
_Calliopsis_ or _Coreopsis bicolor (tinctoria)_: hardy, 2 to 3 ft.,
yellow and chestnut-brown.
_Calliopsis_ or _Coreopsis Drummondii_: hardy, 1 to 2 ft., golden
yellow with red disk.
_Callistephus hortensis_ or _chinensis_ (the China aster): half-hardy,
6 in. to 1½ ft.; there arc several groups of various colours. The
species itself is a very handsome plant.
_Campanula Loreyi_: hardy, 1½ ft., purplish-lilac or white.
_Campanula macrostyla_: hardy, 1 to 2 ft., purple, beautifully veined.
_Carnations_, _Marguerite_: half-hardy, 9 to 12 in., colours various.
_Centaurea Cyanus_: hardy, 3 ft., blue, purple, pink or white; showy.
_Centranthus macrosiphon_: hardy, 1½ to 2 ft., rosy-carmine.
_Centranthus ruber_ (known as Pretty Betsy and Red Valerian): hardy, 2
to 3 ft., red.
_Chrysanthemum carinatum_: a charming half-hardy annual, 2 to 3 ft.
high, with several varieties, of which C. Burridgeanum with zones of
white, crimson and yellow is best.
_C. coronarium_, a yellow-flowered species requires similar treatment.
_Clarkia pulchella_: hardy, 1½ ft., rosy-purple; some varieties very
handsome.
_Collinsia bicolor_: hardy, 1½ ft., white and purple; pretty.
_Collinsia verna_: hardy, 1 ft., white and azure; sow as soon as ripe.
_Convolvulus tricolor atroviolacea_: hardy, 1 ft., white, blue and
yellow. This is the _Convolvulus minor_ of gardens.
_Cosmos bipinnatus_: half-hardy, 3 ft., rose, purple, white; requires
sunny spots.
_Dianthus chinensis_ (Indian pink): half-hardy, 6 in. to 1 ft.,
various shades of red and white.
_Delphinium Ajacis_ and _Delphinium Consolida_ (Larkspurs): hardy, 3
ft., various colours.
_Erysimum Peroffskianum_: hardy, 2 ft., deep orange; in erect racemes.
_Eschscholtzia californica_: hardy, 1½ ft., yellow with saffron eye.
_Eschscholtzia crocea flore-pleno_: hardy, 1½ ft., orange yellow;
double.
_Eutoca viscida_: hardy, 2 ft., bright blue, with white hairy centre.
_Gaillardia Drummondii (picta)_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., crimson, yellow
margin.
_Gilia achilleaefolia_: hardy, 2 ft., deep blue; in large globose
heads.
_Godetia Lindleyana_: hardy, 2 to 3 ft., rose-purple, with crimson
spots.
_Godetia Whitneyi_: hardy, 1 ft., rosy-red, with crimson spots. The
variety _Lady Albemarle_ is wholly crimson, and very handsome.
_Gypsophila elegans_: hardy, 1½ ft., pale rose; branched very
gracefully.
_Helianthus cucumerifolius_: hardy, 3 to 4 ft., golden yellow, black
disk; branching, free and bold without coarseness.
_Helichrysum bracteatum_: half-hardy, 2 ft., the incurved crimson,
rose and other forms very handsome.
_Hibiscus Trionum (africanus)_: hardy, 1½ ft., cream colour, dark
purple centre.
_Iberis umbellata_ (Candytuft): hardy, 1 ft., white, rose, purple,
crimson. Some new dwarf white and flesh-coloured varieties are very
handsome.
_Kaulfussia amelloides_: hardy, 1 ft., blue or rose; the var.
kermesina is deep crimson.
_Kochia scoparia_ (Belvedere or lawn cypress): hardy, graceful green
foliage, turning purple in autumn.
_Königa maritima_ (Sweet Alyssum): hardy, 1 ft., white; fragrant,
compact.
_Lathyrus odoratus_ (Sweet Pea): hardy; there are two races, dwarf and
tall, the latter--far and away the most beautiful--requires support;
various colours; numerous immensely popular forms.
_Lavatera trimestris_: hardy, 3 ft., pale-rose, showy malvaceous
flowers.
_Leptosiphon densiflorus_: hardy in light soil, 1 ft., purplish or
rosy-lilac.
_Leptosiphon roseus_: hardy in light soil, 6 in., delicate rose; fine
in masses.
_Linaria bipartita splendida_: hardy, 1 ft., deep purple.
_Linum grandiflorum_: hardy, 1 ft., splendid crimson; var. roseum is
pink.
_Lupinus luteus_: hardy, 2 ft., bright yellow, fragrant.
_Lupinus mutabilis Cruickshanksii_: hardy, 4 ft., blue and yellow;
changeable.
_Lupinus nanus_: hardy, 1 ft., bluish-purple; abundant flowering.
_Lychnis Coeli-rosa_: hardy, 1½ ft., rosy-purple, with pale centre;
pretty.
_Lychnis oculata cardinalis_: hardy, 1½ ft., rosy-crimson; very
brilliant.
_Malcolmia maritima_ (Virginian Stock): hardy, 6 in., lilac, rose or
white.
_Malope trifida_: hardy, 3 ft., rich glossy purplish-crimson; showy.
_M. grandiflora_ is a finer plant in every way.
_Matthiola annua_ (Ten-week Stock and its variety, the intermediate
stock): half-hardy, 1 to 2 ft., white, rose and red.
_Matthiola graeca_ (Wallflower-lvd. Stock): hardy, 1 ft., various as
in Stock.
_Mesembryanthemum tricolor_: half-hardy, 3 in., pink and crimson, with
dark centre.
_Mimulus cupreus_: half-hardy, 6 in., coppery red, varying
considerably.
_Mimulus luteus tigrinus_: half-hardy, 1 ft., yellow spotted with red;
var. _duplex_ has hose-in-hose flowers.
_Mirabilis Jalapa_: half-hardy, 3 ft., various colours; flowers
evening-scented.
_Nemesia floribunda_: hardy, 1 ft., white and yellow; pretty and
compact.
_Nemophila insignis_: hardy, 6 in., azure blue, with white centre.
_Nemophila maculata_: hardy, 6 in., white, with violet spots at the
edge.
_Nicotiana affinis_: half-hardy, 2 to 3 ft., white.
_Nicotiana Sanderae_: half-hardy, 2 to 3 ft., white, crimson, scarlet,
&c.
_Nigella hispanica_: hardy, 1½ ft., pale blue, white or dark purple.
_Oenothera odorata_: hardy, 2 to 3 ft., yellow; fragrant.
_Omphalodes linifolia_ (Venus's Navelwort): hardy, 1 ft., white.
_Papaver Rhoeas flore-pleno_: hardy, 2 ft., scarlet and other colours;
showy.
_Papaver somniferum flore-pleno_: hardy, 3 ft., white, lilac, rose,
&c.; petals sometimes fringed.
_Petunia violacea hybrida_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., various colours; sow
in heat.
_Pharbitis hispida_: hardy, 6 ft., various; the many-coloured twining
_Convolvulus major_.
_Phlox Drummondii_: half-hardy, 1 ft., various colours.
_Platystemon californicus_: hardy, 1 ft., sulphur yellow; neat and
distinct.
_Portulaca splendens_: half-hardy, 6 in., crimson, rose, yellow,
white, &c., single and double; splendid prostrate plants for sunny
rockwork.
_Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum_: half-hardy, 1 ft.; grown for its golden
foliage, and much used for bedding.
_Reseda odorata_ (Mignonette): hardy, 1 ft., greenish, but exquisitely
fragrant; there are some choice new sorts.
_Rhodanthe maculata_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., rosy-pink or white; larger
flower-heads than the next.
_Rhodanthe Manglesii_: half-hardy, 1 ft., rosy-pink; a drooping
everlasting.
_Salpiglossis sinuata_: half-hardy, 2 to 3 ft., yellow, purple,
crimson, &c.; much varied and beautifully veined.
_Sanvitalia procumbens flore-pleno_: half-hardy, 6 in., golden yellow;
procumbent.
_Saponaria calabrica_: hardy, 6 to 8 in., bright rose pink or white;
continuous blooming, compact-growing.
_Scabiosa atropurpurea_: hardy, 1 to 2 ft., rose, white, lilac,
crimson, &c.
_Schizanthus pinnatus_: hardy, 1 to 2 ft., purple-lilac, prettily
blotched; curiously lobed flowers.
_Schizopetalon Walkeri_: hardy, 1 ft., white, sweet-scented at night;
curiously fringed petals.
_Senecio elegans_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., white, rose or purple; the
various double forms are showy.
_Silene pendula_: hardy, 1 ft., bright rose pink; very showy in
masses; var. _compacta_ forms close dense tufts.
_Silene Pseudo-Atocion_: hardy, 1 ft., rose pink; free-flowering.
_Specularia Speculum_: hardy, 6 in., reddish-violet; free-flowering.
_Sphenogyne speciosa_: half-hardy, 1 ft., orange-yellow, with black
ring around the disk.
_Statice Bonduelli_ (Sea Lavender): half-hardy, 1½ ft., yellow.
_S. Limonum_: bluish purple.
_S. sinuata_: white, blue, yellow.
_S. Suworowi_: lilac.
_Tagetes signata_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., golden yellow; continuous
blooming, with elegant foliage. The French and African marigolds,
favourites of some, are allied to this.
_Tropaeolum aduncum_ (Canary creeper): half-hardy, 10 ft., yellow,
fringed; an elegant climber.
_Tropaeolum majus_ (the nasturtium of gardens): hardy. There are two
races, dwarf and tall, various shades of red and yellow.
_Waitzia aurea_: half-hardy, 1½ ft., golden yellow; a showy
everlasting.
_Xeranthemum annuum flore-pleno_: hardy, 2 ft., lilac-purple;
floriferous.
_Zinnia elegans_: half-hardy, 1 to 2 ft., various colours.
HARDY BIENNIALS.--Biennials live through one winter period. They
require to be sown in the summer months, about June or July, in order
to get established before winter; they should be pricked out as soon
as large enough, and should have ample space so as to become hardy and
stocky. They should be planted in good soil, but not of too
stimulating a character. Those that are perfectly hardy are best
planted where they are to flower in good time during autumn. This
transplanting acts as a kind of check, which is rather beneficial than
otherwise. Of those that are liable to suffer injury in winter, as the
Brompton and Queen Stocks, a portion should be potted and wintered in
cold frames ventilated as freely as the weather will permit.
The number of biennials is not large, but a few very desirable garden
plants, such as the following, occur amongst them:--
_Agrostemma coronaria_ (Rose Campion): hardy, 1½ ft., bright
rose-purple or rose and white.
_Beta Cicla variegata_: hardy, 2 ft., beautifully coloured leaves and
midribs, crimson, golden, &c.
_Campanula Medium_ (Canterbury Bell): hardy, 2 ft., blue, white, rose,
&c. The double-flowered varieties of various colours are very
handsome.
_Campanula Medium calycanthema_: hardy, 2 ft., blue or white;
hose-in-hose flowered.
_Catananche coerulea_: hardy, 2 to 3 ft., blue or white.
_Celsia cretica_: hardy, 4 to 5 ft., yellow, with two dark spots near
centre; in spikes.
_Cheiranthus Cheiri_ (Wallflower): hardy, 1½ to 2 ft., red, purple,
yellow, &c.; really a perennial but better as a biennial.
_Coreopsis grandiflora_: hardy, 2 to 3 ft., bright yellow; the finest
member of the genus.
_Dianthus barbatus_ (Sweet William): hardy, 1 to 1½ ft., crimson,
purple, white or parti-coloured.
_Dianthus chinensis_ (Indian Pink): half-hardy, 1 ft., various; flower
earlier if treated as biennials; must be protected from frost.
_Digitalis purpurea_ (Foxglove): hardy, 3 to 5 ft., rosy-purple or
white; beautifully spotted; the variety called _gloxinioides_ has
regular, erect flowers.
_Echium pomponium_: hardy, 4 ft., rosy-pink.
_Hedysarum coronarium_ (French Honeysuckle): hardy, 2 to 3 ft.,
scarlet or white; fragrant.
_Hesperis tristis_ (Night-scented Rocket): hardy, 3 ft., dull
purplish; fragrant at night.
_Lunaria biennis_ (Honesty): hardy, 2 to 3 ft., purple; the silvery
dissepiment attractive among everlastings.
_Matthiola incana_ (two groups, the Brompton and the Queen stocks):
hardy, 2 to 2½ ft., white, red and purple.
_Meconopsis._ Charming members of the poppy family, of which _M.
aculeata_, purple; _M. grandis_, purple; _M. heterophylla_,
coppery-orange; _M. nepalensis_, golden yellow; _M. integrifolia_,
yellow; _M. simplicifolia_, violet purple, are grown with care in
sheltered spots, and in rich, very gritty soil.
_Michauxia campanuloides_, a remarkable bell flower, 3 to 8 ft. high,
white tinged purple. Requires rich loam in warm sheltered spots.
_Oenothera biennis_ and _O. Lamarckiana_ (Evening primrose): hardy, 5
ft., bright yellow; large.
_Scabiosa caucasica_: hardy, 3 ft., blue, white.
_Silene compacta_: half-hardy, 3 to 6 inches, bright pink; clustered
as in S. Armeria.
_Verbascum Blattaria_: hardy, 3 to 4 ft., yellowish, with purple hairs
on the filaments; in tall spikes.
HARDY HERBACEOUS PERENNIALS.--This term includes not only those
fibrous-rooted plants of herbaceous habit which spring up from the
root year after year, but also those old-fashioned subjects known as
florists' flowers, and the hardy bulbs. Some of the most beautiful of
hardy flowering plants belong to this class. When the length of the
flowering season is considered, it will be obvious that it is
impossible to keep up the show of a single border or plot for six
months together, since plants, as they are commonly arranged, come
dropping into and out of flower one after another; and even where a
certain number are in bloom at the same time, they necessarily stand
apart, and so the effects of contrast, which can be perceived only
among adjacent objects, are lost. To obviate this defect, it has been
recommended that ornamental plants should be formed into four or five
separate suites of flowering, to be distributed over the garden. Not
to mention the more vernal flowers, the first might contain the flora
of May; the second that of June; the third that of July; and the
fourth that of August and the following months. These compartments
should be so intermingled that no particular class may be entirely
absent from any one quarter of the garden.
Before beginning to plant, it would be well to construct tables or
lists of the plants, specifying their respective times of flowering,
colours and heights. To diversify properly and mingle well together
the reds, whites, purples, yellows and blues, with all their
intervening shades, requires considerable taste and powers of
combination; and ascertained failures may be rectified at the proper
time the next season. The one great object aimed at should be to
present an agreeable contrast--a floral picture; and, as at particular
seasons a monotony of tint prevails, it is useful at such times to be
in possession of some strong glaring colours. White, for instance,
should be much employed in July, to break the duller blues and purples
which then preponderate. Orange, too, is very effective at this
season. On the other hand, yellows are superabundant in autumn, and
therefore reds and blues should then be sought for. The
flower-gardener should have a small nursery, or reserve garden, for
the propagation of the finer plants, to be transferred into the
borders as often as is required.
As a rule, all the fibrous-rooted herbaceous plants flourish in good
soil which has been fairly enriched with manure, that of a loamy
character being the most suitable. Many of them also grow
satisfactorily in a peaty soil if well worked, especially if they have
a cool moist subsoil. Pentstemons and phloxes, amongst others, succeed
well in soil of this character, but the surface must be well drained;
the former are rather apt to perish in winter in loamy soil, if at all
close and heavy. The herbaceous border should be a distinct
compartment varying from 6 to 10 ft. in width, and perhaps backed up
by evergreens under certain conditions. Such a border will take in
about four lines of plants, the tallest being placed in groups at the
back and in the centre, and the others graduated in height down to the
front. In the front row patches of the white arabis, the yellow
alyssum, white, yellow, blue, or purple violas, and the purple
aubrietia, recurring at intervals of 5 or 6 yards on a border of
considerable length, carry the eye forwards and give a balanced kind
of finish to the whole. The same might be done with dianthuses or the
larger narcissi in the second row, with paeonies, columbines and
phloxes in the third, and with delphiniums, aconitums and some of the
taller yellow composites as helianthus and rudbeckia at the back.
Spring and autumn flowers, as well as those blooming in summer, should
be regularly distributed throughout the border, which will then at no
season be devoid of interest in any part. Many of the little alpines
may be brought into the front line planted between suitable pieces of
stone, or they may be relegated to a particular spot, and placed on an
artificial rockery. Most of the hardy bulbs will do well enough in the
border, care being taken not to disturb them while leafless and
dormant.
Some deep-rooting perennials do not spread much at the surface, and
only require refreshing from time to time by top-dressings. Others, as
the asters, spread rapidly; those possessing this habit should be
taken up every second or third year, and, a nice patch being selected
for replanting from the outer portions, the rest may be either thrown
aside, or reserved for increase; the portion selected for replanting
should be returned to its place, the ground having meanwhile been well
broken up. Some plants are apt to decay at the base, frequently from
exposure caused by the lifting process going on during their growth;
these should be taken up annually in early autumn, the soil refreshed,
and the plants returned to their places, care being taken to plant
them sufficiently deep.
Only a section of some of the best of the decorative hardy perennials
can be noted, before we pass on to those popular subjects of this
class which have been directly influenced by the hybridizer and
improver. Many more might be added to the subjoined list:--
_Acaena._--Neat trailing plants adapted for rockwork, thriving in
sandy soil. _A. microphylla_ and _A. myriophylla_ have pretty spiny
heads of flowers.
_Acantholimon._--Pretty dwarf tufted plants, with needle-shaped
leaves, adapted for rockwork. _A. glumaceum_ and _A. venustum_ bear
bright pink flowers in July and August. Light sandy loam.
_Acanthus._--Bold handsome plants, with stately spikes, 2 to 3 ft.
high, of flowers with spiny bracts. _A. mollis_, _A. latifolius_, and
_A. longifolius_ are broad-leaved sorts; _A. spinosus_ and _A.
spinosissimus_ have narrower spiny toothed leaves.
_Achillea._--Handsome composite plants, the stronger ones of easy
culture in common soil. _A. Eupatorium_ and _filipendula_, 3 to 4 ft.,
have showy yellow corymbose flowers; _A. rosea_, 2 ft., rosy-crimson;
and _A. Ptarmica flore-pleno_, 2 ft., double white flowers. Others
suitable for front lines or rockwork are _A. tomentosa_, 9 in., bright
yellow; _A. aegyptiaca_, 1 ft., silvery leaves and yellow flowers; _A.
umbellata_, 8 in., silvery leaves and white flowers; and _A.
Clavennae_, 6 in., with silvery leaves and pure white flowers.
_Aconitum._--Handsome border plants, the tall stems crowned by racemes
of showy hooded flowers. _A. Camarum_, 3 to 4 ft., has deep purple
flowers in August; _A. sinense_, 1½ to 2 ft., has large dark purple
flowers in September; _A. variegatum_, 3 ft., has the flowers white
edged with blue; _A. autumnale_, 3 ft., has pale blue flowers; _A.
Anthora_, 1 to 2 ft., yellow; and _A. japonicum_, 2½ ft., deep blue
flowers, produced in September and October. _A. Wilsoni_, a new
species from China, 6 ft. high, with bluish-purple flowers.
_Adenophora._--Bell-shaped flowers. _A. stylosa_, 2 ft., pale blue,
elegant; _A. denticulata_, 1½ ft., dark blue; and in _A. liliifolia_,
1½ ft., pale blue, sweet-scented--all blooming during summer. Light
soil.
_Adonis._--_A. vernalis_, 1 ft., has large bright yellow stellate
flowers in April. Deep light soil. _A. amurensis_ is a fine Chinese
species.
_Ajuga._--Free growing, dwarf and showy. _A. reptans_, 8 in., has
creeping runners, which _A. genevensis_ has not; both bear handsome
spikes of blue labiate flowers. Ordinary soil.
_Allium._--Hardy bulbs of the garlic family, some species of which are
ornamental; the inflorescence is umbellate. In _A. azureum_, 1 to 2
ft., the flowers are deep-blue; in _A. Moly_, 1 ft., golden yellow; in
_A. neapolitanum_, 1½ ft., white, very handsome; in _A. triquetrum_, 8
in., white with green central stripes; in _A. pedemontanum_, 9 in.,
reddish-violet, very beautiful, the umbels nodding.
_Alstroemeria._--Beautiful plants with fleshy tuberous roots, which
are the better if not often disturbed. _A. aurantiaca_, 2 to 3 ft.,
orange streaked with red, in July and August; _A. chilensis_, 2 to 3
ft., blood-red, streaked with yellow, affording many varieties. Deep
sandy loam or peat. Should be planted at least 6 or 8 in. deep.
_Althaea rosea._--The hollyhock is a noble perennial, 6 to 15 ft.
high, with flowers of every colour except blue. Requires rich loamy
soil and plenty of space.
_Alyssum._--Showy rockwork or front row border plants of easy culture
in any light soil; the plants should be frequently renewed from
cuttings. _A. saxatile_, with greyish leaves, and deep yellow flowers,
produced in April and May, and the dwarfer _A. montanum_ are useful.
_Amaryllis._--Noble half-hardy bulbs, for planting near the front wall
of a hothouse or greenhouse; the soil must be deep, rich and well
drained. _A. Belladonna_, the Belladonna Lily, 3 ft., has large
funnel-shaped flowers in September, of a delicate rose colour. The
variety _A. blanda_ has paler flowers, almost white.
_Anchusa._--Pretty boraginaceous herbs, easily grown. _A. italica_, 3
to 4 ft., has blue star-like flowers. _A. sempervirens_, 1½ ft., rich
blue, is well suited for rough borders.
_Androsace._--Pretty dwarf rock plants, requiring rather careful
management and a gritty soil. _A. Vitaliana_, yellow; _A. Wulfeniana_,
purplish-crimson; _A. villosa_, white or pale rose; _A. lactea_, white
with yellow eye; _A. lanuginosa_, delicate rose; and _A. Chamaejasme_,
delicate rose, are some of the best.
_Anemone._--The Japanese kinds, _A. japonica_, flowers white and
purple, are very easily grown and are particularly fine in autumn. The
scarlet _A. fulgens_, and _A. coronaria_, the poppy anemone, are
useful for the front, or in nooks in the rockery; while the common
hepatica (_A. hepatica_) with its bright blue flowers should also
have a place.
_Antennaria._--Composite plants, with everlasting flowers. _A.
margaritacea_, 1½ to 2 ft., has white woolly stems and leaves, and
white flower-heads.
_Anthericum._--Charming border flowers. _A. Liliastrum_, St Bruno's
Lily, 1½ ft., bears pretty white sweet-scented flowers in May; _A.
Hookeri (Chrysobactron)_, 2 ft., with long racemes of bright golden
yellow flowers, requires cool peaty soil.
_Aquilegia._--The Columbine family, consisting of beautiful border
flowers in great variety, ranging from 1 to 2 or 3 ft. in height.
Besides the common purple _A. vulgaris_ with its numerous varieties,
double and single, there are of choice sorts _A. alpina_ and _A.
pyrenaica_, blue; _A. glandulosa_, _A. jucunda_, and _A. coerulea_,
blue and white; _A. leptoceras_, blue and yellow; _A. canadensis_, _A.
Skinneri_, and _A. truncata (californica)_, scarlet and yellow; _A.
chrysantha_, yellow; and _A. fragrans_, white or flesh-colour, very
fragrant. Light rich garden soil.
_Arabis._--Dwarf close-growing evergreen cruciferous plants, adapted
for rockwork and the front part of the flower border, and of the
easiest culture. _A. albida_ forms a conspicuous mass of greyish
leaves and white blossoms. There is also a charming double variety.
_A. lucida_, which is also white-flowered, bears its bright green
leaves in rosettes, and has a variety with prettily gold-margined
leaves.
_Arenaria._--Evergreen rock plants of easy culture. _A. graminifolia_,
and _A. laricifolia_ are tufted, with grassy foliage and white
flowers, while A. balearica, a creeping rock plant, has tiny leaves
and solitary white flowers.
_Armeria._--The Thrift or Sea-Pink, of which the common form _A.
maritima_ is sometimes planted as an edging for garden walks; there
are three varieties, the common pale pink, the deep rose, and the
white, the last two being the most desirable. _A. cephalotes_, 1½ ft.,
is a larger plant, with tufts of linear lance-shaped leaves, and
abundant globular heads of deep rose flowers, in June and July.
_Asclepias._--_A. tuberosa_ is a handsome fleshy-rooted plant, very
impatient of being disturbed, and preferring good peat soil; it grows
1 to 1½ ft. high, and bears corymbs of deep yellow and orange flowers
in September. _A. incarnata_, 2 to 4 ft., produces deep rose
sweet-scented flowers towards the end of summer.
_Asperula odorata._--The woodruff, a charming white-flowered plant
with leaves in circles. Well adapted for carpeting the border or
rockery.
_Asphodelus._--Handsome liliaceous plants, with fleshy roots, erect
stems, and showy flowers, thriving in any good garden soil. _A.
albus_, 4 ft., _A. aestivus_, 4 ft., and _A. ramosus_, 4 ft., have all
long tapering keeled leaves, and simple or branched spikes of white
flowers; _A. luteus_, 2 ft., has awl-shaped leaves and dense spikes of
fragrant yellow flowers; _A. capillaris_ is similar to _A. luteus_,
but more slender and elegant.
_Aster._--A very large family of autumn-blooming composites, including
some ornamental species, all of the easiest culture. Of these, _A.
alpinus_, 1 ft., and _A. Amellus_, 1½ ft., with its var.
_bessarabicus_, have broadish blunt leaves, and large starry bluish
flowers; _A. longifolius formosus_, 2 ft., bright rosy lilac; _A.
elegans_, 3 to 5 ft., small pale purple or whitish; _A. laxus_, 2 ft.,
purplish-blue; _A. pendulus_, 2½ ft., white, changing to rose; _A.
pyrenaeus_, 2 to 3 ft., lilac-blue; _A. turbinellus_, 2 to 3 ft.,
mauve-coloured, are showy border plants; and _A. Novae Angliae_, 5 to
6 ft., rosy-violet; _A. cyaneus_, 5 ft., blue-lilac; and _A.
grandiflorus_, 3 ft., violet, are especially useful from their
late-flowering habit.
_Astilbe._--_A. japonica_, 1 to 1½ ft., better known as _Hoteia
japonica_ or _Spiraea japonica_, thrives in peaty or sandy soil; its
glossy tripinnate leaves, and feathery panicles of white flowers early
in summer, are very attractive. It proves to be a fine decorative
pot-plant, and invaluable for forcing during the spring.
_Astragalus._--Showy pea-flowered plants, the smaller species adapted
for rockwork; sandy soil. _A. dasyglottis_, 6 in., has bluish-purple
flowers in August and September; and _A. monspessulanus_, 8 in.,
crimson-purple in July; while _A. hypoglottis_, 6 in., produces in
summer compact heads of pretty flowers, which are either purple or
white. There are many very ornamental kinds.
_Aubrietia._--Beautiful dwarf spring-blooming rock plants, forming
carpety tufts of flowers of simple cruciferous form. _A. delioidea_ is
of a deep lilac-blue; _A. Campbelliae_ is more compact and rather
darker, approaching to purple; _A. grandiflora_ and _graeca_ are
rather larger, but of a lighter hue. Light sandy soil.
_Bambusa._--The bamboo family are elegant arborescent grasses (see
BAMBOO).
_Baptisia._--Stoutish erect-growing, 2 to 3 ft., with smooth foliage
and spikes of pea-like flowers. _B. australis_ is purplish-blue, _B.
alba_, white, _B. exaltata_, deep blue; all flowering in the summer
months.
_Bellis._--_B. perennis flore-pleno_, the Double Daisy, consists of
dwarf showy plants 3 to 4 in. high, flowering freely in spring if
grown in rich light soil, and frequently divided and transplanted. The
white and pink forms, with the white and red quilled, and the
variegated-leaved _aucubaefolia_, are some of the best.
_Bocconia._--Stately poppyworts, 6 to 8 ft. _B. cordata_ has
heart-shaped lobed leaves, and large panicles of small flesh-coloured
flowers. Sometimes called _Macleaya_. Deep sandy loam.
_Brodiaea._--Pretty bulbous plants. _B. grandiflora_, 1 ft., has large
bluish-purple flowers; _B. coccinea_, 2 to 3 ft., has tubular
campanulate nodding flowers of a rich crimson with green tips. Sandy
loam.
_Bulbocodium._--Pretty spring-flowering crocus-like bulbs. _B.
vernum_, 4 to 6 in. high, purplish-lilac, blooms in March. Good garden
soil.
_Buphthalmum._--Robust composite herbs with striking foliage, for the
back of herbaceous or shrubbery borders. _B. cordifolium_, 4 ft., has
large cordate leaves, and heads of rich orange flowers in cymose
panicles in July. Also called _Telekia speciosa_.
_Calandrinia._--Showy dwarf plants for sunny rockwork, in light sandy
soil. _C. umbellata_, 3 to 4 in., much branched, with narrow hairy
leaves, and corymbs of magenta-crimson flowers in the summer months.
_Calochortus._--Beautiful bulbous plants, called mariposa lilies,
requiring warm sheltered spots in rich gritty and well-drained soil.
There are several species known, the best being _albus_, _elegans_,
_luteus_, _Plummerae_, _splendens_, _Purdyi_, _venustus_ and _Weedi_.
_Caltha._--Showy marsh plants, adapted for the margins of lakes,
streamlets or artificial bogs. _C. palustris flore-pleno_, 1 ft., has
double brilliant yellow flowers in May.
_Calystegia._--Twining plants with running perennial roots. _C.
pubescens flore-pleno_, 8 to 10 ft., has showy double-pink
convolvuloid flowers in July; _C. dahurica_ is a handsome
single-flowered summer-blooming kind, with rosy-coloured flowers.
_Camassia esculenta._--A beautiful bulbous plant 2 to 3 ft. high with
large pale blue flowers. Also a white variety.
_Campanula._--Beautiful, as well as varied in habit and character.
They are called bell-flowers. _C. pulla_, 6 in., purplish, nodding, on
slender erect stalks; _C. turbinata_, 9 in., purple, broad-belled; _C.
carpatica_, 1 ft., blue, broad-belled; _C. nobilis_, 1½ ft.,
long-belled, whitish or tinted with chocolate; _C. persicifolia_, 2
ft., a fine border plant, single or double, white or purple, blooming
in July; and _C. pyramidalis_, 6 ft., blue or white, in tall branching
spikes, are good and diverse. There are many other fine sorts.
_Centaurea._--Bold-habited composites of showy character; common soil.
_C. babylonica_, 5 to 7 ft., has winged stems, silvery leaves, and
yellow flower-heads from June to September; _C. montana_, 3 ft., deep
bright blue or white.
_Centranthus._--Showy free-flowering plants, for rockwork, banks, or
stony soil. _C. ruber_, 2 ft., branches and blooms freely all summer,
and varies with rosy, or crimson, or white flowers. It clothes the
chalk cuttings on some English railways with a sheet of colour in the
blooming season.
_Cheiranthus._--Pretty rock plants, for light stony soils. _C.
alpinus_, 6 in., grows in dense tufts, and bears sulphur-yellow
flowers in May. _C. ochroleucus_ is similar in character.
_Chionodoxa._--Charming dwarf hardy bulbous plants of the liliaceous
order, blooming in the early spring in company with _Scilla sibirica_,
and of equally easy cultivation. _C. Luciliae_, 6 in., has star-shaped
flowers of a brilliant blue with a white centre. _C. gigantea_ is the
finest of the few known species. It blooms from February to April.
_Chrysanthemum._--Apart from the florist's varieties of _C. indicum_
there are a few fine natural species. One of the best for the flower
border is _C. maximum_ and its varieties--all with beautiful white
flowers having yellow centres. _C. latifolium_ is also a fine species.
_Colchicum._--Showy autumn-blooming bulbs (corms), with crocus-like
flowers, all rosy-purple or white. _C. speciosum_, _C. autumnale_,
single and double, _C. byzantinum_, and _C. variegatum_ are all worth
growing.
_Convallaria._--_C. majalis_, the lily of the valley, a well-known
sweet-scented favourite spring flower, growing freely in rich garden
soil; its spikes, 6 to 9 in. high, of pretty white fragrant bells, are
produced in May and June. Requires shady places, and plenty of old
manure each autumn.
_Coreopsis._--Effective composite plants, thriving in good garden
soil. _C. auriculata_, 2 to 3 ft., has yellow and brown flowers in
July and August; _C. lanceolata_, 2 to 3 ft., bright yellow, in
August; next to the biennial _C. grandiflora_ it is the best garden
plant.
_Corydalis._--Interesting and elegant plants, mostly tuberous, growing
in good garden soil. _C. bracteata_, 9 in., has sulphur-coloured
flowers in April, and _C. nobilis_, 1 ft., rich yellow, in May; _C.
solida_, with purplish, and _C. tuberosa_, with white flowers, are
pretty spring-flowering plants, 4 to 6 in. high. _C. thalictrifolia_,
1 ft., yellow, May to October.
_Cyclamen._--Charming tuberous-rooted plants of dwarf habit, suitable
for sheltered rockeries, and growing in light gritty soil. _C.
europaeum_, reddish-purple, flowers in summer, and _C. hederae-folium_
in autumn.
_Cypripedium._--Beautiful terrestrial orchids, requiring to be planted
in peat soil, in a cool and rather shady situation. _C. spectabile_,
1½ to 2 ft., white and rose colour, in June, is a lovely species, as
is _C. Calceolus_, 1 ft., yellow and brown, in May; all are full of
interest and beauty.
_Delphinium._--The Larkspur family, tall showy plants, with spikes of
blue flowers in July. Distinct sorts are _D. grandiflorum_ and _D.
grandiflorum flore-pleno_, 2 to 3 ft., of the richest dazzling blue,
flowering on till September; _D. chinense_, 2 ft., blue, and its
double-flowered variety, are good, as is _D. Barlowi_, 3 ft., a
brilliant double blue-purple. _D. nudicaule_, 2 ft., orange-scarlet,
very showy, is best treated as a biennial, its brilliant flowers being
produced freely in the second year from the seed.
_Dianthus._--Chiefly rock plants with handsome and fragrant flowers,
the smaller sorts growing in light sandy soil, and the larger border
plants in rich garden earth. Of the dwarfer sorts for rock gardens,
_D. alpinus_, _D. caesius_, _D. deltoides_, _D. dentosus_, _D.
neglectus_, _D. petraeus_, and _D. glacialis_ are good examples; while
for borders or larger rockwork _D. plumarius_, _D. superbus_, _D.
Fischeri_, _D. cruentus_, and the clove section of _D. Caryophyllus_
are most desirable.
_Dicentra._--Very elegant plants, of easy growth in good soil. _D.
spectabilis_, 2 to 3 ft., has paeony-like foliage, and gracefully
drooping spikes of heart-shaped pink flowers, about May, but it should
have a sheltered place, as it suffers from spring frosts and winds;
_D. formosa_ and _D. eximia_, 1 ft., are also pretty rosy-flowered
species.
_Dictamnus._--_D. Fraxinella_ is a very characteristic and attractive
plant, 2 to 3 ft., with bold pinnate leaves, and tall racemes of
irregular-shaped purple or white flowers. It is everywhere glandular,
and strongly scented.
_Digitalis._--Stately erect-growing plants, with long racemes of
pouch-shaped drooping flowers. The native D. purpurea, or foxglove, 3
to 5 ft., with its dense racemes of purple flowers, spotted inside, is
very showy, but is surpassed by the garden varieties that have been
raised. It is really a biennial, but grows itself so freely as to
become perennial in the garden. An erect flowered form is called
_gloxinioides_. The yellow-flowered _D. lutea_ and _D. grandiflora_
are less showy. Good garden soil, and frequent renewal from seeds.
_Doronicum._--Showy composites of free growth in ordinary soil. _D.
caucasicum_ and _D. austriacum_, 1 to 1½ ft., both yellow-flowered,
bloom in spring and early summer. _D. plantagineum excelsum_, 3 to 5
ft. high, is the best garden plant.
_Draba._--Good rockwork cruciferous plants. _D. alpina_, _D.
aizoides_, _D. ciliaris_, _D. Aizoon_, and _D. cuspidata_ bear yellow
flowers in early spring; _D. cinerea_ and _D. ciliata_ have white
flowers. Gritty well-drained soil.
_Dracocephalum._--Handsome labiate plants, requiring a warm and
well-drained soil. _D. argunense_, 1½ ft., _D. austriacum_, 1 ft., _D.
grandiflorum_, 1 ft., and _D. Ruyschianum_, 1½ ft., with its var.
japonicum, all produce showy blue flowers during the summer months.
_Echinacea._--Stout growing showy composites for late summer and
autumn flowering, requiring rich deep soil, and not to be often
disturbed. _E. angustifolia_, 3 to 4 ft., light purplish-rose, and _E.
intermedia_, 3 to 4 ft., reddish-purple, are desirable kinds. _E.
purpurea_ (often called Rudbeckia) is the showiest species. Height 3
to 4 ft., with rosy-purple flowers.
_Eomecon chionanthus._--A lovely poppywort about 1 ft. high, with pure
white flowers 2 to 3 in. across. Root-stocks thick, creeping.
_Epimedium._--Pretty plants, growing about 1 ft. high, with elegant
foliage, and curious flowers. _E. macranthum_, white flowers, and _E.
rubrum_, red, are distinctly spurred; _E. pinnatum_ and _E.
Perralderianum_, yellow, less so. They bloom in spring, and prefer a
shady situation and a peaty soil.
_Eranthis hyemalis._--A charming tuberous rooted plant, called winter
aconite. Flowers bright yellow, January to March, close to the ground.
_Eremurus._--Noble plants with thick rootstocks, large sword-like
leaves, and spikes of flowers from 3 to 10 ft. high. They require warm
sunny spots and rich gritty soil. The best kinds are _robustus_, pink,
6 to 10 ft.; _himalaicus_, 4 to 8 ft., white; _Aitchisoni_, 3 to 5
ft., red; _Bungei_, 2 to 3 ft., yellow; and _aurantiacus_, 2 to 3 ft.,
orange-yellow. There are now several hybrid forms.
_Erigeron._--Composite plants, variable in character. _E. purpureus_,
1½ ft., with pink flower-heads, having narrow twisted ray-florets; _E.
Roylei_, 1 ft., dark blue; and _E. pulchellus_, 1 ft., rich orange,
flowering during the summer, are among the best kinds. Good ordinary
garden soil.
_Erinus._--_E. alpinus_ is a beautiful little alpine for rockwork, 3
to 6 in., of tufted habit, with small-toothed leaves, and heads of
pinkish-purple or, in a variety, white flowers, early in summer. Sandy
well-drained soil.
_Erodium._--Handsome dwarf tufted plants. _E. Manescavi_, 1 to 1½ ft.,
has large purplish-red flowers in summer; _E. Reichardi_, a minute
stemless plant, has small heart-shaped leaves in rosette-like tufts,
and white flowers striped with pink, produced successively. Light
soil.
_Eryngium._--Very remarkable plants of the umbelliferous order, mostly
of an attractive character. _E. amethystinum_, 2 ft., has the upper
part of the stem, the bracts, and heads of flowers all of an
amethystine blue. Some of more recent introduction have the aspect of
the pine-apple, such as _E. bromeliaefolium_, _E. pandanifolium_, and
_E. eburneum_. Deep light soil.
_Erythronium._--_E. dens-canis_, the Dog's Tooth Violet, is a pretty
dwarf bulbous plant with spotted leaves, and rosy or white flowers
produced in spring, and having reflexed petals. Mixed peaty and loamy
soil, deep and cool. Several charming American species are now in
cultivation.
_Euphorbia._--Plants whose beauty resides in the bracts or floral
leaves which surround the inconspicuous flowers. _E. aleppica_, 2 ft.,
and _E. Characias_, 2 to 3 ft., with green bracts, are fine plants
for rockwork or sheltered, corners.
_Ferula._--Gigantic umbelliferous plants, with magnificent foliage,
adapted for shrubbery borders or open spots on lawns. They have thick
fleshy roots, deeply penetrating, and therefore requiring deep soil,
which should be of a light or sandy character. _F. communis_, _F.
glauca_, and _F. tingitana_, the last with glossy lozenge-shaped
leaflets, grow 8 to 10 ft. high; _F. Ferulago_, with more finely cut
leaves, grows 5 to 6 ft. high. They flower in early spring, and all
have a fine appearance when in bloom, on account of their large showy
umbels of yellow flowers.
_Fritillaria._--A large genus of liliaceous bulbs, the best known of
which is the crown imperial (_F. imperialis_) and the snake's head
(_F. Meleagris_). There are many charming species grown, such as
_aurea_, _pudica_, _recurva_, _sewerzowi_, _askabadensis_, &c.
_Funkia._--Pretty liliaceous plants, with simple conspicuously
longitudinal-ribbed leaves, the racemose flowers funnel-shaped and
deflexed. _F. Sieboldiana_, 1 ft., has lilac flowers; _F.
grandiflora_, 18 in., is white and fragrant; _F. coerulea_, 18 in., is
violet-blue; _F. albo-marginata_, 15 in., has the leaves edged with
white, and the flowers lilac. Rich garden soil.
_Gaillardia._--Showy composite plants, thriving in good garden soil.
_G. aristata_, 2 ft., has large yellow flower-heads, 2 or 3 in.
across, in summer; _G. Baeselari_ and _G. Loiselii_ have the lower
part of the ray-florets red, the upper part yellow.
_Galanthus._--The Snowdrop. Early spring-flowering amaryllidaceous
bulbs, with pretty drooping flowers, snow-white, having the tips of
the enclosed petals green. The common sort is _G. nivalis_, which
blossoms on the first break of the winter frosts; _G. Imperoti_, _G.
Elwesi_ and _G. plicatus_ have larger flowers.
_Galax aphylla._--A neat little rock plant, 6 to 8 in. high, with
pretty round leaves and white flowers. Requires moist peaty soil.
_Galega officinalis._--A strong-growing leguminous plant, 2 to 5 ft.
high, with pinnate leaves, and masses of pinkish purple pea-like
flowers. Also a white variety. Grows anywhere.
_Galtonia candicans._--~A fine bulbous plant, 3 to 4 ft. high, with
drooping white flowers.
_Gaura._--_G. Lindheimeri_, 3 to 5 ft., is much branched, with elegant
white and red flowers of the onagraceous type, in long slender ramose
spikes during the late summer and autumn months. Light garden soil;
not long-lived.
_Gentiana._--Beautiful tufted erect-stemmed plants preferring a strong
rich loamy soil. _G. acaulis_, known as the Gentianella, forms a close
carpet of shining leaves, and in summer bears large erect tubular deep
blue flowers. _G. Andrewsii_, 1 ft., has, during summer, large deep
blue flowers in clusters, the corollas closed at the mouth; _G.
asclepiadea_, 18 in., purplish-blue, flowers in July.
_Geranium._--Showy border flowers, mostly growing to a height of 1½ or
2 ft., having deeply cut leaves, and abundant saucer-shaped blossoms
of considerable size. _G. ibericum_, _platypetalum_, _armenum_ and
_Endressi_ are desirable purple- and rose-flowered sorts; _G.
sanguineum_, a tufted grower, has the flowers a deep rose colour; and
the double-flowered white and blue forms of _G. pratense_ and _G.
sylvaticum_ make pretty summer flowers. Good garden soil.
_Gerbera._--A South African genus of composites requiring very warm
sunny spots and rich gritty soil. _G. Jamesoni_, with large scarlet
marguerite-like flowers, and _G. viridiflora_, with white flowers
tinged with lilac, are best known. Numerous hybrids have been raised,
varying in colour from creamy white to salmon, pink, yellow, red and
orange.
_Geum._--Pretty rosaceous plants. The single and double flowered forms
of _G. chiloense_ and its varieties _grandiflorum_ and _miniatum_, 2
ft., with brilliant scarlet flowers; _G. coccineum_, 6 to 12 in.,
scarlet, and _G. montana_, 9 in., yellow, are among the best sorts.
Good garden soil.
_Gillenia trifoliata_.--A pretty rosaceous plant about 2 ft. high.
Flowers white in graceful panicles; flourishes in a mixture of sandy
peat and loam.
_Gunnera._--Remarkable rhubarb-like plants with huge lobed leaves,
often 6 ft. across. They should be grown near water as they like much
moisture, and a good loamy soil. _G. manicata_ and _G. scabra_ are the
two kinds grown.
_Gynerium._--The Pampas-Grass, a noble species, introduced from Buenos
Aires; it forms huge tussocks, 4 or 5 ft. high, above which towards
autumn rise the bold dense silvery plumes of the inflorescence. It
does best in sheltered nooks.
_Gypsophila._--Interesting caryophyllaceous plants, thriving in dryish
situations. _G. paniculata_, 2 ft., from Siberia, forms a dense
semi-globular mass of small white flowers from July onwards till
autumn, and is very useful for cutting.
_Haberlea rhodopensis._--A pretty rock plant with dense tufts of
leaves and bluish-lilac flowers. It likes fibrous peat in fissures of
the rocks.
_Helenium._--Showy composites of free growth in lightish soil. _H.
autumnale_, 4 ft., bears a profusion of yellow-rayed flower-heads in
August and September.
_Helianthemum._--Dwarf subshrubby plants well suited for rockwork, and
called Sun-Roses from their blossoms resembling small wild roses and
their thriving best in sunny spots. Some of the handsomest are _H.
roseum_, _mutabile_, _cupreum_ and _rhodanthum_, with red flowers;
_H. vulgare flore-pleno_, _grandiflorum_ and _stramineum_, with yellow
flowers; and _H. macranthum_ and _papyraceum_, with the flowers white.
_Helianthus._--The Sunflower genus, of which there are several
ornamental kinds. _H. multiflorus_, 4 ft., and its double-flowered
varieties, bear showy golden yellow flower-heads in profusion, and are
well adapted for shrubbery borders; _H. orgyalis_, 8 ft., has drooping
willow-like leaves. Many other showy species.
_Helichrysum._--Composite plants, with the flower-heads of the
scarious character known as Everlastings. _H. arenarium_, 6 to 8 in.,
is a pretty species, of dwarf spreading habit, with woolly leaves and
corymbs of golden yellow flowers, about July.
_Helleborus._--Charming very early blooming dwarf ranunculaceous
herbs. _H. niger_ or Christmas Rose, the finest variety of which is
called _maximus_, has white showy saucer-shaped flowers; _H.
orientalis_, 1 ft., rose-coloured; _H. atrorubens_, 1 ft.,
purplish-red; and _H. colchicus_, 1 ft., deep purple. Deep rich loam.
_Hemerocallis._--The name of the day lilies of which _H. fulva_, _H.
disticha_, _H. flava_, _H. Dumortieri_ and _H. aurantiaca major_ are
the most showy, all with yellow or orange flowers. They flourish in
any garden soil.
_Hepatica._--Charming little tufted plants requiring good loamy soil,
and sometimes included with Anemone. _H. triloba_, 4 in., has
three-lobed leaves, and a profusion of small white, blue, or pink
single or double flowers, from February onwards; _H. angulosa_, from
Transylvania, 6 to 8 in., is a larger plant, with sky-blue flowers.
_Hesperis._--_H. matronalis_, 1 to 2 ft., is the old garden Rocket, of
which some double forms with white and purplish blossoms are amongst
the choicest of border flowers. They require a rich loamy soil, not
too dry, and should be divided and transplanted into fresh soil
annually or every second year, in the early autumn season.
_Heuchera._--_H. sanguinea_ and its varieties are charming and
brilliant border plants with scarlet flowers in long racemes. Rich and
well-drained soil.
_Hibiscus._--Showy malvaceous plants. _H. Moscheutos_, rose-coloured,
and _H. palustris_, purple, both North American herbs, 3 to 5 ft.
high, are suitable for moist borders or for boggy places near the
margin of lakes.
_Iberis._--The Candytuft, of which several dwarf spreading subshrubby
species are amongst the best of rock plants, clothing the surface with
tufts of green shoots, and flowering in masses during May and June.
The best are _I. saxatilis_, 6 to 10 in.; _I. sempervirens_, 12 to 15
in.; and _I. Pruitii_ (variously called _coriacea_, _carnosa_,
_correaefolia_), 12 in.
_Incarvillea._--_I. Delavayi_ is the best species for the open air. It
grows 2 ft. high and has large tubular rosy carmine blossoms. It likes
rich sandy loam and sunny spots.
_Lathyrus._--Handsome climbing herbs, increased by seeds or division.
_L. grandiflorus_, 3 ft., has large rose-coloured flowers with
purplish-crimson wings, in June; _L. latifolius_, the everlasting pea,
6 ft., has bright rosy flowers in the late summer and autumn; the
vars. _albus_, white, and _superbus_, deep rose, are distinct.
Ordinary garden soil.
_Lavatera._--_L. thuringiaca_, 4 ft., is a fine erect-growing
malvaceous plant, producing rosy-pink blossoms freely, about August
and September. Good garden soil.
_Leucojum._--Snowflake. Pretty early-blooming bulbs, quite hardy. _L.
vernum_, 6 in., blooms shortly after the snowdrop, and should have a
light rich soil and sheltered position; _L. carpaticum_, flowers about
a month later; _L. pulchellum_, 1½ ft., blooms in April and May; and
_L. aestivum_, 2 ft., in May. All have white pendant flowers, tipped
with green.
_Liatris._--Pretty composites with the flower-heads collected into
spikes. _L. pumila_, 1 ft., _L. squarrosa_, 2 to 3 ft., _L. spicata_,
3 to 4 ft., _L. pycnostachya_, 3 to 4 ft., all have rosy-purplish
flowers. Deep, cool, and moist soil.
_Lilium._--See LILY.
_Linaria._--Toadflax. Pretty scrophulariads, of which _L. alpina_, 3
to 6 in., with bluish-violet flowers having a brilliant orange spot,
is suitable for rockwork; _L. dalmatica_, 4 ft., and _L.
genistifolia_, 3 ft., both yellow-flowered, are good border plants;
_L. vulgaris_, the common British toad-flax, and its regular peloriate
form, are very handsome and free flowering during the summer months.
_Linum._--Flax. _L. alpinum_, 6 in., large, dark blue; _L.
narbonnense_, 1½ ft., large, blue; _L. perenne_, 1½ ft., cobalt blue;
and _L. arboreum (flavum)_, 1 ft., yellow, are all pretty. The last is
liable to suffer from damp during winter, and some spare plants should
be wintered in a frame. It is really shrubby in character.
_Lithospermum._--_L. prostratum_, 3 in., is a trailing evergreen herb,
with narrow hairy leaves, and paniculate brilliant blue flowers in May
and June. Well adapted for rockwork or banks of sandy soil.
_Lupinus._--Showy erect-growing plants with papilionaceous flowers,
thriving in good deep garden soil. _L. polyphyllus_, 3 ft., forms
noble tufts of palmate leaves, and long spikes of bluish-purple or
white flowers in June and July; _L. arboreus_ is subshrubby, and has
yellow flowers.
_Lychnis._--Brilliant erect-growing caryophyllaceous plants, thriving
best in beds of peat earth or of deep sandy loam. _L. chalcedonica_, 3
ft., has dense heads of bright scarlet flowers, both single and
double, in June and July; _L. fulgens_, 1 ft., vermilion; _L.
Haageana_, 1½ ft., scarlet; and _L. grandiflora_, 1 to 2 ft., with
clusters of scarlet, crimson, pink and white flowers. All
large-flowered and showy, but require a little protection in winter.
_Lysimachia._--The best known is the Creeping Jenny, _L. Nummularia_,
much used for trailing over rockeries and window boxes, with bright
yellow flowers. The variety _aurea_ with golden leaves is also
popular. Other species that grow from 2 to 3 ft. high, and are good
border plants, are _L. clethroides_, with white spikes of flowers; _L.
vulgaris_, _L. thyrsiflora_, _L. ciliata_, _L. verticillata_ and _L.
punctata_, all yellow.
_Malva._--_M. moschata_, 2 ft., with a profusion of pale pink or white
flowers, and musky deeply cut leaves, though a British plant, is worth
introducing to the flower borders when the soil is light and free.
_Meconopsis._--The Welsh poppy, _M. cambrica_, 1 to 2 ft. high,
yellow, and _M. Wallichi_, from the Himalayas, 4 to 6 ft. high with
pale blue flowers, are the best known perennials of the genus. The
last-named, however, is best raised from seeds every year, and treated
like the biennial kinds.
_Mertensia._--_M. virginica_, 1 to 1½ ft., azure blue, shows flowers
in drooping panicles in May and June. It does best in shady peat
borders.
_Mimulus._--Monkey-flower. Free-blooming, showy scrophulariaceous
plants, thriving best in moist situations. _M. cardinalis_, 2 to 3
ft., has scarlet flowers, with the limb segments reflexed; _M. luteus_
and its many garden forms, 1 to 1½ ft., are variously coloured and
often richly spotted; and _M. cupreus_, 8 to 10 in., is bright
coppery-red. _M. moschatus_ is the Musk-plant, of which the variety
_Harrisoni_ is a greatly improved form, with much larger yellow
flowers.
_Monarda._--Handsome labiate plants, flowering towards autumn, and
preferring a cool soil and partially shaded situation. _M. didyma_, 2
ft., scarlet or white; M. fistulosa, 3 ft., purple; and _M. purpurea_,
2 ft., deep purple, are good border flowers.
_Muscari._--Pretty dwarf spring-flowering bulbs. _M. botryoides_
(Grape Hyacinth), 6 in., blue or white, is the handsomest; _M.
moschatum_ (Musk Hyacinth), 10 in., has peculiar livid greenish-yellow
flowers and a strong musky odour; _M. monstrosum_ (Feather Hyacinth)
bears sterile flowers broken up into a feather-like mass. Good garden
soil.
_Myosotidium nobile._--A remarkable plant, 1½ to 2 ft. high, with
large blue forget-me-not-like flowers. Requires gritty peat soil and
cool situations, but must be protected from frost in winter.
_Myosotis._--Forget-me-not. Lovely boraginaceous plants. M.
dissitiflora, 6 to 8 in., with large, handsome and abundant sky-blue
flowers, is the best and earliest, flowering from February onwards; it
does well in light cool soils, preferring peaty ones, and should be
renewed annually from seeds or cuttings. _M. rupicola_, 2 to 3 in.,
intense blue, is a fine rock plant, preferring shady situations and
gritty soil; _M. sylvatica_, 1 ft., blue, pink or white, used for
spring bedding, should be sown annually in August.
_Narcissus._--See NARCISSUS.
_Nepeta._--_N. Mussinii_, 1 ft., is a compactly spreading
greyish-leaved labiate, with lavender-blue flowers, and is sometimes
used for bedding or for marginal lines in large compound beds.
_Nierembergia._--_N. rivularis_, 4 in., from La Plata, has slender,
creeping, rooting stems, bearing stalked ovate leaves, and large
funnel-shaped white flowers, with a remarkably long slender tube;
especially adapted for rockwork, requiring moist sandy loam.
_Nymphaea._--See WATER-LILY.
_Oenothera._--The genus of the Evening Primrose, consisting of showy
species, all of which grow and blossom freely in rich deep soils. _Oe.
missouriensis (macrocarpa)_, 6 to 12 in., has stout trailing branches,
lance-shaped leaves and large yellow blossoms; _Oe. taraxacifolia_, 6
to 12 in., has a stout crown from which the trailing branches spring
out, and these bear very large white flowers, changing to delicate
rose; this perishes in cold soils, and should therefore be raised from
seed annually. Of erect habit are _Oe. speciosa_, 1 to 2 ft., with
large white flowers; _Oe. fruticosa_, 2 to 3 ft., with abundant yellow
flowers; and _Oe. serotina_, 2 ft., also bright yellow.
_Omphalodes._--Elegant dwarf boraginaceous plants. _O. verna_, 4 to 6
in., a creeping, shade-loving plant, has bright blue flowers in the
very early spring; _O. Luciliae_, 6 in., has much larger lilac-blue
flowers, and is an exquisite rock plant for warm, sheltered spots.
Light sandy soil.
_Onosma._--_O. taurica_, 6 to 8 in., is a charming boraginaceous plant
from the Caucasus, producing hispid leaves and cymose heads of
drooping, tubular, yellow flowers. It is of evergreen habit, and
requires a warm position on the rockwork and well-drained sandy soil;
or a duplicate should be sheltered during winter in a cold, dry frame.
_Ornithogalum._--The Star of Bethlehem. _O. arabicum_ can only be
grown in the warmest parts of the kingdom, and then requires
protection in winter. Other species, all bulbous, are _O. nutans_, _O.
pyramidale_, _O. pyrenaicum_, and the common Star of Bethlehem, _O.
umbellatum_; all are easily grown, and have white flowers.
_Ostrowskya magnifica._--A magnificent bellflower from Bokhara, 4 to 5
ft. high, and white flowers tinted and veined with lilac, 3 to 5 in.
across. Requires rich, gritty loam of good depth, as it produces
tuberous roots 1 to 2 ft. long.
_Ourisia._--Handsome scrophulariaceous plants, from Chile, thriving in
moist, well-drained peaty soil, and in moderate shade. _O. coccinea_,
1 ft., has erect racemes of pendent crimson flowers.
_Papaver._--The Poppy. Very showy plants, often of strong growth, and
of easy culture in ordinary garden soil. _P. orientale_, 3 ft., has
crimson-scarlet flowers, 6 in. across, and the variety _bracteatum_
closely resembles it, but has leafy bracts just beneath the blossom.
_P. alpinum_, 6 in., white with yellow centre; _P. nudicaule_, 1 ft.,
yellow, scented, and _P. pilosum_, 1 to 2 ft., deep orange, are
ornamental smaller kinds.
_Pentstemon._--The popular garden varieties have sprung from _P.
Hartwegii_ and _P. Cobaea_. Other distinct kinds are _P.
campanulatus_, 1½ ft., pale rose, of bushy habit; _P. humilis_, 9 in.,
bright blue; _P. speciosus_, _cyananthus_ and _Jaffrayanus_, 2 to 3
ft., all bright blue; _P. barbatus_, 3 to 4 ft., scarlet, in long
terminal panicles; _P. Murrayanus_, 6 ft., with scarlet flowers and
connate leaves; and _P. Palmeri_, 3 to 4 ft., with large, wide-tubed,
rose-coloured flowers.
_Petasites._--_P. fragrans_, the Winter Heliotrope, though of weedy
habit, with ample cordate coltsfoot-like leaves, yields in January and
February its abundant spikes, about 1 ft. high, of greyish flowers
scented like heliotrope; it should have a corner to itself.
_Phlomis._--Bold and showy labiates, growing in ordinary soil. _P.
Russelliana (lunariaefolia)_, 4 ft., yellow, and _P. tuberosa_, 3 ft.,
purplish-rose, both with downy hoary leaves, come in well in broad
flower borders.
_Phygelius._--_P. capensis_ from South Africa is hardy south of the
Thames and in favoured localities. Flowers tubular scarlet, on
branching stems, 2 to 3 ft. high. Requires light, rich soil.
_Physalis._--_P. Alkekengi_ from South Europe has long been known in
gardens for its bright orange-red globular calyxes. It has been
surpassed by the much larger and finer _P. Francheti_ from Japan; the
brilliant calyxes are often 3 in. in diameter in autumn. Grows in any
garden soil.
_Physostegia._--Tall, autumn-blooming labiates, of easy growth in
ordinary garden soils. _P. imbricata_, 5 to 6 ft., has pale purple
flowers in closely imbricated spikes.
_Phytolacca._--Ornamental strong-growing perennials requiring much
space. _P. acinosa_, from the Himalayas, 3 to 4 ft., with whitish
flowers in erect spikes. _P. decandra_, the North American Poke Weed
or Red Ink plant, grows 5 to 10 ft. high, has fleshy poisonous roots,
erect purple stems and white flowers. _P. icosandra_, from Mexico, 2
to 3 ft., pinky white. The foliage in all cases is handsome. Ordinary
garden soil.
_Platycodon._--_P. grandiflorum_, 6 to 24 in. high, is a fine Chinese
perennial with flattish, bell-shaped flowers, 2 to 3 in. across, and
purple in colour. The variety _Mariesi_ (or _pumilum_) is dwarf, with
larger, deeper-coloured flowers. Requires rich sandy loam.
_Podophyllum._--Ornamental herbs with large lobed leaves. _P. Emodi_,
6 to 12 in. high, from the Himalayas, has large white or pale-rose
flowers, and in autumn bright red, hen's-egg-like fruits. _P.
peltatum_, the North American mandrake, has large umbrella-like leaves
and white flowers; _P. pleianthum_, from China, purple. They all
require moist, peaty soil in warm, sheltered nooks.
_Polemonium._--Pretty border flowers. _P. coeruleum_ (Jacob's Ladder),
2 ft., has elegant pinnate leaves, and long panicles of blue rotate
flowers. The variety called variegatum has very elegantly marked
leaves, and is sometimes used as a margin or otherwise in bedding
arrangements. Good garden soil.
_Polygonatum._--Elegant liliaceous plants, with rhizomatous stems. _P.
multiflorum_ (Solomon's Seal), 2 to 3 ft., with arching stems, and
drooping white flowers from the leaf axils, is a handsome border
plant, doing especially well in partial shade amongst shrubs, and also
well adapted for pot culture for early forcing. Good garden soil.
_Polygonum._--A large family, varying much in character, often weedy,
but of easy culture in ordinary soil. _P. vacciniifolium_, 6 to 10
in., is a pretty prostrate subshrubby species, with handsome rose-pink
flowers, suitable for rockwork, and prefers boggy soil; _P. affine
(Brunonis)_, 1 ft., deep rose, is a showy border plant, flowering in
the late summer; _P. cuspidatum_, 8 to 10 ft., is a grand object for
planting where a screen is desired, as it suckers abundantly, and its
tall spotted stems and handsome cordate leaves have quite a noble
appearance. Other fine species are _P. baldschuanium_, a climber, _P.
sphaerostachyum_, _P. lanigerum_, _P. polystachyum_ and _P.
sachalinense_, all bold and handsome.
_Potentilla._--The double varieties are fine garden plants obtained
from _P. argyrophylla atrosanguinea_ and _P. nepalensis_. The colours
include golden-yellow, red, orange-yellow, crimson, maroon and
intermediate shades. They all flourish in rich sandy soil.
_Primula._--Beautiful and popular spring flowers, of which many forms
are highly esteemed in most gardens. _P. vulgaris_, 6 in., affords
numerous handsome single- and double-flowered varieties, with
various-coloured flowers for the spring flower-beds and borders.
Besides this, _P. Sieboldii (cortusoides amoena)_, 1 ft., originally
deep rose with white eye, but now including many varieties of colour,
such as white, pink, lilac and purple; _P. japonica_, 1 to 2 ft.,
crimson-rose; _P. denticulata_, 1 ft., bright bluish-lilac, with its
allies _P. erosa_ and _P. purpurea_, all best grown in a cold frame;
_P. viscosa_, 6 in., purple, and its white variety nivalis, with _P.
pedemontana_ and _P. spectabilis_, 6 in., both purple; and the
charming little Indian _P. rosea_, 3 to 6 in., bright cherry-rose
colour, are but a few of the many beautiful kinds in cultivation.
_Pulmonaria._--Handsome dwarf, boraginaceous plants, requiring good
deep garden soil. _P. officinalis_, 1 ft., has prettily mottled leaves
and blue flowers; _P. sibirica_ is similar in character, but has
broader leaves more distinctly mottled with white.
_Pyrethrum._--Composite plants of various character, but of easy
culture. _P. Parthenium eximium_, 2 ft., is a handsome double white
form of ornamental character for the mixed border; _P. uliginosum_, 5
to 6 ft., has fine large, white, radiate flowers in October; _P.
Tchihatchewii_, a close-growing, dense evergreen, creeping species,
with long-stalked, white flower-heads, is adapted for covering slopes
in lieu of turf, and for rockwork.
_Ramondia._--_R. pyrenaica_, 3 to 6 in., is a pretty dwarf plant,
requiring a warm position on the rockwork and a moist, peaty soil more
or less gritty; it has rosettes of ovate spreading root-leaves, and
large purple, yellow-centred, rotate flowers, solitary, or two to
three together, on naked stalks.
_Ranunculus._--The florists' ranunculus is a cultivated form of _R.
asiaticus_ (see RANUNCULUS). _R. amplexicaulis_, 1 ft., white; _R.
aconitifolius_, 1 to 2 ft., white, with its double variety _R.
aconitifolius flore-pleno_ (Fair Maids of France); and _R. acris
flore-pleno_ (Bachelor's Buttons), 2 ft., golden yellow, are pretty.
Of dwarfer interesting plants there are _R. alpestris_, 4 in., white;
_R. gramineus_, 6 to 10 in., yellow; _R. parnassifolius_, 6 in.,
white; and _R. rutaefolius_, 4 to 6 in., white with orange centre.
_Rodgersia._--Handsome herbs of the saxifrage family. _R. podophylla_
with large bronzy-green leaves cut into 5 large lobes, and tall
branching spikes 3 to 4 ft. high--the whole plant resembling one of
the large meadow sweets. _R. aesculifolia_, yellowish-white; _R.
Henrici_, deep purple; _R. pinnata_, fleshy pink; and _R.
sambucifolia_, white, are recently introduced species from China. They
require rich sandy peat and warm sheltered spots.
_Romneya._--_R. Coulteri_, a fine Californian plant, with large white
flowers on shoots often as high as 7 ft.; _R. trichocalyx_ is similar.
Both require very warm, sunny spots and rich, sandy soil, and should
not be disturbed often.
_Rudbeckia._--Bold-habited composite plants, well suited for shrubbery
borders, and thriving in light loamy soil. The flower-heads have a
dark-coloured elevated disk. _R. Drummondii_, 2 to 3 ft., with the
ray-florets reflexed, yellow at the tip and purplish-brown towards the
base; _R. fulgida_, 2 ft. golden-yellow with dark chocolate disk, the
flower-heads 2 to 3 in. across; and _R. speciosa_, 2 to 3 ft.,
orange-yellow with blackish-purple disk, the flower-heads 3 to 4 in.
across, are showy plants.
_Sagittaria._--Graceful water or marsh plants with hastate leaves, and
tuberous, running and fibrous roots. _S. japonica plena_; _S.
lancifolia_, _S. macrophylla_ and _S. sagittifolia_, are among the
best kinds, all with white flowers.
_Salvia._--The Sage, a large genus of labiates, often very handsome,
but sometimes too tender for English winters. _S. Sclarea_, 5 to 6
ft., is a very striking plant little more than a biennial, with
branched panicles of bluish flowers issuing from rosy-coloured bracts;
_S. patens_, 2 ft., which is intense azure, has tuberous roots, and
may be taken up, stored away and replanted in spring like a dahlia.
_S. pratensis_, 2 ft., blue, a showy native species, is quite hardy;
the variety lupinoides has the centre of the lower lip white.
_Saxifraga._--A very large genus of rock and border plants of easy
culture. The Megasea group, to which _S. ligulata_, _S. cordifolia_
and _S. crassifolia_ belong, are early-flowering kinds of great
beauty, with fleshy leaves and large cymose clusters of flowers of
various shades of rose, red and purple. Another very distinct group
with silvery foliage--the crustaceous group--contains some of our
choicest Alpines. Of these _S. caesia_, _S. calyciflora_, _S.
Cotyledon_ are among the best known. Some of the species look more
like lichens than flowering plants. The green moss-like saxifrages are
also a very distinct group, with dense tufted leaves which appear
greener in winter than in summer. The flowers are borne on erect
branching stems and are chiefly white in colour. _Saxifraga umbrosa_
(London Pride) and _S. Geum_ belong to still another group, and are
valuable alike on border and rockery. _S. peltata_ is unique owing to
its large peltate leaves, often 1 ft. to 18 in. across, with stalks 1
to 2 ft. long. Flowers in April, white or pinkish. Likes plenty of
water and a moist peaty soil or marshy place. _S. sarmentosa_, the
well-known "mother of thousands," is often grown as a pot plant in
cottagers' windows.
_Scilla._--Beautiful dwarf bulbous plants, thriving in well-worked
sandy loam, or sandy peat. _S. bifolia_, 3 in., and _S. sibirica_, 4
in., both intense blue, are among the most charming of early spring
flowers; _S. patula_, 6 to 8 in., and _S. campanulata_, 1 ft., with
tubular greyish-blue flowers, freely produced, are fine border plants,
as is the later-blooming _S. peruviana_, 6 to 8 in., dark blue or
white.
_Sedum._--Pretty succulent plants of easy growth, and mostly suitable
for rockwork. They are numerous, varied in the colour of both leaves
and foliage, and mostly of compact tufted growth. _S. spectabile_, 1
to 1½ ft., pink, in great cymose heads, is a fine plant for the
borders, and worthy also of pot-culture for greenhouse decoration.
Mention may also be made of the common _S. acre_ (Stonecrop), 3 in.,
yellow, and its variety with yellow-tipped leaves.
_Sempervivum._--House-Leek. Neat-growing, succulent plants, forming
rosettes of fleshy leaves close to the ground, and rapidly increasing
by runner-like offsets; they are well adapted for rockwork, and do
best in sandy soil. The flowers are stellate, cymose, on stems rising
from the heart of the leafy rosettes. _S. arachnoideum_, purplish, _S.
arenarium_, yellow, _S. globiferum_ and _S. Laggeri_, rose, grow when
in flower 3 to 6 in. high; _S. calcareum_, rose colour, and _S.
Boutignianum_, pale rose, both have glaucous leaves tipped with
purple; _S. Heuffelii_, yellow, with deep chocolate leaves, and _S.
Wulfeni_, sulphur-yellow, are from 8 to 12 in. high.
_Senecio._--A large genus with comparatively few good garden plants.
Large and coarse-growing kinds like _S. Doria_, _S. macrophyllus_ and
_S. sarracenicus_ are good for rough places; all yellow-flowered. _S.
pulcher_ is a charming plant, 2 to 3 ft. high, with rosy-purple
flower-heads, having a bright orange centre. It likes a warm corner
and moist soil. _S. clivorum_, from China, has large roundish leaves
and orange-yellow flowers. It flourishes near water and in damp
places.
_Shortia._--_S. galacifolia_, a beautiful tufted plant 2 to 3 in.
high, with roundish crenate leaves, on long stalks, and white
funnel-shaped flowers in March and April. _S. uniflora_ from Japan is
closely related. The leaves of both assume rich purple-red tints in
autumn. Warm sunny situations and rich sandy loam and peat are
required.
_Silene._--Pretty caryophyllaceous plants, preferring sandy loam, and
well adapted for rockwork. _S. alpestris_, 6 in., white, and _S.
quadridentata_, 4 in., white, are beautiful tufted plants for rockwork
or the front parts of borders; _S. maritima flore-pleno_, 6 in.,
white, _S. Elizabethae_, 4 in., bright rose, and _S. Schafta_, 6 in.,
purplish-rose, are also good kinds.
_Sisyrinchium._--Pretty dwarf iridaceous plants, thriving in peaty
soil. _S. grandiflorum_, 10 in., deep purple or white, blooms about
April, and is a fine plant for pot-culture in cold frames.
_Sparaxis._--Graceful bulbous plants from South Africa. _S.
grandiflora_, with deep violet-purple, and _S. tricolor_, with rich
orange-red, flowers are best known. _S. pulcherrima_, a lovely
species, 3 to 6 ft. high, with drooping blood-red blossoms, is now
referred to the genus _Dierama_. A warm, light, but rich soil in
sheltered spots required.
_Spiraea._--Vigorous growing plants of great beauty, preferring good,
deep, rather moist soil; the flowers small but very abundant, in large
corymbose or spicate panicles. _S. Aruncus_, 4 ft., white; _S.
astilbioides_, 2 ft., white; _S. Filipendula_, 1½ ft., and _S.
Ulmaria_, 3 ft., both white; _S. palmata_, 2 ft., rosy-crimson; and
_S. venusta_, 3 ft., carmine rose, are some of the best.
_Statice._--Pretty plants with broad, radical leaves, and a
much-branched inflorescence of numerous small flowers. _S. latifolia_,
2 ft., greyish-blue; _S. tatarica_, 1 ft., lavender-pink; _S.
speciosa_, 1½ ft., rose colour; and _S. eximia_, 1½ ft.,
rosy-lilac--are good border plants. _S. bellidifolia_, 9 in.,
lavender; _S. emarginata_, 6 in., purple; _S. globulariaefolia_, 9
in., white; and _S. nana_, 4 in.--are good sorts for the rockery.
_Stenactis._--_S. speciosa_, 1 to 2 ft., is a showy composite, of easy
culture in good garden soil; it produces large corymbs of
flower-heads, with numerous narrow blue ray-florets surrounding the
yellow disk. Now more generally known as Erigeron.
_Stipa._--_S. pennata_ (Feather Grass), 1½ ft., is a very
graceful-habited grass, with stiff slender erect leaves, and long
feathery awns to the seeds.
_Stokesia._--_S. cyanea_, 2 ft., is a grand, autumn-flowering,
composite plant, with blue flower-heads, 4 in. across. Sandy loam and
warm situation.
_Symphytum._--Rather coarse-growing but showy boraginaceous plants,
succeeding in ordinary soil. _S. caucasicum_, 2 ft., with blue flowers
changing to red, is one of the finer kinds for early summer blooming.
_Thalictrum._--Free-growing but rather weedy ranunculaceous plants, in
many cases having elegantly cut foliage. _T. aquilegifolium_, 2 ft.,
purplish from the conspicuous stamens, the leaves glaucous, is a good
border plant; and _T. minus_ has foliage somewhat resembling that of
the Maidenhair fern. Ordinary garden soil.
_Tiarella._--_T. cordifolia_, the foam flower, is very ornamental in
border or rockery. Leaves heart-shaped lobed and toothed; flowers
white starry; ordinary garden soil.
_Tigridia._--Lovely bulbous plants called tiger flowers, useful in the
warmest parts of the kingdom for the border in rich but gritty soil.
_T. Pavonia_, the peacock tiger flower, from Mexico, grows 1 to 2 ft.
high, with plaited sword-like leaves, and large flowers about 6 in.
across, having zones of violet and yellow blotched with purple and
tipped with scarlet. There are many varieties, all charming.
_Trillium._--_T. grandiflorum_, the wood-lily of North America, is the
finest. It has large white flowers and grows freely in peaty soil in
shady borders. There are several other species, some with purplish
flowers.
_Tritonia._--A genus of South African plants with fibrous-coated corms
or solid bulbs, often known as montbretas. _T. crocata_, 2 ft.,
orange-yellow, _T. crocosmiaeflora_, 2 to 2½ ft., orange-scarlet, and
_T. Pottsi_, 3 to 4 ft., bright yellow, are the best-known varieties,
of which there are many subsidiary ones, some being very large and
free in flowering. A rich, gritty soil, and warm, sunny situations are
best for these plants.
_Triteleia._--Charming spring-flowering bulbs, thriving in any good
sandy soil. _T. Murrayana_, 8 in., lavender-blue, and _T. uniflora_,
6 in., white, are both pretty plants of the easiest culture, either
for borders or rockeries.
_Tritoma._--Splendid stoutish-growing plants of noble aspect,
familiarly known as the Poker plant, from their erect, rigid spikes of
flame-coloured flowers; sometimes called Kniphofia. _T. Uvaria_, 3 to
4 ft., bright orange-red, passing to yellow in the lower flowers, is a
fine autumnal decorative plant. They should be protected from frosts
by a covering of ashes over the crown during winter.
_Trollius._--Showy ranunculaceous plants, of free growth, flowering
about May and June. _T. europaeus_, 18 in., lemon globular; _T.
asiaticus_, 2 ft., deep yellow; and _T. napellifolius_, 2 to 2½ ft.,
golden yellow, are all fine showy kinds. Rich and rather moist soil.
_Tulipa._--Splendid dwarfish bulbs, thriving in deep, sandy,
well-enriched garden soil, and increased by offsets. They bloom during
the spring and early summer months. _T. Gesneriana_, the parent of the
florists' tulip, 12 to 18 in., crimson and other colours; _T.
Eichleri_, 1 ft., crimson with dark spot; _T. Greigi_, 1 ft., orange
with dark spot edged with yellow, and having dark spotted leaves; _T.
oculus solis_, 1 ft., scarlet with black centre; and _T. sylvestris_,
12 to 18 in., bright yellow, are showy kinds.
_Veratrum._--Distinct liliaceous plants with bold ornamental leaves
regularly folded and plaited. _V. album_, 3 to 5 ft., has whitish
blossoms in dense panicles, 1 to 2 ft. long. _V. nigrum_, 2 to 3 ft.,
has blackish-purple flowers, also _V. Maacki_, 2 ft. Rich sandy loam
and peat.
_Verbascum._--Showy border flowers of erect spire-like habit, of the
easiest culture. _V. Chaixii_, 4 to 5 ft., yellow, in large pyramidal
panicles; _V. phoeniceum_, 3 ft., rich purple or white; and _V.
formosum_, 6 ft., golden yellow in dense panicles, are desirable
species.
_Veronica._--The Speedwell family, containing many ornamental members;
all the hardy species are of the easiest cultivation in ordinary
garden soil. The rotate flowers are in close, erect spikes, sometimes
branched. _V. crassifolia_, 2 ft., dark blue; _V. incarnata_, 1½ ft.,
flesh-colour; _V. corymbosa_, 1½ ft., pale blue in
corymbosely-arranged racemes; _V. gentianoides_, 2 ft., grey with blue
streaks; _V. spicata_, blue, and its charming white variety _alba_;
and _V. virginica_, 5 ft., white, are distinct.
_Vinca._--Periwinkle. Pretty rock plants, growing freely in ordinary
soil. _V. herbacea_, of creeping habit, with purplish-blue flowers;
_V. minor_, of trailing habit, blue; and _V. major_, 1 to 2 ft. high,
also trailing, are suitable for the rock garden. The last two are
evergreen, and afford varieties which differ in the colour of their
flowers, while some are single and others double.
_Viola._--Violet. Charming dwarf plants, mostly evergreen and of
tufted habit, requiring well-worked rich sandy soil. _V. calcarata_, 6
in., light blue; _V. cornuta_, 6 to 8 in., blue; _V. lutea_, 4 in.,
yellow; _V. altaica_, 6 in., yellow or violet with yellow eye; _V.
palmaensis_, 6 to 8 in., lavender-blue; _V. pedata_, 6 in., pale blue;
and _V. odorata_, the Sweet Violet, in its many single and double
flowered varieties, are all desirable.
_Yucca._--Noble subarborescent liliaceous plants, which should be
grown in every garden. They do well in light, well-drained soils, and
have a close family resemblance, the inflorescence being a panicle of
white, drooping, tulip-shaped flowers, and the foliage rosulate,
sword-shaped and spear-pointed. Of the more shrubby-habited sorts _Y.
gloriosa_, _recurvifolia_ and _Treculeana_ are good and distinct; and
of the dwarfer and more herbaceous sorts _Y. filamentosa_, _flaccida_
and _angustifolia_ are distinct and interesting kinds, the first two
flowering annually.
The taste for cultivation of the class of plants, of which the
foregoing list embraces some of the more prominent members, is on the
increase, and gardens will benefit by its extension.
HARDY TREES AND SHRUBS.--Much of the beauty of the pleasure garden
depends upon the proper selection and disposition of ornamental trees
and shrubs. We can only afford space here for lists of some of the
better and more useful and ornamental trees and shrubs, old and new.
The following list, which is not exhaustive, furnishes material from
which a selection may be made to suit various soils and situations.
The shrubs marked * are climbers.
_Hardy Deciduous Trees._
Acer--Maple. Larix--Larch.
Aesculus--Horse-Chestnut. Liriodendron--Tulip-tree.
Ailantus--Tree of Heaven. Magnolia.
Alnus--Alder. Morus--Mulberry.
Amygdalus--Almond. Negundo--Box-Elder.
Betula--Birch. Ostrya--Hop Hornbeam.
Carpinus--Hornbeam. Paulownia.
Carya--Hickory. Planera.
Castanea--Sweet Chestnut. Platanus--Plane.
Catalpa. Populus--Poplar.
Celtis--Nettle Tree. Prunus (Plums, Cherries, &c.).
Cercis--Judas Tree. Ptelea--Hop Tree.
Cotoneaster (some species). Pyrus--Pear, &c.
Crataegus--Thorn. Quercus--Oak.
Davidia. Rhus--Sumach.
Diospyros. Robinia--Locust Tree.
Fagus--Beech. Salix--Willow.
Fraxinus--Ash. Sophora.
Ginkgo--Maidenhair Tree. Taxodium--Deciduous Cypress.
Gleditschia--Honey Locust. Tilia--Lime.
Gymnocladus--Kentucky Coffee Tree. Ulmus--Elm.
Juglans--Walnut. Virgilia.
Kolreuteria. Xanthoceras.
Laburnum.
_Hardy Evergreen Trees._
Abies--Silver Fir. Libocedrus.
Araucaria--Chili Pine. Magnolia grandiflora.
Arbutus--Strawberry Tree. Picea--Spruce Fir.
Biota--Arbor Vitae. Pinus--Pine.
Buxus--Box. Quercus Ilex--Holm-Oak.
Cedrus--Cedar. Retinospora.
Cephalotaxus. Sciadopitys--Umbrella Pine.
Cryptomeria--Japan Cedar. Sequoia (Wellingtonia).
Cupressus--Cypress. Taxus--Yew.
Ilex--Holly. Thuiopsis.
Juniperus--Juniper. Thuya--Arbor Vitae.
Laurus--Bay Laurel. Tsuga.
_Hardy Deciduous Shrubs._
Abelia. Halesia--Snowdrop Tree.
Acer--Maple. Hamamelis--Wych Hazel.
Amelanchier. Hibiscus--Althaea frutex, &c.
Ampelopsis.* Hippophaë--Sea Buckthorn.
Amygdalopsis. Hypericum--St John's Wort.
Aralia. Jasminum*--Jasmine.
Aristolochia.* Kerria.
Berberis--Berberry. Lonicera*--Honeysuckle.
Bignonia*--Trumpet Flower. Lycium.*
Buddleia. Magnolia.
Calophaca. Menispermum*--Moonseed.
Calycanthus--Carolina Allspice. Periploca.*
Caragana. Philadelphus--Mock Orange.
Chimonanthus. Rhus--Wig Tree, &c.
Clematis.* Ribes--Flowering Currant.
Colutea--Bladder Senna. Robinia--Rose Acacia, &c.
Cornus--Dogwood. Rosa--Rose.
Cotoneaster (some species). Rubus*--Bramble.
Crataegus--Thorn. Spartium--Spanish Broom.
Cydonia--Japan Quince. Spiraea.
Cytisus--Broom, &c. Staphylaea--Bladder-Nut.
Daphne. Symphoricarpus--Snowberry.
Deutzia. Syringa--Lilac.
Edwardsia. Tamarix--Tamarisk.
Euonymus europaeus--Spindle Tree. Viburnum--Guelder Rose, &c.
Forsythia. Vitis*--Vine.
Fremontia. Weigela.
Genista.
_Hardy Evergreen Shrubs._
Akebia.* Hedera*--Ivy.
Arbutus. Hypericum--St John's Wort.
Aucuba--Japan Laurel. Ilex--Holly.
Azara. Jasminum*--Jasmine.
Bambusa--Bamboo. Kadsura.*
Berberidopsis.* Lardizabala.*
Berberis--Berberry. Laurus--Sweet Bay.
Buddleia. Ligustrum--Privet.
Bupleurum. Lonicera*--Honeysuckle.
Buxus--Box. Osmanthus.
Ceanothus. Pernettya.
Cerasus--Cherry-Laurel, &c. Phillyrea.
Cistus-Sun-Rose. Photinia.
Cotoneaster. Rhamnus Alaternus.
Crataegus Pyracantha--Fire Thorn. Rhododendron--Rose-Bay.
Daphne. Rosa*--Rose.
Desfontainea. Ruscus.
Elaeagnus--Oleaster. Skimmia.
Erica--Heath. Smilax.*
Escallonia. Stauntonia.*
Euonymus. Ulex--Furze.
Fabiana. Viburnum--Laurustinus.
Fatsia (Aralia). Vinca--Periwinkle.
Garrya. Yucca--Adam's Needle.
Griselinia.
BEDDING PLANTS.--This term is chiefly applied to those
summer-flowering plants, such as ivy-leaved and zonal pelargoniums,
petunias, dwarf lobelias, verbenas, &c., which are employed in masses
for filling the beds of a geometrical parterre. Of late years,
however, more attention has been bestowed on arrangements of brilliant
flowering plants with those of fine foliage, and the massing also of
hardy early-blooming plants in parterre fashion has been very greatly
extended. Bedding plants thrive best in a light loam, liberally
manured with thoroughly rotten dung from an old hotbed or thoroughly
decomposed cow droppings and leaf-mould.
_Spring Bedding._--For this description of bedding, hardy plants only
must be used; but even then the choice is tolerably extensive. For
example, there are the Alyssums, of which _A. saxatile_ and _A.
gemonense_ are in cultivation; _Antennaria tomentosa_; the double
white _Arabis albida_; Aubrietias, of which the best sorts are _A.
Campbelliae_ and _A. grandiflora_; the double _Bellis perennis_ or
Daisy; the Wallflowers, including _Cheiranthus Cheiri_ (the Common
Wallflower), _C. alpina_ and _C. Marshallii_; Hepaticas, the principal
of which are the varieties of _H. triloba_, and the blue _H.
angulosa_; Iberis or Candytuft; _Lithospermum fruticosum_; Myosotis or
Forget-me-not, including _M. alpestris_, _M. dissitiflora_, _M.
azorica_ and _M. sylvestris_; Phloxes, like _P. subulata_, with its
varieties _setacea_, _Nelsoni_, _nivalis_; the single-flowered
varieties of the Primrose, _Primula vulgaris_; the Polyanthuses;
_Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum_, called Golden Feather; _Sempervivum
calcareum_; the pink-flowered _Silene pendula_; self-coloured
varieties of the Pansy, _V. tricolor_, and of _V. lutea_ and _V.
cornuta_, as well as some recent hybrids. Besides these there are the
various spring-flowering bulbs, such as the varieties of Hyacinthus,
Tulipa, Narcissus, Fritillaria, Muscari or Grape Hyacinth, Crocus,
Scilla, Chionodoxa and Galanthus or Snowdrop.
_Summer Bedding._--There is great variety amongst the plants which are
used for bedding-out in the garden during the summer months, but we
can note only some of the most important of them. Amongst them are the
Ageratums, the old tall-growing sorts of which have been superseded by
dwarfer blue and white flowered varieties; Alternantheras, the
principal of which are _A. amoena_, _amoena spectabilis_, _magnifica_,
_paronychioides major aurea_ and _amabilis_; _Alyssum maritimum
variegatum_; some of the dwarf varieties of _Antirrhinum majus_;
_Arundo Donax variegata_; Begonias; Calceolarias; Cannas; _Centaurea
ragusina_; Clematises, of which the hybrids of the _Jackmanni_ type
are best; _Dahlia variabilis_, and the single-flowered forms of _D.
coccinea_; Echeverias, of which _E. secunda_ and _E. metallica_ are
much employed; Gazanias; Heliotropes; Iresines; Lantanas; Lobelias;
_Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum_; Pelargoniums, of which the
various classes of zonal or bedding varieties are unapproachable for
effect and general utility; Petunias; Phloxes; _Polemonium coeruleum
variegatum_; _Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum_, the well-known Golden
Feather, especially useful as an edging to define the outline of beds
upon grass; Tropaeolums, especially some of the varieties of _T.
Lobbianum_; and Verbenas, the offspring of _Tweedieana_,
_chamaedrifolia_ and others. Few bulbs come into the summer flower
gardens, but amongst those which should always be well represented are
the Gladiolus, the Lilium, the Tigridia and the Montbretia.
_Subtropical Bedding._--Foliage and the less common flowering plants
may be used either in masses of one kind, or in groups arranged for
contrast, or as the centres of groups of less imposing or of
dwarfer-flowering subjects; or they may be planted as single specimens
in appropriate open spaces, in recesses, or as distant striking
objects terminating a vista.
_Carpet Bedding_ consists in covering the surface of a bed, or a
series of beds forming a design, with close, low-growing plants, in
which certain figures are brought out by means of plants of a
different habit or having different coloured leaves. Sometimes, in
addition to the carpet or ground colour, individual plants of larger
size and handsome appearance are dotted symmetrically over the beds,
an arrangement which is very telling. Some of the best plants for
carpeting the surface of the beds are: _Antennaria tomentosa_ and
_Leucophytum Browni_, white; _Sedum acre_, _dasyphyllum_, _corsicum_
and _glaucum_, grey; and _Sedum Lydium_, _Mentha Pulegium
gibraltarica_, _Sagina subulata_ and _Herniaria glabra_, green. The
Alternantheras, Amaranthuses, Iresines and _Coleus Verschaffelti_
furnish high and warm colours; while _Pyrethrum Parthenium aureum_
yields greenish-yellow: _Thymus citriodorus aureus_, yellowish;
_Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum_, creamy yellow; Centaureas
and others, white; _Lobelia Erinus_, blue; and the succulent
Echeverias and Sempervivums, glaucous rosettes, which last add much to
the general effect. In connexion with the various designs such fine
plants as _Agave americana_, _Dracaena indivisa_ are often used as
centre-pieces.
GREENHOUSE PLANTS.--These are plants requiring the shelter of a glass
house, provided with a moderate degree of heat, of which 45° Fahr. may
be taken as the minimum in winter. The house should be opened for
ventilation in all mild weather in winter, and daily throughout the
rest of the year. The following is a select list of genera of
miscellaneous decorative plants (orchids, palms and ferns excluded;
climbers are denoted by *; bulbous and tuberous plants by +):
Abutilon Coleus Lachenalia+
Acacia Coprosma Lantana
Agapanthus Cordyline Lapageria*
Agathaea Correa Lilium+
Agave Cuphea Lophospermum*
Alonsoa Cyclamen+ Mandevillea*
Aloysia Cyperus Manettia*
Amaryllis+ Cytisus Mutisia*
Ardisia Darwinia (Genetyllis) Myrsiphyllum*
Asparagus Diosma Maurandya*
Aspidistra Dracaena Nerine+
Asystasia (Mackaya) Eccremocarpus* Nerium
Azalea Epacris Pelargonium
Bauera Epiphyllum Petunia
Begonia+ Erica Pimelia
Blandfordia Eriostemon Plumbago*
Bomarea* Erythrina Polianthes+
Boronia Eucalyptus Primula
Bougainvillea* Eupatorium Rhododendron
Bouvardia Eurya Richardia (Calla)+
Brugmansia Ficus Salvia
Calceolaria Fuchsia Sarracenia
Camellia Grevillea Solanum
Campanula Haemanthus+ Sparmannia
Canna Heliotropium Statice
Celosia Hibiscus Strelitzia
Cestrum* Hoya* Streptocarpus
Chorizema* Hydrangea Swainsonia
Chrysanthemum Impatiens Tacsonia*
Cineraria Jasminum* Tecoma
Clianthus Justicia Tradescantia
Clivia Kalosanthes Vallota+
Cobaea*
STOVE PLANTS.--For the successful culture of stove plants two houses
at least, wherein different temperatures can be maintained, should be
devoted to their growth. The minimum temperature during winter should
range at night from about 55° in the cooler to 65° in the warmer
house, and from 65° to 75° by day, allowing a few degrees further rise
by sun heat. In summer the temperature may range 10° higher by
artificial heat, night and day, and will often by sun heat run up to
90° or even 95°, beyond which it should be kept down by ventilation
and frequent syringing and damping down of the pathways. During the
growing period the atmosphere must be kept moist by damping the walls
and pathways, and by syringing the plants according to their needs;
when growth is completed less moisture will be necessary. Watering,
which, except during the resting period, should generally be copious,
is best done in the forenoon; while syringing should be done early in
the morning before the sun becomes too powerful, and late in the
afternoon to admit of the foliage drying moderately before night. The
following is a select list of genera of stove plants (climbers are
denoted by *, bulbous and tuberous plants by +):
Acalypha Cyanophyllum (Miconia) Musa
Achimenes+ Cycas Nelumbium+
Aeschynanthus Dieffenbachia Nepenthes
Allamanda* Dipladenia* Nymphaea+
Alocasia+ Dracaena Oxera*
Amaryllis+ Eranthemum Pancratium+
Anthurium Eucharis+ Pandanus
Aphelandra Euphorbia Passiflora*
Aralia Ficus Pavetta
Ardisia Franciscea Petraea*
Arisaema+ Gardenia Pleroma*
Aristolochia* Gesnera Poinsettia
Ataccia Gloriosa* Rondeletia
Begonia Gloxinia+ Sanchezia
Bertolonia Heliconia+ Schubertia*
Bignonia* Hoffmannia Scutellaria
Bromeliads Ipomaea* Stephanotis
Cactus Ixora Tabernaemontana
Caladium+ Jacobinia Terminalia
Calathea Jasminum* Thunbergia
Centropogon Luculia Torenia
Cissus* Maranta Thyrsacanthus
Clerodendron* Medinilla Tydaea
Crinum+ Meyenia Vinca
Codiaeum (Croton)
ORCHIDS.--For the successful cultivation of a mixed collection of
tropical orchids, it is necessary that two or three houses, in which
different temperatures can be maintained, should be provided. The
greater number of them are epiphytes or plants that grow on others
without absorbing nourishment from them, and heat and moisture afford
all or nearly all the nourishment they require. At one time it was
thought the plants themselves were better for being associated with
such objects as ferns and palms, but they are best grown by
themselves.
The East Indian orchid house takes in those species which are found in
the warm parts of the eastern hemisphere, as well as those from the
hottest parts of the western, and its temperature should range from
about 70° to 80° during the summer or growing season and from 65° to
70° during winter. The Mexican or Brazilian orchid house accommodates
the plants from the warm parts of South America, and its temperature
should range from about 65° to 75° during summer and from 60° to 65°
in winter. A structure called the cool orchid house is set apart for
the accommodation of the many lovely mountain species from South
America and India, such as _odontoglossums_, _masdevallias_, &c., and
in this the more uniform the temperature can be kept the better, that
in summer varying between 60° and 65°, and in winter from 45° to 60°.
A genial moist atmosphere must be kept up in the hottest houses during
the growing season, with a free circulation of air admitted very
cautiously by well-guarded ventilators. In winter, when the plants are
at rest, little water will be necessary; but in the case of those
plants which have no fleshy pseudobulbs to fall back upon for
sustenance, they must not be suffered to become so dry as to cause the
leaves to shrivel. In the Mexican house the plants will generally be
able to withstand greater drought occasionally, being greatly assisted
by their thick pseudobulbs. In the cool or odontoglossum house a
considerable degree of moisture must be maintained at all times, for
in these the plants keep growing more or less continuously.
For potting or basketing purposes, or for plants requiring
block-culture, the materials used are light fibrous peat, special
leaf-mould, osmunda or polypodium fibre and living sphagnum moss,
which supply free drainage for the copious supply of water required.
Good turfy loam is also used for some, such as _cypripediums_ and
_calanthes_. Indeed the composts now used are varied considerably
according to the particular group of orchids. The water should,
however, be so used as not to run down into the sheathing bases of the
leaves. While in flower, orchids may with advantage be removed to a
drier and cooler situation, and may be utilized in the drawing-room or
boudoir. Of late years not only have many fine hybrids been raised
artificially between various species, but some remarkable bigeneric
hybrids (between what are considered two distinct genera) have also
been produced (indicated in the list below by *). To keep a valuable
collection of orchids in good condition requires the services of an
expert orchid grower.
The following is a select list of genera in cultivation:--
Acineta Cymbidium Peristeria
Ada Cypripedium Pescatorea
Aërides Cyrtopodium Phajus
Angraecum Dendrobium Phaio-calanthe*
Anguloa Diacrium Phalaenopsis
Anoectochilus Disa Pilumna
Ansellia Epidendrum Platyclinis
Arachnanthe Eulophia Pleione
Arpophyllum Eulophiella Pleurothallis
Barkeria Galeandra Polystachya
Batemannia Gongora Promenaea
Bifrenaria Grammatophyllum Renanthera
Brassavola Habenaria Restrepia
Brassia Houlletia Rodriguezia
Brasso-Cattleya* Ionopsis Saccolabium
Broughtonia Ipsea Schomburgkia
Bulbophyllum Laelia Scuticaria
Burlingtonia Laelio-Cattleya* Sobralia
Calanthe Leptotes Sophro-cattleya*
Catasetum Lissochilus Sophronitis
Cattleya Lycaste Spathoglottis
Chysis Masdevallia Stanhopea
Cirrhopetalum Miltonia Thunia
Cochlioda Mormodes Trichopilia
Coelia Odontoglossum Trichosma
Coelogyne Odontioda* Vanda
Comparettia Oncidium Zygo-colax*
Cycnoches Pachystoma Zygopetalum
PALMS.--These form charming table and drawing-room plants when quite
young. When more fully developed, and long before their full growth is
attained, they are among the most decorative plants known for the
conservatory and for subtropical gardening. They are easily
cultivated, but should not be allowed to become dry. The soil should
consist of about 3 parts turfy loam, 1 part leaf mould, 1 part coarse
silver sand, with enough chemical or other manure added to render the
whole moderately rich. The older plants will occasionally require the
roots pruned in order to keep them in as small pots as possible
without being starved. This should be done early in the spring, and
the plants heavily shaded until feeding roots are again produced. It
is of advantage to afford stove culture while the plants are quite
young. A little later most of the genera succeed well under moderately
cool conditions.
The following genera are among those most commonly cultivated:
Acanthophoenix Chamaerops Martinezia
Acanthorhiza Cocos Oreodoxa
Areca Corypha Phoenix
Bactris Geonoma Pritchardia
Brahea Hyophorbe Rhapis
Calamus Kentia Sabal
Caryota Latania Stevensonia
Ceroxylon Livistonia Thrinax
Chamaedorea
FERNS.--These popular plants are usually increased by means of their
spores, the "dust" produced on the back of their fronds. The spores
should be sown in well-drained pots or seed pans on the surface of a
mixture of fibrous sifted peat and small broken crocks or sandstone;
this soil should be firmly pressed and well-watered, and the spores
scattered over it, and at once covered with propagating glasses or
pieces of sheet glass, to prevent water or dry air getting to the
surface. The pots should be placed in pans full of water, which they
will absorb as required. A shady place is desirable, with temperature
of 50° to 55° by night and 65° to 70° by day, or they may be set on a
shelf in an ordinary propagating pit. The spores may be sown as soon
as ripe, and when the young plants can be handled, or rather can be
lifted with the end of a pointed flat stick, they should be pricked
out into well-drained pots or pans filled with similar soil and should
be kept moist and shady. As they become large enough, pot them singly
in 3-in. pots, and when the pots are fairly filled with roots shift on
into larger ones.
The best time for a general repotting of ferns is in spring, just
before growth commences. Those with creeping rhizomes can be
propagated by dividing these into well-rooted portions, and, if a
number of crowns is formed, they can be divided at that season. In
most cases this can be performed with little risk, but the
gleichenias, for example, must only be cut into large portions, as
small divisions of the rhizomes are almost certain to die; in such
cases, however, the points of the rhizomes can be led over and layered
into small pots, several in succession, and allowed to remain
unsevered from the parent plant until they become well-rooted. In
potting the well-established plants, and all those of considerable
size, the soil should be used in a rough turfy state, not sifted but
broken, and one-sixth of broken crocks or charcoal and as much sand as
will insure free percolation should be mixed with it.
The stove ferns require a day temperature of 65° to 75°, but do not
thrive in an excessively high or close dry atmosphere. They require
only such shade as will shut out the direct rays of the sun, and,
though abundant moisture must be supplied, the atmosphere should not
be overloaded with it. Ferns should not be allowed to become quite dry
at the root, and the water used should always be at or near the
temperature of the house in which the plants are growing. Some ferns,
as the different kinds of Gymnogramme and Cheilanthes, prefer a drier
atmosphere than others, and the former do not well bear a lower winter
temperature than about 60° by night. Most other stove ferns, if
dormant, will bear a temperature as low as 55° by night and 60° by day
from November to February. About the end of the latter month the whole
collection should be turned out of the pots, and redrained or repotted
into larger pots as required. This should take place before growth has
commenced. Towards the end of March the night temperature may be
raised to 60°, and the day temperature to 70° or 75°, the plants being
shaded in bright weather. Such ferns as Gymnogrammes, which have their
surface covered with golden or silver powder, and certain species of
scaly-surfaced Cheilanthes and Nothochlaena, as they cannot bear to
have their fronds wetted, should never be syringed; but most other
ferns may have a moderate sprinkling occasionally (not necessarily
daily), and as the season advances, sufficient air and light must be
admitted to solidify the tissues.
Hardy British ferns belonging to such genera as Asplenium, Nephrodium,
Aspidium, Scolopendrium, have become fairly popular of late years, and
many charming varieties are now used in borders and rockeries. Spores
may be sown as above described, but in a much lower temperature.
The following is a select list of genera:--
Acrostichum Davallia Osmunda
Actiniopteris Dicksonia Onoclea
Adiantum Gleichenia Phlebodium
Alsophila Gymnogramme Platycerium
Aspidium Hymenophyllum Polypodium
Asplenium Lastrea Pteris
Blechnum Lomaria Scolopendrium
Cheilanthes Lygodium Todea
Cibotium Nephrodium Trichomanes
Cyathea Nephrolepis Woodwardia
VI. _Fruits._
_Fruit-Tree Borders._--No pains should be spared, in the preparation of
fruit-tree borders, to secure their thorough drainage. In case of
adhesive clayey subsoil this can generally be secured by placing over
the sloping bottom a good layer of coarse rubbly material, communicating
with a drain in front to carry off the water, while earthenware drain
tubes may be laid beneath the rubble from 8 to 10 ft. apart, so as to
form air drains, and provided with openings both at the side of the walk
and also near the base of the wall. Over this rubbly matter, rough turfy
soil, grass-side downwards, should be laid, and on this the good
prepared soil in which the trees are to be planted.
The borders should consist of 3 parts rich turfy loam, the top spit of a
pasture, and 1 part light gritty earth, such as road-grit, with a small
portion (one-sixth) of fine brick rubbish. They should not be less than
12 ft. in breadth, and may vary up to 15 or 18 ft., with a fall from the
wall of about 1 in. in 3 ft. The border itself should be raised a foot
or more above the general level. The bottom of the border as well as
that of the drain must be kept lower than the general level of the
subsoil, else the soakage will gather in all the little depressions of
its surface. Fruit-tree borders should not be at all cropped with
culinary vegetables, or very slightly so, as the process of digging
destroys the roots of the trees, and drives them from near the surface,
where they ought to be.
Shallow planting, whether of wall trees or standards, is generally to be
preferred, a covering of a few inches of soil being sufficient for the
roots, but a surface of at least equal size to the surface of the hole
should be covered with dung or litter so as to restrain evaporation and
preserve moisture. In the case of wall trees, a space of 5 or 6 in. is
usually left between the stem at the insertion of the roots and the
wall, to allow for increase of girth. Young standard trees should be
tied to stakes so as to prevent their roots being ruptured by the
wind-waving of the stems and to keep them erect. The best time for
planting fruit trees in the open air is from the end of September till
the end of November in open weather.
In the selection and distribution of fruit trees regard must of course
be had to local situation and climate. The best walls having a south or
south-east aspect are devoted to the peach, nectarine, apricot, dessert
pears, plums and early cherries. Cherries and the generality of plums
succeed very well either on an east or a west aspect. Morello cherries,
apples and stewing pears succeed well on a north wall. In Scotland the
mulberry requires the protection of a wall, and several of the finer
apples and pears do not arrive at perfection without this help and a
tolerably good aspect. The wall-trees intended to be permanent are
called dwarfs, from their branches springing from near the ground.
Between these, trees with tall stems, called riders, are planted as
temporary occupants of the upper part of the wall. The riders should
have been trained in the nursery into good-sized trees, in order that
when planted out they may come into bearing as speedily as possible.
_Standard Fruit Trees_ should not be planted, if it can be avoided, in
the borders of the kitchen garden, but in the outer slips, where they
either may be allowed to attain their full size or may be kept dwarfed.
Each sort of fruit should be planted by itself, for the sake of orderly
arrangement, and in order to facilitate protection when necessary by a
covering of nets. Their produce is often superior in flavour to that of
the same kind of fruit grown on walls.
_Orchard-house Trees._--Peaches, nectarines, apricots, figs and dessert
plums, cherries, apples and pears are commonly cultivated in the
orchard-house. Peaches and nectarines are generally planted out, while
the rest are more commonly cultivated in pots. This allows of the
hardier pot plants being removed out of doors while those planted out
are in need of the room. The pot plants are overhauled in the autumn,
the roots pruned, a layer being cut off to allow new soil to be
introduced. Surface dressing and feeding by liquid manure should also be
afforded these plants while the fruit is swelling. Every effort should
be made to complete the growth of peaches and nectarines while the sun
is sufficiently strong to ripen them. Tomatoes are frequently employed
to fill gaps in the orchard-house. Should it be provided with a central
path, requiring shade, Hambro and Sweet-water grapes serve the purpose
well, and in favourable seasons afford excellent crops of fruit.
VII. _Vegetables._
Under this head are included those esculents which are largely eaten as
"vegetables" or as "salads." The more important are treated under their
individual headings (see ARTICHOKE, ASPARAGUS, BEAN, &c. &c.). The
culinary herbs used for flavouring and garnishing are for the most part
dwarf perennial plants requiring to be grown on a rich soil in an open
sunny aspect, or annuals for which a warm sheltered border is the most
suitable place; and they may therefore be conveniently grown together in
the same compartment--a herb garden. The perennials should be
transplanted either every year or every second year. For winter use the
tops of the most useful kinds of herbs should be cut when in flower or
full leaf and quite dry, and spread out in an airy but shady place so
as to part slowly with the moisture they contain and at the same time
retain their aromatic properties. When quite dry they should be put into
dry wide-mouthed bottles and kept closely corked. In this way such herbs
as basil, marjoram, mint, sage, savory, thyme, balm, chamomile,
horehound, hyssop and rue, as well as parsley, may be had throughout the
season with almost the full flavour of the fresh herb.
_Intensive Cultivation._--This name has been applied to the method of
forcing early vegetables and salads during the winter and spring months
in the market gardens in the neighbourhood of Paris. The system is now
popularly known in England as "French gardening." Although a few assert
that it is an old English one that has been discarded in favour of
superior methods, there seems to be little or no evidence in support of
this contention. The system itself has been practised for about 300
years in the "marais" gardens round Paris. At one time these gardens
were in the centre of the city itself, but owing to modern improvements
they have been gradually pushed out beyond the city boundaries farther
and farther. Most of these gardens are small--not more than a couple of
acres in extent, and the rent paid by the _maraîcher_, or market
gardener, is very high--as much as £30 to £40 per acre.
The French _maraîcher_ does not use hot-water apparatus for forcing his
plants into early growth. He relies mainly upon the best stable manure,
a few shallow frames about 4½ ft. wide covered with lights, and a number
of large bell glasses or "cloches." The work is carried on from October
till the end of March and April, after which, with the exception of
melons, the cultures are carried on in the open air.
The chief crops grown for early supplies, or "primeurs" as they are
called, are special varieties of cos and cabbage lettuces, short
carrots, radishes, turnips, cauliflowers, endives, spinach, onions, corn
salad and celery. To these is added a very important crop of melons, a
special large-fruited variety known as the Prescott Canteloup being the
most favoured.
It is astonishing how much produce is taken off one of these small
intensive gardens during the year, and especially during the worst
months when prices usually run fairly high. The fact that rents are so
heavy around Paris is in itself an indication of the money that is
realized by the growers not only in the Paris markets, but also in
Covent Garden.
During the winter season narrow beds are made up of manure, either quite
fresh or mixed with old manure, according to the amount of heat
required. These beds are covered with a few inches of the fine old mould
obtained from the decayed manure of previous years. In the early stages
seeds of carrots and radishes are sown simultaneously on the same beds,
and over them young lettuces that have been raised in advance are
planted. In this way three crops are actually on the same beds at the
same time. Owing, however, to the difference in their vegetative growth,
they mature one after the other instead of simultaneously. Thus with the
genial warmth and moisture of the hotbeds, all crops grow rapidly, but
the radishes mature first, then the lettuces are taken off in due
course, thus leaving the beds to finish up with the carrots by
themselves. Later on in the season, perhaps small cauliflowers will be
planted along the margins of the beds where the carrots are growing, and
will be developing into larger plants requiring more space by the time
all the carrots have been picked and marketed. So on throughout the year
with other crops, this system of intercropping or overlapping of one
crop with another is carried out in a most ingenious manner, not only
under glass lights, but also in the open air. Spinach, corn salad,
radishes and carrots are the favourite crops for sowing between others
such as lettuces and cauliflowers.
Although enormous quantities of water are required during the summer
season, great care must be exercised in applying water to the winter
crops. When severe frost prevails the lights or cloches are rarely taken
off except to gather mature specimens; and no water is given directly
overhead to the plants for fear of chilling them and checking growth.
They must secure their supply of moisture from the rain that falls on
the glass, and flows into the narrow pathways from 9 in. to 12 in. wide
between each range of frames. As the beds are only about 4½ ft. wide,
the water from the pathways is soaked up on each side by capillary
attraction, and in this way the roots secure a sufficient supply.
Besides an abundance of water in summer there must also be an enormous
quantity of good stable manure available during the winter months. This
is necessary not only to make up the required hotbeds in the first
place, but also to fill in the pathways between the frames, wherever it
is considered advisable to maintain the heat within the frames at a
certain point. As it is impossible to use an ordinary wheelbarrow in
these narrow pathways, the workman carries a specially made wicker
basket called a "hotte" on his shoulders by means of two straps. In this
way large quantities of manure are easily transported to any required
spot, and although the work looks hard to an English gardener, the
Frenchman says he can carry more manure with less fatigue in half a day
than an Englishman can transport in a day with a wheelbarrow.
This is merely an outline of the system, which is now being taken up in
various parts of the United Kingdom, but not too rapidly. The initial
expenses for frames, lights, cloches, mats and water-supply are in many
cases prohibitive to men with the necessary gardening experience, while
on the other hand those who have the capital lack the practical
knowledge so essential to success.
For full details of this system see _French Market-Gardening, with
details of Intensive Cultivation_, by John Weathers (London, 1909).
VIII.--_Calendar of Garden Operations (A) for Great Britain._
JANUARY
_Kitchen Garden._--Wheel out manure and composts during frosty
weather; trench vacant ground not turned up roughly in autumn. Sow
early peas in a cold frame for transplanting. Sow also first-crop
peas, early in the month, and William I. towards the end; Early
Seville and Early Longpod beans; and short-topped radish in two or
three sowings, at a week's interval, all on a warm border; also Hardy
Green and Brown cos lettuce in a frame or on south border. Plant
shallots and Ashleaf potatoes on a warm border. Protect broccoli as it
becomes fit for use, or remove to a dry shed or cellar; lettuces and
endive, which are best planted in frames; and parsley in frames so as
to be accessible.
_Fruit Garden._--Plant fruit trees in open weather, if not done in
autumn, which is the proper season, mulching over the roots to protect
them from frost, and from drought which may occur in spring. Prune
fruit trees in mild weather or in moderate frosts, nailing only in
fine weather. Wash trees infested with insects with one of the many
insecticides now obtainable. Take off grafts, and lay them aside in
moist earth in a shady place.
_Forcing._--Prepare manure for making up hotbeds for early cucumbers
and melons, where pits heated with hot water are not in use; also for
Ashleaf potatoes. Sow also in heat mustard and cress for salads,
onions for salads; tomatoes, celery to be pricked out for an early
crop; and Early Horn carrot and kidney-beans on slight hotbeds. Force
asparagus, sea-kale and rhubarb, in hotbeds, in pits, in the
mushroom-house or in the open garden by the use of covers surrounded
with warm litter; for cucumbers a top heat of 70°; for vines in leaf
and flower a temperature ranging from 65° to 70°. Keep forced
strawberries with swelling fruit well watered. Plant vine eyes for
propagation in a brisk heat.
_Plant Houses._--Give abundance of air to the greenhouse, conservatory
and alpine frame in mild weather, but use little water. A supply of
roses, kalmias, rhododendrons, &c., and of hardy flowers and bulbs, as
lily of the valley, hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, &c., should be kept
up by forcing.
_Flower Garden._---Plant out tubers and bulbs of border flowers, where
neglected in autumn, deferring the finer florists' flowers till next
month. Transplant herbaceous plants in light soils, if not done in
autumn; also deciduous trees, shrubs and hedges. Lay edgings in fine
weather. Sow mignonette, stocks, &c., in pots; sow sweet peas and a
few hardy annuals on a warm border. Give auriculas and carnations
abundance of air, but keep the roots rather dry to prevent damping
off.
FEBRUARY
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow successional crops of Early Seville beans, and
William I., American Wonder or other peas in the beginning and end of
the month; early cabbages to follow the last sowing in August; red
cabbages and savoys towards the end. Sow also Early Horn carrot; Early
Purple-top Munich turnip; onions for a full crop in light soils, with
a few leeks and some parsley. Sow lettuce for succession, with
radishes and Round-leaved spinach, twice in the course of the month;
and small salads every fortnight. Plant Jerusalem artichokes,
shallots, garlic, horse-radish and early potatoes. Transplant to the
bottom of a south wall a portion of the peas sown in pots in frames in
November and January for the first crop. Sow Brussels sprouts in
gentle heat for an early crop.
_Fruit Garden._--Prune apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums, before
the buds are much swelled; finish pruning apples, pears, cherries,
gooseberries, currants and raspberries, before the end of the month;
also the dressing of vines. Keep the fruit-room free from spoiled
fruit, and shut it close. Cut down the double-bearing raspberries to
secure strong autumn-fruiting shoots. Head back stocks preparatory to
grafting.
_Forcing._--Sow melons and cucumbers on hotbeds and in pits. Sow
carrots, turnips, early celery, also aubergines or egg-plants,
capsicums, tomatoes and successional crops of kidney-beans;
cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, in gentle heat, to be afterwards
planted out. Plant early potatoes on slight hotbeds. Continue the
forcing of asparagus, rhubarb and sea-kale. Commence or continue the
forcing of the various choice fruits, as vines, peaches, figs,
cherries, strawberries, &c. Pot roots of mint and place in heat to
produce sprigs for mint sauce. Be careful to protect the stems of
vines that are outside the forcing-houses.
_Plant Houses._--Let the greenhouse and conservatory have plenty of
air in mild weather. Pot and start tuberous-rooted begonias and
gloxinias. Pot young plants of Hippeastrum, and start the established
ones. Propagate chrysanthemums in cool-house or vinery under hand
lights or frames. Put plants of fuchsias, petunias, verbenas,
heliotropes, salvias and other soft-wooded subjects, into a
propagating house to obtain cuttings, &c., for the flower garden. Sow
stocks, dahlias and a few tender and half-hardy annuals, on a slight
hotbed, or in pots. Propagate old roots of dahlias by cuttings of the
young shoots in a hotbed. Sow petunias in heat, and prick out and
harden for bedding out; also gloxinias to be grown on in heat till the
flowering season.
_Flower Garden._--In dry open weather plant dried roots, including
most of the finer florists' flowers; continue the transplanting of
hardy biennial flowers and herbaceous plants. Sow in the last week
mignonette, and hardy annuals, in a warm border, for subsequent
transplanting.
MARCH
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow main crops of wrinkled marrow peas; Longpod and
Windsor beans; cabbage, onions, leeks, Early Horn carrots, parsnips,
salsafy, scorzonera, Brussels sprouts, borecoles, lettuces and
spinach. In the beginning and also at the end of the month sow Early
Strap-leaf and Early Snowball turnips and savoys. In the last
fortnight sow asparagus, cauliflower and the various sweet and savoury
herbs; also sea-kale, radishes, celery, celeriac and parsley. Small
salads should be sown every ten days. Make up beds for mushrooms with
well-prepared dung towards the end of the month. Plant early potatoes
in the first week, and a main crop during the last fortnight.
Sea-kale, asparagus and peas raised in frames may now be planted; also
garlic and shallots. Full crops of cabbages should be planted out;
also cauliflowers under hand-glasses. Propagate by slips, or by
earthing up the old stems, the various pot-herbs.
_Fruit Garden._--Finish the pruning of fruit trees before the middle
of the month. Protect those coming into blossom. Begin grafting in the
third week; dig and dress between the rows of gooseberries, currants
and other fruit trees, if not already done. Kill wasps assiduously as
soon as they appear.
_Forcing._--Continue the forcing of melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and
the various fruits. In the vinery and peach-house, attend to the
keeping down of insects by syringing; and promote the growth of the
young shoots, by damping the walls and paths morning and evening. Sow
capsicum and tomato; also in slight heat such tender herbs as basil
and marjoram.
_Plant Houses._--More water may be given than formerly. Sow seeds of
greenhouse and hothouse plants; also the different sorts of tender
annuals; pot off those sown last month; sow cineraria for the earliest
bloom; also Chinese primulas. Shift heaths and other hard-wooded
subjects and stove-plants; plant tuberoses in pots for forcing. Begin
to propagate greenhouse plants by cuttings; also coleuses by cuttings
in heat, potting them off as soon as rooted.
_Flower Garden and Shrubbery._--In the last week, sow hardy annuals in
the borders, with biennials that flower the first season, as also
perennials. Plant anemone and ranunculus roots and the corms of
gladiolus. Transplant from the nursery to their final sites annuals
sown in autumn, with biennials and herbaceous plants. Propagate
perennials from root-slips and offsets. Continue to propagate the
finer sorts of dahlias, both by cuttings and by division of the roots.
Finish the pruning of all deciduous trees and hedges as soon as
possible. Attend to the dressing of shrubberies; lay turf-edgings, and
regulate the surface of gravel walks.
APRIL
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow asparagus, sea-kale, Turnip-rooted beet,
salsafy, scorzonera, skirret, carrots and onions on heavy soils; also
marrow peas, Longpod and Windsor beans, turnips, spinach, celery,
cabbage, savoys and Brussels sprouts for succession. Sow broccoli and
kidney-beans both in the second and in the last week, and lettuces and
small salads twice or thrice during the month; sow all herbs, if not
done last month. Sow vegetable marrow. Plant cauliflower, cabbages,
sea-kale, lettuce; and finish the planting of the main crops of
potatoes; divide and replant globe-artichokes. Propagate all sorts of
pot-herbs, and attend to the hoeing and thinning of spinach, onions,
turnips, carrots, beet, &c. Earth up cabbages, cauliflower, peas,
beans and early potatoes. Stake up peas; blanch sea-kale and rhubarb
in the open air by covering with straw or leaves.
_Fruit Garden._--If vines have been neglected to be pruned, rub off
the buds that are not wanted; this is safer than pruning now. Protect
the finer sorts of fruit trees on the walls. The hardier orchard-house
fruits should now be moved outdoors under temporary awnings, to give
the choicer fruits more space,--the roots being protected by plunging
the pots. Mulch all newly-planted fruit trees, watering abundantly in
dry weather.
_Forcing._--Continue the preparation of succession beds and pits for
cucumbers and melons. Sow; pot tomatoes and capsicums for succession.
Pollinate tomatoes by hand to ensure early fruit on plants intended
for outdoor culture. In the forcing-houses, from the variable state of
the weather, considerable vigilance is required in giving air. Keep
down red spider (Acarus) in the more advanced houses by frequent
syringings and a well-moistened atmosphere. Continue the usual
operations of disbudding and thinning of fruit, and take care to keep
up the proper temperatures.
_Plant Houses._--Still sow tender annuals if required; also cinerarias
and primulas. Proceed with all necessary shiftings. Propagate rare and
fine plants by cuttings or grafting; increase bouvardias by cuttings,
and grow on for winter flowering. Pot off tender annuals, and cuttings
of half-hardy greenhouse plants put in during February to get them
well established for use in the flower garden. Transfer chrysanthemums
to sheltered positions out of doors, and provide means of protecting
them from frost and cutting winds.
_Flower Garden and Shrubbery._--Sow main or successional crops of
annuals of all sorts--half-hardy annuals in warm borders, or on slight
hotbeds. Biennials and perennials should be sown before the middle of
the month. Plant out gladioli, if not done, tigridias and fine stocks.
Finish the transplanting of herbaceous plants by the end of the first
week. Cuttings of border chrysanthemums may now be dibbled in a warm
spot out of doors. Protect stage auriculas and hyacinths from extremes
of every description of weather; and tulips from hoar-frosts and heavy
rains. Plant out tender deciduous trees and shrubs raised in pots;
plant out tea-roses, mulching the roots. Remove part of the coverings
of all tender shrubs and plants in the first week, and the remainder
at the end of the month. Form and repair lawns and grass walks by
laying turf and sowing perennial grass-seeds; mow the lawns
frequently; plant evergreens.
MAY
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow main crop of beet in the first week, small
salads every week, radishes and lettuces thrice, spinach once a
fortnight, carrots and onions for late drawing, kidney-beans in the
first week and together with scarlet runners in the last fortnight;
endive for an early crop; also peas and Longpod and Windsor beans,
cauliflowers, Early York or Little Pixie cabbages, Brussels sprouts,
borecole, broccoli, savoys and kale for late crops. Sow vegetable
marrows and hardy cucumbers on a warm border in the last week; sow
cardoons in trenches, or (in the north) in pots under glass shelter;
sow chicory for salading. Continue hoeing and earthing up the several
crops.
_Fruit Garden._--Disbud peaches, nectarines and other early trees
against the walls; also attend to the thinning of fruit. Give
occasional washings with the engine to keep down insects. Pick
caterpillars from gooseberries and wall trees on their first
appearance. Remove from raspberries and strawberries all suckers and
runners that are not wanted.
_Forcing._--Plant melons and cucumbers on the hotbeds prepared for
vegetables in February, and now free. Plant out vegetable marrows and
pumpkins on dung-ridges, under hand-glasses. Sow late crops of
cucumbers and melons.
_Plant Houses._--Turn out hardy plants about the middle, and the more
tender at the latter end of the month. Sow tender annuals for
succession, potting and shifting those sown at an earlier period; sow
cinerarias for succession; and a few hardy annuals and ten-week stock,
&c., for late crops. Pot off all rooted cuttings. Put in cuttings of
the different desirable species which are now fit for that purpose.
Plant out in rich soil Richardias, to be potted up in autumn for
flowering. Bedding plants should be placed to harden in sheltered
positions out of doors towards end of month. Towards the end of the
month many of the main stock of chrysanthemums will be ready for the
final potting.
_Flower Garden._--Sow annuals for succession in the last week, also
biennials and perennials in the nursery compartment, for planting out
next year. Propagate plants of which more stock is required either by
cuttings or by dividing the roots. Plant out, during the last week,
dahlias, hardy pelargoniums, stocks and calceolarias, protecting the
dahlias from slight frosts. By the end of the month, masses of the
following plants may be formed with safety in warm
localities:--pelargonium, heliotropium, fuchsia, petunia,
nierembergia, salvia, verbena, bouvardia and lobelia. Protect tulips,
ranunculuses and anemones from the mid-day sun, and from rains and
winds. Remove the coverings from all tender plants in the open air.
_Shrubbery._--Transplant all kinds of evergreens, this month and
September being the proper seasons. The rarer conifers should be
planted now and in June, after they have commenced to grow. Proceed
with the laying down of lawns and gravel-walks, and keep the former
regularly mown.
JUNE
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow kidney-beans for succession; also the wrinkled
marrow peas and Seville Longpod and Windsor beans for late crops. Sow
salading every ten days; also carrots, onions and radishes for drawing
young; and chicory for salads; sow endive for a full crop. In the
first week sow Early Munich and Golden Ball turnips for succession,
and in the third week for a full autumn crop. Sow scarlet and white
runner beans for a late crop, and cabbages for coleworts. Make up
successional mushroom beds early in the month. Plant full crops of
broccoli, Brussels sprouts, savoys, kales, leeks and early celery,
with successional crops of cabbage and cauliflower. In the first
fortnight of the month, plant hardy cucumbers for pickling, in a warm
border, placing hand-glasses over them towards the end of the month.
Plant out capsicums and tomatoes in sunny positions, and stake and tie
securely. Pull and store winter onions, if ripe.
_Fruit Garden._--Train and prune the summer shoots of wall and trellis
and other trained trees. Mulch and water fruit trees and strawberries
in dry weather, desisting when the fruit begins to ripen. Net over
cherry-trees. Destroy aphides and other insects by syringing with
tobacco water, or by fumigating, or by dusting with tobacco powder.
_Forcing._--Proceed with planting melons, cucumbers and tomatoes. Keep
up the necessary temperatures for the ripening of the various fruits.
Ventilation will still require constant care. Tomatoes will now be
fruiting freely; thin out judiciously, avoiding excessive pruning at
one time. Attend to the gathering of fruit as it ripens.
_Plant Houses._--These will now be occupied with tender greenhouse
plants and annuals, and the more hardy plants from the stove. Shift,
repot and propagate all plants that are desirable. Sow fragrant or
showy annuals to flower in pots during winter; and grow on a set of
decorative plants for the same object. Continue the final potting of
chrysanthemums as the plants become ready.
_Flower Garden._--Plant out dahlias and other tender subjects, if risk
of frost is past. Take up bulbs and tuberous roots and dry them in the
shade before removing them to the store-room. Fill up with annuals and
greenhouse plants those beds from which the bulbs and roots have been
raised. After this season, keep always a reserve of annuals in pots,
or planted on beds of thin layers of fibrous matter, so as to be
readily transplanted. Layer carnations and pipe pinks in the end of
the month. Keep the lawns closely mown.
JULY
_Kitchen Garden._--Watering will be necessary in each department, if
the weather is hot and dry. In the first week, sow peas for the last
crop of the season; also Longpod beans and French beans. In the last
week, sow red globe or Chirk Castle turnip for a full winter crop,
spinach for an early winter supply and Enfield Market cabbage for
early summer use. Sow endive, for autumn and winter use, in the
beginning and end of the month; also successional crops of lettuce and
small salads. Make up successional mushroom beds. Plant full crops of
celery, celeriac, endive about the middle and end of the month; late
crops of broccoli, cauliflower and coleworts in the last week. Gather
and dry herbs; also propagate these by slips and cuttings.
_Fruit Garden._--Continue the pruning and training of wall and
espalier trees, and the destruction of noxious insects. Pot
strawberries for forcing next winter, and make new beds out of doors
as soon as well-rooted runners can be obtained. Propagate the
different sorts of stone fruit trees by budding on other trees or on
prepared stocks. Gather fruits of all kinds as they ripen.
_Forcing._--Prune melons and cucumbers, giving air and water and
maintaining heat, &c. Continue the routine treatment in the
tomato-houses. Feed the plants artificially as soon as good crops are
set; do not wait for signs of distress. The forcing-houses ought to
have abundance of fresh air and moisture where required, along with
the necessary heat.
_Plant Houses._--Ventilation will be necessary to keep down excessive
heat; and attention must be paid to potting, shifting and putting in
cuttings, and giving abundance of water to the potted plants, both
indoors and out. Sow seed of herbaceous calceolarias; shift heaths, if
they require it; cut down pelargoniums past flowering, and plant the
cuttings.
_Flower Garden and Shrubbery._--Take up the remaining tuberous roots,
such as anemones, ranunculuses, &c., by the end of the first week;
fill up their places, and any vacancies that may have occurred, with
annuals or bedding plants from the reserve ground. Repot auriculas,
and sow auricula seed in boxes under glass. Propagate herbaceous and
other plants that have gone out of flower, by means of cuttings and
slips, especially those required for spring bedding; propagate also
the various summer bedding plants increased by cuttings. Increase
roses and American shrubs, by layering, budding or cuttings, and go on
with the layering of carnations and picotees. Stake and tie up dahlias
and strong herbaceous plants.
AUGUST
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow winter and spring spinach in the beginning and
about the end of the month; parsley and winter onions, for a full
crop, in the first week; cabbages about the middle of the month, for
planting out in spring; cauliflower in the first half (Scotland) and
in the second half (England) of the month; Hardy Hammersmith and Brown
Cos lettuce in the first and last week; small salads occasionally; and
Black Spanish radish, for winter crops. Plant out kales and broccoli
for late crops; plant celery (earthing up the advancing crops as
required), endive for succession, and a few coleworts. Take up
shallots, garlic, &c.
_Fruit Garden._--Proceed in training and regulating the summer shoots
of all fruit trees as directed for the last three months. Net up, in
dry weather, gooseberry and currant bushes, to preserve the fruit till
late in the autumn. Make new strawberry beds if required. Preserve the
ripening fruits on the wall and other trees from insects, and destroy
wasp nests. Gather fruits as they ripen.
_Forcing._--The routine of cultivation in hotbeds and pits may be
continued. Sow tomatoes and cucumbers for a winter crop. Make up
mushroom beds. In the forcing-houses, where the crops are past, part
of the sashes may be removed, so as to permit thorough ventilation.
_Plant Houses._--Attend to the propagation of all sorts of greenhouse
plants by cuttings, and to the replacing in the greenhouse and stoves
the more tender species, by the end of the month in ordinary seasons,
but in wet weather in the second week. Sow half-hardy annuals, as
Nemophila, Collinsia, Schizanthus, Rhodanthe, &c., to flower during
winter.
_Flower Garden and Shrubbery._--Sow in the second and the last week,
on a warm border of a light sandy soil, with an east aspect, any
free-flowering hardy annuals as _Silene pendula_, Nemophila, &c., for
planting in spring; and auricula and primula seeds in pots and boxes.
Propagate, all sorts of herbaceous plants by rooted slips or suckers;
take off layers of carnations, picotees and pansies. Plant cuttings of
bedding plants, and of bedding pelargoniums in boxes for convenience
of removal. Layer the tops of chrysanthemums, to obtain dwarf
flowering plants. Transplant evergreens in moist weather, about the
end of the month; and propagate them by layers and cuttings. Pot
Neapolitan violets for forcing; or plant out on a mild hotbed. Clip
box edgings.
SEPTEMBER
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow small salading for late crops; and lettuce and
spinach, if not done last month, for spring crops. Plant endive and
lettuce at the foot of a south wall to stand the winter; plant out
cabbages from the chief autumn sowing. Plant cauliflowers on a warm
border in spaces such as can be protected by hand-lights. Thin the
winter spinach, when large enough, that it may have space to grow. If
broccoli be too rank or tall to withstand the winter, lift and lay
nearly up to the neck in the earth, the heads sloping towards the
north. Lift onions, and lay them out to ripen on a dry border or
gravel-walk. Lift potatoes and store them.
_Fruit Garden._--Finish the summer pruning and training. Where the
walls are heated, assist the maturing of peaches and nectarines, and
the ripening of the young wood for next year, by fires during the day.
Gather and lay up in the fruit-room with care the autumnal sorts of
apples and pears. Prepare borders and stations for fruit trees during
dry weather. Plant strawberries for a main crop. Repot orchard-house
trees, disrooting if necessary.
_Forcing._--Take care that late melons, cucumbers and tomatoes be not
injured by getting too much water and too little air. Sow a few kidney
beans for an early forced crop. Expel damp, and assist the ripening of
late grapes and peaches with fires during the day. Prune early vines
and peaches.
_Plant Houses._--The various pot plants should now be put in their
winter quarters. Keep up moderate temperatures in the stove, and
merely repel frosts in the greenhouse, guarding against damp, by
ventilation and by the cautious use of water. Pot hyacinths, tulips
and other bulbs for forcing; and propagate half-hardy plants by
cuttings. Begin the housing of the main stock of chrysanthemums.
_Flower Garden, &c._--Sow in the beginning of this month all
half-hardy annuals required for early flowering; also mignonette in
pots, thinning the plants at an early stage; the different species of
primula; and the seeds of such plants as, if sown in spring, seldom
come up the same season, but if sown in September and October,
vegetate readily the succeeding spring. Put in cuttings of bedding
pelargoniums in boxes, which may stand outdoors exposed to the sun,
but should be sheltered from excessive rains. Continue the propagation
of herbaceous plants, taking off the layers of carnations, picotees,
pansies and chrysanthemums, by the end of the month; choice
carnations and picotees may be potted and wintered in cold frames if
the season is wet and ungenial. Plant evergreens; lay and put in
cuttings of most of the hard-wooded sorts of shrubby plants.
OCTOBER
_Kitchen Garden._--Sow small salading and radishes in the first week,
and lettuces in frames on a shallow hotbed for planting out in spring.
If the winter prove mild they will be somewhat earlier than those sown
next month or in January. Plant parsley in pots or boxes to protect
under glass in case very severe weather occurs. Plant cabbages in beds
or close rows till wanted in spring; and cauliflowers in the last
week, to receive the protection of frames, or a sheltered situation.
Store potatoes, beet, salsafy, scorzonera, skirret, carrots and
parsnips, by the end of the month. Band and earth up cardoons.
_Fruit Garden._--Such fruit trees as have dropped their leaves may be
transplanted; this is the best season for transplanting (though with
care it may be done earlier), whether the leaves have fallen or not.
Protect fig-trees, if the weather proves frosty, as soon as they have
cast their leaves. Plant out raspberries. The orchard-house trees
should be got under glass before the end of the month. Gather and
store all sorts of apples and pears, the longest-keeping sorts not
before the end of the month, if the weather be mild.
_Forcing._--Maintain the heat in hotbeds and pits by means of fresh
dung linings. Give abundance of air in mild bright weather. Dress
vines and peaches. Clean and repair the forcing-houses, and overhaul
the heating apparatus to see it is in good working condition. Plant
chicory in boxes or on hotbeds for blanching. Sow kidney beans. Make
up successional winter mushroom beds.
_Plant Houses._--Replace all sorts of greenhouse plants. Fill the pits
with pots of stocks, mignonette and hardy annuals for planting out in
spring, along with many of the hardy sorts of greenhouse plants; the
whole ought to be thoroughly ventilated, except in frosty weather.
From this time till spring keep succulent plants almost without water.
Begin to force roses, hyacinths and a few other bulbs, for winter and
early spring decoration. Plant hyacinths in glasses for windows. The
last of the pot chrysanthemums should be housed by the end of the
first week.
_Flower Garden._--Sow a few pots of hardy annuals in a frame, or on a
sheltered border, for successional spring use if required. Plant the
greater part of the common border bulbs, as hyacinths, narcissi,
crocuses and early tulips, about the end of the month, with a few
anemones for early flowering. Transplant strong plants of biennials
and perennials to their final situations; also the select plants used
for spring bedding. Protect alpine plants, stage auriculas, and choice
carnations and picotees with glass frames; and tea roses and other
tender plants with bracken or other protective material. Take up, dry
and store dahlias and all tender tubers at the end of the month; pot
lobelias and similar half-hardy plants from the open borders.
Transplant all sorts of hardy evergreens and shrubs, especially in dry
soils, giving abundance of water. Put in cuttings of all sorts of
evergreens, &c. Plant out the hardier sorts of roses.
NOVEMBER
_Kitchen Garden._---Trench up all vacant ground as soon as cleared of
its crops, leaving the surface as rough as possible. Sow early peas
and Early Dwarf Prolific beans in the second week, for an early crop;
also in frames for transplanting. Protect endive, celery, artichoke
and sea-kale with stable-litter or fern, or by planting the former in
frames; take up late cauliflower, early broccoli and lettuces, and
place them in sheltered pits or lay them in an open shed; earth up
celery; manure and dress up asparagus beds.
_Fruit Garden._--Plant all sorts of fruit trees in fine weather--the
earlier in the month the better. Protect fig-trees. Commence pruning
and nailing. Gather and store the latest apples and pears. Examine the
fruit-room and remove all decayed fruit.
_Forcing._--Keep up the requisite degree of heat in hotbeds and pits.
Cucumbers and tomatoes will require more than ordinary attention.
Force asparagus, rhubarb and sea-kale, in the mushroom-house, in pits,
or in the open border under boxes or cases surrounded and covered by
well-fermented stable dung and leaves. Sow Early Horn carrot; also
kidney beans and radishes, on hotbeds. In the forcing-houses prune and
train the trees; fork over and dress the borders of such houses as
have not been already done.
_Plant Houses._--The directions for the greenhouse and conservatory in
January apply also to this month generally. Continue the forcing of
roses, hyacinths, &c. Houses containing large-flowered Japanese
chrysanthemums will require to be kept dry, airy and moderately warm
to prevent "damping-off" of petals.
_Flower Garden, &c._--Plant dried tubers of border flowers, but the
finer sorts had better be deferred till spring. Plant tulips in the
early part of the month. Put in cuttings of bedding calceolarias,
choosing the shoots that will not run up to flower. Protect such
half-hardy plants as are not already sheltered. Plant deciduous trees
and shrubs so long as the weather continues favourable, and before the
soil has parted with the solar heat absorbed during summer. Dig and
dress such flower borders and shrubberies as may now be cleared of
annuals and the stems of herbaceous plants.
DECEMBER
_Kitchen Garden._--Collect and smother-burn all vegetable refuse, and
apply it as a dressing to the ground. Sow a few peas and beans, in
case of accident to those sown in November, drawing up the soil
towards the stems of those which are above ground as a protection;
earth up celery; blanch endive with flower-pots; sow radishes in a
very sheltered place. Attend to trenching and digging in dry weather.
_Fruit Garden._--Plant all sorts of fruit trees in mild weather.
Proceed with pruning and nailing wall-trees. Examine the fruit-room
every week, removing promptly all decaying fruit.
_Forcing._--The same degree of attention to hotbeds and pits will be
necessary as in the last month. Continue the forcing of asparagus,
rhubarb and sea-kale, in pits and in the mushroom-house. Proceed with
the usual routine of culture commenced last month. Make the necessary
preparations to begin forcing early or succession crops by the last
week of this or the first of next month.
_Plant Houses, Frames, &c._--Carnations and picotees in pots must be
kept rather dry to prevent damping off. Heaths and Australian plants
must be very sparingly watered, and kept with only fire heat enough to
repel frost. Cut down plants of chrysanthemums, which should be placed
in a cool pit, near the glass, in order to afford hard sturdy cuttings
in February. Shy plants should be given gentle bottom heat to induce
growth, which should be gently hardened by exposure under cooler
conditions.
_Flower Garden, &c._--Plant shrubs in open weather. Prune shrubs.
Sweep and roll the lawns, and put in repair the gravel-walks, keeping
the surface frequently rolled. (J. Ws.; W. R. W.)
(B) _For the United States (chiefly for the latitude of New York)._
JANUARY
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Little is to be done in either. In
the greenhouse care must be used to protect against frost. Ventilate
but little, and with care; raise the ventilating sash only high enough
to let the heated air from the greenhouse drive back the outer air so
as not to chill the plants. To destroy the red spider, syringe the
plants copiously at night, and splash the paths with water. The aphis,
or "green fly," must also be destroyed; tobacco may be used. Various
new preparations are coming on the market for the destruction of
greenhouse pests. Several new effective preparations of tobacco have
been brought into use. The white-fly is now a common pest in
greenhouses, the nymphs being greenish scale-like objects on the under
sides of the leaves, and adults very small white flies. The remedy is
to spray with kerosene emulsion or whale-oil soap; or if on cucumbers
or tomatoes, it is best to fumigate with hydrocyanic acid gas, using
one ounce of potassium cyanide to each 1000 cubic ft. of space. (This
material is very poisonous.) Many greenhouse insects can be kept more
or less in check by careful and effective hosing of the plants at
proper times. At this season roses, grape vines and other plants are
often affected by mildew; an effectual remedy is to paint the
hot-water pipes with a mixture of sulphur and lime, put on as thick as
ordinary whitewash, once each week until it is checked; but care must
be taken not to apply it on any surface at a higher temperature than
212°. Hyacinths and other bulbs that have been kept in a cellar or
other dark cool place may now be brought into the light of the
greenhouse or sitting-room, provided they have filled the pots with
roots. If they are not well rooted, leave them until they are, or
select such of them as are best, leaving the others. In the outside
flower garden little can be done except that shrubs may be pruned, or
new work, such as making walks or grading, performed, if weather
permits. See that the ornamental plants and trees are not injured by
heavy weights of ice or snow.
_Fruit Garden._--Pruning, staking up or mulching can be done if the
weather is such that the workmen can stand out. In all warm or
comfortable days the fruit trees may be pruned.
_Grapery._--Graperies used for the forcing of foreign grapes may be
started, beginning at a temperature of 50° at night, with 10° or 15°
higher during the day. The borders must be covered sufficiently deep
with leaves or manure to prevent the soil from freezing, as it would
be destruction to the vines to start the shoots if the roots were
frozen; hence, when forcing is begun in January, the covering should
be put on in November, before severe frosts begin.
_Vegetable Garden._--But little can be done in the northern states
except to prepare manure, and get sashes, tools, &c., in working
order; but in sections of the country where there is little or no
frost the hardier kinds of seeds and plants may be sown and planted,
such as asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot, leek, lettuce, onion,
parsnip, peas, spinach, turnip, &c. In any section where these seeds
can be sown in open ground, it is an indication that hotbeds may be
started for the sowing of such tender vegetables as tomatoes, egg and
pepper plants, &c.; though, unless in the extreme southern states,
hotbeds should not be started before the beginning or middle of
February. Make orders for the spring seeds.
FEBRUARY
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--The directions for January will in
the main apply to this month, except that now some of the hardier
annuals may be sown in hotbed or greenhouse, and also the propagation
of plants by cuttings may be done rather better now than in January,
as the greater amount of light gives more vitality to the cutting.
_Fruit Garden._--But little can be done in most of the northern states
as yet, and in sections where there is no frost in the ground it is
likely to be too wet to work; but in many southern states this will be
the best month for planting fruit trees and plants of all kinds,
particularly strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, pear and apple
trees, while grape vines will do, though they will also do well quite
a month later. Continue the pruning. Fruit trees for spring planting
should be ordered, if not already done.
_Grapery._--The graperies started last month at 50° at night may now
be increased to 60°, with a correspondingly higher day temperature.
Great care must be taken to syringe the leaves thoroughly at least
once a day, and to deluge the paths with water, so as to produce a
moist atmosphere. Paint the hot-water pipes with sulphur mixture, as
recommended in January.
_Vegetable Garden._--Leaves from the woods, house manure or refuse
hops from breweries may be got together towards the latter part of
this month, and mixed and turned to get "sweetened" preparatory to
forming hotbeds. Cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower seeds, if sown early
this month in hotbed or greenhouse, will make fine plants if
transplanted into hotbed in March. This is preferable to the use of
fall-sown plants. Manure that is to be used for the crop should be
broken up as fine as possible, for the more completely manure of any
kind can be mixed with the soil the better the crop will be, and, of
course, if it is dug or ploughed in in large unbroken lumps it cannot
be properly commingled.
MARCH
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--The long days and bright sunshine
will now begin to tell on the plants under glass. Examine all plants
that are vigorous and healthy; if the roots have matted the "ball" of
earth they must be shifted into a larger-sized pot. Plants from
cuttings struck last month may now be shifted, and the propagation of
all plants that are likely to be wanted should be continued. Hardier
kinds of annuals may be sown; it is best done in shallow boxes, say 2
in. deep.
_Lawns_ can be raked off and mulched with short manure, or rich garden
earth where manure cannot be obtained. Flower-beds on light soils may
be dug up so as to forward the work of the coming busy spring season.
Lawns may be benefited by a good dressing, in addition to the manure,
of some reliable commercial fertilizer. If the lawn is thin in spots,
these places may be raked over heavily and new grass seed sown.
_Fruit Garden._--In many sections, planting may now be done with
safety, provided the soil is light and dry, but not otherwise.
Although a tree or plant will receive no injury when its roots are
undisturbed in the soil should a frost come after planting, the same
amount of freezing will, and very often does, greatly injure the plant
if the roots are exposed.
_Grapery._--The grapery started in January will have set its fruit,
which should be thinned by one-third. The temperature may now be
further advanced to 70° at night, with 15° higher in the daytime. The
same precautions must be used against mildew and insects as given in
January. Graperies wanted for succession may be started in February or
this month.
_Vegetable Garden._--This is a busy month. In localities where the
frost is out of the ground, if it is not wet, seeds of the hardier
vegetables can be sown. The list of seeds given for the southern
states in January may now be used at the north, while for most of the
southern states tender vegetables, such as egg plant, okra, sweet
potatoes, melon, squash, potatoes, tomatoes, &c., may be sown and
planted. Hotbeds must now be all started. In March flower seeds and
vegetable seeds may be sown in boxes or flats in the greenhouse, or in
residence windows, or near the kitchen stove. Unless one has space
under glass, or in hotbeds, in which the plants may be transplanted
before they are set in the open ground, it is well not to start the
seeds too early, inasmuch as the plants are likely to become too large
or to be pot-bound, or to become drawn.
APRIL
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Window and greenhouse plants require
more water and ventilation. Due attention must be paid to shifting
well-rooted plants into larger pots; and, if space is desired, many
kinds of hardier plants can be safely put out in cold frames. Towards
the end of the month it may be necessary slightly to shade the glass
of the greenhouse. All herbaceous plants and hardy shrubs may be
planted in the garden. The covering of leaves or litter should be
taken off bulbs and tender plants that were covered up for winter, so
that the beds can be lightly forked and raked. Sow tender annual
flower seeds in boxes inside.
_Fruit Garden._--Strawberries that have been covered up with straw or
leaves should be relieved around the plants, leaving the covering
between them. Special care must be exercised that the mulch be not
left on too long; the plants should not become whitened or "drawn."
Raspberries, grape vines, &c., that have been laid down may now be
uncovered and tied up to stakes or trellises, and all new plantations
of these and other fruits may now be made. Fruit trees may be grafted.
_Vegetable Garden._--Asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, &c., should be
uncovered., and the beds hoed or dug lightly. Hardier sorts of
vegetable seeds and plants, such as beets, cabbage, cauliflower,
celery, lettuce, onions, parsley, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes,
spinach, turnip, &c., should all be sown or planted by the middle of
the month if the soil is dry and warm, and in all cases, where
practicable, before the end of the month. It is essential, in sowing
seeds now, that they be well firmed in the soil. Any who expect to get
early cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce or radishes, while planting or
sowing is delayed until the time of sowing tomato and egg plant in
May, are sure to be disappointed of a full crop. Frequent rotation of
crops should be practised in the vegetable garden, in order to head
off insects and diseases; and also to make the best use of the land.
Every three or four years the vegetable garden should be laid out in
some new place; but if this cannot be done, the crops should be
rotated on different parts of the old garden.
MAY
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Window and greenhouse plants should
be in their finest bloom. Firing may be entirely dispensed with,
though care must still be exercised in ventilating. If weather is cold
and backward, however, and in very northern regions, care must be
taken not to stop firing too soon, or the plants will mildew and
become stunted. Every precaution must be used to keep the air moist.
"Moss culture" may be tried, the common sphagnum or moss of the
swamps, mixed with one-twentieth of its bulk of bone-dust, being laid
as a mulch on the top of the earth of the flower-pots; its effect is
to shield the pots from the sun, and at the same time stimulate the
roots to come to the surface. By the end of the month all of the
plants that are wanted for the summer decoration of the flower border
may be planted out, first loosening a little the ball of earth at the
roots. If the weather is dry, water freely after planting. When the
greenhouse is not to be used during the summer months, camellias,
azaleas and plants of that character should be set out of doors under
partial shade; but most of the other plants usually grown in the
conservatory or window garden in winter may be set in the open border.
Flower-beds should be kept well hoed, and raked, to prevent the growth
of weeds next month.
Pelargoniums, pinks, monthly roses and all the half-hardy kinds of
flowering plants should be planted early, but coleus, heliotrope and
the more tender plants should be delayed until the end of the month.
Annuals that have been sown in the greenhouse or hotbed may be planted
out, and seeds of such sorts as mignonette, sweet alyssum, Phlox
Drummondii, portulaca, &c., may be sown in the beds or borders. The
china aster is now one of the most popular of summer and fall plants.
The seed may be sown in the north as late as the middle of May, or
even the first of June, with good results for fall blooming. If the
plants are started early in the greenhouse, they are likely to spend
themselves before fall, and therefore a later sowing should be
provided.
_Lawns_ should be mown, and the edgings trimmed.
_Fruit Garden._--The hay or leaf mulching on the strawberry beds
should be removed and the ground deeply hoed (if not removed in April
in the more forward places), after which it may be placed on again to
keep the fruit clean and the ground from drying. Where it has not been
convenient before, most of the smaller fruits may yet be planted
during the first part of the month. Tobacco dust will dislodge most of
the numerous kinds of slugs, caterpillars or worms that make their
appearance on the young shoots of vines or trees. Fruit trees may be
planted this month, if they were not planted in March or April. If
they have been kept fresh and dormant, they should still be in good
condition. The broken roots should be cut back to fresh wood, and the
tops should be headed back in proportion.
_Vegetable Garden._--Attention should be given to new sowings and
plantings for succession. Crops sown last month will have to be
thinned out if large enough. Hoe deeply all transplanted crops, such
as cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, &c. Tender vegetables, such as
tomatoes, egg and pepper plants, sweet potatoes, &c., can be planted
out. Seeds of Lima beans, sweet corn, melon, okra, cucumbers, &c.,
should be sown; and sow for succession peas, spinach, lettuce, beans,
radishes, &c., every ten days.
JUNE
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Tropical plants can now be used to
fill up the greenhouse during the summer months. It should be well
shaded, and fine specimens of fancy caladiums, dracaenas, coleus,
crotons, palms, ferns and such plants as are grown for the beauty of
their foliage, will make a very attractive show. If these cannot be
had, common geraniums may be used. The "moss culture" will be found
particularly valuable for these plants. Hyacinths, tulips and other
spring bulbs may be dug up, dried and placed away for next fall's
planting, and their places filled with bedding plants, such as coleus,
achyranthes, pelargoniums, and the various white and coloured leaf
plants. It will be necessary to mow the lawn once a week, and
sometimes oftener.
_Fruit Garden._--The small fruits should be mulched about the roots,
if this has not yet been done. If the fruit garden is large enough to
admit of horse culture, it is best to keep the bush-fruits well
cultivated during the season; this tillage conserves the moisture and
helps to make a full and plump crop of berries. In small areas the
mulching system is sometimes preferable.
_Vegetable Garden._--Beets, beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, lettuce,
peas and radishes may be sown for succession. This is usually a busy
month, as many crops have to be gathered, and, if hoeing is not
promptly seen to, weeds are certain to give great trouble. Tomatoes
should be tied up to trellises or stakes if fine-flavoured and
handsome fruit is desired, for if left to ripen on the ground they are
apt to have a gross earthy flavour.
JULY
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Watering, ventilating and fumigating
(or the use of tobacco in other forms for destruction of aphides) must
be attended to. The atmosphere of the greenhouse must be kept moist.
Watch the plants that have been plunged out of doors, and see if any
require repotting. All plants that require staking, such as dahlias,
roses, gladioli and many herbaceous plants, should now be looked to.
Carnations and other plants that are throwing up flower stems, if
wanted to flower in winter, should be cut back, that is, the flower
stems should be cut off to say 5 in. from the ground.
_Fruit Garden._--If grape vines show any signs of mildew, dust them
over with dry sulphur, selecting a still warm day. The fruit having
now been gathered from strawberry plants, if new beds are to be
formed, the system of layering the plants in small pots is the best.
In general, field strawberries are not grown from potted layers, but
from good strong layers that strike naturally in the field. In the
north, spring planting of strawberries is generally advised for market
conditions; although planting in early fall or late summer is
successful when the ground is well prepared and when it does not
suffer from drought. Where apples, pears, peaches, grapes, &c., have
set fruit thickly, thin out at least one-half to two-thirds of the
young fruit.
_Vegetable Garden._--The first ten days of this month will yet be time
enough to sow sweet corn, beets, lettuce, beans, cucumbers and
ruta-baga turnips. Such vegetables as cabbage, cauliflower, celery,
&c., wanted for fall or winter use, are best planted this month,
though in some sections they will do later. Keep sweet potatoes hoed
to prevent the vines rooting at the joints.
AUGUST
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--But little deviation is required in
these departments from the instructions for July. See that sufficient
water is applied; the walks may be wet in the houses.
_Fruit Garden._--Strawberries that have fruited will now be making
"runners," or young plants. These should be kept cut off close to the
old plant, so that the full force of the root is expended in making
the "crowns" or fruit buds for next season's crop. If plants are
required for new beds, only the required number should be allowed to
grow, and these may be layered in pots as recommended in July. The old
stems of raspberries and blackberries that have borne fruit should be
cut away, and the young shoots thinned to three or four canes to each
hill or plant. If tied to stakes and topped when 4 or 5 ft. high, they
will form three or four branches on a cane, and will make stronger
fruiting plants for next year.
_Vegetable Garden._--Hoe deeply such crops as cabbage, cauliflower and
celery. The earthing up of celery this month is not to be recommended,
unless a little very early supply is wanted. Onions in many sections
can be harvested. The proper condition is when the tops are turning
yellow and falling down. They are dried best by placing them in a dry
shed in thin layers. Sow spinach for fall use, but not yet for the
winter crop. Red top, white globe, and yellow Aberdeen turnips should
now be sown; ruta-baga turnips sown last month will need thinning, and
in extreme southern states they may yet be sown.
SEPTEMBER
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--The flower-beds in the lawn should be
at their best. If planted in "ribbon lines" or "massing," strict
attention must be given to pinching off the tops, so that the lines or
masses will present an even surface. Tender plants will require to be
put in the greenhouse or housed in some way towards the end of this
month; but be careful to keep them as cool as possible during the day.
Cuttings of bedding plants may now be made freely if wanted for next
season, as young cuttings rooted in the fall make better plants for
next spring's use than old plants, in the case of such soft-wooded
plants as pelargoniums, fuchsias, verbenas, heliotropes, &c.; with
roses and plants of a woody nature, however, the old plants usually do
best. Dutch bulbs, such as hyacinths, tulips, crocus, &c., and most of
the varieties of lilies, may be planted. Violets that are wanted for
winter flowering will now be growing freely, and the runners should be
trimmed off. Sow seeds of sweet alyssum, candytuft, daisies,
mignonette, pansies, &c. Visit the roadsides and woods for interesting
plants to put in the hardy borders.
_Fruit Garden._--Strawberry plants that have been layered in pots may
yet be planted, or in southern districts the ordinary ground layers
may be planted. The sooner in the month both are planted the better
crop they will give next season; and, as these plants soon make
runners, it will be necessary to trim them off. Attend to raspberries
and blackberries as advised for last month, if they have not already
been attended to. All fruit trees should be gone over for borers
before cold weather sets in; they also should have been gone over for
the same purpose in May and June.
_Vegetable Garden._--If cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce are wanted to
plant in cold frames, the seed should be sown from about the 10th to
the 20th of this month; but judgment should be exercised, for, if sown
too early, cabbage and cauliflower are apt to run to seed. The best
date for latitude of New York is September 15th. The main crop of
spinach or sprouts that is wanted for winter or spring use should be
sown about the same date. The earth should be drawn up to celery with
a hoe preparatory to earthing up with a spade. Onions that were not
harvested and dried last month must now be attended to. Turnips of the
early or flat sorts may yet be sown the first week of this month in
the northern states, and in the south from two to four weeks later.
OCTOBER
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--In northern sections of the United
States, tender plants that are still outside should be got under cover
as early as possible. Delay using fire heat as long as possible,
unless the nights become so cold as to chill the plants inside the
house. Roses, carnations, camellias, azaleas, pelargoniums and the
hardier sorts of plants will do better if placed in a cold frame or
pit until the middle of November than they would in an ordinary
greenhouse. Look out for insects. Fall bulbs of all kinds may be
planted. Take up summer-flowering bulbs and tubers, such as dahlias,
tuberoses, gladioli, cannas, caladiums, tigridias, and dry them off
thoroughly, stowing them away afterwards in some place free from frost
and moisture during the winter. Before winter sets in see that the
lawn is freely top-dressed. Be careful not to mow the grass too short
in fall.
_Fruit Garden._--Strawberries that have been grown from pot-grown
layers may yet be planted in southern states; keep the runners trimmed
off. Fruit trees and shrubs may be set out; but, if planting is
deferred to the last of the month, the ground around the roots should
be mulched to the thickness of 3 or 4 in. with straw, leaves or rough
manure, as a protection against frost. The fruit garden must be
protected from the ravages of mice in winter. Mice will nest about the
plants if there is straw or other litter around them. Before winter,
all tall grass and loose litter should be taken away; if this is not
done, then the first snow should be tramped heavily around the plants,
in order to destroy any nesting-places.
_Vegetable Garden._--Celery will now be in full growth, and will
require close attention to earthing up, and during the last part of
the month the first lot may be stored away in trenches for winter. All
vegetable roots not designed to be left in the ground during the
winter should be dug up, such as beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet
potatoes, &c. The cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce plants grown from
seed sown last month should be pricked out in cold frames. If lettuce
is wanted for winter use, it may now be planted in the greenhouse or
cold frame, and will be ready for use about Christmas. If asparagus or
rhubarb is wanted for winter use, it should be taken up and stowed
away in pit, frame, shed or cellar for a month or two. It may then be
taken into the greenhouse and packed closely together under the stage,
and will be fit for use from January to March, according to the
temperature of the house. Vegetable gardens often become infested with
diseases that are carried over from year to year in the old plants and
litter; this is specially true of water-melons and of some diseases of
tomatoes. It is well, therefore, to burn the tops of the plants in the
fall, rather than to plough them under or to throw them on the compost
heap.
NOVEMBER
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Plants intended to be grown inside
should now all be indoors. Keep a sharp look-out for cold snaps, as
they come very unexpectedly in November, and many plants are lost
thereby. In cases where it is not convenient to use fire heat, 5° to
10° of cold can be resisted by covering the plants over with paper,
and by using this before frost has struck the plants valuable
collections may be saved. When fire heat is freely used, be careful to
keep up the proper amount of moisture by sprinkling the paths with
water. Little can be done in the flower garden, except to clean off
all dead stalks, and straw up tender roses, vines, &c., and, wherever
there is time, to dig up and rake the borders, as it will greatly
facilitate spring work. Cover up all beds in which there are
hyacinths, tulips and other bulbs with a litter of leaves or straw to
the depth of 2 or 3 in. If short, thoroughly-decayed manure can be
spared, a good sprinkling spread over the lawn will help it to a finer
growth next spring.
_Fruit Garden._--Strawberry beds should be covered (in cold sections)
with hay, straw or leaf mulching, to a depth not exceeding 2 in. Fruit
trees and grape vines generally should be pruned; and, if the wood of
the vine is wanted for cuttings, or scions of fruit trees for grafts,
they should be tied in small bundles and buried in the ground until
spring. They may be taken in December or January if preferred.
_Vegetable Garden._--Celery that is to be stored for winter use should
be put away before the end of the month in all sections north of
Virginia; south of that it may be left in most places where grown
throughout the winter if well covered up. The stalks of the asparagus
bed should be cut off, and burned if there are berries on them, as the
seeds scattered in the soil sometimes produce troublesome weeds. Mulch
the beds with 2 or 3 in. of rough manure. All vegetable roots that are
yet in the ground, and not designed to be left there over winter, must
be dug up in this latitude before the middle of the month or they may
be frozen in. Cover up onions, spinach, sprouts, cabbage or lettuce
plants with a covering of 2 or 3 in. of leaves, hay, or straw, to
protect them during the winter. Cabbages that have headed may usually
be preserved against injury by frost until the middle of next month,
by simply pulling them up and packing them closely in a dry spot in
the open field with the heads down and roots up. On approach of cold
weather in December they should be covered up with leaves as high as
the tops of the roots, or, if the soil is light, it may be thrown over
them, if leaves are not convenient. Cabbages will keep this way until
March if the covering has not been put on too early. Plough all empty
ground if practicable, and, whenever time will permit, do trenching
and subsoiling. Cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce plants that are in
frames should be regularly ventilated by lifting the sash on warm
days, and on the approach of very cold weather they should be covered
with straw mats or shutters. In the colder latitudes, and even in the
middle states, it is absolutely necessary to protect cauliflower in
this way, as it is much more tender than cabbage and lettuce plants.
DECEMBER
_Flower Garden and Greenhouse._--Close attention must be paid to
protecting all tender plants, for it is not uncommon to have the care
of a whole year spoiled by one night's neglect. Vigilance and extra
hot fires will have to be kept up when the thermometer falls to 34° or
35° in the parlour or conservatory. It is well to set the plants under
the benches or on the walks of the greenhouses; if they are in the
parlour move them away from the cold point and protect them with
paper; this will usually save them even if the thermometer falls to
24° or 26°. Another plan in the greenhouse is to dash water on the
pipes or flues, which causes steam to rise to the glass and freeze
there, stopping up all the crevices. With plants outside that require
strawing up or to be mulched, this will have now to be finished.
_Fruit Garden._--In sections where it is an advantage to protect grape
vines, raspberries, &c., from severe frost, these should be laid down
as close to the ground as possible, and covered with leaves, straw or
hay, or with a few inches of soil. Grapes may be pruned. Fruit trees
may be pruned from now till March in the north.
_Vegetable Garden._--Celery in trenches should receive the final
covering for the winter, which is best done by leaves or light stable
litter; in the latitude of New York it should not be less than 12 in.
thick. Potatoes, beets, turnips or other roots in pits, the spinach
crop in the ground, or any other article in need of protection, should
be attended to before the end of the month; manure and compost heaps
should be forwarded as rapidly as possible, and turned and mixed so as
to be in proper condition for spring. Remove the snow that accumulates
on cold frames or other glass structures, particularly if the soil
which the glass covers was not frozen before the snow fell; it may
remain on the sashes longer if the plants are frozen in, since they
are dormant, and would not be injured if deprived of light for eight
or ten days. If roots have been placed in cellars, attention must be
given to ventilation, which can be done by making a wooden box, say 6
by 8 in., to run from the ceiling of the cellar to the eaves of the
building above. (L. H. B.; P. H.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MODERN WORKS ON HORTICULTURE.--W. Robinson, _Alpine
Flowers_; Lord Redesdale (A. B. Freeman Mitford), _The Bamboo Garden_;
J. Weathers, _Bulbous Plants_ (33 col. plates); H. H. Cousins,
_Chemistry of the Garden_; W. Watson, _Cactus Culture for Amateurs_;
R. P. Brotherston and M. R. Smith, _Book of the Carnation_; J.
Weathers, _Cottage and Allotment Gardening_; J. Veitch and Sons,
_Manual of Coniferae_; W. Wells, _Culture of the Chrysanthemum_; Rev.
S. E. Bourne, _Book of the Daffodil_; Geo. Nicholson, _Dictionary of
Gardening_ (5 vols.); W. Robinson, _The English Flower Garden_; Geo.
Schneider, _Book of Choice Ferns_ (3 vols.); W. Robinson, _Flora and
Sylva_ (3 vols.; col. plates by the late H. G. Moon); J. Weathers,
_Flowering Trees and Shrubs_ (33 col. plates); J. Weathers, _French
Market-Gardening and Intensive Cultivation_; T. Smith, _French
Gardening_; Geo. Bunyard and O. Thomas, _The Fruit Garden_; Josh.
Brace, Fruit Trees in Pots; Dr R. Hogg, The Fruit Manual; M. C. Cooke,
_Fungoid Pests of Cultivated Plants_; Thos. H. Mawson, _The Art and
Craft of Garden-Making_; J. Weathers, _A Practical Guide to Garden
Plants_; W. Watson, _The Gardeners' Assistant_; C. H. Wright and D.
Dewar, _The Gardeners' Dictionary_; J. Weathers, _Garden Flowers for
Town and Country_ (33 col. plates); Chas. Baltet, _The Art of Grafting
and Budding_; W. Thomson, _The Grape Vine_; Thos. Baines, _Greenhouse
and Stove Plants_; R. Irwin Lynch, _The Book of the Iris_; G. Jekyll,
_Lilies for English Gardens_; E. A. Ormerod, _Manual of Injurious
Insects_; Dr A. B. Griffiths, _Manures for Fruit and other Trees_; F.
W. Burbridge and J. G. Baker, _The Narcissus_ (48 col. plates); H. A.
Burberry, _The Orchid Cultivator's Handbook_; B. S. Williams, _The
Orchid Grower's Manual_; J. Veitch & Sons, _Manual of Orchidaceous
Plants_; Dr Paul Sorauer and F. E. Weiss, _Physiology of Plants_; W.
Watson, _Orchids, their Culture and Management_; G. Massee, _Plant
Diseases_; Rev. A. Foster-Melliar, _Book of the Rose_; Wm. Paul, _The
Rose Garden_ (20 col. plates); G. Jekyll and E. Mawley, _Roses for
English Gardens_; J. Weathers, _Roses for Garden and Greenhouse_ (33
col. plates); _Nat. Rose Society, Handbook on Pruning Roses_; Rev. J.
H. Pemberton, _Roses, their History, Development and Culture_; Very
Rev. Dean Hole, _A Book about Roses_; J. Hoffmann, _The Amateur
Gardener's Rose Book_ (20 col. plates; translated from the German); A.
Gaut, _Seaside Planting of Trees and Shrubs_; E. Beckett, _Book of the
Strawberry_; W. Iggulden, _The Tomato_; J. Weathers, _Trees and Shrubs
for English and Irish Gardens_ (33 col. plates); Vilmorin et Cie.,
_The Vegetable Garden_ (Eng. ed. by W. Robinson); A. F. Barron, _Vines
and Vine Culture_; G. Jekyll, _Wall and Water Gardens_; W. Robinson,
_The Wild Garden_; L. H. Bailey, _Practical Garden Book_ (New York,
1908). (J. Ws.; W. R. W.)
HORTON, CHRISTIANA (c. 1696-c. 1756), English actress, first appeared in
London as Melinda in _The Recruiting Officer_ in 1714 at Drury Lane.
Here she remained twenty years, followed by fifteen at Covent Garden. At
both houses during this long career she played all the leading tragedy
and comedy parts, and Barton Booth (who "discovered" her) said she was
the best successor of Mrs. Oldfield. She was the original Mariana in
Fielding's _Miser_ (1733).
HORTON, ROBERT FORMAN (1855- ), British Nonconformist divine, was born
in London on the 18th of September 1855. He was educated at Shrewsbury
school and New College, Oxford, where he took first classes in classics.
He was president of the Oxford Union in 1877. He became a fellow of his
college in 1879, and lectured on history for four years. In 1880 he
accepted an influential invitation to become pastor of the Lyndhurst
Road Congregational church, Hampstead, and subsequently took a very
prominent part in church and denominational work generally. He delivered
the Lyman Beecher lectures at Yale in 1893; in 1898 he was chairman of
the London Congregational Union; and in 1903 of the Congregational Union
of England and Wales. In 1909 he took a prominent part in the 75th
anniversary celebration of Hartford Theological Seminary. His numerous
publications include books on theological, critical, historical,
biographical and devotional subjects.
HORTON, SAMUEL DANA (1844-1895), American writer on bimetallism, was
born in Pomeroy, Ohio, on the 16th of January 1844. He graduated at
Harvard in 1864, and at the Harvard Law School in 1868, studied Roman
law in Berlin in 1869, and in 1871 was admitted to the Ohio bar. He
practised law in Cincinnati, and then in Pomeroy until 1885, when he
gave up law for the advancement of bimetallism. His attention had been
turned to monetary questions by the "greenback campaign" of 1875 in
Ohio, in which, as in former campaigns, he had spoken, particularly
effectively in German, for the Republican party. He was secretary of the
American delegation to the Monetary Conference which met in Paris in
1878, and edited the report of the delegation. To the conference of 1881
he was a delegate, and thereafter he spent much of his time in Europe,
whither he was sent by President Harrison in 1889 as special
commissioner to promote the international restoration of silver. He died
in Washington, D.C., on the 23rd of February 1895. Horton's principal
works were _The Silver Pound_ (1887) and _Silver in Europe_ (1890), a
volume of essays.
HORUS (Egyptian _Hor_), the name of an Egyptian god, if not of several
distinct gods. To all forms of Horus the falcon was sacred; the name
Hor, written with a standing figure of that bird, [Hieroglyph] is
connected with a root signifying "upper," and probably means "the
high-flyer." The tame sacred falcon on its perch [Hieroglyph] is the
commonest symbol of divinity in early hieroglyphic writing; the
commonest title of the king in the earliest dynasties, and his first
title later, was that which named him Horus. Hawk gods were the
presiding deities of Poi (Pe) and Nekhen, which had been the royal
quarters in the capitals of the two primeval kingdoms of Upper and Lower
Egypt, at Buto and opposite El Kab. A principal festival in very early
times was the "worship of Horus," and the kings of the prehistoric
dynasties were afterwards called "the worshippers of Horus." The
Northern Kingdom in particular was under the patronage of Horus. He was
a solar divinity, but appears very early in the Osiris cycle of deities,
a son of Isis and probably of Osiris, and opponent of Seth. On monuments
of the Middle Kingdom or somewhat later we find besides Hor the
following special forms: Har-behtet, i.e. Hor of Beht, the winged solar
disk, god of Edfu (_Apollinopolis Magna_); Har-khentekthai, god of
Athribis; Har-mesen (whose principal sacred animal was a lion), god of
the Sethroite (?) nome; Har-khentemna, i.e. the blind (?) Horus (with a
shrew-mouse) at Letopolis; Har-mert ("of two eyes") at Pharbaethus;
Har-akht, Ra-har-akht, or Har-m-akhi (Harikakhis, "Hor of the horizon"),
the sun-god of Heliopolis.
As a sun-god Horus not only worsted the hostile darkness and avenged his
father, but also daily renewed himself. He was thus identical with his
own father from one point of view. In the mythology, especially that of
the New Kingdom, or of quite late times, we find the following standing
epithets applied to more or less distinct forms or phases: Harendotes
(Har-ent-yotf), i.e. "Hor, avenger of his father (Osiris)"; Harpokhrates
(Har-p-khrat), i.e. "Hor the child," with finger in mouth, sometimes
seated on a lotus-flower; Harsiesis (Har-si-Esi), i.e. "Hor, son of
Isis," as a child; Har-en-khebi, "Hor in Chemmis," a child nursed by
Isis in the papyrus marshes; Haroeris (Har-uer), i.e. "the elder Hor,"
at Ombos, &c., human-headed or falcon-headed; Harsemteus (Har-sem-teu),
i.e. "Hor, uniter of the two lands," and others.
In the judgment scene Horus introduces the deceased to Osiris. To the
Greeks Horus was equivalent to Apollo, but in the name of Hermopolis
Parva (see DAMANHUR), which must have been among the first of the
Egyptian cities to be known to them, he was apparently identified with
Hermes. Although the falcon was the bird most properly sacred to Horus,
not only its varieties, but also the sparrow-hawk, kestrel and other
small hawks were mummified in his honour in late times.
See EGYPT: section _Religion_; Meyer, art. "Horos" in Röscher,
_Lexicon der Griech. und Rom. Mythologie_. (F. Ll. G.)
HORWICH, an urban district in the Westhoughton parliamentary division of
Lancashire, England, 4 m. W.N.W. of Bolton, on the Lancashire and
Yorkshire railway. Pop. (1901) 15,084. It lies beneath the considerable
elevation of Rivington Pike, where formerly was a great forest. It has
extensive locomotive works, and there are large stone quarries in the
district. Bleaching and cotton-spinning and the manufacture of
fire-bricks and tiles are carried on.
HOSANNA, the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the
Messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem (Matt. xxi. 9, 15; Mark
xi. 9 sq.; John xii. 13), and since used in the Christian Church. It is
also a Jewish liturgical term, and was applied specifically to the
"hosanna" branches carried in procession in the Feast of Booths or
Tabernacles, the seventh day of which was called the Hosanna-day (so
also in Syrian usage; cf. "Palm" Sunday). This festival (for which see
Lev. xxiii. 39 sqq.; 2 Macc. x. 7; Jos. _Ant._ xii. 10. 4, xiii. 13. 15;
and the Talmudic tractate _Sukkah_) already suggested a Dionysiac
celebration to Plutarch (_Symp._ iv. 6), and was associated with a
ceremonial drawing of water which, it was believed, secured fertilizing
rains in the following year; the penalty for abstinence was drought (cf.
Zech. xiv. 16 seq.). The evidence (see further _Ency. Bib._ cols. 3354,
4880 seq.; I. Levy, _Rev. des Ét. juives_, 1901, pp. 192 sqq.) points to
rites of nature-worship, and it is possible that in these the term
Hosanna had some other application.
The old interpretation "save, now!" which may be a popular etymology,
is based on Ps. cxviii. 25 (Heb. _hoshi'ah-nna_), but this does not
explain the occurrence of the word in the Gospels, a complicated
problem, on which see the articles of J. H. Thayer in Hastings's
_Dict. Bib._, and more especially T. K. Cheyne, _Ency. Bib._ s.v.
HOSE (a word common to many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch, _hoos_,
stocking, Ger. _Hose_, breeches, tights; the ultimate origin is
unknown), the name of an article of dress, used as a covering for the
leg and foot. The word has been used for various forms of a long
stocking covering both the foot and leg (see HOSIERY), and this is the
usual modern sense. But it also formerly meant a kind of gaiter covering
the leg from the knee to the ankle only, of the long tight covering for
the whole of the lower limbs, and later of the short puffed or slashed
breeches worn with the doublet--at this period, from the early part of
the 16th century onwards, comes the distinction between the "hose" or
"trunk hose" and the stocking (see COSTUME). The term is applied to
certain objects resembling such a covering, as in its application to
flexible rubber or canvas piping used for conveying water (see
HOSEPIPE), and in botany, to the "sheath" covering, e.g. the ear of
corn. The term "hose-in-hose" is thus used in botany for a flower in
which the corolla has become doubled, as though a second were inserted
in the throat of the first; it occurs sometimes in the primrose.
HOSEA, the son of Beeri, the first in order of the minor prophets of the
Old Testament. The name Hosea ([Hebrew: Hoshea], LXX. [Greek:, Ôsêe],
Vulg. _Osee_, and so the English version in Rom. ix. 25) ought rather to
be written Hoshea, and is identical with that borne by the last king of
Ephraim, and by Joshua in Num. xiii. 16, Deut. xxxii. 44. Of the life of
Hosea[1] we know nothing beyond what can be gathered from his
prophecies. That he was a citizen of the northern kingdom appears from
the whole tenor of the book, but most expressly from i. 2, where "the
land," the prophet's land, is the realm of Israel, and vii. 5, where
"our king" is the king of Samaria. The date at which Hosea flourished is
given in the title, i. 1, by the reigning kings of Judah and Israel. He
prophesied (i) in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings
of Judah; (2) in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
The dates indicated by the title, which may be regarded as editorial,
are, for the four kings of the southern kingdom, 789-740, 739-734,
733-721 and 720-693 B.C. respectively; and, for Jeroboam II., 782-743
(cf. _Ency. Bib._ col. 797-798). The book itself, however, plainly
belongs to the period prior to 734 B.C. since, in that year, (a) the
Syro-Ephraimitic war began, to which there is here no reference, nor is
Assyria yet the open foe it then became; (b) Gilead became
Tiglath-Pileser's (2 Kings xv. 29), whereas it is here described as
still part of the territory of Israel (vi. 8; xii. 11; cf. the included
place-names of v. 1). On the other hand, the prophet connects with the
birth of his eldest child the approaching fall of the house of Jehu (i.
4), thus anticipating the death of Jeroboam II. in 743, and the period
of anarchy which followed (2 Kings xv.). Thus the prophetic work of
Hosea may be dated, with practical certainty, as beginning from some
point previous to 743 and extending not later than 734.[2] This is
corroborated by the general character of the book. Of its two parts,
i.-iii. reflects the wealth and prosperity of the reign of Jeroboam II.,
whilst iv.-xiv. contains frequent references to the social disorder and
anarchy of the subsequent years.
The first part of Hosea's prophetic work, corresponding to chs. i.-iii.,
lay in the years of external prosperity immediately preceding the
catastrophe of the house of Jehu in or near the year 743. The second
part of the book is a summary of prophetic teaching during the
subsequent troublous reign of Menahem, and, perhaps, that of his
successor, Pekahiah, and must have been completed before 734 B.C. Apart
from the narrative in chs. i.-iii., to which we shall presently recur,
the book throws little or no light on the details of Hosea's life. It
appears from ix. 7, 8, that his prophetic work was greatly embarrassed
by opposition: "As for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways,
and enmity in the house of his God." The enmity which had its centre in
the sanctuary probably proceeded from the priests (comp. Amos vii.),
against whose profligacy and profanation of their office our prophet
frequently declaims--perhaps also from the degenerate prophetic gilds
which had their seats in the holy cities of the northern kingdom, and
with whom Hosea's elder contemporary Amos so indignantly refuses to be
identified (Amos vii. 14). In ch. iv. 5 Hosea seems to comprise priests
and prophets in one condemnation, thus placing himself in direct
antagonism to all the leaders of the religious life of his nation. He is
not less antagonistic to the kings and princes of his day (vii. 3-7,
viii. 4, viii. 10 Septuagint, x. 7-15, xiii. 11).[3] In view of the
familiarity shown with the intrigues of rulers and the doings of
priests, it has been conjectured that Hosea held a prominent position,
or even (by Duhm) that he was himself a priest (Marti, p. 2).
The most interesting problem of Hosea's history lies in the
interpretation of the story of his married life (chs. i.-iii.). We read
in these chapters that God's revelation to Hosea began when in
accordance with a divine command he married a profligate wife, Gomer,
the daughter of Diblaim. Three children were born in this marriage and
received symbolical names, illustrative of the divine purpose towards
Israel, which are expounded in ch. i. In ch. ii. the faithlessness of
Israel to Jehovah (Yahweh), the long-suffering of God, the moral
discipline of sorrow and tribulation by which He will yet bring back His
erring people and betroth it to Himself for ever in righteousness, love
and truth, are depicted under the figure of the relation of a husband to
an erring spouse. The suggestion of this allegory lies in the prophet's
marriage with Gomer, but the details are worked out quite independently,
and under a rich multiplicity of figures derived from other sources. In
the third chapter we return to the personal experience of the prophet.
His faithless wife had at length left him and fallen, under
circumstances which are not detailed, into a state of misery, from which
Hosea, still following her with tender affection, and encouraged by a
divine command, brought her back and restored her to his house, where he
kept her in seclusion, and patiently watched over her for many days, yet
not readmitting her to the privileges of a wife.
In these experiences the prophet again recognizes a parallel to Yahweh's
long-suffering love to Israel, and the discipline by which the people
shall be brought back to God through a period in which all their
political and religious institutions are overthrown. Throughout these
chapters personal narrative and prophetic allegory are interwoven with a
rapidity of transition very puzzling to the modern reader; but an
unbiassed exegesis can hardly fail to acknowledge that chs. i. and iii.
narrate an actual passage in the prophet's life. The names of the three
children are symbolical, but Isaiah in like manner gave symbolical names
to his sons, embodying prominent points in his prophetic teaching
(Shear-jashub, Isa. vii. 3, comp. x. 21; Maher-shalal-hash-baz, viii.
3). And the name of Gomer bath Diblaim is certainly that of an actual
person, upon which all the allegorists, from the Targum, Jerome and
Ephraem Syrus downwards, have spent their arts in vain, whereas the true
symbolical names in the book are perfectly easy of interpretation.[4]
That the ancient interpreters take the whole narrative as a mere parable
is no more than an application of their standing rule that everything in
the Biblical history is allegorical which in its literal sense appears
offensive to propriety (comp. Jerome's proem to the book). But the
supposed offence to propriety seems to rest on mistaken exegesis and too
narrow a conception of the way in which the Divine word was communicated
to the prophets.[5] There is no reason to suppose that Hosea knowingly
married a woman of profligate character. The point of the allegory in i.
2 is plainly infidelity after marriage as a parallel to Israel's
departure from the covenant God, and a profligate wife ([Hebrew: eshet
znunim]) is not the same thing with an open prostitute ([Hebrew:
zonna]). The marriage was marred by Gomer's infidelity; and the struggle
of Hosea's affection for his wife with this great unhappiness--a
struggle inconceivable unless his first love had been pure and full of
trust in the purity of its object--furnished him with a new insight into
Yahweh's dealings with Israel. Then he recognized that the great
calamity of his life was God's own ordinance and appointed means to
communicate to him a deep prophetic lesson. The recognition of a divine
command after the fact has its parallel, as Wellhausen observes, in Jer.
xxxii. 8.
It was in the experiences of his married life, and in the spiritual
lessons opened to him through these, that Hosea first heard the
revealing voice of Yahweh (i. 2).[6] Like Amos (Amos iii. 8), he was
called to speak for God by an inward constraining voice, and there is
no reason to think that he had any connexion with the recognized
prophetic societies, or ever received such outward adoption to office as
was given to Elisha. His position in Israel was one of tragic isolation.
Amos, when he had discharged his mission at Bethel, could return to his
home and to his friends; Hosea was a stranger among his own people, and
his home was full of sorrow and shame. Isaiah in the gloomiest days of
Judah's declensions had faithful disciples about him, and knew that
there was a believing remnant in the land. Hosea knows no such remnant,
and there is not a line in his prophecy from which we can conclude that
his words ever found an obedient ear.
As already stated, this prophecy falls into two clearly distinguished
sections,[7] the former (i.-iii.), already dealt with, accounting for
the general standpoint of the latter (iv.-xiv.). It is not possible to
make any convincing subdivisions of this latter section (cf. G. A.
Smith, i. p. 223) which is best regarded as a series of separate
discourses on certain recurrent topics, viz. (a) the cultus, (b) the
social disorder and immorality, (c) political tendencies (alliance with
either Assyria or Egypt sought).[8] In regard to each of these topics,
the attitude of the prophet involves the discernment of present guilt,
and the assertion of future punishment. For him the present condition of
the people contained no germ or pledge of future amendment, and he
describes the impending judgment, not as a sifting process (Amos ix. 9,
10) in which the wicked perish and the righteous remain, but as the
total wreck of the nation which has wholly turned aside from its God. In
truth, while the idolatrous feasts of Ephraim still ran their joyous
round, while the careless people crowded to the high places, and there
in unbridled and licentious mirth flattered themselves that their many
sacrifices ensured the help of their God against all calamity, the
nation was already in the last stage of internal dissolution. To the
prophet's eye there was "no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in
the land--nought but swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing and
adultery; they break out, and blood toucheth blood" (iv. 1, 2). The root
of this corruption lay in total ignorance of Yahweh, whose precepts were
no longer taught by the priests, while in the national calf-worship, and
in the local high places, this worship was confounded with the service
of the Canaanite Baalim. Thus the whole religious constitution of Israel
was undermined. And the political state of the realm was in Hosea's eyes
not more hopeful. The dynasty of Jehu, still great and powerful when the
prophet's labours began, is itself an incorporation of national sin.
Founded on the bloodshed of Jezreel, it must fall by God's vengeance,
and the state shall fall with it (i. 4, iii. 4). This sentence stands at
the head of Hosea's predictions, and throughout the book the civil
constitution of Ephraim is represented as equally lawless and godless
with the corrupt religious establishment. The anarchy that followed on
the murder of Zachariah appears to the prophet as the natural decadence
of a realm not founded on divine ordinance. The nation had rejected
Yahweh, the only helper. And now the avenging Assyrian[9] is at hand.
Samaria's king shall pass away as foam on the water. Fortress and city
shall fall before the ruthless invader, who spares neither age nor sex,
and thistles shall cover the desolate altars of Ephraim.
In our present book of Hosea, this condemnatory judgment on
contemporary Israel culminates in a chapter of appeal for penitence,
with promise of divine forgiveness. The question of the authenticity
of this and of other "restoration" passages[10] forms the chief
problem for literary criticism presented by the book.[11] Amongst the
more recent commentators, Davidson, G. A. Smith and Nowack regard
Hosea xiv. as written by the prophet, though the second admits its
chronological misplacement and the third its later expansion. On the
other hand, it is altogether rejected by Cheyne, Wellhausen, Marti and
Harper. These claim that the passage reflects the later standpoint of
completed punishment, and is therefore inconsistent in the prophet who
anticipates that punishment. But the case is different from that of
the epilogue to Amos, since Hosea's personal experience covers
forgiveness as well as discipline (Marti consistently, though without
ground, rejects this experience also). There seems, therefore, to be
no sufficient evidence for denying thoughts of restoration to Hosea,
whilst it is highly probable that such passages would be amplified in
a later age. Indeed, the importance of these passages for the
interpretation of Hosea is apt to be overrated, for, as one of those
rejecting them remarks, though Hosea "promised nothing," yet he
"contributed a conception of Yahweh which made such a future not only
possible but even probable" (Harper, p. cliii.). We may therefore read
the closing chapter as, at least, the explicit statement of a hope
implicit in Hosea's teaching.
Hosea could discern no faithful remnant in Ephraim, yet Ephraim in all
his corruption is the son of Yahweh, a child nurtured with tender love,
a chosen people, whose past history declares in every episode the
watchful and patient affection of his father. And that father is God and
not man, the Holy One who will not and cannot sacrifice His love even to
the justest indignation (chap. xi.). To the prophet who knows this love
of Yahweh, who has learned to understand it in the like experience of
his own life, the very ruin of the state of Israel is a step in the
loving guidance which makes the valley of trouble a door of hope (ii.
15), and the wilderness of tribulation as full of promise as the desert
road from Egypt to Canaan was to Israel of old. Of the manner of
Israel's repentance and conversion Hosea presents no clear image--nay,
it is plain that on this point he had nothing to tell. The certainty
that the people will at length return and seek Yahweh their God rests,
not on any germ of better things in Israel, but on the invincible
supremacy of Yahweh's love. And so the two sides of his prophetic
declaration, the passionate denunciation of Israel's sin and folly, and
the not less passionate tenderness with which he describes the final
victory of divine love, are united by no logical bond. The unity is one
of feeling only, and the sob of anguish in which many of his appeals to
a heedless people seem to end turns once and again with sudden revulsion
into the clear accents of evangelical promise, which in the closing
chapter swell forth in pure and strong cadence out of a heart that has
found its rest with God from all the troubles of a stormy life.
The strongly emotional temperament of Hosea suggests comparison with
that of Jeremiah, who like himself is the prophet of the decline and
fall of a kingdom. The subsequent influence of Hosea on the literature
of the Old and New Testaments is very marked. Not only is it seen in the
conception of the relation between God and His people as a marriage,
which he makes current coin (cf. Marti, p. 15), but still more in the
fact that his conception of the divine character becomes the inspiration
of the book of Deuteronomy and so of the whole canon of Scripture. "In a
special degree, the author of Deuteronomy is the spiritual heir of
Hosea."[12]
RECENT LITERATURE (where references to older works will be found):
Cheyne, "Hosea" in _Cambridge Bible_ (1884); W. R. Smith, _The
Prophets of Israel_,^2 with Cheyne's introduction (1895); G. A. Smith,
"The Book of the Twelve," i., in _The Expositor's Bible_ (1896);
Nowack, _Die Kleinen Propheten_ (1897); Wellhausen, _Die Kleinen
Propheten_^3 (1898); Smend, _Alttest. Religionsgeschichte_,^2 pp. 204
f. (1899); Davidson, art. "Hosea" in Hastings' _Dictionary of the
Bible_, ii. pp. 419 f. (1900); Marti, art. "Hosea" in _Ency.
Biblica_, ii. c. 2119 (1901) (a revision of the original article by
W. R. Smith, in the _Ency. Britannica_, partially reproduced above);
Marti, _Dodekapropheton_ (1903); W. R. Harper, "Amos and Hosea" in
_Inter. Critical Commentary_ (1905) (with copious bibliography).
(W. R. S.; H. W. R.*)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Traditions about Hosea._--Beeri, the prophet's father, is
identified by the Rabbins with Beerah (1 Chron. v. 6), a Reubenite
prince carried captive by Tiglath-Pileser. This view is already
expressed by Jerome, _Quaest. in Paralip._, and doubtless underlies
the statement of the Targum to Chronicles that Beerah was a prophet.
For it is a Jewish maxim that when a prophet's father is named, he,
too, was a prophet, and accordingly a tradition of R. Simon makes
Isa. viii. 19, 20 a prophecy of Beeri (Kimchi in loc.; _Leviticus
Rabba_, par. 15). According to the usual Christian tradition,
however, Hosea was of the tribe of Issachar, and from an unknown
town, Belemoth or Belemon (pseudo-Epiphanius, pseudo-Dorotheus,
Ephraem Syr. ii. 234; _Chron. Pasch._, Bonn ed., i. 276). As the
tradition adds that he died there, and was buried in peace, the
source of the story lies probably in some holy place shown as his
grave. There are other traditions as to the burial-place of Hosea. A
Jewish legend in the _Shalshelet haqqabala_ (Carpzov, _Introd._, pt.
iii. ch. vii. § 3) tells that he died in captivity at Babylon, and
was carried to Upper Galilee, and buried at [Hebrew: Zefat], that is,
Safed (Neubauer, Géog. _du Talmud_, p. 227); and the Arabs show the
grave of Nebi 'Osha, east of the Jordan, near Es-Salt (Baedeker's
_Palestine_, p. 337; Burckhardt's _Syria_, p. 353).
[2] The supposed reference of viii. 9-10 to the tribute paid by
Menahem to Tiglath-Pileser (2 Kings xv. 19), and dated, on the
monuments, 738 B.C., depends on a corrupt text: read v. 10 with
Septuagint.
[3] Some scholars hold that his attack is directed against the very
principle of monarchy (Nowack, p. 8; Smend, p. 209: "Hosea rejects
the kingship in itself"; Wellhausen, p. 125: "The making of kings in
Israel is for him, together with the heathen cultus, the fundamental
evil"). This view depends on a disputed interpretation of the
reference to Gibeah (x. 9; cf. ix. 9); and on the words: "I give thee
kings in mine anger, and I take them away in my wrath" (xiii. 11),
which may refer to the rise and fall of contemporary kings (cf.
Marti, ad loc). In any case, as Wellhausen himself says (p. 132): "He
does not start from a dogmatic theory, but simply from historical
experience."
[4] Theodorus Mops. remarks very justly, [Greek: kai to onoma kai ton
patera legei, ôs mê plasma psilon ti dokoiê to legomenon, historia de
alêthês tôn pragmatôn.]
[5] This explanation of the narrative, which is essentially Ewald's,
is now generally accepted. It has the great advantage of supplying a
psychological key to the conception of Israel or the land of Israel
(i. 2) as the spouse of Yahweh, which dominates these chapters, but
in the later part of the book gives way to the personification of the
nation as God's son. This conception has, indeed, formal points of
contact with notions previously current, and even with the ideas of
Semitic heathenism. On the one hand, it is a standing Hebrew usage to
represent the land as mother of its people, while the representation
of worshippers as children of their god is found in Num. xxi. 29,
where the Moabites are called children of Chemosh, and is early and
widespread throughout the Semitic field (cf. _Trans. Bib. Arch._ vi.
438; _Jour. of Phil._ ix. 82). The combination of these two notions
gives at once the conception of the national deity as husband of the
land. On the other hand, the designation of Yahweh as Baal, which, in
accordance with the antique view of marriage, means husband as well
as lord and owner, was current among the Israelites in early times,
perhaps, indeed, down to Hosea's age (ii. 16). Now it is highly
probable that among the idolatrous Israelites the idea of a marriage
between the deity and individual worshippers was actually current and
connected with the immorality which Hosea often condemns in the
worship of the local Baalim whom the ignorant people identified with
Yahweh. For we have a Punic woman's name, [Hebrew: areshetbaal], "the
betrothed of Baal" (Euting, Punische Steine, pp. 9, 15), and a
similar conception existed among the Babylonians (Herod. i. 181,
182). But Hosea takes the idea of Yahweh as husband, and gives it an
altogether different turn, filling it with a new and profound
meaning, based on the psychical experiences of a deep human affection
in contest with outraged honour and the wilful self-degradation of a
spouse. It can hardly be supposed that all that lies in these
chapters is an abstract study in the psychology of the emotions. It
is actual human experience that gives Hosea the key to divine truth.
[6] Davidson (_D.B._ ii. 422) remarks that "it was not his
misfortunes that gave Hosea his prophetic word. Israel's apostasy was
plain to him, and he foreshadowed her doom in Jezreel, the name of
his first child, before any misfortunes overtook him. At most, his
misfortunes may at a later time have given a complexion to his
prophetic thoughts." Wellhausen (p. 108) objects to the emergence of
the call from the experience, on the ground that the name given to
the first child gives no indication that Hosea had yet reached his
specific message, the infidelity of his wife and of Israel, though it
shows him already as a prophet. Marti (p. 15) agrees with Davidson in
making the order (a) call, (b) marriage and birth of three children,
(c) comprehension of the significance of the marriage for himself and
for Israel. The statement made above must be interpreted of Hosea's
_specific_ message from Yahweh, as recorded in his book.
[7] Marti disregards this generally accepted division, arguing that
(a) i.-iii. was not written earlier than iv.-xiv., (b) iii. is not
Hoseanic, (c) ii. is much more akin to iv.-xiv. than to i.-iii.
(_Comm._ p. 1; cf. _Enc. Bib._ 2123 n.^3). He holds that another
wife, not Gomer, is intended in iii., which is an allegory referring
to Israel, as Gomer referred to Judah. His arguments are not
convincing.
[8] So, practically, Davidson, _D.B._ ii. p. 423 seq., where the
detailed references will be found.
[9] This is too definite for the data; cf. Davidson, _l.c._ "Hosea
has no clear idea of the instrument or means of Israel's destruction.
It is 'the sword' (vii. 16, xi. 6), the 'enemy' (viii. 3, v. 8-9); or
it is natural, internal decay (vii. 8-9, ix. 16), the moth and
rottenness (v. 12)."
[10] e.g. i. 10-ii. 1, ii. 14 f., iii. 5, v. 15-vi. 3, xi. 10-11.
[11] Apart from glosses and minor alterations, the only other
critical problem of importance is that of the references to _Judah_
scattered throughout the book (i. 7, iv. 15, v. 5, v. 10 f., vi. 4,
11, viii. 14, x. 11, xi. 12). There is no inherent improbability in
some mention of the sister kingdom; but some of the actual references
do suggest interpolation, especially i. 7, where the deliverance of
Judah from Sennacherib in 701 B.C. seems intended. Each case, as
Wellhausen implies, is to be considered on its merits. On these and
other suspected passages, cf. Cheyne, Intro. to W. R. Smith's
_Prophets of Israel_, pp. xvii.-xxii.; Marti, p. 8; Harper, p. clix.
[12] Driver, _Deuteronomy_, p. xxvii.
HOSE-PIPE, or simply "hose," the name given to flexible piping by means
of which water may be conveyed from one place to another. One end of the
pipe is connected to the source of the water, while the other end is
free, so that the direction of the stream of water which issues from the
pipe may be changed at will. The method of manufacture and the strength
of the materials used depend naturally upon the particular use to which
the finished article is to be put. Simple garden hose is often made of
india-rubber or composition, but the hose intended for fire brigade and
similar important purposes must be of a much more substantial material.
The most satisfactory material is the best long flax, although cotton is
also extensively used for many types of this fabric.
The flax fibre, after having been carefully spun into yarn, is boiled
twice and then beetled; these two processes remove all injurious matter,
and make the yarn soft and lustrous. The yarn is then wound on to large
bobbins, and made into a chain; the number of threads in the chain
depends upon the size of the hose, which may be anything from half an
inch to 15 in. or even more in diameter. When the chain is warped, it is
beamed upon the weaver's beam, and the ends--either double or
triple--are drawn through the leaves of the cambs of heddles, passed
through the reed and finally tied to the cloth beam. The preparation of
the warp for any kind of loom varies very little, but the weaving may
vary greatly. In all cases the hose fabric is essentially circular,
although it appears quite flat during the weaving operation.
There are very few hand-made fabrics which can compete with the
machine-made article, but the very best type of hose-pipe is certainly
one of the former class. The cloth can be made much more cheaply in the
power-loom than in the hand-loom, but, up to the present, no power-loom
has been made which can weave as substantial a cloth as the hand-loom
product; the weak part in all hose-pipes is where the weft passes round
the sides from top to bottom of the fabric or vice versa, that is, the
side corresponding to the selvages in an ordinary cloth; the hand-loom
weaver can draw the weft tighter than is possible in the power-loom,
hence the threads at the sides can be brought close together, and by
this means the fabric is made almost, but not quite, as perfect here as
in other parts. It is essential that the warp threads be held tightly in
the loom, and to secure this, they pass alternately over and under three
or four back rests before reaching the heddles or cambs, which are
almost invariably made of wire. Although the warp yarn is made very soft
and pliable by boiling and beetling, the weaver always tallows it in
order to make it work more easily.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
The commonest type of hose-pipe is made on the double-plain principle
of weaving, the cloth being perfectly plain but woven in such a manner
that the pipe is without seams of any kind. Fig. 1 is a design showing
two repeats or eight shots in the way of the weft, and six repeats or
twenty-four-threads in the way of the warp, consequently the weave is
complete on four threads, or leaves, and four picks. Fig. 2
illustrates the method of interlacing the threads and the picks: this
figure shows that twenty-three threads only are used, the first
thread--shown shaded in fig. 1--having been left out. It is necessary
to use a number of threads which is either one less or one more than
some multiple of four--the number of threads in the unit weave. The
sectional view (fig. 2), although indicating the crossings of the warp
and the weft, is quite different from an actual section through the
threads: the warp is almost invariably two or three ply, and in
addition two or more of these twisted threads pass through the same
heddle-eye in the camb; moreover, they are set very closely
together--so closely, indeed, that the threads entirely conceal the
weft; it is, therefore, impossible to give a correct sectional view
with satisfactory clearness, as the threads are so very rank, but fig.
3 gives some idea of the structure of the fabric. This view shows
ninety-nine threads and one complete round of weft; this round is, of
course, equal to two picks or shots--one pick for the top part of the
cloth and one for the bottom part. A comparison of this figure with
fig. 2 will, perhaps, make the description clearer. The weft in fig. 3
is thinner than the warp, but, in practice, it is always much thicker,
and may consist of from two to seventy threads twisted together.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Section through the Warp.]
Hose-pipes are also woven with the three-leaf twill on both sides, and
occasionally with the four-leaf twill. These pipes, woven with the
twill weaves, are usually lined with a pure rubber tube which is fixed
to the inside of the cloth by another layer of rubber after the cloth
leaves the loom. Such pipes have usually, but not invariably, a
smoother inner surface than those which are unlined, hence, when they
are used, less friction is presented to the flow of water, and there
is less tendency for the pipe to leak. They are, therefore, suitable
for hotels, public buildings and similar places where their temporary
use will not result in undue damage to articles of furniture, carpets
and general decoration.
The greatest care must be observed in the weaving of these fabrics,
the slightest flaw in the structure rendering the article practically
useless. After the cloth has been woven, it is carefully examined, and
then steeped in a chemical solution which acts as an antiseptic. The
cloth is thus effectively preserved from mildew, and is, in addition,
made more pliable. Finally the hose-pipe is dried artificially, and
then fitted with the necessary couplings and nozzles.
For a more detailed description of circular weaving see Woodhouse and
Milne, _Textile Design: Pure and Applied_. (T. Wo.)
HOSHANGABAD, a town and district of British India, in the Nerbudda
division of the Central Provinces. The town stands on the left bank of
the Nerbudda, 1009 ft. above the sea, and has a railway station. Pop.
(1901), 14,940. It is supposed to have been founded by Hoshang Shah, the
second of the Ghori kings of Malwa, in the 15th century; but it remained
an insignificant place till the Bhopal conquest about 1720, when a
massive stone fort was constructed, with its base on the river,
commanding the Bhopal road. It sustained several sieges during the 18th
century, and passed alternately into the hands of the Bhopal and Nagpur
rulers. Since 1818 it has been the residence of the chief British
officials in charge of the district. It has a government high school,
and agricultural school and a brass-working industry.
The DISTRICT OF HOSHANGABAD has an area of 3676 sq. m. Pop. (1901),
449,165, showing a decrease of 10% in the decade, due to famine. It may
be described as a valley of varying breadth, extending for 150 m.
between the Nerbudda river and the Satpura mountains. The soil consists
chiefly of black basaltic alluvium, often more than 20 ft. deep; but
along the banks of the Nerbudda the fertility of the land compensates
for the tameness of the scenery. Towards the west, low stony hills and
broken ridges cut up the level ground, while the Vindhyas and the
Satpuras throw out jutting spurs and ranges. In this wilder country
considerable regions are covered with jungle. On the south the lofty
range which shuts in the valley is remarkable in mountain scenery,
surpassing in its picturesque irregularity the Vindhyan chain in the
north. Many streams take their rise amid its precipices, then, winding
through deep glens, flow across the plain between sandy banks covered
with low jungle till they swell the waters of the Nerbudda. None is of
any importance except the Tawa, which is interesting to the geologist on
account of the many minerals to be found along its course. The boundary
rivers, the Nerbudda and Tapti, are the only considerable waters in
Hoshangabad. The principal crops are wheat, millets and oil-seeds. The
district is traversed throughout its length by the Great Indian
Peninsula railway.
HOSHEA (Heb. for "deliverance"), the last king of Israel, in the Bible.
The attempt of his predecessor Pekah to take Jerusalem with the help of
his ally Rasun (Rezin) of Damascus was frustrated by the intervention of
Tiglath-Pileser IV. (see AHAZ), who attacked Gilead, Galilee and the
north frontier, and carried off some of its population (cp. 1 Chron. v.
26). Pekah's resistance to Assyria led to a conspiracy in which he lost
his life, and Hoshea the son of Elah became king (2 Kings xv. 27-30).
The Assyrian king held him as his vassal (and indeed claims to have set
him on the throne), and exacted from him a yearly tribute. Meanwhile,
Damascus was besieged (733-732 B.C.), Rasun was slain and the
inhabitants deported (2 Kings xvi. 9; LXX. omits "to Kir," but see Amos
i. 5). The impending fate of Damascus is illustrated by Isaiah (vii. 16,
viii. 4, xvii. 1-11), who also gives a vivid description of the
impression left by the Assyrian army (v. 26-30). After the death of
Tiglath-Pileser, Israel regained confidence (Isa. ix. 8-x. 4) and took
steps to recover its independence. Its policy vacillated--"like a silly
dove" (Hos. vii. 11), and at length negotiations were opened with
Mizraim. The annual payment of tribute ceased and Shalmaneser IV. (who
began to reign in 727 B.C.) at once laid siege to Samaria, which fell at
the end of three years (722-721 B.C.). The achievement is claimed by his
successor Sargon. Hoshea was killed, the land was again partly
depopulated and a governor appointed (2 Kings xviii. 9-12; cp. xvii. 1
sqq.). For other allusions to this period see HOSEA, ISAIAH.
2 Kings xvii. 3 and 5 imply _two_ attacks by Shalmaneser: in the first
of which Hoshea was imprisoned and perhaps blinded (Cheyne, emending,
"shut him up" in v. 4), although in v. 6 he is still reigning; see on
this Winckler, _Keilinschr. u. Alte Test._^3 p. 268; Burney, _Kings_,
p. 328 seq.; Skinner, _Kings_, p. 372 seq. The chronological notes,
moreover, are extremely confused; contrast xv. 30 with xvii. 1. The
usual identification of So (or Seve), king of Mizraim, with Shabaka of
Egypt is difficult, partly on chronological grounds (which Petrie,
_History of Egypt_, pp. 277, 281 sqq. does not remove), and partly
because the Ethiopian dominion in Egypt appears to be still weak and
divided. The Assyrian records name a certain Sibi as _officer_, and
also Piru (Pharaoh!) as _king_ of Musri, and it is doubtful whether
Hoshea's ally was a petty prince of Egypt or of a N. Arabian district
(see MIZRAIM). If the latter, Hoshea's policy becomes more
intelligible; see Whitehouse, _Isaiah_, p. 17 seq.; JEWS: _History_;
PHILISTINES. On the depopulation of Samaria and the introduction of
colonists, see Winckler's objections, _Alttest. Untersuch._ pp.
95-107, with Burney's criticisms, _Kings_, p. 334 seq. (S. A. C.)
HOSHIARPUR, a town of British India, in the Jullundur division of the
Punjab. Pop. (1901), 17,549. It was founded, according to tradition,
about the early part of the 14th century. In 1809 it was occupied by
Ranjit Singh. The maharaja and his successors maintained a considerable
cantonment 1 m. S.E. of the town, and the British government kept it up
for several years after the annexation of the Punjab in 1849. There are
manufactures of cotton goods, inlaid woodwork, lacquered ware, shoes and
copper vessels.
The DISTRICT OF HOSHIARPUR comprises an area of 2244 sq. m.; pop. (1901)
989,782, showing a decrease of 2% in the decade, compared with an
increase of 12% during the previous decade. It falls into two nearly
equal portions of hill and plain country. Its eastern face consists of
the westward slope of the Solar Singhi Hills; parallel with that ridge,
a line of lower heights belonging to the Siwalik range traverses the
district from south to north, while between the two chains stretches a
valley of uneven width, known as the Jaswan Dun. Its upper portion is
crossed by the Sohan torrent, while the Sutlej sweeps into its lower end
through a break in the hills, and flows in a southerly direction till it
turns the flank of the central range, and debouches westwards upon the
plains. This western plain consists of alluvial formation, with a
general westerly slope owing to the deposit of silt from the mountain
torrents in the sub-montane tract. The Beas has a fringe of lowland,
open to moderate but not excessive inundations, and considered very
fertile. A considerable area is covered by government woodlands, under
the care of the forest department. Rice is largely grown, in the marshy
flats along the banks of the Beas. Several religious fairs are held, at
Anandpur, Mukerian and Chintpurni, all of which attract an enormous
concourse of people. The district, owing to its proximity to the hills,
possesses a comparatively cool and humid climate. Cotton fabrics are
manufactured, and sugar, rice and other grains, tobacco and indigo are
among the exports.
The country around Hoshiarpur formed part of the old Hindu kingdom of
Katoch In Jullundur. The state was eventually broken up, and the present
district was divided between the rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan. They
retained undisturbed possession of their territories until 1759, when
the rising Sikh chieftains commenced a series of encroachments upon the
hill tracts. In 1815 the aggressive maharaja, Ranjit Singh, forced the
ruler of Jaswan to resign his territories in exchange for an estate on
feudal tenure; three years later the raja of Ditarpur met with similar
treatment. By the close of the year 1818 the whole country from the
Sutlej to the Beas had come under the government of Lahore, and after
the first Sikh war in 1846 passed to the British government. The deposed
rajas of Ditarpur and Jaswan received cash pensions from the new rulers,
but expressed bitter disappointment at not being restored to their
former sovereign position. Accordingly the outbreak of the second Sikh
war, in 1848 found the disaffected chieftains ready for rebellion. They
organized a revolt, but the two rajas and the other ringleaders were
captured, and their estates confiscated.
HOSIERY, a term used to designate all manufactured textile fabrics which
in their process of manufacture have been built on the principle of
looping or loop structure. The origin of the term is obvious, being
derived from "hose" or stocking, this being one of the earliest garments
made by the process of knitting (q.v.). While it still forms one of the
staples of the trade, it is only one of a very numerous and diversified
range of applications of the entire industry. The elastic structure of
knitting makes it very adaptable for all kinds of body or underwear.
There is scarcely a single textile article manufactured but can be
reproduced on the knitting or loop structure principle. The art of
knitting is of very modern origin as compared with that of weaving. No
certain allusion to the art occurs before the beginning of the 15th
century. In an act of parliament of Henry VII. (1488) knitted woollen
caps are mentioned. It is supposed that the art was first practised in
Scotland, and thence carried into England, and that caps were made by
knitting for some period before the more difficult feat of
stocking-making was attempted. In an act of Edward VI. (1553) "knitte
hose, knitte peticotes, knitte gloves and knitte sleeves" are
enumerated, and the trade of hosiers, among others, included in an act
dated 1563. Spanish silk stockings were worn on rare occasions by Henry
VIII., and the same much-prized articles are also mentioned in connexion
with the wardrobe of Edward VI.
Knitting, or loop formation by mechanical means, is divided into two
distinct principles--frame-work knitting and warp knitting. Both
principles may be employed in the formation of a large variety of plain
and fancy stitches or a combination of the two.
_Frame-work Knitting_ in its simplest form consists of rows of loops
supporting each other--built from one continuous thread of yarn and
running from one side of the fabric to the other and back (fig. 1). It
is on this principle of stitch that the greatest amount of hosiery is
built (hose, shirts, pants).
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--The Stitch or Loop Structure of Plain Knitting
(back of fabric).]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--A Single Thread formed into a Chain of Crocket
Work, showing the Loop Structure of the plain Warp-knitted Fabric. It
is built up as shown in the diagram by a number of threads running up
the fabric.]
_Warp Knitting_ in its simplest form consists of rows of loops, but
the number of threads employed are equal to the number of loops in the
width of the fabric. Thus it will be seen that the threads run
lengthwise of the fabric (fig. 2). This principle gives greater scope
for reproducing designs in openwork and colour than that of
frame-work knitting. For this reason it is largely used in the shawl,
glove and fancy hosiery industries.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Hand Stocking Frame.]
_Machinery._--In hand knitting the implements employed (a few needles
or wires) are very simple and inexpensive. In the manufacturing
industry the most complex and ingenious machinery is used. In 1589 the
Rev. William Lee, a graduate of St John's College, Cambridge, while
acting as curate (or vicar) of Calverton, Nottinghamshire, introduced
his stocking-frame. This machine was the first mechanical means
employed to produce a looped or knitted fabric. This frame or machine
of Lee's was the origin of all the hosiery and lace machines at
present in use. One of the most remarkable points about his invention
was its completeness and adaptability for the work for which its
inventor intended it. The main principles of Lee's frame are embodied
in most of the rotary or power frames of the present day. Fig. 3 shows
a hand frame of the present day.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.
A, The leads into which the needles (B) are cast.
D, The old loops or work.
C, The new loops formed and brought under the beards.]
In hand knitting an indefinite number of loops are skewered on a wire
or pin, but, in Lee's frame, an individual hooked or bearded needle is
employed for the support and formation of each loop in the breadth of
the fabric. This needle consists of a shank with a terminal
spring-pointed hook (or beard), the point of which can be pressed at
will into a groove or eye in the shank. For method by which the loops
are formed on the needles of the frame see fig. 4. This shows a few of
Lee's hooked or bearded needles having the old loops or work hanging
round the needle shanks. The thread of yarn which is to form the new
row of loops is laid over the needle shanks and waved or looped
between each pair of needles. This waving or looping ensures
sufficient yarn being drawn and loops of a uniform size being made, so
that a regular and level fabric will be produced. The looping or
waving is obtained by having thin plates of shaped metal, called
sinkers, which have a nose-shaped point and hang between the needles.
When looping they have an individual movement downwards between the
needles, and as they fall the nose-shaped point carries the yarn down,
thus forming the new loop (fig. 5). The size of the loop is regulated
by the distance the sinker is allowed to fall. After the thread of
yarn has been looped between the needle shanks by the sinkers, the
loops are brought forward under the needle beards or hooks. A presser
bar is now brought down to close or press all the points of the needle
beards into the eye in the shank. Thus all the hook ends of the
needles are temporarily closed, with the newly formed loops under
them. While in this position, the old loops hanging round the shank
are brought forward and landed on to the top of the needle beard and
off the needle altogether, being thus left hanging round, or supported
by the loops newly formed. The needle beards are now released, and the
loops drawn back along the shanks to be in position for next new
course of loops. The foregoing is only an outline of how the loops are
formed on the needles. It is not necessary here to enter into a
description of the complex mechanical movements of Lee's
stocking-frame. The first fabric made by Lee was of a flat,
even-selvedged nature, so that garments had to be cut to shape from
the fabric. He soon learned to fashion or shape the garment at will,
during the process of making, by transferring loops at the edges,
inwards to narrow, or outwards to widen. This process at the present
day is known as fashioning, and all garments of the best make are
shaped or fashioned in this manner. After Lee had practised his new
art for a few years at Calverton he removed to London, but on his
receiving no help or encouragement from Queen Elizabeth or her
successor, King James, he was induced to cross over to France with his
frames. There he built up a flourishing industry at Rouen, under the
patronage of the French king, Henry IV. Through the murder of this
monarch he lost his patronage and died of want about the year 1610. He
was buried in an unknown grave in Paris.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Formation of a Loop on a Hand Frame.
1, Bearded needle cast in the lead. A, Lead; B, Shank; C, Eye; D,
Beard.
2, The thread is laid over the needles and formed into loops between
the needles by means of the sinkers, those new-formed loops being
brought under the needle beards (as at 3).
4, The beards pressed or closed to allow the old loops to be passed
on to the top.
5, The old loops knocked off the needles and left hanging round the
newly formed loops.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--A 1/1 Rib Stitch.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Eight at once, 130 gauge, full-fashioned,
seamless bosom, sloped shoulder underwear frame, Cotton's patents.
(William Cotton, Ltd., Loughborough.)]
A number of improvements had been made on Lee's frame during the 18th
century. The one of greatest importance was the rib machine invented
by Jedediah Strutt of Belper in 1758. It was not what could be
actually termed an improvement on Lee's frame, but an addition to it.
Lee's frame was not altered in any way, Strutt's machine being added
to it, and the two being worked in conjunction produced a fabric of a
more elastic nature and alike on both sides (fig. 6). Strutt's machine
consisted of a set of needles placed at right angles to and between
Lee's plain needles, with the result that, when knitting, the frame
needles drew their loops to one side and the machine needles their
loops to the opposite side of the fabric. The first offshoot from
frame-work knitting was the invention of the hand warp loom in 1775.
It was improved by the addition of the Dawson wheel by William Dawson
in 1791. This machine is the origin of the various complex machines
now working on this principle. Some of these have Jacquard mechanism
attached, and nearly all of them are driven by motive power. About the
middle of the 19th century close on 50,000 of Lee's hand frames were
in use, finding employment for nearly 100,000 persons. Many attempts
had been made previously to transform Lee's frame into a power or
rotary frame. One of the first and most successful was that invented
by Luke Barton in 1857. This frame was fitted with self-acting
mechanism for fashioning, and was practically Lee's frame having
rotary shafts with cams added to give the various movements, this type
of frame being known as straight bar rotary frames. In 1864 William
Cotton of Loughborough altered this frame by reversing the positions
of the needles and sinkers. Although made by various builders it is
still known as the "Cotton Patent Rotary Frame" (fig. 7). Since 1864 a
great number of important improvements and additions have been made to
this frame. Single frames are built which will turn off one dozen
pairs of hose at once, with the attention of one person. One of the
most important inventions in connexion with the hosiery trade was the
latch, tumbler, or self-acting needle invented by Matthew Townsend and
David Moulding of Leicester in 1858. Previous to this Lee's type of
needle was the only one in use. This latch-needle (fig. 8) consists of
a stem having a butt at lower end by which it receives its knitting
action from cams, the upper end being turned into a hook. Near the
hook end and attached to the stem by a pin is the spoon-shaped latch,
which closes over the hook as required. Machines fitted with
latch-needles have grooves in which the stem of the needle works.
Cams, which act on the needle butts, give the needles their individual
knitting action in rotation. This needle is self-acting, in that it is
made to draw its own loop, sinkers being dispensed with.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Various Shapes of the Latch Needle.]
Fig. 9 shows the looping action of this needle. The needles when not
knitting have a loop round their shank, thus holding the latch open.
When about to knit, they are raised individually and in rotation (by
the cams acting on the needle butts) to receive the new loop of yarn.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Individual Action of the Latch Needle.]
Down till almost the middle of the 19th century only a flat web could
be knitted in the machines in use, and for the finishing of stockings,
&c., it was necessary to seam up the selvedges of web shaped on the
frame (fashioned work), or to cut and seam them from even web (cut
work). The introduction of any device by which seamless garments could
be fabricated was obviously a great desideratum, and it is a singular
fact that a machine capable of doing this was patented in 1816 by Sir
Marc I. Brunel. This frame was the origin of the French-German
loop-wheel circular frame of the present day. Brunel's frame was
greatly improved by Peter Claussen of Brussels and was shown at an
exhibition in Nottingham in 1845. This frame had horizontal placed
needles fixed on a rotating rim. A few years later Moses Mellor of
Nottingham transformed this type of frame by altering the position of
the needles to perpendicular. This is now known as the English
loop-wheel circular frame. After the invention of the latch-needle
there was a revolution in the hosiery machine-building industry, new
types of machines being invented, fitted to work with latch-needles.
Among others there was the latch-needle circular frame, invented by
Thomas Thompson, which was the origin of the English latch-needle
circular frame, a frame largely used for the production of wide
circular fabric.
A circular knitting machine of American origin is the type of machine
on which is produced the seamless hosiery of to-day. Like the sewing
machine it is largely used in the home as well as in the factory. From
this machine all the circular automatic power machines for making
plain and rib seamless hose and half hose have been developed. The
"flat" or "lamb" type of machine, an American invention, was
introduced by J. W. Lamb in 1863. This machine has two needle beds or
rows of needles sloping at an angle of nearly 90°.
A great many varieties of this type of machine have been invented for
the production of all kinds of plain and fancy hosiery. It is built in
small sizes to be wrought by hand or in large power machines. A large
variety of sewing, seaming and linking machines are employed in the
hosiery industry for the purpose of putting together or joining all
kinds of hosiery and knitted goods. These machines have almost
entirely superseded the sewing or joining of the garments by hand.
The principle centres in Great Britain of the hosiery industry are
Leicester and Nottingham and the surrounding districts. It is also an
industry of some extent in the south of Scotland. (T. B.*)
HOSIUS, or OSIUS (c. 257-359), bishop of Cordova, was born about A.D.
257, probably at Cordova, although from a passage in Zosimus it has
sometimes been conjectured that he was believed by that writer to be a
native of Egypt. Elected to the see of Cordova before the end of the 3rd
century, he narrowly escaped martyrdom in the persecution of Maximian
(303-305). In 305 or 306 he attended the council of Illiberis or Elvira
(his name appearing second in the list of those present), and upheld
its severe canons concerning such points of discipline as the treatment
of the lapsed and clerical marriages. In 313 he appears at the court of
Constantine, being expressly mentioned by name in a constitution
directed by the emperor to Caecilianus of Carthage in that year. In 323
he was the bearer and possibly the writer of Constantine's letter to
Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius his deacon, bidding them cease
disturbing the peace of the church; and, on the failure of the
negotiations in Egypt, it was doubtless with the active concurrence of
Hosius that the council of Nicaea was convened in 325. He certainly took
part in its proceedings, and was one of the large number of "confessors"
present; that he presided is a very doubtful assertion, as also that he
was the principal author of the Nicene Creed. Still he powerfully
influenced the judgment of the emperor in favour of the orthodox party.
After a period of quiet life in his own diocese, Hosius presided in 343
at the fruitless synod of Sardica, which showed itself so hostile to
Arianism; and afterwards he spoke and wrote in favour of Athanasius in
such a way as to bring upon himself a sentence of banishment to Sirmium
(355). From his exile he wrote to Constantius II. his only extant
composition, a letter not unjustly characterized by the great French
historian Sebastian Tillemont as displaying gravity, dignity,
gentleness, wisdom, generosity and in fact all the qualities of a great
soul and a great bishop. Subjected to continual pressure the old man,
who was near his hundredth year, was weak enough to sign the formula
adopted by the second synod of Sirmium in 357, which involved communion
with the Arians but not the condemnation of Athanasius. He was then
permitted to return to his diocese, where he died in 359.
See S. Tillemont, _Mémoires_, vii. 300-321 (1700); Hefele,
_Conciliengeschichte_, vol. i.; H. M. Gwatkin, _Studies of Arianism_
(Cambridge, 1882, 2nd ed., 1900); A. W. W. Dale, _The Synod of Elvira_
(London, 1882); and article _s.v._ in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopädie_
(3rd ed., 1900), with bibliography.
HOSIUS, STANISLAUS (1504-1579), Polish cardinal, was born in Cracow on
the 5th of May 1504. He studied law at Padua and Bologna, and entering
the church became in 1549 bishop of Kulm, in 1551 bishop of Ermland, and
in 1561 cardinal. Hosius had Jesuit sympathies and actively opposed the
Protestant reformation, going so far as to desire a repetition of the St
Bartholomew massacre in Poland. Apart from its being "the property of
the Roman Church," he regarded the Bible as having no more worth than
the fables of Aesop. Hosius was not distinguished as a theologian,
though he drew up the _Confessio fidei christiana catholica_ adopted by
the synod of Piotrkow in 1557. He was, however, supreme as a diplomatist
and administrator. Besides carrying through many difficult negotiations,
he founded the lyceum of Braunsberg, which became the centre of the
Roman Catholic mission among Protestants. He died at Capranica near Rome
on the 5th of August 1579.
A collected edition of his works was published at Cologne in 1584.
Life by A. Eichhorn (Mainz, 1854), 2 vols.
HOSKINS, JOHN (d. 1664), English miniature painter, the uncle of Samuel
Cooper, who received his artistic education in Hoskins's house. His
finest miniatures are at Ham House, Montagu House, Windsor Castle,
Amsterdam and in the Pierpont Morgan collection. Vertue stated that
Hoskins had a son, and Redgrave added that the son painted a portrait of
James II. in 1686 and was paid £10, 5s, although it is not supported by
any reference in the State Papers. Some contemporary inscriptions on the
miniatures at Ham House record them as the work of "Old Hoskins," but
the fact of the existence of a younger artist of the same name is
settled by a miniature in the Pierpont Morgan collection, signed by
Hoskins, and bearing an authentic engraved inscription on its
contemporary frame to the effect that it represents the duke of Berwick
at the age of twenty-nine in 1700. The elder Hoskins was buried on the
22nd of February 1664, in St Paul's, Covent Garden, and as there is no
doubt of the authenticity of this miniature or of the signature upon
it, it is evident that he had a son who survived him thirty-six years
and whose monogram we find upon this portrait. The frame of it has also
the royal coat of arms debruised, the batons of a marshal of France, the
collar of the Golden Fleece and the ducal coronet. (G. C. W.)
HOSMER, HARRIET GOODHUE (1830-1908), American sculptor, was born at
Watertown, Massachussetts, on the 9th of October 1830. She early showed
marked aptitude for modelling, and studied anatomy with her father, a
physician, and afterwards at the St Louis Medical College. She then
studied in Boston until 1852, when, with her friend Charlotte Cushman,
she went to Rome, where from 1853 to 1860 she was the pupil of the
English sculptor John Gibson. She lived in Rome until a few years before
her death. There she was associated with Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Thorwaldsen, Flaxman, Thackeray, George Eliot and George Sand; and she
was frequently the guest of the Brownings at Casa Guidi, in Florence.
Among her works are "Daphne" and "Medusa," ideal heads (1853); "Puck"
(1855), a spirited and graceful conception which she copied for the
prince of Wales, the duke of Hamilton and others; "Oenone" (1855), her
first life-sized figure, now in the St Louis Museum of Fine Arts;
"Beatrice Cenci" (1857), for the Mercantile Library of St Louis;
"Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, in Chains" (1859), now in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York City; "A Sleeping Faun" (1867); "A Waking Faun";
a bronze statue of Thomas H. Benton (1868) for Lafayette Park, St Louis;
bronze gates for the earl of Brownlow's art gallery at Ashridge Hall; a
Siren fountain for Lady Marian Alford; a fountain for Central Park, New
York City; a monument to Abraham Lincoln; and, for the Columbian
Exposition, Chicago, 1893, statues of the queen of Naples as the
"heroine of Gaëta," and of Queen Isabella of Spain. Miss Hosmer died at
Watertown, Mass., on the 21st of February 1908.
HOSPICE (Lat. _hospitium_, entertainment, hospitality, inn, _hospes_,
host), the name usually given to the homes of rest and refuge kept by
religious houses for pilgrims and guests. The most famous hospices are
those of the Great and Little St Bernard Passes in the Alps.
HOSPITAL (Lat. _hospitalis_, the adjective of _hospes_, host or guest),
a term now in general use for institutions in which medical treatment is
given to the sick or injured. The place where a guest was received, was
in Lat. _hospitium_ (Fr. _hospice_), but the terms _hospitalis_ (sc.
_domus_), _hospitale_ (sc. _cubiculum_) and _hospitalia_ (sc.
_cubicula_) came into use in the same sense. Hence were derived on the
one hand the Fr. _hospital_, _hôpital_, applied to establishments for
temporary occupation by the sick for the purpose of medical treatment,
and _hospice_ to places for permanent occupation by the poor, infirm,
incurable or insane; on the other, the form _hôtel_, which became
restricted (except in the ease of _hôtel-Dieu_) to private or public
dwelling-houses for ordinary occupation. In English, while "hostel"
retained the earlier sense and "hotel" has become confined to that of a
superior inn (q.v.), "hospital" was used both in the sense of a
permanent retreat for the poor infirm or for the insane, and also for a
regular institution for the temporary reception of sick cases; but
modern usage has gradually restricted it mainly to the latter, other
words, such as almshouse and asylum, being preferred in the former
cases.
_The Origin of Hospitals._--In spite of contrary opinions the germ of
the hospital system may be seen in pre-Christian times (see CHARITY AND
CHARITIES). Pinel goes so far as to declare that there were asylums
distinctly set apart for the insane in the temples of Saturn in ancient
Egypt. But this is probably an exaggeration, the real historical facts
pointing to the existence of medical schools in connexion with the
temples generally, to the knowledge that the priests possessed what
medical science existed, and finally to the rite of "Incubation," which
involved the visit of sick persons to the temple, in the shade of which
they slept, that the god might inform them by dreams of the treatment
they ought to follow. The temples of Saturn are known to have existed
some 4000 years before Christ; and that those temples were medical
schools in their earliest form is beyond question. The reason why no
records of these temples have survived is due to the fact that they were
destroyed in a religious revolution which swept away the very name of
Saturn from the monuments in the country. Professor Georg Ebers of
Leipzig, whose possession of that important handbook of Egyptian
medicine called the _Papyrus Ebers_ constitutes him an authority, says
the Heliopolis certainly had a clinic united to the temple. The temples
of Dendera, Thebes and Memphis, are other examples. Those early medical
works, the Books of Hermes, were preserved in the shrines. Patients
coming to them paid contributions to the priests. The most famous
temples in Greece for the cure of disease were those of Aesculapius at
Cos and Trikka, while others at Rhodes, Cnidus, Pergamum and Epidaurus
were less known but frequented. Thus it is clear that both in Egypt and
in Greece the custom of laying the sick in the precincts of the temples
was a national practice.
Alexandria again was a famous medical centre. Before describing the
European growth of the hospital system in modern times, to which its
development in the Roman Empire is the natural introduction, it will be
well to dispose very briefly of the facts relating to the hospital
system in the East. Harun al-Rashid (A.D. 763-809) attached a college to
every mosque, and to that again a hospital. He placed at Bagdad an
asylum for the insane open to all believers; and there was a large
number of public infirmaries for the sick without payment in that city.
Benjamin, the Jewish traveller, notes an efficient scheme for the
reception of the sick in A.D. 1173, which had long been in existence.
The Buddhists no less than the Mahommedans had their hospitals, and as
early as 260 B.C. the emperor Asoka founded the many hospitals of which
Hindustan could then boast. The one at Surat, made famous by travellers,
and considered to have been built under the emperor's second edict, is
still in existence. These hospitals contained provision so extensive as
to be quite comparable to modern institutions. In China the only records
that remain are those of books of very early date dealing with the
theory of medicine. To return to India, the hospitals of Asoka were
swept away by a revival of Brahmanism, and a practical hiatus exists
between the hospitals he introduced and those that were refounded by the
British ascendancy. Hadrian's reign contains the first notice of a
military hospital in Rome. At the beginning of the Christian era we hear
of the existence of open surgeries (of various price and reputation),
the specialization of the medical profession, and the presence of women
practitioners, often as obstetricians. Iatria, or _tabernae-medicae_,
are described by Galen and Placetus: many towns built them at their own
cost. These iatria attended almost entirely to out-patients, and the
system of medicine fostered by them continued without much development
down to the middle of the 18th century. It is to be noted that these
out-patients paid reasonable fees. In Christian days no establishments
were founded for the relief of the sick till the time of Constantine. A
law of Justinian referring to various institutions connected with the
church mentions among them the Nosocomia, which correspond to our idea
of hospitals. In A.D. 370 Basil had one built for lepers at Caesarea. St
Chrysostom founded a hospital at Constantinople. At Alexandria an order
of 600 Parabolani attended to the sick, being chosen for the purpose for
their experience by the prelate of the city (A.D. 416). Fabiola, a rich
Roman lady, founded the first hospital at Rome possessed of a
convalescent home in the country. She even became a nurse herself. St
Augustine founded one at his see of Hippo. These Nosocomia fell indeed
almost entirely into the hands of the church, which supported them by
its revenues when necessary and controlled their administration. Salerno
became famous as a school of medicine; its rosiest days were between
A.D. 1000 and 1050. Frederick II. prescribed the course for students
there, and founded a rival school at Naples. At this period the
connexion between monasteries and hospitals becomes a marked one. The
crusaders also created another bond between the church and hospital
development, as the route they traversed was marked by such foundations.
Lepers were some of the earliest patients for whom a specialized
treatment was recognized, and in 1118 a leprosarium was built in London
for isolation purposes. Russia seems the one country where the
interconnexion of hospital and monastery was not to be observed. After
the period already reached, the 13th century, hospitals became common
enough to demand individual or at any rate national treatment.
_History of the Hospital Movement._--We have now to consider the
principles upon which the provision of the best form of medical care in
hospitals can be secured for all classes of people. Though hospitals
cannot be claimed as a direct result of Christianity, no doubt it
softened the relations between men, and gradually tended to instil
humanitarian views and to make them popular with the civilized peoples
of the world. These principles, as civilization grew, education
improved, and the tastes and requirements of the common people were
developed, made men and women of many races realize that the treatment
of disease in buildings set apart exclusively for the care of the sick
was, in fact, a necessity in urban districts. The establishment of a
hospital freed the streets of the abuses attendant upon beggars and
other poor creatures, who made their ailments the chief ground of appeal
for alms. As the knowledge of hygiene and of the doctrine of cleanliness
and purity in regard not only to dwellings and towns, but also in
relation to food of all descriptions, including water, became known and
appreciated, hospitals were found to be of even greater importance, if
that is possible, to the healthy in crowded communities, than to the
sick. It took many centuries before sound hygiene really began to occupy
the position of importance which it is now known to possess, not only in
regard to the treatment and cure of disease, but to its prevention and
eradication. So the history of the world shows, that, whereas a few of
the larger towns in most countries contained hospitals of sorts, up to
and including the middle ages, it was not until the commencement of the
18th century that inhabitants of important but relatively small towns of
from 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants began to provide themselves with a
hospital for the care of the sick. Thus, twenty-three of the principal
English counties appear to have had no general hospital prior to 1710,
while London itself at that date, so far as the relief of the sick was
concerned, was mainly, if not entirely, dependent upon St Bartholomew's
and St Thomas's Hospitals. These facts are interesting to note, because
we are enabled from them to deduce from recent events that hospital
buildings in the past, though the planning of most of them was faulty to
begin with and became more and more faulty as extensions were added to
the original buildings, did in fact suffice to satisfy the requirements
of the medical profession for nearly two centuries. In other words,
under the old condition of affairs the life of a building devoted to the
care of the sick might be considered as at least 150 years. To-day,
under the conditions which modern science impose upon the management,
probably few hospital buildings are likely to be regarded as efficient
for the purpose of treating the sick for more than from 30 to 50 years.
The foregoing statement is based upon the history of British hospitals
of importance throughout the country, but the same remark will apply in
practice to hospital buildings almost everywhere throughout the world.
In truth, hospitals have been more developed and improved in Great
Britain than in other countries, though, since the last quarter of the
19th century, German scientists especially have added much to the
efficiency of the accommodation for the sick, not only at hospitals but
in private clinics, and many German ideas have been accepted and copied
by other countries. In Great Britain hospitals for the treatment of
general and special diseases are mainly maintained upon what is known as
the voluntary system. On the European continent, hospitals as a rule are
maintained by the state or municipalities, and this system is so fully
developed in Sweden and elsewhere that a sound economical principle has
been embroidered upon the hospital system, to the great physical and
moral advantage of all classes of the community. The system referred to
confers great benefits upon inhabitants in large towns by bringing the
poor-law and voluntary institutions into more intimate association,
although they may be managed by separate governing bodies. The plan
pursued is to demand payment from all patients who are admitted to the
hospital under a scale of charges divided into three or four grades. The
first grade pays a substantial sum and obtains anything or everything
the patient may care to have or to pay for, subject to the control of
the medical attendant. The second pays much less, but a remunerative
rate, for all they receive at the hospital; and the third and fourth
classes are very poor people or paupers, who are paid for on a graduated
scale by the poor-law authorities, or the communal government, or the
municipality. Under this system well-to-do thrifty artisans and
improvident paupers are all treated by one staff, controlled by one
administration, and are located in immediate proximity to each other
though in separate pavilions. We have no doubt, as the result of many
years' investigation and an accurate knowledge of the working of the
system, that this is the true principle to enforce in providing adequate
medical relief for large urban populations everywhere throughout the
world. It should be accompanied by a system of government insurance,
whereby all classes who desire to be thrifty may pay a small annual
premium in the days of health, and secure adequate hospital treatment
and care when ill. Provided that pay wings were added to the existing
voluntary and municipal hospitals, it should be found that the
relatively small annual premium of £3 per annum should enable the
policyholders to defray the cost of medical treatment in a pay ward or
at a consultation department of a great hospital as a matter of
business. In the United States of America most large towns have great
hospitals, usually known as city hospitals, administered and mainly
supported by the municipality. Many such institutions have pay wards,
but nowhere, so far as we have been able to discover, has the system of
medical relief in its entirety been organized as yet upon the business
system we have just referred to.
As to the relative merits and demerits of the systems of government of
municipal hospitals and voluntary hospitals a few words may be useful.
There can be no doubt that the voluntary hospital in Great Britain has
had a remarkable effect for good upon all classes in the making of
modern England. The management of these institutions is frequently
representative of all classes of the people, while the voluntary system,
as the Hospital Sunday collections all over the country, and all over
the English-speaking world, prove, has united all creeds in the good
work of caring and providing for the sick and injured members of each
community. Again the voluntary system makes for efficiency in the
administration of all hospitals. Each voluntary hospital is dependent
upon its popularity and efficiency, in large measure, for the financial
support it receives. In this way an ill-managed voluntary hospital, or
one which has ceased to fulfil any useful public purpose, is sure to
disappear in due course under the voluntary system. Voluntary hospitals
are always open to, as well as supported by, the public, and, owing
largely to the example so prominently set by King Edward VII. and
members of the royal family, more people every year devote some time in
some way to the cause of the hospitals. Attached to the voluntary
hospitals are the principal medical and nursing schools upon which the
public depend for the supply of doctors and nurses. The education of
students and nurses in a clinical hospital makes that hospital the most
desirable place for everybody when they are really ill. In such a
hospital no patient can be overlooked, no wrong or imperfect diagnosis
can long remain undiscovered and unrectified, and nowhere else have the
patients so continuous a guarantee that the treatment they receive will
be of the best, while the provision made for their comfort and welfare,
owing to the unceasing and ever varying quality of the criticism to
which the work of everybody, from the senior physician to the humblest
official, is subjected in a clinical hospital, is unequalled anywhere
else. At a great voluntary hospital, not only do hundreds of medical
students and nurses work in the wards, but thousands of people, in the
persons of the patients' friends, and those members of the public who
take an interest in hospitals, pass through the wards in the course of
every year. Again, each voluntary hospital has to live by competition, a
fact which guarantees that everything in the way of new treatment and
scientific development shall in due course find its proper place within
the walls of such an establishment. Open as they are to the full
inspection of everybody whose knowledge and presence can promote
efficiency, the voluntary hospitals have shown, especially since the
last quarter of the 19th century, a continuous development and
improvement. Here the patients are treated with invariable kindness and
consideration, as human beings rather than cases, to the great benefit
of the whole human family as represented by the officials, the patients
and the students, with their relations and friends, the honorary medical
officers, hundreds of medical practitioners and nurses, who receive
their medical training in the hospitals, and the ever-increasing number
of governors and supporters by whose contributions voluntary hospitals
live. The great missionary and social value of the voluntary hospitals
to the whole community cannot be questioned, and they have been of
inestimable value to the churches by inculcating the higher principles
of humanity, while removing the many acerbities which might otherwise
prevail between rich and poor in large cities.
The voluntary hospitals are attended, however, by certain disadvantages
which do not attach to municipal institutions. A municipality which
undertakes the provision of hospitals for the entire community is
largely able to plan out the urban area, and to provide that each
hospital site selected shall not only be suitable for the purpose, but
that it shall be so chosen as to contribute to make the whole system of
hospital provision easily accessible to all classes who may require its
aid. The voluntary hospitals, on the contrary, have grown up without any
comprehensive plan of the districts or any real regard to the
convenience or necessities of their poorer inhabitants. Voluntary
hospital sites were almost invariably selected to suit the convenience
of the honorary medical staff and the general convenience of the
hospital economy rather than to save the patients and their friends long
journeys in search of medical aid. The best of the municipal systems too
enables economy to be enforced in the administration by a plan which
provides a central office in every town where the number of vacant beds
in each hospital is known, so that the average of occupied beds in all
the hospitals can be well maintained from an economical point of view.
This speedy and ready inter-communication between all hospitals in a
great city, which might perfectly well be secured under the voluntary
system if the managers could only be brought into active co-operation,
prevents delay in the admission of urgent cases, promotes the absence of
waste by keeping the average of beds occupied in each establishment high
and uniform, and has often proved a real gain to the poor by the
diminution in cost to the patients and their friends, who under the best
municipal systems can find a hospital within reasonable distance of
their home in a large city wherever it may be placed. Another advantage
of the municipal system should be that central control makes for
economical administration. Unfortunately a close study of this question
tends to prove that municipal hospitals for the most part have resulted
in a dead monotony of relative inefficiency, often entailing great
extravagance in buildings, and accompanied by much waste in many
directions. Existing municipal hospital systems are attended by several
grave disadvantages. The administration shows a tendency to lag and grow
sleepy and inert. The absence of competition, and the freedom from
continuous publicity and criticism such as the voluntary hospitals
enjoy, make for inefficiency and indifferent work. Rate-supported
hospitals, as a rule, are administered by permanent officials who reside
in houses usually situated on the hospital sites, and who are paid
salaries which attract the younger men, who, once appointed, tend to
continue in office for a long period of years. This fixture of tenure is
apt to cause a decline in the general interest in the work of the
municipal hospital, due mainly to the absence of a continuous criticism
from outside, and so the average of efficiency, both in regard to
treatment and other important matters, may become lower and lower.
Those who have habitually inspected great rate-supported hospitals must
have met instances over and over again where a gentleman who has held
office for twenty or thirty years has frankly stated that his income is
fixed, that his habits have become crystallized, that he finds the work
terribly monotonous, and yet, as he hopes ultimately to retire upon a
pension, he has felt there was no course open to him but to continue in
office, even though he may feel conscientiously that a change would be
good for the patients, for the hospital and for himself. Under the
voluntary system evils of this kind are seldom or never met with, nor
have these latter establishments, within living memory, ever been so
conducted as to exhibit the grave scandals which have marred the
administration of rate-supported hospitals not only in Great Britain but
in other parts of the world. We believe that the more thoroughly the
advantages and disadvantages of rate-supported and voluntary hospitals
for the care of the sick are weighed and considered, and the more
accurate and full the knowledge which is added to the judgment upon
which a decision can be based, the more certain will it be that every
capable administrator will come to the conclusion that on the whole it
is good for the sick and for the whole community that these
establishments should, at any rate in Great Britain, be maintained upon
the voluntary system. Of course it is essential to have rate-supported
hospitals where cases of infectious disease and the poorest of the
people who are dependent largely upon the poor-law for their maintenance
can be cared for. It is satisfactory to be able to state that of late
years the administration of both these types of rate-supported hospitals
has greatly improved. The added importance now given all over the
country to medical officers of health, and the disposition exhibited,
both by parliament and government departments, to make the position of
these officers more important and valuable than ever before, have tended
largely to improve the administrative efficiency of hospitals for
infectious diseases. No doubt the whole community would benefit if
residents in every part of the country could be moved to take a personal
interest in the infectious hospital in their immediate neighbourhood.
Amongst the smaller of these establishments there has been so marked an
inefficiency at times as to cause much avoidable suffering. The
existence of such inefficiency casts a grave reflection upon the local
authorities and others who are responsible for the evils which
undoubtedly exist in various places at the present time. Unfortunately
knowledge has not yet sufficiently spread to enable the public to
overcome its fear and dread of infectious maladies. It is therefore very
difficult to induce people to take an active interest in one of these
hospitals, but we look forward to the time when, owing to the activity
of the medical officers of health who have immediate charge of buildings
of this kind, this difficulty may be overcome, when the avoidable
dangers and risks and the appalling discomfort which a poor sufferer
from a severe infectious disease in a rural district may suddenly have
to encounter under existing circumstances, would be rendered impossible.
The poor-law infirmary in large cities, so far as the buildings and
equipment are concerned, very often leaves little to desire. Poor-law
infirmaries lack, however, the stimulus and the checks and advantages
which impartial criticism continuously applied brings to a great
voluntary hospital. Such disadvantages might be entirely removed if
parliament would decide to throw open every poor-law infirmary for
clinical purposes, and to have connected with each such establishment a
responsible visiting medical staff, consisting of the best qualified men
to be found in the community which each hospital serves. The old
prejudice against hospital treatment has disappeared, for the least
intelligent members of the population now understand that, when a
citizen is sick, there is no place so good as the wards of a
well-administered hospital. Looking at the question of hospital
provision in Great Britain, and indeed in all countries at the present
time, it may be said, that there is everywhere evidence of improvement
and development upon the right lines, so that never before in the
history of the world has the lot of the sick man or woman been so
relatively fortunate and safe as it is in the present day. Probably it
is not too much to say that to-day hospitals occupy the most important
position in the social economy of nations.
_Classification of Hospitals._--Having dealt with hospitals as a whole
it may be well very briefly to classify them in groups, and explain as
tersely as possible what they represent and how far it may be desirable
to eliminate by consolidation or to increase by disintegration the
number of special hospitals.
_General Hospitals._--These establishments consist of two kinds, (a)
clinical and (b) non-clinical, each of which, under the modern system,
should include every department of medicine and surgery, and every
appliance and means for the alleviation of suffering, the healing of
wounds, the reduction of fractures, the removal of mal-formations and
foreign growths, the surgical restoration of damaged and diseased organs
and bones, and everything of every kind which experience and knowledge
prove to be necessary to the rapid cure of disease. The clinical
hospital means an institution to which a medical school is attached,
where technical instruction is given by able and qualified teachers to
medical students and others. A non-clinical hospital is one which is not
attached to a medical school, and where no medical instruction is
organized.
_Special Hospitals._--Up to about 1840 the general hospital was,
speaking generally, the only hospital in existence. Twenty years later,
as the population increased and medical science became more and more
active, some of the more ardent members of the medical profession,
especially amongst the younger men, pressed continuously for
opportunities to develop the methods of treatment in regard to special
diseases for which neither accommodation nor appliances were at that
time forthcoming in general hospitals. In a few cases, where the
managers of the great general hospitals were men of action and
initiative special departments were introduced, and an attempt was made
to make them efficient. The conservative spirit which, on the whole,
represents the British character for the most part, resulted, however,
in a steady resistance being offered by the older members of the medical
staffs and existing committees to the advocates of special departments.
In the result, especially as such special departments as there were in
connexion with general hospitals were too often starved for want of
means and men for their development and improvement, the younger spirits
called their friends together and began to start special hospitals.
To-day every really efficient clinical general hospital has within its
walls special departments of almost every description, which have been
made as efficient and up-to-date as money and knowledge can make them.
Unfortunately the causes already referred to led to the establishment of
hundreds of the smaller special hospitals, many of which were started in
unsuitable buildings, and some of which have ever since maintained a
struggling existence. Others, on the contrary, through the energy of
their original promoters and the excellence of the work they have done,
have obtained a position of authority and reputation which has had a
very important bearing for good upon the development of medical science
in the treatment of disease. If the world had to-day to organize the
very best system of hospital accommodation which could be evolved, there
is no doubt that few or none of the special hospitals would find any
place in that system. As matters stand, however, the special hospital
has had to be accepted, and nothing which King Edward's Hospital Fund
has done in London has met with greater popularity and professional
approval than the labours which its council have undertaken in promoting
the amalgamation of the smaller special hospitals of certain kinds, so
as to secure the provision of one really efficient special hospital for
each speciality. No doubt this policy of amalgamation will be steadily
pursued, and in the course of years every great city will gradually
reorganize its hospital methods so as to secure that, whether the
patients are treated in a general hospital or in a special hospital, the
average efficiency in every institution shall be as high and as good as
possible.
We will take now the special hospitals in detail.
_Cancer Hospitals._--The justification for efficient cancer hospitals
must be found in the circumstance that most scientific men of
experience believe that, if adequate resources were placed at the
disposal of the medical profession, the origin of cancer might be
discovered, and so the human race would be freed from one of the most
awful diseases which affect humanity. Pending such a discovery the
experience of the cancer department connected with the Middlesex
Hospital in London proves to demonstration that the provision of
adequate and special accommodation for the exclusive treatment of
cases of cancer is not only desirable but necessary on humanitarian
grounds alone.
_Hospitals for Consumption._--For many years it was held that this
group of hospitals was not a necessity, and the patients were treated
in the ordinary medical wards of the general hospitals. Since the
contagious character of tuberculosis became known, and improved
methods of treatment have been developed, every one agrees that this
type of special hospital is desirable, though it is believed by the
more advanced school of scientists that before long it may be happily
rendered obsolete owing to the discovery of methods of treatment which
will stay the disease at its commencement and restore the patient to
health.
_Children's Hospitals._--These hospitals were very much opposed at the
outset. There can be no doubt that the children's ward or wards in a
big voluntary hospital is a most valuable asset to the managers, so
long as the children are treated in separate wards. There is no reason
of course why a hospital should confine its work to the treatment of
children, exclusively. Still this special hospital is popular with the
public; it has led to many discoveries and developments in the
treatment of children's diseases; on the whole the administration of
these establishments has been good; and we believe they will continue
to flourish, however many children's wards may be provided in general
hospitals. Children's hospitals with country branches for the
treatment of chronic ailments, such as hip disease, are a valuable
addition to the relief of suffering in cities.
_Cottage Hospitals._--These hospitals, established originally in 1859
by Mr Albert Napper at Cranleigh, Surrey, have fulfilled a most useful
function. Many of them are very efficient both in regard to equipment
and treatment. They have become essential to the well-being and
adequate medical care of rural populations, as they attract to the
country some of the best members of the profession, who are able, with
the aid of the cottage hospital, to keep themselves efficient and
up-to-date, so that all classes of the community are benefited in this
way by this type of hospital.
_Ear, Throat and Nose Hospitals._--The history of this type of
hospital bears out in every particular the reason we have given above
for the establishment of special hospitals in the first instance.
There can be no doubt that the best conducted throat hospitals have
been beneficial to the poorer inhabitants of great cities.
_Fever Hospitals._--Incidentally we have dealt with these
institutions, which are usually supported out of the rates and
administered by the medical officers of health, who are paid by the
county or municipal authorities.
_Maternity and Lying-in Hospitals._--This is one of the oldest types
of special hospitals, and has done a great deal of good in its time.
Owing to modern methods of treatment and hygienic developments the
maternity hospital never occupied a stronger position than it does
to-day.
_Mental Hospitals._--In Great Britain the insane are provided for in
asylums (see INSANITY, ad fin.), though such establishments, if
properly conducted, are essentially hospitals. Scientific and public
opinion tend towards the establishment of mental hospitals to which
all acute cases of mental disease should be first relegated for
treatment and diagnosis before they are consigned to a permanent
lunatic hospital. Too little attention on an organized plan has been
given to the continuous study of mental disease in its clinical and
pathological aspects. It is probable, therefore, that the advent of
the mental hospital may lead to important developments in treatment in
many ways.
_Ophthalmic Hospitals._--Of all special hospitals this is one which
would probably be the least necessary, providing general hospitals
everywhere were properly equipped and organized. No special hospital
has probably been so abused in the material sense by the free relief
of patients who could well afford to pay for their treatment at the
ophthalmic hospital. Several of the existing ophthalmic hospitals have
entailed an enormous expenditure, and their modern equipment is
wonderfully efficient.
_Orthopaedic Hospitals._--It is very doubtful whether this type o£
hospital is really desirable or necessary. Its necessity may be
advocated on the ground that orthopaedic cases may require prolonged
treatment, and that the pressure upon the beds of general hospitals by
acute cases is nowadays so great as to render the orthopaedic hospital
more necessary than ever before.
_Paralysis and Epileptic Hospitals._--Seeing that the percentage of
those who are at present attacked by paralysis and nervous disease
shows a continued tendency to increase under modern conditions of life
in large cities, hospitals of this type are necessary, and London at
any rate, like most foreign towns of importance, possesses, at
present, far too little accommodation for this class of case.
_Skin and Photo-Therapy._--Up to the end of the 19th century hospitals
for diseases of the skin were a constant cause of scandal and
criticism. The introduction of modern methods of treatment by light
and electricity, including photo-therapy, has given an importance to
this department and treatment which it did not previously possess. We
are of opinion that, on the whole, it is better and more economical to
treat these cases in properly equipped departments of general
hospitals than in separate institutions.
_Women's Hospitals._--These hospitals are not absolutely necessary,
but considering their popularity with the women themselves, and that
several of them have done excellent work, remembering too that women
constitute the majority of the population, there seems to be some
reason for their continuance.
_The Evolution of the Modern Hospital._--The evolution of the modern
hospital affords one of the most marvellous evidences of the advance of
scientific and humanitarian principles which the world has ever seen. At
the outset hospitals were probably founded by the healthy more for their
own comfort than out of any regard for the sick. Nowadays the healthy,
whilst they realize that the more efficient they can make the hospital,
the more certain, in the human sense, is their own chance of prolonged
life and health, are, as the progress of the League of Mercy has shown
in recent years, genuinely anxious for the most part to do something as
individuals in the days of health in the cause of the sick. Formerly the
hospital was merely a building or buildings, very often unsuitable for
the purposes to which it was put, where sick and injured people were
retained and more frequently than not died. In other words the hygienic
condition, the methods of treatment and the hospital atmosphere were all
so relatively unsatisfactory as to yield a mortality in serious cases of
40%. Nowadays, despite, or possibly because of, the fact that operative
interference is the rule rather than the exception in the treatment of
hospital patients, and in consequence of the introduction of antiseptic
and aseptic methods, the mortality in hospitals is, in all the
circumstances, relatively less, and probably materially less, than it is
even amongst patients who are attended in their own homes. Originally
hospitals were unsystematic, crowded, ill-organized necessities which
wise people refused to enter, if they had any voice in the matter. At
the present time in all large cities, and in crowded communities in
civilized countries, great hospitals have been erected upon extensive
sites which are so planned as to constitute in fact a village with many
hundreds of inhabitants. This type of modern hospital has common
characteristics. A multitude of separate buildings are dotted over the
site, which may cover 20 acres or upwards. In one such institution,
within an area of 20 acres, there are 6 m. of drains, 29 m. of water and
steam pipes, 3 m. of roof gutters, 42 m. of electric wires, and 42
separate buildings, which to all intents and purposes constitute a
series of distinct, isolated hospitals, in no case containing more than
forty-six patients. On the continent of Europe buildings of this class
are usually of one storey; in the United States, owing to the difficulty
of obtaining suitable sites and for reasons of economy, some competent
authorities strenuously advocate high buildings with many storeys for
town hospitals. In England the majority have two to three storeys each,
the ward unit containing a ward for twenty beds and two isolation wards
for one and two beds respectively. The two storeys in modern fever
hospitals, however, are absolutely distinct--that is, there is no
internal staircase going from one ward to the others, for each is
entered separately from the outside. This system carries to its extreme
limits the principle of separating the patients as much as possible into
small groups; the acute cases are usually treated in the upper ward, and
as they become convalescent are removed downstairs. In this way the
necessity for an entirely separate convalescent block is done away with
and the patients are kept under the same charge nurse, an arrangement
which promotes necessary discipline. The unit of these hospitals is the
pavilion, not the ward, and consists of an acute ward, a convalescent
ward, separation wards, nurses' duty rooms, store-rooms for linen, an
open-air balcony upstairs into which beds can be wheeled in suitable
weather, and a large airing-ground for convalescent patients directly
accessible from the downstairs ward. Each of the pavilions is raised
above the ground level, so that air can circulate freely underneath.
The wall, floor and air spaces in the scarlet fever wards of one of
these hospitals are respectively 12 ft., 156 ft. and 2028 ft. per bed;
and in the enteric and diphtheria wards they have been increased to 15
ft., 195 ft. and 2535 ft. respectively. The provision of so large a
floor and linear space, especially in the diphtheria wards, is an
experiment the effect of which will be watched with considerable
interest. A building of this type is a splendid example of the separate
pavilion hospital, and is doing great service in the treatment of fevers
wherever it has been introduced. Some idea of a hospital village, some
of the wards of which we have been describing, may be gathered from the
circumstances that it costs from £300,000 to £400,000, that it usually
contains from 500 to 700 beds, and that the staff numbers from 350 to
500 persons. The medical superintendent lives in a separate house of his
own. The nurses are provided with a home, consisting of several blocks
of buildings under the control of the matron; the charge nurses usually
occupy the main block; where the dining and general sitting-rooms are
placed; the day assistant-nurses another block; and lastly, by a most
excellent arrangement, the night nurses, 80 to 120 in number, have one
whole block entirely given up to their use. The female servants have a
second home under the control of the housekeeper, and the male servants
occupy a third home under the supervision of the steward. The two main
ideas aimed at are to disconnect the houses occupied by the staff from
the infected area, and to place the members of each division of the
staff together, but in separate buildings, under their respective heads.
These objects are highly to be commended, as they have important
bearings upon the well-being and discipline of the whole establishment
and constitute a lesson for all who have to do with buildings where a
great number of people are constantly employed.
_The Hospital City._--We have shown that the modern hospital where an
adequate site is available under the most favourable conditions has
developed into a hospital village. No one who is familiar with the
existing disadvantages of many of the sites and their surroundings of
town hospitals in many a large city can have any doubt that, if the
well-being of the patients and the good of the whole community, combined
with economical and administrative reasons, together with the provision
of an adequate system for the instruction and training of medical
students and nurses, are to be the first considerations with those
responsible for the hospitals of the future, the time will come, and is
probably not far distant, when each great urban community will provide
for the whole of its sick by removing them to a hospital city, which
will be situated upon a specially selected and most salubrious site some
distance from the town itself. The atmosphere of a great city grows less
and less suitable to the rapid and complete recovery of patients who may
undergo the major operations or be suffering from the severe and acute
forms of disease. Asepsis, it is true, has reduced the average residence
in hospital from about 35 to less than 20 days. It has thereby added
quite one million working days each year to the earning power of the
artisan classes in London alone. Medical opinion is more and more
favouring the provision of convalescent and suburban hospitals, to which
patients suffering from open wounds may be removed from the city
hospitals. This course, which entails much additional expenditure, is
advocated to overcome the difficulty arising from the fact that, in
operation and other cases, the patients cease to continue to make rapid
progress towards recovery after the seventh or ninth day's residence in
a city hospital. A change of such cases to the country restores the
balance and completes the recovery with a rapidity often remarkable.
Thinking out the problem here presented in all its bearings, realizing
the great and ever-increasing cost of sites for hospitals in great
cities, the heavy consequential taxes and charges which they have to
meet there, and all the attendant disadvantages and drawbacks, the
present writer has ventured upon an anticipation which he hopes may
prove intelligent and well-founded. Nearly every difficulty in regard to
the cost of hospitals and in respect to all the many problems presented
by securing the material required, under present systems, for the
efficient training of students and nurses, would be removed by the
erection of the Hospital City, which, he foresees, must ultimately be
recognized by intelligent communities throughout the civilized world.
Why should we not have, on a carefully selected site well away from the
contaminations of the town, and adequately provided with every requisite
demanded from the site of the most perfect modern hospital which the
mind of man can conceive, a "Hospital City"? Here would be concentrated
all the means for relieving and treating every form of disease to the
abiding comfort of all responsible for their adequacy and success. At
the present time all the traffic and all the citizens give way to fire
engines and the ambulance in the public streets. Necessarily the means
of transit to and from the "Hospital City," and its rapidity, would be
the most perfect in the world. So the members of the medical staff, the
friends of the patients, and all who had business in the "Hospital
City," would find it easier and less exacting in time and energy to be
attached to one of the hospitals located therein than to one situated in
the centre of a big population in a crowded town. To meet the urgent and
accident cases a few receiving houses, or outpost relief stations, with
a couple of wards, would be situated in various quarters of the working
city, where patients could be temporarily treated, and whence they could
be removed to the "Hospital City" by an efficient motor ambulance
service. The writer can see such a "Hospital City" established, can
realize the comfort it will prove in practice to the medical profession,
to the patients' friends, to those who have to manage the hospitals and
train the medical and nursing students, and indeed to all who may go
there as well as to the whole community. The initial cost of hospital
buildings should be reduced at once to a quarter or less of the present
outlay. They could then be built of the cheapest but most suitable
material, which would have many advantages, whilst the actual money
forthcoming from the realization and sale of the existing hospital sites
in many cities would, in all probability, produce a sum which in the
whole might prove adequate, or nearly adequate, or even in some cases
more than adequate, to defray the entire cost of building the "Hospital
City" and of equipping it too. The cost of administration and working
must be everywhere reduced to a minimum. The hygienic completeness of
the whole city, its buildings and appliances, must expedite recovery to
the maximum extent. In all probability the removal of the sick from
contact with the healthy would tend in practice so to increase the
healthiness of the town population, i.e. of the workers of the city
proper, as to free them from some of the most burdensome trials which
now cripple their resources and diminish materially the happiness of
their lives. Probably the United States (where a city has sometimes
sprung up in twelve months) may be the home where this idea may first
find its realization in accomplished fact. The writer may never live to
see such a city in actual working or in its entirety, but he makes bold
to believe its adoption will one day solve the more difficult of the
problems involved in providing adequately for the sick in crowded
communities. He has formulated the idea because it seems desirable to
encourage discussion as to the best method of checking the growing
tendency to make hospital buildings everywhere too costly. If the idea
of the "Hospital City" commends itself to the profession and the public,
the practice of treating all the hospital accommodation in each city as
a whole will gradually increase and spread, until most of the present
pressing difficulties may disappear altogether. That is a consummation
devoutly to be wished.
_The Problem of Hospital Administration._--A study of the hospital
problem in various countries, and especially in different portions of
the English-speaking world, convinces the writer that, apart from local
differences, the features presented are everywhere practically
identical. A number of hospitals under independent administration,
dependent in whole or in part on voluntary contributions, administered
under different regulations originally representing the idiosyncracies
of individual managers for the time being, without any standard of
efficiency or any system of co-operation, which would bring the whole
of the medical establishments of each or all of the great cities of the
world under one administration which the combined wisdom and experience
of hospital managers as a whole might agree to be the best, must mean in
practice a material gain in every way to each and all of the hospitals
and their supporters on economical, scientific and other grounds. Such
an absence of system throughout the world has everywhere led to
overlapping, to the perpetuation of many abuses, to the admission of an
increasing number of patients whose social position does not entitle
them to claim free medical relief at all, and, often too, to the
admission of patients belonging to a humbler grade of society who are
already provided for by the rates in institutions which they do not care
to enter and who find their way to the wards of hospitals which were
established to provide for patients of an entirely different social
grade. These evils have continued to grow and increase almost
everywhere, despite many and varied attempts to grapple with and remove
them. Amongst these attempts we may mention the assembling of hospital
conferences, the establishment of special funds and committees, and the
holding of inquiries of various kinds in London and other British cities
and also in the United States. The most remarkable proof of the
impossibility of inducing those responsible to act together and enforce
the necessary reforms is afforded by the historical fact that the famous
Commission on Hospital Abuse, known as Sir William Fergusson's
Commission, in 1871, after an exhaustive inquiry, made the following
recommendations: (1) to improve the administration of poor-law medical
relief; (2) to place all free dispensaries under the control of the
poor-law authorities; (3) to establish an adequate system of provident
dispensaries; (4) to curtail the unrestricted system of gratuitous
relief, partly by the selection of cases possessing special clinical
interest and partly by the exclusion of those who on social grounds are
not entitled to gratuitous medical advice; (5) the payment of the
medical staff engaged in both in- and out-patient work, and the payment
of fees by patients in the pay wards and in the consultation departments
of the voluntary hospitals. Other commissions have since been appointed,
have reported, and have disappeared, with the result that nothing
practical had been done up to 1910 in the way of reform. Yet it is an
undoubted fact that, if the foregoing recommendations of Sir William
Fergusson's Commission had been carried out in their entirety at the
time they were made, practically all the abuses from which British
hospitals afterwards suffered would have been removed, and the
charitable public might have been saved several millions of pounds
sterling. It may be well, therefore, briefly to indicate exactly what
these changes amount to, and how they can be made effective at any time
by those responsible for the working of a hospital.
There is no doubt that all the facts available tend to prove that the
voluntary hospitals are used to an increasing extent by persons able to
make payment or partial payment for the treatment which they receive.
The evidence and statistics demonstrating these facts may be readily
gathered from a study of the Report (1909) and Evidence of the Royal
Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress (Lord George
Hamilton's Commission) and in the authorities mentioned at the end of
this article. The underlying cause of the abuse was that no means
existed whereby persons of moderate income could obtain efficient
treatment and hospital care when ill at a rate which they could afford
to pay. The system, or want of system, whereby medical relief is granted
to practically all applicants by the voluntary hospitals grew up without
any combined attempt to organize it efficiently or to check abuses. Such
a system rests upon a wrong basis, and the best interests of every class
of the population demand its abolition in favour of one which shall
afford the maximum of justice (1) to the poor, (2) to those who can
afford to pay in part or in whole the cost of their medical treatment
and care at a hospital, (3) to the medical profession, (4) to the
subscribers and supporters of voluntary hospitals, whose gifts should be
strictly applied to the purposes they were intended to serve, and (5) to
the ratepayers, who are entitled to a guarantee that the maximum
efficiency is secured by the poor-law system of medical relief. The
remedy is very simple and easy of application. Every voluntary hospital,
while admitting all accidents and urgent cases needing immediate
attention, should institute a system whereby each applicant would be
asked to prove that he or she was a fit object of charity. The only real
attempt at reform, up to 1909, was the appointment by many of the larger
hospitals of almoners to ascertain whether certain selected patients
were in a position to pay or not. By putting the burden of proof of
eligibility to receive free medical relief upon the patients and their
friends, all abuse of every kind must speedily cease. There would be no
hardship entailed upon the patients by such a system, as experience has
proved, but, to make it effective, the system of providing for in- and
out-patients in Great Britain requires radical change, for, in existing
circumstance, if a voluntary hospital attempted to enforce this simple
method, it would be met with the difficulty that, where it was found
that a patient or his friends could pay at any rate something, no
department connected with British hospitals existed--as is the case in
regard to hospitals in the United States--enabling such in-patients to
be transferred to accommodation provided in paying wards. In the same
way, directly the out-patients were dealt with under such a system, it
would be made apparent, where a case could be properly treated, under
the poor law, that no plan of co-operation to secure this was organized
under existing conditions. If the patient, being of a better class, were
suffering from a minor ailment, and could be properly dealt with at a
provident dispensary, the fees of which he could easily pay, the same
absence of co-operation must make it practically impossible readily to
enforce the system. When, again, an out-patient of the better class was
entitled, from the severity of his ailment, to receive the advantages of
a consultation by the medical staff, no method existed whereby this aid
could be rendered to him, and his transfer afterwards to the care of a
medical practitioner attached to some provident dispensary, or resident
near the patient's home, could be properly carried out. It follows that
adequate reform required that methods should be adopted with a view to
some part or all the cost of treatment being provided by the patient or
his friends through an entire reorganization of the system of medical
relief not only at the voluntary hospitals, but under the poor-law
system. The reforms required in regard to voluntary hospitals are that
every large hospital shall have connected with the in-patient
department, in separate buildings, but under the administration of the
managers, pay wards for the reception of those patients who are able to
pay some part or all of the cost of treatment; that, as regards
out-patients, the existing out-patient department should be abolished;
that in substitution for it each hospital should have a casualty
department and a department for consultation. In the casualty department
every applicant should be seen once, and be there disposed of by being
handed on to the consultation department; if his case was sufficiently
important, he should then be transferred to some provident or poor-law
dispensary, or be referred to a private medical attendant. It would no
doubt take time to overcome the incidental difficulties which would
necessarily arise in effecting so radical a reform as is here
contemplated, but if all voluntary hospitals adopted the same system,
and were to be brought into active co-operation with provident
dispensaries and poor-law dispensaries and private medical
practitioners, the new system might be successfully introduced and made
effective within twelve months, and probably within six months, from the
date of its commencement. This opinion is based upon the assumption that
the provident dispensaries would be standardized, and that every one of
them would be brought up to a state of the highest efficiency. In the
town of Northampton the Royal Victoria Dispensary has been worked with
the maximum of success, so far as the patients and the medical
practitioners are concerned. In London and in other large towns like
Manchester and elsewhere the provident dispensary has not succeeded as
it has done in Northampton, because so many members of the medical
profession are not alive to the importance of making it their first
business to provide that every patient connected with the provident
dispensary who attends at the surgery of a private medical practitioner
shall receive at least equal attention and accommodation to that
afforded to every other private patient, whatever the fee he may pay. In
the same way, poor-law dispensaries must be radically reformed.
Everything which tends to excite a feeling of shame on the part of the
patient attending the poor-law dispensary, such as the printing of the
word "pauper" at the beginning of the space on which the patient's name
is entered, must be abolished, and the class of medical service and all
the arrangements for the treatment of the patients, however poor, at the
poor-law dispensary, must be made at least as efficient as those
provided by voluntary hospitals. There undoubtedly is considerable
overlapping between the voluntary hospitals and the poor law in Great
Britain. The Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress
(1909) deals with this point with a view to set up a standard of medical
relief to be granted by each class and type of hospitals, provides for
adequate co-operation between all classes of institutions; and these
reforms may be commended. It is too often forgotten that the function of
the poor law is the relief of destitution, while it should be the object
and duty of each voluntary hospital and indeed of all hospitals other
than poor-law institutions to apply their resources entirely to the
prevention of destitution, by stepping in to grant free medical relief
to the provident and thrifty when, through no fault of their own, they
meet with an accident or are overtaken by disease. An adequate system of
co-operation would preserve the privilege of the voluntary hospitals,
which save such patients from the necessity of requiring the relief
which it is the object of the poor law to supply.
We have dealt with the relative advantages and disadvantages of
rate-supported hospitals and voluntary hospitals. We should regard the
establishment of a complete state-provided or rate-provided system of
gratuitous medical relief, either for indoor patients or for out-door
patients, or for both, as a grave evil. Such a system must eventually
lead to the extinction of voluntary hospitals. If this disaster ever
happens, it must result in the gravest evils, for it could not fail to
injure the morale of all classes and tend to harden unnecessarily the
relations between the rich and poor, who, under the voluntary system,
have come to share each other's sufferings and to be animated by respect
and confidence towards each other.
_Hospital Construction. Locality and Site._--Hospitals are required
for the use of the community in a certain locality, and to be of use
they must be within reach of the centre of population. Formerly the
greater difficulty of locomotion made it necessary that they should be
actually in the midst of towns and cities, and to some extent this
continues to prevail. It is now proved to demonstration that this is
not the best plan. Fresh and pure air being a prime necessity, as well
as a considerable amount of space of actual area in proportion to
population, it would certainly be better to place hospitals as much in
the outskirts as is consistent with considerations of usefulness and
convenience. In short, the best site would be open fields; but if that
be impracticable, a large space, "a sanitary zone" as it is called by
Tollet, should be kept permanently free between them and surrounding
buildings, certainly never less than double the height of the highest
building. In the selection of a site various factors must be taken
into consideration. If the hospital is to be used as the clinical
school of a university or medical college, then the most suitable
ground available within easy reach of the university or college must
be secured. If, on the other hand, the hospital is not to be used as a
teaching school, a site more in the country should be favoured. In any
case ample ground must be purchased to permit of the wards receiving
the maximum of sunlight, an abundant supply of fresh air, and leave
room for possible future extensions. The site should be
self-contained; it should be in such a position as to prevent the
hospital being shadowed by other buildings in the neighbourhood, and,
unless the site is alongside a public park, it should be entirely
surrounded by streets of from 40 to 60 ft. in width. It is also
necessary to secure that adequate water mains serve the site, and that
the system of sewers be ample for all sewage purposes.
The difference between the expense of purchase of land in a town and
in the environs is generally considerable, and this is therefore an
additional reason for choosing a suburban locality. Even with existing
hospitals it would be in most cases pecuniarily advantageous to
dispose of the present building and site and retain only a receiving
house in the town. St Thomas's in London, the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris and
the Royal Infirmary in Manchester, are all good examples where this
might have been carried out. In none, however, has this been done;
these hospitals have been rebuilt, at enormous outlay, in the cities
as before, although not exactly in the same locality.
As regards the actual site itself, where circumstances admit of
choice, a dry gravelly or sandy soil should be selected, in a position
where the ground water is low and but little subject to fluctuations
of level, and where the means of drainage are capable of being
effectually carried out. There should also be a cheerful sunny aspect
and some protection from the coldest winds.
_Form of Building._--A form of building must be selected which answers
the following conditions: (a) the freest possible circulation of air
round each ward, with no cul-de-sac or enclosed spaces where air can
stagnate; (b) free play of sunlight upon each ward during some portion
at least of the day; (c) the possibility of isolating any ward, or
group of wards, effectually, in case of infectious disease breaking
out; (d) the possibility of ventilating every ward independently of
any other part of the establishment. Those conditions can only be
fulfilled by one system, viz. a congeries of houses or pavilions, more
or less connected with each other by covered ways, so as to facilitate
convenient and economical administration. The older plans of huge
blocks of buildings, arranged in squares or rectangles, enclosing
spaces without free circulation of air, are obviously objectionable.
Even when arranged in single lines or crosses they are not desirable,
as the wards either communicate with each other or with common
passages or corridors, rendering separation impossible. On this point
it may be remarked that some of the buildings of the 18th century were
more wisely constructed than many of those in the first half of the
19th century, and that the older buildings have been from time to time
spoilt by ignorant additions made in later times.
The question next arises, is it better to have pavilions of two or
more storeys high, or to have single-storeyed huts or cottages
scattered more widely? For the treatment of tuberculosis there can be
no doubt that, for hygienic reasons, the _châlet_ or single-patient
hut is the best for the patients in the acute stages; for economical
reasons the _châlet_ has not been heretofore as popular as it deserves
to be, but if the welfare of the patient is to be the first
consideration there is no doubt that the _châlet_ will ultimately
prevail. It has the merit of being easily adapted to villages and
houses where there is a garden, and in this way poor families may
readily isolate and treat a member affected by tuberculosis at a cost
within their means. For hospital purposes, so long as the system of
placing hospital buildings in densely crowded areas prevails,
many-storeyed buildings for hospital purposes are likely to continue.
Should the proposal to institute a Hospital City ultimately prevail,
then it is probable that the majority of the pavilions will be
single-storeyed. Still some hospital authorities prefer the
multiple-storeyed system for administrative reasons, contending that
single-storeyed pavilions have no special advantages over two or
three-storeyed buildings, whereas the difficulties in administration
and service of a hospital building on the single-storey principle
outweigh any argument against the two- or three-storey building, if it
is properly designed and constructed. We hope that the time is
approaching when architects and those members of the public who have
to provide the money for hospital buildings will insist upon the
erection of simple structures, costing little, so that the whole cost
of hospital buildings may be, as it ought to be, reduced by at least
half when compared with the expenditure of the past.
The pavilions may be arranged in various ways; they may be joined at
one end by a corridor, or may be divided by a central corridor at
right angles to them. In fact, the plan is very elastic, and adapts
itself to almost any circumstances. A certain distance, not less than
twice the height of the pavilions, ought to be preserved between them.
By this means free circulation of air and plenty of light are secured,
whilst separation or isolation may be at once accomplished if
required.
_Foundations, Building Materials, &c._--It is of the first consequence
that a hospital should be dry; therefore the foundation and walls
ought to be constructed so as to prevent the inroads of damp. An
impervious foundation has the further advantage of preventing
emanations from the soil rising up in consequence of the suction force
produced by the higher temperature of the internal atmosphere of the
building itself. There should be free ventilation in the basement, and
the raising of the whole on arches is a good plan, now generally
carried out in hot climates. If the pavilions are two or more storeys
high, it is advisable to use fire-proof material as much as possible,
but single-storeyed huts may be of wood. In any case effectual means
of excluding damp must be employed. The interiors of wards ought to be
rendered as non-absorbent as possible, by being covered with
impervious coatings, such as glazed tiles (Parian, though much used,
is apt to crack), silicate paint, which is preferable to tiles, or the
like. The ceilings ought to be treated in the same way as the walls.
There must be a concrete floor between each flat, experience showing
that if a teak floor is laid hard on the concrete a very noisy floor
is the result, but if the teak is laid on strips of wood, leaving a
small space between the concrete and the floor, a more silent floor is
obtained. For the floors themselves various materials have been
suggested: in France there is a preference for flags (_dalles_), but
in England wood is more liked; and indeed hard well-fitting wood,
such as teak, oak or American willow, leaves nothing to be desired.
The surface should be waxed and polished or varnished. Even deal
floors can be rendered non-absorbent by waxing, by impregnating them
with solid paraffin as recommended by Dr Langstaff.
_Shape and Arrangement of Wards._--It is now generally agreed that
wards should have windows on at least two opposite sides. Three main
shapes have been proposed: (a) long wards with windows down each side,
and (generally) one at the farther end with balcony; 26 ft. is a good
width for a ward of twelve or fourteen beds, but for larger wards of
more than fourteen beds the width should be not less than 28 ft.; (b)
wards nearly square, with windows on three sides; and (c) circular
wards with windows all round. The first (a) is the form usually
adopted in pavilions; (b) is recommended by Dr C. F. Folsom (_Plans
for the Johns Hopkins Hospital_); and (c) has been suggested by Mr
John Marshall, F.R.S. (_Nat. Assoc. for Promotion of Social Science_,
1878). Of these (b) seems the least to be commended, and (c), now
comparatively common, has distinct advantages in an administrative
sense, when the wards are constructed as to floor space so as to allow
the same proportion of superficial space per bed in a circular ward to
that which is contained in a rectangular ward, as is the case at the
Great Northern Central Hospital, London. Some authorities object to a
chimney-stack up the centre of the circular ward, urging that it
prevents the nurses from having complete supervision over all the
beds. In practice this objection seems to us to have little force, and
it can be avoided by placing the fireplaces at the side of the
circular ward, if desirable, though this adds somewhat to the cost of
building.
Each bed should be a little distance, say from 8 in. to 1 ft. from the
wall, and each bed may be reckoned as 6½ ft. long; this gives 7½ ft.
on each side. Between the ends of the beds about 10 ft. space is
necessary, so that 25 or 26 ft. of total breadth may be taken as a
favourable width. The wards of the Herbert Hospital are 26 ft.; but
some exceed this, as, for instance, St Thomas's, London, and the New
Royal infirmary, Edinburgh, 28; new Hôtel Dieu, 29; and Lariboisière,
30. There seems no necessity for exceeding 26 for a ward of twelve or
fourteen beds, but if the breadth be greater there ought to be more
window space--the great difficulty being to get a wide space
thoroughly ventilated. There ought to be only two rows of beds, one
down each wall, with a window on each side of each bed.
For ventilation two things are required--sufficient space and
sufficiently frequent change or renewal of air. As regards space, this
must be considered with reference both to total space and to lateral
or floor space. Unless a minimum of floor space be laid down, we shall
always be in danger of overcrowding, for cubic space may be supplied
vertically with little or no advantage to the occupier. If we allow a
minimum distance of 4 ft. between the beds and 10 ft. between the ends
of the beds, this gives 100 sq. ft. of space per bed; less than this
is undesirable. In severe surgical cases, fever cases and the like, a
much larger space is required; and in the Edinburgh Infirmary 150 sq.
ft. is allowed. Cubic space must be regulated by the means of
ventilation; we can rarely change the air oftener than three times in
an hour, and therefore the space ought to be at least one-third of the
hourly supply. This ought not to be less than 4000 cubic ft. per bed,
even in ordinary cases of sickness--and the third of that is 1333
cubic ft. of space. With 100 sq. ft. of floor space a ward of 13½ ft.
high would supply this amount, and there is but little to be gained by
raising the ceiling higher,--indeed 12 ft. is practically enough. The
experiments of Drs Cowles and Wood of Boston (see _Report of State
Board of Health of Massachusetts for 1879_) show that above 12 ft.
there is little or no movement in the air except towards the outlet
ventilator; the space above is therefore of little value as
ventilation space. Authorities nowadays, however, fix 10 ft. 6 in. as
the maximum, and any height above this may be disregarded for purposes
of ventilation. Additional height adds also to the cost of
construction, increases the expense of warming, makes cleaning more
difficult, and to some extent hampers ventilation. Whatever be the
height of wards, the windows must reach to the ceiling, or there must
be ventilators in the ceiling or at the top of the side walls. If this
be not arranged for, a mass of foul air is apt to stagnate near the
ceiling, and sooner or later to be driven down upon the inmates. The
reasons for a large and constant renewal of air are, of course, the
immediate removal and dilution of the organic matter given off by the
inmates; as this is greater in quantity and more offensive and
dangerous in sickness than in health, the change of air in the former
case must be greater than in the latter. Hence in serious cases an
amount of air practically unlimited is desirable--the aim of true
ventilation being to approach as near as possible to the condition of
pure external air. Without going too much into details, a few general
rules may be laid down. (1) Fresh air ought, if possible, to be
brought in at the lowest part of the ward, warmed if necessary; (2)
foul air ought to be taken out at the highest part of the ward; (3)
fresh air should reach each patient without passing over the bed of
any other; (4) the vitiated air should be removed from each patient
without passing over the bed of any other; (5) 4000 cubic ft. of fresh
air per head per hour should be the minimum in ordinary cases of
sickness, to be increased without limit in severer cases; (6) the air
should move in no part of a ward at a greater rate than 1½ ft. per
second, except at the point of entry, where it should not exceed 5 ft.
per second, and at the outlet, where the rate may be somewhat higher;
about 64 sq. in. of inlet and outlet sectional area ought to be
supplied per head as a minimum; (7) every opportunity ought to be
taken of freely flushing the wards with air, by means of open windows,
when this can be done with safety.
Warming is a question of great importance in most climates, especially
in such a climate as that of Great Britain, where every system of
ventilation must involve either the warming of some portion of the
incoming air, or the contriving its delivery without too great
lowering of temperature; at the same time it cannot be too strongly
insisted upon that the tendency is too much in the direction of
allowing warmth to supersede freshness of air. There are very few
cases of disease (if any) that are not more injured by foul air than
by low temperature; and in the zymotic diseases, such as typhus,
enteric fever, smallpox, &c., satisfactory results have been obtained
even in winter weather by almost open-air treatment. At the same time
a reasonable warmth is desirable on all grounds if it can be obtained
without sacrificing purity of atmosphere. For all practical purposes
60° to 63° F. is quite sufficient, and surgical and lying-in cases do
well in lower temperatures. Various plans of warming have been
recommended, but probably a combination is the best. It is inadvisable
to do away altogether with radiant heat, although it is not always
possible to supply sufficient warmth with open-air fire-places alone.
A portion of the air may be warmed by being passed over a heating
apparatus before it enters the ward, by having an air-chamber round
the fire-place or stove, or by the use of radiators in the ward
itself. In each case, however, the air must be supplied independently
to each ward, so that no general system of air supply is applicable.
The lighting of the ward at night will be most conveniently done by
means of electricity in the form of a lamp for each bed, where gas is
used each jet should have a special ventilator to carry off combustion
products, as in the Edinburgh Infirmary.
_The Furniture of Wards_ should be simple, clean and non-absorbent;
the bedsteads of iron, mattresses hair, laid on spring bottoms without
sacking. No curtains should be permitted.
The water-supply ought to be on the constant system, and plentiful; 50
gallons per head per diem may be taken as a fair minimum estimate.
The closets ought to be of the simplest construction, the pans of
earthenware all in one piece, the flushing arrangements simple but
perfect, and the supply of water ample. Each ward should have its own
closets, lavatories, &c., built in small annexes, with a
cross-ventilated vestibule separating them from the ward. All the
pipes should be disconnected from the drains, the closets by
intercepting traps, the sink and waste pipes by being made to pour
their contents over trapped gratings. The soil pipes should be
ventilated, and placed outside the walls, protected as may be
necessary from frost. Each ward should have a movable bath, which can
be wheeled to the patient's bedside.
Each ward should have attached to it a small kitchen for any special
cooking that may be required, a room for the physician or surgeon, and
generally a room with one or two separate beds. No cooking should be
done in the wards, nor ought washing, airing or drying of linen to be
allowed there.
_Hospital Economics._--There is no doubt that the voluntary system of
hospital government is far more economical than any system of state or
rate-supported hospitals. That the present condition of the voluntary
hospitals in regard to economy is all that can be wished is not, of
course, true. Still, resting as this system does upon the goodwill of
the public for its continuance and maintenance, it is satisfactory to
note that there is a continuous improvement in system and method,
which makes for economy. It has taken many years to perfect and
enforce the uniform system of hospital accounts, but this system with
the co-operation of the great funds has produced economical results of
the first importance. This system originated at the Queen's Hospital,
Birmingham, in 1869, and was devised by an eminent Birmingham
accountant, William Laundy, and Sir Henry Burdett. It proved so
fruitful in practice that six years later it was introduced at the
"Dreadnought" Seamen's Hospital, the first London hospital to use it,
and was then adopted spontaneously by a few of the best-administered
hospitals where the managers were keen in enforcing economy. In 1891,
in order to secure for comparative purposes an identical
classification of the items and charges included in the system, a
glossary or index of classification was prepared and published in the
_Hospital Annual_ of that year. This index enabled the same
classification of the many items included in the expenditure of a
great institution to be adopted generally. In the same year a
committee of hospital secretaries, at the instigation of the
Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund, revised and elaborated the index of
classification, and the new index was adopted by a general meeting of
hospital secretaries in January 1892. The Council of the Metropolitan
Hospital Sunday Fund approved it, and the Uniform System of Accounts
was formulated by that body for the use of the metropolitan hospitals.
In 1906 the whole of this system was inquired into on behalf of the
King's Fund by Mr John G. Griffiths, F.C.A., when a committee of
hospital secretaries and representatives of the King's Fund prepared a
further revision of the system. This was completed in the course of
the year and adopted by the King's, the Hospital Sunday and the
Hospital Saturday Funds. The publication of a book by Sir Henry
Burdett led to the adoption of the system in several of the British
Colonies, and as a result of the action taken in the British Empire
the Uniform System of Accounts has recently been set up and adopted by
the principal hospitals of the United States of America. The prince of
Wales (George V.) testified to the value of this system in enforcing
control over expenditure, and Sir Henry Burdett adapted it for the use
of the authorities of all charities of every class. It is probable
that no single reform has had a greater influence for good upon the
administration of charitable institutions than the evolution and
enforcement of the uniform system of accounts.
_Nursing._--The arrangements for nursing the sick have greatly
improved in recent times, although controversy still goes on as to the
best method of carrying it out. In arranging for the nursing in a
hospital both efficiency and economy have to be considered. No ward in
a general hospital for acute cases should contain more than 24 beds.
In hospitals with clinical schools the proportion of nurses to
patients should be about one nurse to every three patients, and if
possible every ward should have a probationer on duty at night in
addition to the night nurse. In all well-conducted hospitals it is now
arranged that the nurses on night duty have a hot meal served in the
general dining-room during the night, and this is only possible where
a nurse and a probationer are allowed for each ward. The nurses'
quarters should be separate from the hospital proper, and connected by
a conservatory or covered way. Each nurse should have a separate
bedroom, measuring not less than 12 ft. long, 9 ft. broad and 10 ft.
high. A bath should be allowed for every eight rooms, and the
water-closets and sinks should, if possible, be in sanitary towers cut
off from the main block of buildings.
Circumstances must to a large extent determine the arrangement, but it
seems desirable on the whole that the work of a nurse should be
confined to a single ward at a time if possible. The duties of nurses
ought also to be distinctly confined to attendance on the sick, and no
menial work, such as scrubbing floors and the like, should be demanded
of them; a proper staff of servants ought to be employed for such
purposes. It is also desirable that a separate pavilion for lodging
the nurses should be set apart, and that fair and reasonable time for
rest and recreation should be allowed. Some discussion has taken place
as to the advisability of placing the nursing of a hospital in the
hands of a sisterhood or a separate corporation. It will, however, be
admitted that the best plan is for the nursing staff of each hospital
to be special and under one head within the establishment itself, even
though it may be connected with some main institution outside. The
nursing must, of course, be carried on in accordance with the
directions and treatment of the physicians and surgeons.
_General._--The kitchen, laundry, dispensary and other offices must be
in a separate pavilion or pavilions, away from the wards, but within
convenient access. A separate pavilion for isolation of infectious
cases is desirable. This may be a wooden hut, or in some cases even a
tent; either is probably preferable to a permanent block of buildings.
A disinfecting chamber ought to be provided where heat can be applied
to clothes and bedding, for the destruction both of vermin and of the
germs of disease. It is advisable to expose all bedding and clothing
to its influence after each occasion of wear. Although this may entail
additional expense from the deterioration of fabric, it is worth the
outlay to secure immunity from disease. This plan is rigidly followed
at the Royal South Hants Infirmary at Southampton. It is of great
importance that the wards should be periodically emptied and kept
unoccupied for not less than one month in each year, and longer if
possible. During such period thorough cleansing and flushing with air
could be carried out, so as to prevent any continuous deposit of
organic matter.
_Gate House or Admission Block._--If the efficiency of a hospital and
the regular and smooth working of its departments are to be secured,
the proper management and control of the admission department is of
the greatest importance. When one considers for a moment the number of
applicants of all ages in various stages of disease, and the number of
accident cases of every degree of severity who present themselves
every day seeking admission, it will be evident that the most careful
supervision must be exercised on the very threshold. It is essential
that every precaution be taken against the admission of an unsuitable
case, or the refusal, without careful examination, of any patient
seeking admission. It is only necessary to instance the case of a
patient with delirium tremens being admitted to a general ward at a
late hour, or a case of infectious disease admitted through an
overlook, or a case refused admission and expiring on the way home, in
order to illustrate the danger and trouble which might arise should
the supervision exercised over this department not be systematic,
stringent and thorough.
To secure this proper control it is necessary that the admission
department should be designed on a definite plan suitable for the
purposes in view. It is not sufficient to utilize any available rooms,
say, in the basement of the building, where patients may be casually
interviewed by a house surgeon or physician. This department should be
as carefully designed and equipped as any other department of the
hospital.
Within recent years much more attention has been devoted to the
details of construction than was formerly considered necessary, but
even in the best type of hospital there is still much to be desired in
this respect. It is essential for an architect in designing any
building to have before him an accurate idea of all the requirements,
and the use to which each foot of space is to be put; for unless he is
furnished with this information it is not possible for him to design
his building so as to give effect to all the details which are so
necessary. The following is an endeavour in a general way to enumerate
the various points which an architect should have before him in
designing the admission department of a general hospital:--
The admission department should be conveniently placed on the ground
floor of the hospital--or it may be a detached building--with a large
court where ambulance wagons or other vehicles may easily pass each
other on approaching or retiring from the institution. The entrance to
the admission department for patients should, if possible, be entirely
separate and distinct from that for the staff and students. An
additional entrance should be provided for patients' friends on
visiting days, in order that they may be able to enter the hospital
without passing through the patients' entrance, or coming into contact
with an accident case or other patient seeking admission. The main
entrance door should be protected by a covered porch so that patients
may be removed from the ambulance or cab to the examination room
without being exposed to the weather or the gaze of inquisitive
onlookers. This door should be sufficiently wide to allow two hand
ambulances or barrows to pass should they require to be brought out to
the ambulance or cab, and to facilitate this the floor of the entrance
hall should be as nearly as possible on a level with that of the
outside porch. Adjoining the entrance vestibule, lavatory
accommodation should be provided for males and females who may
accompany the patient. Lavatory accommodation should also be provided
for porters on duty, and all lavatories should have a cut-off
ventilating passage.
A recess to store ambulance barrows should adjoin the entrance, and
this recess must be in proportion to the size of the hospital, in
order that a hand ambulance may always be available when an accident
or urgent case arrives. The vestibule should lead into a large
waiting-hall with an inquiry office at its entrance, provided with a
telephone exchange, private exchange box, also letter and parcel
racks. If possible a window of the inquiry office should command a
view of the main entrance. A room should be provided for the medical
officer on duty, so that a medical officer may be always at hand and
that no delay will occur in attending to a patient on arrival.
Leading off from this waiting-hall, well-lit examination rooms should
be available for the thorough examination of patients, both male and
female, the number of rooms, of course, varying with the size of the
hospital and the amount of work to be done. Each of these rooms should
be fitted with a wash-hand basin and sink, and a plentiful supply of
hot and cold water.
Two rooms, with recovery rooms adjoining, should be fitted up as small
operating-rooms for the treatment of minor casualties. A special room
should also be furnished with an X-ray outfit, and arrangements should
be made whereby this room can be readily darkened so that suspected
fractures, &c. may be examined with the fluorescent screen.
Adjoining the admission department two small wards should be provided
for the accommodation of drunk or noisy cases unfit to be placed in
the general wards. To these "emergency wards" must be attached the
usual bathroom and lavatory accommodation, nurses' room, ward kitchen
and urine-test room or small lavatory. These wards should have double
windows in order to prevent noise being heard outside if the wards are
near other buildings.
The interior walls of the admission department should, as far as
possible, have a smooth and impervious surface, in order that they may
be easily cleaned. All angles should be avoided and all corners
rounded. Although glazed tiles are open to the criticism that they
have numerous joints, they probably make the most suitable wall yet
devised, as they can be easily washed down at very small cost. The
corridors and waiting-hall should be tiled to a height of 6 ft. 6 in.,
and the upper walls covered with Parian or Kean's cement, and be
treated with three coats of flat paint and two coats of enamel, or,
what is equally suitable and less costly, enamellette. The floors of
the passages and corridors throughout the department should be covered
with terrazzo, which is a mixture of Portland cement and marble chips.
A margin of 1 ft. round the rooms should be treated in this way, and
the terrazzo carried up this same distance on the wall to join the
tiles. The remainder of the floors should be covered with hard wood,
such as American maple or teak. As these floors require to be
frequently washed, oak is not so suitable. Oak very soon becomes
destroyed with water; the same trouble is experienced with pitch pine.
The doors should also be made of a hard wood, preferably teak, and
have no mouldings or grooves where dust can lodge. They should be wide
enough to admit an ambulance barrow or bed with ease. In no case
should the doors of an examination room be less than 3 ft. 6 in. in
width.
As an aid to a complete understanding of the varied work which has to
be provided for, and the most effective method of carrying it out, the
accompanying plans are given of an admission block designed to embody
the main principles which govern the construction of such a
department.
[Illustration: Plans of Ground Floor and Basement of a Hospital.]
All accidents and patients seeking admission to this hospital enter
through the central gateway, and on the left is shown the porters'
room, where a porter is always in readiness to attend to any
applicant. This room has suitable accommodation for parcels, letters,
telephones, &c., and adjoining it is a small lavatory for the use of
porters. At the side of the porters' room is the entrance to the
central waiting-hall, which is lit from the roof. On one side of this
hall are examination and dressing-rooms for males, with lavatory
accommodation; and on the other side similar provision for females,
with the addition of a nurses' duty room. At the end of the central
hall are two operating theatres, with recovery room adjoining each;
one theatre for males, and the other for females. Between these
theatres are rooms for sterilizers and dressings. An X-ray examination
room is provided beyond the male examination room on the right of the
hall. In the basement, under the entrance-hall and operating theatres
are two bathrooms for males and two for females, with W.C.'s for each.
The remainder of the basement is used as a store for patients'
clothes, and a hot-air chamber is provided for purposes of
disinfection. The basement can be reached by a lift or by a wide
staircase which is situated at the end of the waiting-hall.
In the above plan provision is made for a sitting-room for the medical
officer on duty. This is a new and essential feature in the admission
block unit of all hospitals in large cities, for it should secure that
no patient is kept waiting for many minutes before being seen. One of
the blots on the management of many hospitals is that regrettable
delays often take place, and much dissatisfaction and avoidable
suffering may arise from this difficulty in the administration of a
general hospital. We have given this plan of a model gatehouse or
admission block for a modern general hospital, because the block as it
stands contains all the elements necessary for a receiving-house block
in cities in connexion with a great Hospital city situated outside its
area, in fulfilment of the suggestion for a Hospital city made above.
Apart from its interest as a new feature which all new hospitals
should adopt, the gatehouse or admission block has an importance in
the wider sense, that it may come to form the key to the solution of
the problem of how best to provide hospital accommodation for the poor
in great cities under the best hygienic conditions, while protecting
them from the misery and danger of prolonged delay in first treatment,
especially in connexion with accidents and other cases of urgency.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Sir H. Burdett, _Cottage Hospitals, General, Fever and
Convalescent, their Construction, Management and Work_ (London, 1877,
1880 and 1896); Tollet, _Les Édifices hospitaliers depuis leur_
_origine jusqu'à nos jours_ (Paris, 1892); Sir H. Burdett, _Hospitals
and Asylums of the World_, with large portfolio of plans to a uniform
scale (London, 1893) (a supplement is published every year bringing
the information up to date, entitled _Burdett's Hospitals and
Charities_); J. S. Billings, _The Principles of Ventilation, Heating
and their Practical Application_ (New York, 1893); Galton, _Healthy
Hospitals_ (London, 1893); Tollet, _Les Hôpitaux au XIX^e siècle_
(Paris, 1894); Billings and Hurd, _Suggestions to Hospital and Asylum
Visitors_ (Philadelphia, 1895); Oswald Kuhn, "Hospitals," _Handbuch
der Architektur_, 4th part, 5th half-volume, part i. (Stuttgart,
1897); _Plans for the Johns Hopkins Hospital_ (Baltimore, 1875);
_Report of State Board of Health for Massachusetts for 1879_.
(H. Bt.)
HOSPITIUM (Gr. [Greek: xenia, proxenia]), "hospitality," among the
Greeks and Romans, was of a twofold character: (1) private; (2) public.
(1) In Homeric times all strangers without exception were regarded as
being under the protection of Zeus Xenios, the god of strangers and
suppliants. It is doubtful whether, as is commonly assumed, they were
considered as _ipso facto_ enemies; they were rather guests. Immediately
on his arrival, the stranger was clothed and entertained, and no inquiry
was made as to his name or antecedents until the duties of hospitality
had been fulfilled. When the guest parted from his host he was often
presented with gifts ([Greek: xenia]), and sometimes a die ([Greek:
astragalos]) was broken between them. Each then took a part, a family
connexion was established, and the broken die served as a symbol of
recognition; thus the members of each family found in the other hosts
and protectors in case of need. Violation of the duties of hospitality
was likely to provoke the wrath of the gods; but it does not appear that
anything beyond this religious sanction existed to guard the rights of a
traveller. Similar customs seem to have existed among the Italian races.
Amongst the Romans, private hospitality, which had existed from the
earliest times, was more accurately and legally defined than amongst the
Greeks, the tie between host and guest being almost as strong as that
between patron and client. It was of the nature of a contract, entered
into by mutual promise, the clasping of hands, and exchange of an
agreement in writing (_tabula hospitalis_) or of a token (_tessera_ or
_symbolum_), and was rendered hereditary by the division of the tessera.
The advantages thus obtained by the guest were, the right of hospitality
when travelling and, above all, the protection of his host (representing
him as his patron) in a court of law. The contract was sacred and
inviolable, undertaken in the name of Jupiter Hospitalis, and could only
be dissolved by a formal act.
(2) This private connexion developed into a custom according to which a
state appointed one of the citizens of a foreign state as its
representative ([Greek: proxenos]) to protect any of its citizens
travelling or resident in his country. Sometimes an individual came
forward voluntarily to perform these duties on behalf of another state
([Greek: etheloproxenos]). The proxenus is generally compared to the
modern consul or minister resident. His duties were to afford
hospitality to strangers from the state whose proxenus he was, to
introduce its ambassadors, to procure them admission to the assembly and
seats in the theatre, and in general to look after the commercial and
political interests of the state by which he had been appointed to his
office. Many cases occur where such an office was hereditary; thus the
family of Callias at Athens were proxeni of the Spartans. We find the
office mentioned in a Corcyraean inscription dating probably from the
7th century B.C., and it continued to grow more important and frequent
throughout Greek history. There is no proof that any direct emolument
was ever attached to the office, while the expense and trouble entailed
by it must often have been very great. Probably the honours which it
brought with it were sufficient recompense. These consisted partly in
the general respect and esteem paid to a proxenus, and partly in many
more substantial honours conferred by special decree of the state whose
representative he was, such as freedom from taxation and public burdens,
the right of acquiring property in Attica, admission to the senate and
popular assemblies, and perhaps even full citizenship. Public hospitium
seems also to have existed among the Italian races; but the
circumstances of their history prevented it from becoming so important
as in Greece. Cases, however, occur of the establishment of public
hospitality between two cities (Rome and Caere, Livy v. 50), and of
towns entering into a position of clientship to some distinguished
Roman, who then became patronus of such a town. Foreigners were
frequently granted the right of public hospitality by the senate down to
the end of the republic. The public hospes had a right to entertainment
at the public expense, admission to sacrifices and games, the right of
buying and selling on his own account, and of bringing an action at law
without the intervention of a Roman patron.
A full bibliography of the subject will be found in the article in
Daremberg and Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquités_, to which may be
added R. von Jhering, _Die Gastfreundschaft im Altertum_ (1887); see
also Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities_ (3rd ed.,
1890).
HOSPODAR, a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" (Russ. _gospodar_).
It is a derivative of _gospod_, "lord," and is akin to _gosudar_, which
primarily means "sovereign," and is now also used in Russia as a polite
form of address, equivalent to "sir." The pronunciation as _hospodar_ of
a word written _gospodar_ in all but one of the Slavonic languages which
retain the Cyrillic alphabet is not, as is sometimes alleged, due to the
influence of Little Russian, but to that of Church Slavonic. In both of
these g is frequently pronounced h. In Little Russian the title
_hospodar_ is specially applied to the master of a house or the head of
a family. The rulers of Walachia and Moldavia were styled _hospodars_
from the 15th century to 1866. At the end of this period, as the title
had been held by many vassals of Turkey, its retention was considered
inconsistent with the growth of Rumanian independence. It was therefore
discarded in favour of _domn_ (_dominus_, "lord"), which continued to be
the official princely title up to the proclamation of a Rumanian kingdom
in 1881.
HOST. (1) (Through the O. Fr. _oste_ or _hoste_, modern _hôte_, from
Lat. _hospes_, a guest or host; _hospes_ being probably from an original
_hostipes_, one who feeds a stranger or enemy, from _hostis_ and the
root of _pascere_), one who receives another into his house and provides
him with lodging and entertainment, especially one who does this in
return for payment. The word is thus transferred, in biology, to an
animal or plant upon which a parasite lives. (2) (From Lat. _hostis_, a
stranger or enemy; in Med. Latin a military expedition), a very large
gathering of men, armed for war, an army, and so used generally of any
multitude. In biblical use the word is applied to the company of angels
in heaven; or to the sun, moon and stars, the "hosts of heaven," and
also to translate "Jehovah Sabaoth," the Lord God of hosts, the lord of
the armies of Israel or of the hosts of heaven. (3) (From Lat. _hostia_,
a victim or sacrifice), the sacrifice of Christ's body and blood in the
Eucharist, more particularly the consecrated wafer used in the service
of the mass in the Roman Church (see EUCHARIST).
HOSTAGE (through Fr. _ostage_, modern _otage_, from Late Lat.
_obsidaticum_, the state of being an obses or hostage; Med. Lat.
_ostaticum_, _ostagium_), a person handed over by one of two belligerent
parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an
agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war. The
practice of taking hostages is very ancient, and has been used
constantly in negotiations with conquered nations, and in cases such as
surrenders, armistices and the like, where the two belligerents depended
for its proper carrying out on each other's good faith. The Romans were
accustomed to take the sons of tributary princes and educate them at
Rome, thus holding a security for the continued loyalty of the conquered
nation and also instilling a possible future ruler with ideas of Roman
civilization. This practice was also adopted in the early period of the
British occupation of India, and by France in her relations with the
Arab tribes in North Africa.[1] The position of a hostage was that of a
prisoner of war, to be retained till the negotiations or treaty
obligations were carried out, and liable to punishment (in ancient
times), and even to death, in case of treachery or refusal to fulfil the
promises made. The practice of taking hostages as security for the
carrying out of a treaty between civilized states is now obsolete. The
last occasion was at the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, when two
British peers, Henry Bowes Howard, 11th earl of Suffolk, and Charles,
9th Baron Cathcart, were sent to France as hostages for the restitution
of Cape Breton to France.
In modern times the practice may be said to be confined to two
occasions: (1) to secure the payment of enforced contributions or
requisitions in an occupied territory and the obedience to regulations
the occupying army may think fit to issue; (2) as a precautionary
measure, to prevent illegitimate acts of war or violence by persons not
members of the recognized military forces of the enemy. During the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the Germans took as hostages the prominent
people or officials from towns or districts when making requisitions and
also when foraging, and it was a general practice for the mayor and
_adjoint_ of a town which failed to pay a fine imposed upon it to be
seized as "hostages" and retained till the money was paid. The last case
where "hostages" have been taken in modern warfare has been the subject
of much discussion. In 1870 the Germans found it necessary to take
special measures to put a stop to train-wrecking by parties in occupied
territory not belonging to the recognized armed forces of the enemy, an
illegitimate act of war. Prominent citizens were placed on the engine of
the train "so that it might be understood that in every accident caused
by the hostility of the inhabitants their compatriots will be the first
to suffer." The measure seems to have been effective. In 1900 during the
Boer War, by a proclamation issued at Pretoria (June 19th), Lord Roberts
adopted the plan for a similar reason, but shortly afterwards (July 29)
it was abandoned (see _The Times' History of the War in S. Africa_, iv.
402). The Germans also, between the surrender of a town and its final
occupation, took "hostages" as security against outbreaks of violence by
the inhabitants. Most writers on international law have regarded this
method of preventing such acts of hostility as unjustifiable, on the
ground that the persons taken as hostages are not the persons
responsible for the act;[2] that, as by the usage of war hostages are to
be treated strictly as prisoners of war, such an exposure to danger is
transgressing the rights of a belligerent; and as useless, for the mere
temporary removal of important citizens till the end of a war cannot be
a deterrent unless their mere removal deprives the combatants of persons
necessary to the continuance of the acts aimed at (see W. E. Hall,
_International Law_, 1904, pp. 418, 475). On the other hand it has been
urged (L. Oppenheim, _International Law_, 1905, vol. ii., "War and
Neutrality," pp. 271-273) that the acts, the prevention of which is
aimed at, are not legitimate acts on the part of the armed forces of the
enemy, but illegitimate acts by private persons, who, if caught, could
be quite lawfully punished, and that a precautionary and preventive
measure is more reasonable than "reprisals." It may be noticed, however,
that the hostages would suffer should the acts aimed at be performed by
the authorized belligerent forces of the enemy.
In France, after the revolution of Prairial (June 18, 1799), the
so-called "law of hostages" was passed, to meet the insurrection in La
Vendée. Relatives of _émigrés_ were taken from disturbed districts and
imprisoned, and were liable to execution at any attempt to escape.
Sequestration of their property and deportation from France followed on
the murder of a republican, four to every such murder, with heavy fines
on the whole body of hostages. The law only resulted in an increase in
the insurrection. Napoleon in 1796 had used similar measures to deal
with the insurrection in Lombardy (_Correspondance de Napoléon I._ i.
323, 327, quoted in Hall, _International Law_).
In May 1871, at the close of the Paris Commune, took place the massacre
of the so-called hostages. Strictly they were not "hostages," for they
had not been handed over or seized as security for the performance of
any undertaking or as a preventive measure, but merely in retaliation
for the death of their leaders E. V. Duval and Gustave Flourens. It was
an act of maniacal despair, on the defeat at Mont Valérien on the 4th of
April and the entry of the army into Paris on the 21st of May. Among the
many victims who were shot in batches the most noticeable were Monsignor
Darboy, archbishop of Paris, the Abbé Deguery, curé of the Madeleine,
and the president of the Court of Cassation, Louis Bernard Bonjean.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The sultan of Bagiemi, in Central Africa, in 1906 sent his nephew
to undergo military training with a squadron of Spahis, and at the
same time to serve as a guarantee of his fidelity to the French
(_Bulletin du Comité de l'Afrique française_, Oct. 1906).
[2] Article 50 of the Hague War Regulations lays it down that "no
general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, can be inflicted on the
population on account of the acts of individuals for which it cannot
be regarded as collectively responsible." The regulations, however,
do not allude to the practice of taking hostage.
HOSTE, SIR WILLIAM (1780-1828), British naval captain, was the son of
Dixon Hoste, rector of Godwick and Tittleshill in Norfolk. He was born
on the 26th of August 1780 at Ingoldsthorpe, and entered the navy in
April 1793, under the special care of Nelson, who had a lively affection
for him. He became lieutenant in 1798, and was appointed commander of
the "Mutine" brig after the battle of the Nile, at which he was present
as lieutenant of the "Theseus." In 1802 he was promoted post captain by
Lord St Vincent. During all his active career, he was employed in the
Mediterranean and the Adriatic. From 1808 to 1814 he held the command of
a detached force of frigates, and was engaged in operations against the
French who held Dalmatia at the time, and in watching, or, when they
came out, fighting, the ships of the squadron formed at Venice by
Napoleon's orders. The work was admirably done, and was also lucrative;
and Hoste, although he occasionally complained that his exertions did
not put much money in his pocket, made a fortune of at least £60,000 by
the capture of Italian and Dalmatian merchant ships. He also made many
successful attacks on the French military posts on shore. His most
brilliant feat was performed on the 13th of March 1811. A
Franco-Venetian squadron of six frigates and five small vessels, under
the command of a French officer named Dubourdieu, assailed Hoste's small
force of four frigates near the island of Lissa. The French officer
imitated Nelson's attack at Trafalgar by sailing down on the English
line from windward with his ships in two lines. But the rapid
manoeuvring and gunnery of Hoste's squadron proved how little virtue
there is in any formation in itself. Dubourdieu was killed, one of the
French frigates was driven on shore, and two of the Venetians were
taken. After the action, which attracted a great deal of attention,
Hoste returned to England, but in 1812 he was back on his station, where
he remained till the end of the war. During the peace he did not again
go to sea, and he died on the 6th of December 1828. He married Lady
Harriet Walpole in April 1817, and left three sons and three daughters.
In 1833 his widow published his _Memoirs and Letters_. See also
Marshall, _Roy. Nav. Biog._ vol. iii., and James, _Naval History_.
HOSTEL, the old name for an inn (see HOSPITAL, ad init.); also employed
at Oxford and Cambridge to designate the lodgings which were in ancient
times occupied by students of the university and to a certain extent
regulated by the authorities. In some English public schools what is
known as the "hostel" system provides for an organization of the lodging
accommodation under separate masterships.
HOSTIUS, Roman epic poet, probably flourished in the 2nd century B.C. He
was the author of a _Bellum Histricum_ in at least seven books, of which
only a few fragments remain. The poem is probably intended to celebrate
the victory gained in 129 by Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus (consul and
himself an annalist) over the Illyrian Iapydes (Appian, _Illyrica_, 10;
Livy, _epit._ 59). Hostius is supposed by some to be the "doctus avus"
alluded to in Propertius (iv. 20. 8), the real name of Propertius's
Cynthia, according to Apuleius (_Apologia_ x.) and the scholiast on
Juvenal (vi. 7), being Hostia (perhaps Roscia).
Fragments in E. Bährens, _Fragmenta poetarum Romanorum_ (1884); A.
Weichert, _Poetarum Latinorum reliquiae_ (1830).
HOSUR, a town of British India, in the Salem district of Madras, 24 m.
E. of Bangalore. Pop. (1901) 6695. It contains an old fort, frequently
mentioned in the history of the Mysore wars, and a fine castellated
mansion built by a former collector. Close by is the remount depôt,
established in 1828, where Australian horses are acclimatized and
trained for artillery and cavalry use in southern India.
HOTCH-POT, or HOTCH-POTCH (from Fr. _hocher_, to shake; used as early as
1292 as a law term, and from the 15th century in cookery for a sort of
broth with many ingredients, and so used figuratively for any
heterogeneous mixture), in English law, the name given to a rule of
equity whereby a person, interested along with others in a common fund,
and having already received something in the same interest, is required
to surrender what has been so acquired into the common fund, on pain of
being excluded from the distribution. "It seemeth," says Littleton,
"that this word _hotch-pot_ is in English a pudding; for in a pudding is
not commonly put one thing alone, but one thing with other things
together." The following is an old example given in Coke on Littleton:
"If a man seized of 30 acres of land in fee hath issue only two
daughters, and he gives with one of them 10 acres in marriage to the man
that marries her, and dies seized of the other 20; now she that is thus
married, to gain her share of the rest of the land, must put her part
given in marriage into hotch-pot; i.e. she must refuse to take the
profits thereof, and cause her land to be so mingled with the other that
an equal division of the whole may be made between her and her sister,
as if none had been given to her; and thus for her 10 acres she shall
have 15, or otherwise the sister will have the 20." In the common law
this seems to have been the only instance in which the rule was applied,
and the reason assigned for it is that, inasmuch as daughters succeeding
to lands take together as coparceners and not by primogeniture, the
policy of the law is that the land in such cases should be equally
divided. The law of hotch-pot applies only to lands descending in
fee-simple. The same principle is noticed by Blackstone as applying in
the customs of York and London to personal property. It is also
expressly enacted in the Statute of Distributions (§ 5) that no child of
the intestate, except his heir-at-law, who shall have any estate in land
by the settlement of the intestate, or who shall be advanced by the
intestate in his lifetime by pecuniary portion equal to the distributive
shares of the other children, shall participate with them in the
surplus; but if the estate so given to such child by way of advancement
be not equivalent to their shares, then such part of the surplus as will
make it equal shall be allotted to him. It has been decided that this
provision applies only to advancements by _fathers_, on the ground that
the rule was founded on the custom of London, which never affected a
widow's personal estate. The heir-at-law is not required to bring any
land which he has by descent or otherwise from the deceased into
hotch-pot, but advancements made to him out of the personal property
must be brought in. The same principle is to be found in the _collatio
bonorum_ of the Roman law: emancipated children, in order to share the
inheritance of their father with the children unemancipated, were
required to bring their property into the common fund. It is also found
in the law of Scotland.
HÔTEL-DE-VILLE, the town hall of every French municipality. The most
ancient example still in perfect preservation is that at St-Antonin
(Tarn-et-Garonne) dating from the middle of the 12th century. Other fine
town halls are those of Compiègne, Orléans, Saumur, Beaugency and St
Quentin. The Hôtel de Ville in Paris built in the 16th century was burnt
by the Commune in 1871 and has since been rebuilt on an extended site,
the central portion of the main front being a reproduction of the old
design. There is only one town hall in a French town, those erected for
the mayors of the different arrondissements in Paris being called
_mairies_.
HÔTEL-DIEU, the name given to the principal hospital in any French town.
The Hôtel-Dieu in Paris was founded in the year A.D. 660, has been
extended at various times, and was entirely rebuilt between 1868-1878.
One of the most ancient in France is at Angers, dating from 1153. The
Hôtel-Dieu of Beaune (Côte-d'Or), founded 1443, is one of the most
interesting, as it retains the picturesque disposition of its courtyard,
with covered galleries on two storeys and large dormer windows; and the
great hall of the Hôtel-Dieu at Tonnerre, Yonne (1338), nearly 60 ft.
wide and over 300 ft. long, is still preserved as part of the chief
hospital of the town.
HOTHAM, SIR JOHN (d. 1645), English parliamentarian, belonged to a
Yorkshire family, and fought on the continent of Europe during the early
part of the Thirty Years' War. In 1622 he was made a baronet, and he was
member of parliament for Beverley in the five parliaments between 1625
and 1640, being sheriff of Yorkshire in 1635. In 1639 he was deprived by
the king of his office of governor of Hull, and joining the
parliamentary party refused to pay ship-money. In January 1642 Hotham
was ordered by the parliament to seize Hull, where there was a large
store of munitions of war; this was at once carried out by his son John.
Hotham took command of Hull and in April 1642 refused to admit Charles
I. to the town. Later he promised his prisoner, Lord Digby, that he
would surrender it to the king, but when Charles appeared again he
refused a second time and drove away the besiegers. Meanwhile the
younger Hotham was taking an active part in the Civil War in Yorkshire
and Lincolnshire, but was soon at variance with other parliamentary
leaders, especially with the Fairfaxes, and complaints about his conduct
and that of his troops were made by Cromwell and by Colonel Hutchinson.
Soon both the Hothams were corresponding with the earl of Newcastle, and
the younger one was probably ready to betray Hull; these proceedings
became known to the parliament, and in June 1643 father and son were
captured and taken to London. After a long delay they were tried by
court-martial, were found guilty and were sentenced to death. The
younger Hotham was beheaded on the 2nd of January 1645, and in spite of
efforts made by the House of Lords and the Presbyterians to save him,
the elder suffered the same fate on the following day. Sir John Hotham
had two other sons who were persons of some note: Charles Hotham
(1615-c. 1672), rector of Wigan, a Cambridge scholar and author of _Ad
philosophiam Teutonicam Manuductio_ (1648); and Durant Hotham
(1617-1691), who wrote a _Life of Jacob Boehme_ (1654).
HOTHAM, WILLIAM HOTHAM, 1st Baron (1736-1813), British Admiral, son of
Sir Beaumont Hotham (d. 1771), a lineal descendant of the above Sir John
Hotham, was educated at Westminster School and at the Royal Naval
Academy, Portsmouth. He entered the navy in 1751, and spent most of his
midshipman's time in American waters. In 1755 he became lieutenant in
Sir Edward Hawke's flagship the "St George," and he soon received a
small command, which led gradually to higher posts. In the "Syren" (20)
he fought a sharp action with the French "Télémaque" of superior force,
and in the "Fortune" sloop he carried, by boarding, a 26-gun privateer.
For this service he was rewarded with a more powerful ship, and from
1757 onwards commanded various frigates. In 1759 his ship the "Melampe,"
with H.M.S. "Southampton," fought a spirited action with two hostile
frigates of similar force, one of which became their prize. The
"Melampe" was attached to Keppel's squadron in 1761, but was in the main
employed in detached duty and made many captures. In 1776, as a
commodore, Hotham served in North American waters, and he had a great
share in the brilliant action in the Cul de Sac of St Lucia (Dec. 15th,
1778). Here he continued till the spring of 1781, when he was sent home
in charge of a large convoy of merchantmen. Off Scilly Hotham fell in
with a powerful French squadron, against which he could effect nothing,
and many of the merchantmen went to France as prizes. In 1782 Commodore
Hotham was with Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and at the time of the
Spanish armament of 1790 he flew his flag as rear-admiral of the red.
Some time later he was made vice-admiral. As Hood's second-in-command in
the Mediterranean he was engaged against the French Revolutionary navy,
and when his chief retired to England the command devolved upon him. On
March 12th, 1794 he fought an indecisive fleet action, in which the
brunt of the fighting was borne by Captain Horatio Nelson, and some
months later, now a full admiral, he again engaged, this time under
conditions which might have permitted a decisive victory; of this
affair Nelson wrote home that it was a "miserable action." A little
later he returned to England, and in 1797 he was made a peer of Ireland
under the title of Baron Hotham of South Dalton, near Hull. He died in
1813. Hotham lacked the fiery energy and genius of a Nelson or a Jervis,
but in subordinate positions he was a brave and capable officer.
As Hotham died unmarried his barony passed to his brother, Sir Beaumont
Hotham (1737-1814), who became 2nd Baron Hotham in May 1813. Beaumont,
who was a baron of the exchequer for thirty years, died on the 4th of
March 1814, and was succeeded as 3rd baron by his grandson Beaumont
Hotham (1794-1870), who was present at the battle of Waterloo, being
afterwards a member of parliament for forty-eight years. He died
unmarried in December 1870 and was succeeded by his nephew, Charles
(1836-1872), and then by another nephew, John (1838-1907). In 1907 his
cousin Frederick William (b. 1863) became the 6th baron.
Other distinguished members of this family were the 2nd baron's son, Sir
Henry Hotham (1777-1833), a vice-admiral, who saw a great deal of
service during the Napoleonic wars; and Sir William Hotham (1772-1848),
a nephew of the 1st baron, who served with Duncan in 1797 off Camperdown
and elsewhere.
See Charnock, _Biographia navalis_, vi. 236.
HOTHO, HEINRICH GUSTAV (1802-1873), German historian of art, was born at
Berlin in 1802, and died in his native city on Christmas day 1873.
During boyhood he was affected for two years with blindness consequent
on an attack of measles. But recovering his sight he studied so hard as
to take his degree at Berlin in 1826. A year of travel spent in visiting
Paris, London and the Low Countries determined his vocation. He came
home delighted with the treasures which he had seen, worked laboriously
for a higher examination and passed as "docent" in aesthetics and art
history. In 1829 he was made professor at the university of Berlin. In
1833 G. F. Waagen accepted him as assistant in the museum of the
Prussian capital; and in 1858 he was promoted to the directorship of the
print-room. During a long and busy life, in which his time was divided
between literature and official duties, Hotho's ambition had always been
to master the history of the schools of Germany and the Netherlands.
Accordingly what he published was generally confined to those countries.
In 1842-1843 he gave to the world his account of German and Flemish
painting. From 1853 to 1858 he revised and published anew a part of this
work, which he called "The school of Hubert van Eyck, with his German
precursors and contemporaries." His attempt later on to write a history
of Christian painting overtasked his strength, and remained unfinished.
Hotho is important in the history of aesthetics as having developed
Hegel's theories; but he was deficient in knowledge of Italian painting.
HOTI-MARDAN, or MARDAN, a frontier cantonment of British India in the
Peshawar district of the North-West Frontier Province, situated 15 m. N.
of Nowshera. Pop. (1901) 3572. It is notable as the permanent
headquarters of the famous corps of Guides, and also contains a cavalry
brigade belonging to the 1st division of the northern army.
HOTMAN, FRANÇOIS (1524-1590), French publicist, eldest son of Pierre
Hotman, was born on the 23rd of August 1524, at Paris, his family being
of Silesian origin. His name is latinized by himself Hotomanus, by
others Hotomannus and Hottomannus. His father, a zealous Catholic, and a
counsellor of the parlement of Paris, destined him for the law, and sent
him at the age of fifteen to the university of Orleans. He obtained his
doctorate in three years, and became a pleader at Paris. The arts of the
barrister were not to his taste; he turned to the study of jurisprudence
and literature, and in 1546 was appointed lecturer in Roman Law at the
university of Paris. The fortitude of Anne Dubourg under torture gained
his adhesion to the cause of Reform. Giving up a career on which he had
entered with high repute, he went in 1547 to Lyons, and thence to Geneva
and to Lausanne, where, on the recommendation of Calvin, he was
appointed professor of belles-lettres and history, and married Claudine
Aubelin, a refugee from Orleans. On the invitation of the magistracy,
he lectured at Strassburg on law in 1555, and became professor in 1556,
superseding François Baudouin, who had been his colleague in Paris. His
fame was such that overtures were made to him by the courts of Prussia
and Hesse, and by Elizabeth of England. Twice he visited Germany, in
1556 accompanying Calvin to the Diet at Frankfort. He was entrusted with
confidential missions from the Huguenot leaders to German potentates,
carrying at one time credentials from Catherine de Medici. In 1560 he
was one of the principal instigators of the conspiracy of Amboise; in
September of that year he was with Antoine of Navarre at Nérac. In 1562
he attached himself to Condé. In 1564 he became professor of civil law
at Valence, retrieving by his success the reputation of its university.
In 1567 he succeeded Cujas in the chair of jurisprudence at Bourges.
Five months later his house and library were wrecked by a Catholic mob;
he fled by Orleans to Paris, where L'Hôpital made him historiographer to
the king. As agent for the Huguenots, he was sent to Blois to negotiate
the peace of 1568. He returned to Bourges, only to be again driven away
by the outbreak of hostilities. At Sancerre, during its siege, he
composed his _Consolatio_ (published in 1593). The peace of 1570
restored him to Bourges, whence a third time he fled, in consequence of
the St Bartholomew massacre (1572). In 1573, after publishing his
_Franco-Gallia_, he left France for ever with his family, and became
professor of Roman law at Geneva. On the approach of the duke of Savoy
he removed to Basel in 1579. In 1580 he was appointed councillor of
state to Henry of Navarre. The plague sent him in 1582 to Montbéliard;
here he lost his wife. Returning to Geneva in 1584 he developed a kind
of scientific turn, dabbling in alchemy and the research for the
philosopher's stone. In 1589 he made his final retirement to Basel,
where he died on the 12th of February 1590, leaving two sons and four
daughters; he was buried in the cathedral.
Hotman was a man of pure life, real piety (as his _Consolatio_ shows)
and warm domestic virtues. His constant removals were inspired less by
fear for himself than by care for his family, and by a temperament
averse to the conditions of warfare, and a constitutional desire for
peace. He did much for 16th-century jurisprudence, having a critical
knowledge of Roman sources, and a fine Latin style. He broached the idea
of a national code of French law. His works were very numerous,
beginning with his _De gradibus cognationis_ (1546), and including a
treatise on the Eucharist (1566); a treatise (_Anti-Tribonien_, 1567) to
show that French law could not be based on Justinian; a life of Coligny
(1575); a polemic (_Brutum fulmen_, 1585) directed against a bull of
Sixtus V., with many other works on law, history, politics and classical
learning. His most important work, the _Franco-Gallia_ (1573), was in
advance of his age, and found favour neither with Catholics nor with
Huguenots in its day; yet its vogue has been compared to that obtained
later by Rousseau's _Contrat Social_. It presented an ideal of
Protestant statesmanship, pleading for a representative government and
an elective monarchy. It served the purpose of the Jesuits in their
pamphlet war against Henry IV.
See Bayle, Dictionnaire; R. Dareste, _Essai sur F. Hotman_ (1850); E.
Grégoire, in _Nouvelle Biog. générale_ (1858). (A. Go.*)
HOT SPRINGS, a city of Arkansas, U.S.A., the county-seat of Garland
county, at the easterly base of the Ozark mountains, 55 m. by rail
W.S.W. of Little Rock. Pop. (1880) 3554; (1890) 8086; (1900) 9973, of
whom 3102 were of negro descent and 561 were foreign-born; (1910 census)
14,434. The transient population numbers more than 100,000 annually. Hot
Springs is served by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Little Rock
& Hot Springs Western, and the St Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern
railways. The city lies partly in several mountain ravines and partly on
a plateau. A creek, flowing through the valley but walled over, empties
into the Ouachita river several miles from Hot Springs. The elevation of
the surrounding hills is about 1200 ft. above the sea and 600 above the
surrounding country. The scenery is beautiful, and there is a remarkable
view from a steel tower observatory, 150 ft. high, on the top of Hot
Springs mountain. The climate is delightful. The average rainfall for
the year is about 55 in. The springs are about forty-four in number,
rising within an area of 3 acres on the slope of Hot Springs mountain.
They are all included within a reservation held by the United States
government, which (since 1903) exercises complete jurisdiction. The
daily flow from the springs used is more than 800,000 gallons. Their
temperature varies from 95° to 147° F. The waters are tasteless and
inodorous, and contain calcium and magnesium bicarbonates, combinations
of hydrogen and silicon, and of iodides, bromides and lithium. The
national government maintains at Hot Springs an army and navy hospital,
and a bath-house open gratuitously to indigent bathers. The business of
Hot Springs consists mainly in caring for its visitors. Fruit-raising
and small gardening characterize its environs. There are sulphur, lithia
and other springs near the city, and an ostrich farm and an alligator
farm in the suburbs. The finest of the novaculite rocks of central
Arkansas are quarried near the city. The total value of its factory
product in 1905 was $597,029, an increase of 213.1% since 1900.
The Springs were first used by the itinerant trappers. They were visited
about 1800 by French hunters; and by members of the Lewis and Clark
party in 1804 under instructions from President Thomas Jefferson. The
permanent occupation of the town site dates only from 1828, though as
early as 1807 a temporary settlement was made. In 1876 Hot Springs was
incorporated as a town, and in 1879 it was chartered as a city. In 1832
Congress created a reservation, but the right of the government as
against private claimants was definitely settled only in 1876, by a
decision of the United States Supreme Court. The city was almost
destroyed by fire in 1878, and was greatly improved in the rebuilding.
HOT SPRINGS, a hamlet and health-resort in Cedar Creek District, Bath
county, Virginia, U.S.A., 25 m. by rail (a branch of the Chesapeake &
Ohio railway) N. by E. of Covington and near the N.W. border of the
state. It lies in a narrow valley, about 2200-2500 ft. above the sea,
with rugged mountains on either side. Pop. of the district (1900) 1761;
(1910) 2472. The mean summer temperature is only 69° F., and the summer
nights are always cool. There is a good golf-course. Mineral waters
(with magnesia, soda-lithia and alum) issue from several springs, some
at a temperature as high as 106° F., and are used both for drinking and
for bathing. The Warm Sulphur Springs (about 98° F.) are 5 m. N.;
Healing Springs (85° F.) are 2½ m. S. of Hot Springs; and a few miles to
the S.E., in Rockbridge county, are Rockbridge and Jordan Alum Springs.
HOTTENTOTS, an African people of western Cape Colony and the adjoining
German territory, formerly widely spread throughout South Africa. The
name is that given them by the early Dutch settlers at the Cape, being a
Dutch word of an onomatopoeic kind to express stammering, in reference
to the staccato pronunciation and clicks of the native language. Some
early writers termed them Hodmadods or Hodmandods, and others Hot-nots
and Ottentots--all corruptions of the same word. Their name for
themselves was Khoi-Khoin (men of men), or Quae Quae, Kwekhena,
t'Kuhkeub, the forms varying according to the several dialects. Early
authorities believed them to be totally distinct from all other African
races. The researches of Gustav Fritsch, Dr E. T. Hamy, F. Shrubsall and
others have demonstrated, however, that they are not so much a distinct
or independent variety of mankind as the result of a very old cross
between two other varieties--the Bantu Negro (containing a distinct
Hamitic element) and the Bushman. Hamy calls them simply "Bushman-Bantu
half-breeds," the Bushman element being seen in the leathery colour,
compared to that of the "sere and yellow leaf"; in the remarkably
prominent cheekbones and pointed chin, giving the face a peculiarly
triangular shape; and lastly, in such highly specialized characters as
the _tablier_ and the _steatopygia_ of the women. The cranial capacity
is also nearly the same (1331 c.c. in the Bushman, 1365 c.c. in the
Hottentot), and on these anatomical grounds Shrubsall concludes that the
two are essentially one race, allowing for the undeniable strain of
Bantu blood in the Hottentot. This view is further strengthened by the
vast range in prehistoric times of the Hottentot variety, which, since
the time of Martin H. K. Lichtenstein (1800-1804), was known to have
comprised the whole of Africa south of the Zambezi, and has since been
extended as far north as the equatorial lake region.
Fritsch divides the Hottentots into three bodies; the Cape Hottentots,
from the Cape peninsula eastward to Kaffraria, the Koranna, chiefly on
the right bank of the Orange river, but also found on the Harts and the
Vaal, and the Namaqua in the western portion of South Africa. Of these
all save the last mentioned have ceased to exist in any racial purity.
The name which the Namaqua give to themselves is _Khoi-Khoin_, and this
name must be distinguished from that of the Berg-Damara or _Hau-Khoin_,
since the latter are physically of Bantu origin though they have
borrowed their speech from the Hottentots. While the Namaqua preserve
the racial type and speech, the other so-called Hottentots are more or
less Hottentot-Dutch or Hottentot-Bantu half-breeds, mainly of debased
Dutch speech, although the Koranna still here and there speak a moribund
Hottentot jargon flooded with Dutch and English words and expressions.
When the Cape Colony became a part of the British empire the protection
given to the natives arrested the process of extermination with which
the Hottentots were then threatened, but it did not promote racial
purity. Sir John Barrow, describing the condition of the Hottentots in
1798, estimated their number at about 15,000 souls. In 1806 the official
return gave a Hottentot population of 9784 males and 10,642 females. In
1824 they had increased to 31,000. At the census of 1865 they numbered
81,589, but by this time the official classification "Hottentot"
signified little more than a half-breed. The returns for 1904 showed a
"Hottentot" population of 85,892. Very few of these were pure-bred
Hottentots, while the official estimate of those in which Hottentot
blood was strongly marked was 56,000.
_Customs and Culture._--The primitive character of the race having
greatly changed, the best information as to their original manners and
customs is therefore to be found in the older writers. All these agree
in describing the Hottentots as a gentle and friendly people. They
held in contempt the man who could eat, drink or smoke alone. They
were hospitable to strangers, even to the point of impoverishing
themselves. Although mentally and physically indolent, they were
active in the care of their cattle and, within certain limits, clever
hunters. They were of a medium height, the females rather smaller than
the men, slender but well proportioned, with small hands and feet.
Their skin was of a leathery brown colour; their face oval, with
prominent cheekbones; eyes dark brown or black and wide apart; nose
broad and thick and flat at the root; chin pointed and mouth large,
with thick turned-out lips. Their woolly hair grew in short thick
curly tufts and the beard was very scanty. Amongst the women abnormal
developments of fat were somewhat common; and cases occurred of
extraordinary elongation of the _labia minora_ and of the _praeputium
clitoridis_.[1]
Their dress was a skin cloak (kaross) worn across the shoulders and a
smaller one across the loins. They wore these cloaks all the year
round, turning the hairy side inward in winter and outward in summer;
they slept in them at night, and when they died they were buried in
them. They had suspended around their necks little bags or pouches,
containing their knives, their pipes and tobacco or dakka (_Cannabis_,
or hemp), and an amulet of burnt wood. On their arms were rings of
ivory. Sometimes they wore sandals and carried a jackal's tail
fastened on a stick, which served as handkerchief and fan. The women
wore, besides the kaross, a little apron to which were hung their
ornaments; and underneath this one or two fringed girdles; and a skin
cap. Both sexes smeared themselves and even their dress with an
ointment made of soot, butter or fat, and the powdered leaves of a
shrub called by them _bucchu (Diosma crenata)_.
Their villages were usually on meadow grounds. They never entirely
exhausted the grass but kept moving from one pasture to another. The
huts were in circles, the area of which varied with the pastoral
wealth of the community. In the centre of the huts a hole served for a
fire-place, and at each side of this small excavations an inch or two
deep were made in the ground in which both sexes, rolled up in their
karosses, slept. A few earthen vessels, well-made bowls of wood,
tortoise shells for spoons and dishes, calabashes, bamboos and skins
for holding milk and butter, and mats of rushes interwoven with bast,
were all their furniture. Their weapons were primarily bows and
arrows, but they also possessed assegais, and knob-kerries. To women
much respect was shown; the most sacred oath a Hottentot could take
was to swear by his sister or mother; yet the females ate apart from
the men and did all the work of the kraal with the exception of the
tending of cattle and of the curing of the hides; the men, however,
assisted in the erection of the framework of the huts. The usual food
of the Hottentots was milk, the flesh of the buffalo, hippopotamus,
antelope or other game, and edible roots and bulbs or wild fruits. On
the coast fish captured by hooks and lines or spears were also eaten.
Cows' milk was commonly drunk by both sexes, but ewes' milk only by
the women, and when cows' milk was scarce the women were obliged to
keep to ewes' milk or water. Milk was drunk fresh, and not allowed to
turn sour as among the Bantu. Meats were eaten either roasted or
boiled, but for the most part half raw, without salt, spices or bread.
From some meats they carefully abstained, such as swine's flesh. Hares
and rabbits were forbidden to the men, but not to the women; the pure
blood of beasts and the flesh of the mole were forbidden to the women,
but not to the men.
In occupation they were essentially cattle-breeders, and showed great
skill in this pursuit, especially the Namaqua, who were capable of
training the horns of their cattle so that they grew in spirals. Their
social pleasures consisted in feasting, smoking, dancing and singing.
Dances were held every first quarter of the moon and lasted all night,
often for eight days in succession. Every signal event of life, and
every change of abode and condition was celebrated with a feast. On
the formation of a new kraal an arbour was constructed in the centre,
and the women and children adorned and perfumed it with flowers and
branches of trees and odoriferous herbs. The fattened ox was killed
and cooked, and the men ate of it in the arbour, while the women
sitting apart regaled themselves with broth. Upon such occasions the
only intoxicant was tobacco or dakka.
Circumcision, which is common to the Kaffir tribes, was unknown to the
Hottentots, but when a youth entered upon manhood a ceremony was
performed. One of the elders, using a knife of quartz, made incisions
in the young man's body, afterwards besprinkling them with urine. When
a man killed his first elephant, hippopotamus or rhinoceros, similar
marks were made on his body, and were regarded as insignia of honour.
Finger mutilation was common, especially among women; this consisted
in the removal of one or two joints of the little finger, and,
sometimes, the first joint of the next. The reason for this is
doubtful; it may have been a sign of mourning, or, especially in the
case of children, it may have been regarded as magically protective.
Marriages were by arrangement between the man and the girl's parents,
the consent of the girl herself being a matter of little
consideration. If accepted, the suitor, accompanied by all his
kindred, drove two or three fat oxen to the house of his bride. There
her relations welcomed the visitors; the oxen were slain, and the
bridal feast took place. The nuptial ceremony was concluded by an
elder besprinkling the happy pair. Among the southern Hottentots these
ancient usages have ceased; but they are continued among some tribes
north of the Orange river. Polygamy was allowed: divorce was common.
Family names were perpetuated in a peculiar manner--the sons took the
family name of the mother, the daughters that of the father. The
children were very respectful to their parents, by whom they were
kindly and affectionately treated. Yet the aged father or mother was
sometimes put in the bush and left to die. Namaqua says this was done
by very poor people if they had no food for their parents. But even
when there was food enough, aged persons, especially women, who were
believed to be possessed of the evil spirit, were so treated.
The Hottentots had few musical instruments. One named the "gorah" was
formed by stretching a piece of the twisted entrails of a sheep from
end to end of a thin hollow stick about 3 ft. in length in the manner
of a bow and string. At one end there was a piece of quill fixed into
the stick, to which the mouth of the player was applied. The
"rommel-pot" was a kind of drum shaped like a bowl and containing
water to keep the membrane moist. Reeds several feet long were used as
flutes.
_Government and Laws._--The system of government was patriarchal. Each
tribe had its hereditary "khu-khoi" or "gao-ao" or chief, and each
kraal its captain. These met in council whenever any great matters had
to be decided. The post was honorary, and the councillors were held in
great reverence, and were installed in office with solemnities and
feasting. In certain tribes the hind part of every bullock slaughtered
was sent to the chief, and this he distributed among the males of the
village. He also collected sufficient milk at the door of his hut to
deal out amongst the poor. A part of every animal taken in hunting was
exacted by the chief, even though it was in a state of putrefaction
when brought to him. The captains, assisted by the men of each kraal,
settled disputes regarding property and tried criminals. A murderer
was beaten or stoned to death; but if one escaped and was at large for
a whole year, he was allowed to go unpunished. Adultery seldom
occurred; if any one found parties in the act and killed them he was
no murderer, but on the contrary received praise for his deed. Women
found offending were burnt. Theft, especially cattle-stealing, was
severely punished. The thief was bound hand and foot, and left on the
ground without food for a long time; then, if his offence was slight,
he received some blows with a stick, but if the case was an
aggravated one, he was severely beaten, and then unloosed and banished
from the kraal. The family of even the worst criminal suffered nothing
on his account in reputation, privilege or property. The duel was an
institution. If any one was insulted he challenged his enemy by
offering him a handful of earth. If the latter seized the hand and the
dust fell to the ground, the challenge was accepted. If it was not
accepted, the challenger threw the dust in his foe's face. The duel
took place by kicking, with clubs, or with the spear and shield.
_Religious Ideas._--The religious ideas of the Hottentots were very
obscure. François le Vaillant says they had "neither priests nor
temples, nor idols, nor ceremonials, nor any traces of the notion of a
deity." Other authorities state that they believed in a benevolent
deity or "Great Captain," whom they named Tik-guoa (_Tsu-goab_). There
were other "captains" of less power, and a black captain named Gauna,
the spirit of evil. The moon was a secondary divinity, supposed to
govern the weather; and its appearance each month was hailed with
dancing and singing.[2] George Schmidt, the first missionary to the
Hottentots, says they also celebrated the annual appearance of the
Pleiades above the eastern horizon. As soon as the constellation
appeared, all the mothers ascended the nearest hill, carrying their
babies, whom they taught to stretch their arms towards the friendly
stars. Some of the tribes are said to worship a being whom they name
Tusib, the rain god. An old Namaqua was once heard to say "The stars
are the souls of the deceased," and a Hottentot form of imprecation is
"Thou happy one, may misfortune fall on thee from the star of my
grandfather."
Such as it was, the Hottentot religion was largely ancestor-worship.
Their deified hero was named _Heitsi-Eibib_; and of him endless
stories are told. The one most generally accepted is that he was a
notable warrior of great physical strength, who once ruled the
Khoi-Khoin, and that in a desperate struggle with one of his enemies,
whom he finally overcame, he received a wound in the knee, from which
event he got the name of "Wounded knee." He had extraordinary powers
during life, and after death he continued to be invoked as one who
could still relieve and protect. According to the tradition preserved
among the Namaqua, Heitsi-Eibib came from the east. Therefore they
make the doors of their huts towards the east, and those who possess
waggons and carts put their vehicles alongside the mat-house with the
front turned towards the east. All the graves are in true
west-easterly direction, so that the face of the deceased looks
towards the east. The spirit of Heitsi-Eibib is supposed to exist in
the old burial places, and, whenever a heathen Hottentot passes them,
he throws stones on the spot as an offering, at the same time invoking
the spirit's blessing and protection. Johann Georg von Hahn asserts
that there are many proofs which justify the conclusion that
Heitsi-Eibib and Tsu-goab (the supreme being) were identical. Both
were benevolent. Both were believed to have died and risen again. They
killed the bad beings and restored peace on earth; they promised men
immortality, understood the secrets of nature, and could foretell the
future.[3]
Various ceremonies were practised to ward off the evil influence of
ghosts and spectres, and charms were freely employed. If a Khoi-Khoi
went out hunting his wife kindled a fire, and assiduously watched by
it to keep it alive; if the fire should be extinguished her husband
would not be lucky. If she did not make a fire, she went to the water
and kept on throwing it about on the ground, believing that thereby
her husband would be successful in getting game. Charms, consisting of
bones, burnt wood, and roots of particular shrubs cut into small
pieces, were generally worn round the neck. There was also a belief
that in every fountain there was a snake, and that as long as the
snake remained there water would continue to flow, but that if the
snake was killed or left the fountain it would cease. Offerings were
sometimes made to the spirit of the fountain. In common with the
Bushmen, the Hottentots venerated the _mantis fausta_, a local variety
of the insect known as "the praying mantis" (_mantis religiosa_). P.
Kolbe saw sacrifices made in its honour when it appeared inside a
kraal; to kill it was strictly forbidden. The Hottentots had great
faith in witch-doctors, or sorcerers. When called to a sick-bed these
ordered the patient to lie on his back, and then pinched, cuffed, and
beat him all over until they expelled the illness. After that they
produced a bone, small snake, frog or other object which they
pretended to have extracted from the patient's body. If the treatment
did not succeed, the person was declared incurably bewitched. If death
occurred, the corpse was interred on the day of decease. It was wrapt
in skins, and placed in the ground in the same position it once
occupied in the mother's womb. Death was generally regarded in a very
stoical manner.
_Language._--The existence of a fundamental connexion between the
language of the Hottentot and that of the Bushman was suggested by Dr
Bleek and is supported by further evidence advanced by Bertin.
The Hottentot language was regarded by the early travellers and
colonists as an uncouth and barbarous tongue. The Portuguese called
the native manner of speaking stammering; and the Dutch compared it to
the "gobbling of a turkey-cock." These phonetic characteristics arose
from the common use of "clicks,"--sounds produced by applying the
tongue to the teeth or to various parts of the gums or roof of the
mouth, and suddenly jerking it back. Three-fourths of the syllabic
elements of the language begin with these clicks, and combined with
them are several hard and deep gutturals and nasal accompaniments. The
difficulty a European has in acquiring an accurate pronunciation is
not so much in producing the clicking sound singly as in following it
immediately with another letter or syllable. The four recognized
clicks, with the symbols generally adopted to denote them, are as
follows: dental = |; palatal = #; lateral = ||; cerebral = !.
According to Tindall, one of the best grammarians of the language, the
dental click (similar to a sound of surprise or indignation) is
produced by pressing the top of the tongue against the upper front
teeth, and then suddenly and forcibly withdrawing it. The palatal
click (like the crack of a whip) is produced by pressing the tongue
with as flat a surface as possible against the termination of the
palate at the gums, so that the top of the tongue touches the upper
front teeth and the back of the tongue lies towards the palate, and
then forcibly withdrawing the tongue. The cerebral click (compared to
the popping of the cork of a bottle of champagne) is produced by
curling up the tip of the tongue against the roof of the palate, and
withdrawing it suddenly and forcibly. The lateral click (similar to
the sound used in stimulating a horse to action) is articulated by
covering with the tongue the whole of the palate and producing the
sound as far back as possible; Europeans imitate it by placing the
tongue against the side teeth and then withdrawing it. The easiest
Hottentot clicks, the dental and cerebral, have been adopted by the
Kaffirs; and it is a striking circumstance, in evidence of the past
Hottentot influence upon the Kaffir languages, that the clicking
decreases amongst these tribes almost in proportion to their distance
from the former Hottentot domain.
The language in its grammatical structure is beautiful and regular. Dr
Bleek describes it as having the distinctive features of the
suffix-pronominal order or higher form of languages, in which the
pronouns are identical with and borrowed from the derivative suffixes
of the nouns. The words are mostly monosyllables, always ending, with
two exceptions, in a vowel or nasal sound. Among the consonants
neither _l_, nor _f_ nor _v_ is found. There are two _g_'s, _g_ hard
and _g_ guttural, and a deeper guttural _kh_. Diphthongs abound. There
is no article, but the definite or indefinite sense of a noun is
determined by the gender. In the fullest known dialect (that spoken by
the Namaqua) nouns are formed with eight different suffixes, which in
nouns designating persons distinguish masc. sing. (-_b_), masc. plur.
(-_ku_), masc. dual (_kha_), fem. sing, (-_s_), fem. plur. (-_ti_),
com. sing. (-_i_), com. plur. (-_u_), com. dual (-_ra_). The adjective
is either prefixed to a noun or referred to it by a suffixed pronoun.
This grammatical division of the nouns according to gender led to the
classification of the language as "sex-denoting," thus suggesting its
relationship, in original structure, with the Galla and others.
There are four dialectical varieties of the language, each with
well-marked characteristics: the Nama dialect, spoken by the Namaqua
as well as by the Hau-Khoin or Hill Damara; the Kora dialect, spoken
by the Koranna, or Koraqua, dwelling about the middle and upper part
of the Orange, Vaal and Modder rivers; the Eastern dialect, spoken by
the Gona or Gonaqua on the borders of Kaffirland; and the Cape
dialect, now no longer spoken but preserved in the records of early
voyagers and settlers. Of the Nama dialect there are three grammars:
Wallmann's (1857) and Hahn's in German, and Tindall's (1871) in
English, the last being the best; and the four Gospels, with a large
amount of missionary literature, have been published in it.
The vocabulary is not limited merely to the expression of the rude
conceptions that are characteristic of primitive races. It possesses
such words as _koi_, human being; _khoi-si_, kindly or friendly;
_koi-si-b_, philanthropist; _khoi-si-s_, humanity; # _ei_, to think; #
_ei-s_, thought; _amo_, eternal; _amo-si-b_, eternity; _tsa_, to feel;
_tsa-b_, feeling, sentiment; _tsa-kha_, to condole; _ama_, true;
_ama-b_, the truth; _anu_, sacred; _anu-si-b_, holiness; _esa_,
pretty; _anu-xa_, full of beauty.
_Literature and History._--Much traditionary literature--fables, myths
and legends--existed amongst the Hottentots,--a fact first made known
by Sir James Alexander, who in his journeyings through Great
Namaqualand in 1835 jotted down the stories told him around the camp
fire by his Hottentot followers. These Hottentot tales generally have
much of the character of fables; some are in many points identical
with northern nursery tales, and suggestive of European origin or of
contact with the white man; but the majority bear evidence of being
true native products. Bleek's _Reynard the Fox in South Africa_ (1864)
contains a translation of a legend written down from the lips of the
Namaqua by the Rev. G. Krönlein, which is regarded as an excellent
specimen of the national style. Another legend relating to the moon
and the hare conveys the idea of an early conception of the hope of
immortality. It is found in various versions, and, like many other
stories, occurs in Bushman as well as in Hottentot mythology.
The earliest accounts of the Hottentots occur in the narratives of
Vasco da Gama's first voyage to India round the Cape in 1497-1498. In
1510 the Portuguese viceroy, Francisco d'Almeida, count of Abrantes,
met his death in a dispute with the natives. Till the 17th century
they were believed to be cannibals, but with the occupation of the
Cape by the Dutch, in 1652, more accurate knowledge was obtained. A
century of Dutch rule resulted in the Hottentots becoming a nation of
slaves and in serious danger of extermination, and thus the arrival of
the English in 1795 was welcomed by them. In 1828 an ordinance was
passed declaring "all Hottentots and other free persons of colour"
entitled to all and every right to which any other British subjects
were entitled. (See CAPE COLONY: _History_; and SOUTH AFRICA.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A. de Quatrefages, _Les Pygmées_ (1887); G. W. Stow,
_The Native Races of South Africa_ (1905); E. T. Hamy, "Les Races
nègres," in _L'Anthropologie_ (1897), pp. 257 et sqq.; F. Shrubsall,
"Crania of African Bush Races," in _Jour. Anthrop. Inst._ (November
1897); W. H. J. Bleek, _A Comparative Grammar of South African
Languages_ (1862); and "Die Hottentotten Stämme," in _Petermanns Mit._
(1858), pp. 49 et sqq.; G. Fritsch, _Die Eingebornen Süd-Afrikas_
(1872), and "Schilderungen der Hottentotten," in _Globus_ (1875), pp.
374 et sqq.; G. Bertin, "The Bushmen and their Language," in _Jour. R.
Asiat. Soc._ xviii., part i., and reprint; P. Kolbe or Kolben,
_Present State of the Cape of Good Hope_; Sir John Barrow, _Travels in
South Africa_ (1801-1804).
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See paper by Messrs Flower and Murie in _Journ. Comp. Anat. and
Physiology_ (1867); and Fritsch, _Die Eingebornen Süd-Afrikas_
(Breslau, 1873).
[2] An interesting notice of this form of worship occurs in the
journal of an expedition which the Dutch governor, Ryk van Tulbagh,
sent to the Great Namaqua in 1752, which reached as far as the Kamob
or Lion river (about 27° S. lat.).
[3] On the religion and antiquities see Theophilus Hahn's papers,
"Graves of the Heitsi-Eibib," in _Cape Monthly Magazine_ (1879). and
"Der hottentottische Zai-goab und der griechische Zeus," in
_Zeitschr. für Geogr._ (Berlin, 1870).
HOTTINGER, JOHANN HEINRICH (1620-1667), Swiss philologist and
theologian, was born at Zürich on the 10th of March 1620. He studied at
Geneva, Groningen and Leiden, and after visiting France and England was
in 1642 appointed professor of church history in his native town. The
chair of Hebrew at the Carolinum was added in 1643, and in 1653 he was
appointed professor ordinarius of logic, rhetoric and theology. He
gained such a reputation as an Oriental scholar that the elector
palatine in 1655 appointed him professor of Oriental languages and
biblical criticism at Heidelberg. In 1661, however, he returned to
Zürich, where in 1662 he was chosen principal of the university. In 1667
he accepted an invitation to succeed Johann Hoornbeck (1617-1666) as
professor in the university of Leiden, but he was drowned with three of
his children by the upsetting of a boat while crossing the river Limmat.
His chief works are _Historia ecclesiastica Nov. Test._ (1651-1667);
_Thesaurus philologicus seu clavis scripturae_ (1649; 3rd ed. 1698);
_Etymologicon orientale, sive lexicon harmonicum heptaglotton_ (1661).
He also wrote a Hebrew and an Aramaic grammar.
His son, JOHANN JAKOB HOTTINGER (1652-1735), who became professor of
theology at Zürich in 1698, was the author of a work against Roman
Catholicism, _Helvetische Kirchengeschichte_ (4 vols., 1698-1729); and
his grandson, JOHANN HEINRICH HOTTINGER (1681-1750), who in 1721 was
appointed professor of theology at Heidelberg, wrote a work on
dogmatics, _Typus doctrinae christianae_ (1714).
HOUBRAKEN, JACOBUS (1698-1780), Dutch engraver, was born at Dort, on the
25th of December 1698. All that his father, Arnold Houbraken
(1660-1719), bequeathed to him was a fine constitution and a pure love
for work. In 1707 he came to reside at Amsterdam, where for years he had
to struggle incessantly against difficulties. He commenced the art of
engraving by studying the works of Cornelis Cort, Suyderhoef, Edelinck
and the Visschers. He devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture.
Among his best works are scenes from the comedy of _De Ontdekte
Schijndeugd_, executed in his eightieth year, after Cornelis Troost, who
was called by his countrymen the Dutch Hogarth. He died on the 14th of
November 1780.
See A. Ver Hull, _Jacobus Houbraken et son oeuvre_ (Arnhem, 1875),
where 120 engraved works are fully described.
HOUDENC (or HOUDAN), RAOUL DE, 12th-century French trouvère, takes his
name from his native place, generally identified with Houdain (Artois),
though there are twelve places bearing the name in one or other of its
numerous variants. It has been suggested that he was a monk, but from
the scattered hints in his writings it seems more probable that he
followed the trade of jongleur and recited his chansons, with small
success apparently, in the houses of the great. He was well acquainted
with Paris, and probably spent a great part of his life there. His
undoubted works are: _Le Songe d'enfer_, _La Voie de paradis_, _Le Roman
des eles_ (pr. by A. Scheler in _Trouvères belges_, New Series, 1897)
and the romance of _Méraugis de Portlesguez_, edited by M. Michelant
(1869) and by Dr M. Friedwagner (Halle, 1897). Houdenc was an imitator
of Chrétien de Troyes; and Huon de Méri, in his _Tournoi de
l'antéchrist_ (1226) praises him with Chrétien in words that seem to
imply that both were dead. _Méraugis de Portlesguez_, the hero of which
perhaps derives his name from Lesguez, the port of Saint Brieuc in
Brittany, is a _roman d'aventures_ loosely attached to the Arthurian
cycle.
See Gaston Paris in _Hist. litt. de la France_, xxx. 220-237; W.
Zingerlé, _Über Raoul de Houdenc und seine Werke_ (Erlangen, 1880);
and O. Boerner, _Raoul de Houdenc. Eine stilistische Untersuchung_
(1885).
HOUDETOT, a French noble family, taking its name from the lordship of
Houdetot, between Arques and St Valéry. Louis de Houdetot went with
Robert, duke of Normandy, to Palestine in 1034, and the various branches
of the family trace descent from Richard I. de Houdetot (fl. 1229), who
married Marie de Montfort. Charles Louis de Houdetot received a
marquisate in 1722, and on his son Claude Constance César,
lieutenant-general in the French army, was conferred the hereditary
title of count in 1753. His wife (see below) was the Madame de Houdetot
of Rousseau's _Confessions_. Their son César Louis Marie François Ange,
comte de Houdetot (1749-1825), was governor of Martinique (1803-1809)
and lieutenant-general (1814) under the Empire. His son Frédéric
Christophe, comte de Houdetot (1778-1859), was director-general of
indirect imposts in Prussia after Jena, and prefect of Brussels in 1813.
He acquiesced in the Restoration, but had to resign from the service
after the Hundred Days. He became a peer of France in 1819, and under
the Second Empire he was returned by the department of Calvados to the
Corps Législatif. His half-brother, Charles Île-de-France, comte de
Houdetot (1789-1866), was wounded at Trafalgar and transferred to the
army, in which he served through the Napoleonic wars. He retired at the
Restoration, but returned to the service in 1823, and in 1826 became
aide-de-camp to the duke of Orleans, becoming lieutenant-general in
1842. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies from 1837 to 1848, when he
followed Louis Philippe into exile. A third brother, César François
Adolphe, comte de Houdetot (1799-1869), was a well-known writer on
military and other subjects.
HOUDETOT, ELISABETH FRANÇOISE SOPHIE DE LA LIVE DE BELLEGARDE, COMTESSE
DE (1730-1813), was born in 1730. She married the comte de Houdetot (see
above) in 1748. In 1753 she formed with the marquis de Saint Lambert
(q.v.) a connexion which lasted till his death. Mme de Houdetot has been
made famous by the chapter in Rousseau's _Confessions_ in which he
describes his unreciprocated passion for her. When questioned on the
subject she replied that he had much exaggerated. A view differing
considerably from Rousseau's is to be found in the _Mémoires_ of Mme
d'Epinay, Mme de Houdetot's sister-in-law.
For a discussion of her relations with Rousseau see
Saint-Marc-Girardin in the _Revue des deux mondes_ (September 1853).
HOUDON, JEAN ANTOINE (1740-1828), French sculptor, was born at
Versailles on the 18th of March 1740. At the age of twelve he entered
the École royale de Sculpture, and at twenty, having learnt all that he
could from Michel Ange Slodtz and Pigalle, he carried off the prix de
Rome and left France for Italy, where he spent the next ten years of his
life. His brilliant talent, which seems to have been formed by the
influence of that world of statues with which Louis XIV. peopled the
gardens of Versailles rather than by the lessons of his masters,
delighted Pope Clement XIV., who, on seeing the St Bruno executed by
Houdon for the church of St Maria degli Angeli, said "he would speak,
were it not that the rules of his order impose silence." In Italy Houdon
had lived in the presence of that second Renaissance with which the name
of Winckelmann is associated, and the direct and simple treatment of the
Morpheus which he sent to the Salon of 1771 bore witness to its
influence. This work procured him his "agrégation" to the Academy of
Painting and Sculpture, of which he was made a full member in 1775.
Between these dates Houdon had not been idle; busts of Catharine II.,
Diderot and Prince Galitzin were remarked at the Salon of 1773, and at
that of 1775 he produced, not only his Morpheus in marble, but busts of
Turgot, Gluck (in which the marks of small-pox in the face were
reproduced with striking effect) and Sophie Arnould as Iphigeneia (now
in the Wallace Collection, London), together with his well-known marble
relief, "Grive suspendue par les pattes." He took also an active part in
the teaching of the academy, and executed for the instruction of his
pupils the celebrated Écorché still in use. To every Salon Houdon was a
chief contributor; most of the leading men of the day were his sitters;
his busts of d'Alembert, Prince Henry of Prussia, Gerbier, Buffon (for
Catharine of Russia) and Mirabeau are remarkable portraits; and in 1778,
when the news of Rousseau's death reached him, Houdon started at once
for Ermenonville, and there took a cast of the dead man's face, from
which he produced the grand and life-like head now in the Louvre. In
1779 his bust of Molière, at the Théâtre Français, won universal praise,
and the celebrated draped statue of Voltaire, in the vestibule of the
same theatre, was exhibited at the Salon of 1781, to which Houdon also
sent a statue of Marshal de Tourville, commissioned by the king, and the
Diana executed for Catharine II. This work was refused; the jury alleged
that a statue of Diana demanded drapery; without drapery, they said, the
goddess became a "suivante de Vénus," and not even the proud and frank
chastity of the attitude and expression could save the Diana of Houdon
(a bronze reproduction of which is in the Louvre) from insult. Three
years later he went to America, there to carry out a statue of
Washington. With Franklin, whose bust he had recently executed, Houdon
left France in 1785, and, staying some time with Washington at Mount
Vernon, he modelled the bust, with which he decided to go back to Paris,
there to complete the statue destined for the capitol of the State of
Virginia. After his return to his native country Houdon executed for the
king of Prussia, as a companion to a statue of Summer, La Frileuse, a
naif embodiment of shivering cold, which is one of his best as well as
one of his best-known works. The Revolution interrupted the busy flow of
commissions, and Houdon took up a half-forgotten project for a statue of
St Scholastica. He was immediately denounced to the convention, and his
life was only saved by his instant and ingenious adaptation of St
Scholastica into an embodiment of Philosophy. Under Napoleon, of whom in
1806 he made a nude statue now at Dijon, Houdon received little
employment; he was, however, commissioned to execute the colossal
reliefs intended for the decoration of the column of the "Grand Army" at
Boulogne (which ultimately found a different destination); he also
produced a statue of Cicero for the senate, and various busts, amongst
which may be cited those of Marshal Ney, of Josephine and of Napoleon
himself, by whom Houdon was rewarded with the legion of honour. He died
at Paris on the 16th of July 1828.
See memoir by Émile Délerot and Arsène Legrelle in _Mémoires de la
société des sciences morales ... de Seine-et-Oise_, iv. 49 et seq.
(1857); Anatole de Montaiglon and Georges Duplessis in _Revue
universelle des arts_, i. and ii. (1855-1856); Hermann Dierks,
_Houdons Leben und Werke_ (Gotha, 1887); Albert Terrade, _Autour de la
statue de Jean Houdon_ (Versailles, 1892); P. E. Mangeant, _Sur une
statuette de Voltaire par J. Houdon_ (Paris, 1896).
HOUFFALIZE, a small town occupying an elevated position (nearly 1100
ft.) in the extreme south-east of the province of Luxemburg, Belgium,
much visited during the summer on account of its fine bracing air. There
are the ruins of an old castle, and some remains of the still older
abbey of Val Ste Catherine. The parish church dates from the 13th or
14th century. It contains two old black marble tombs to Thierry of
Houffalize and Henri his son, the latter killed at Woeringen in 1288.
Houffalize is on the eastern Ourthe, and is connected by a steam tramway
with Bourcy on the line from Libramont to Bastogne, Spa and Liége. Pop.
(1904) 1486.
HOUGHTON, RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES, 1ST BARON (1809-1885), English poet
and man of letters, son of Robert Pemberton Milnes, of Fryston Hall,
Yorkshire, and the Hon. Henrietta Monckton, daughter of the fourth Lord
Galway, was born in London on the 19th of June 1809. He was educated
privately, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1827. There he
was at once drawn into a literary set, and became a member of the famous
"Apostles" Club, which then included Tennyson, Hallam, Trench, J. W.
Blakesley, afterwards dean of Lincoln, and others. After taking his
degree, Milnes travelled abroad, spending some time at Bonn University.
Thence he went to Italy and Greece, and published in 1834 a volume of
_Memorials of a Tour in some Parts of Greece_, describing his
experiences. He returned to London in 1837, and was in that year elected
to Parliament as member for Pontefract. His parliamentary career was
marked by much strenuous activity. He interested himself particularly in
the question of copyright and the conditions of reformatory schools. He
left Peel's party over the Corn Law controversy, and was afterwards
identified in politics with Palmerston, at whose instance he was made a
peer in 1863. His literary career was industrious and cultured, without
being exceptionally distinguished. Church matters had always a claim
upon him: he wrote a striking tract in 1841, which was praised by
Newman; and took part in the discussion about "Essays and Reviews,"
defending the tractarian position in _One Tract More_ (1841). He
published two volumes of verse in 1838, _Memorials of Residence upon the
Continent and Poems of Many Years_, _Poetry for the People in 1840_ and
_Palm Leaves_ in 1844. He also wrote a _Life and Letters of Keats_ in
1848, the material for which was largely provided by the poet's friend,
Charles Armitage Brown. Milnes also contributed largely to the reviews.
His poetry is meditative and delicate; some of his ballads were among
the most popular of their day, and all his work was marked by
refinement. But his chief distinctions were his keen sense of literary
merit in others, and the judgment and magnanimity with which he fostered
it. He was surrounded by the most brilliant men of his time, many of
whom he had been the first to acclaim. His chief title to remembrance
rests on the part he played, as a man of influence in society and in
moulding public opinion on literary matters, in connexion with his large
circle of talented friends. He secured a pension for Tennyson, helped to
make Emerson known in Great Britain, and was one of the earliest
champions of Swinburne. He helped David Gray and wrote a preface for
_The Luggie_. He was, in the old sense of the word, a patron of letters,
and one who never abused the privileges of his position. Milnes married
in 1851 the Hon. Annabel Crewe (d. 1874). He died at Vichy on the 11th
of August 1885, and was buried at Fryston. His son, the second Baron
Houghton, was created Earl of Crewe (q.v.) in 1895.
See _The Life, Letters and Friendships of Richard Monckton Milnes,
first Lord Houghton_ (1890), by Sir T. Wemyss Reid.
HOUGHTON-LE-SPRING, an urban district in the Houghton-le-Spring
parliamentary division of Durham, England, 6 m. N.E. of the city of
Durham. Pop. (1901) 7858. It is well situated at the head of a small
valley branching from that of the Wear. St Michael's church is a
cruciform Early English and Decorated building, with a picturesque
embattled rectory adjoining. Bernard Gilpin, "the Apostle of the North,"
was rector of this parish from 1556 to 1583, and the founder of the
grammar school. The principal public buildings are a town hall, market
house and church institute. Houghton Hall is a fine mansion of the late
16th century. In the orchard stands a tomb, that of the puritan Sir
Robert Hutton (d. 1680), of whom a curious tradition states that he
desired burial beside his war-horse, the body of which was denied
interment in consecrated ground. The main road from Durham to Sunderland
here passes through a remarkable cutting in the limestone 80 ft. deep.
The district affords frequent evidence of ice activity in the glacial
period. The town is the centre of a large system of electric tramways.
The population is mainly dependent on the neighbouring collieries, but
limestone quarrying is carried on to some extent.
HOUND, a dog, now used, except in poetry, only of dogs of the chase, and
particularly of the breed used in hunting the fox, the "hound" _par
excellence_. Other breeds have a defining word prefixed, e.g.
boar-hound, stag-hound, &c. (see DOG). The O. Eng. _hund_ is the common
Teutonic name for the animal, cf. Du. _hond_, Ger. _Hund_, &c., and is
cognate with Sansk. _çvan_, Gr. [Greek: kyôn], Lat. _canis_, Ir. and
Gael. _cu_.
HOUNSLOW, a town in the Brentford parliamentary division of Middlesex,
England, 12½ m. W. by S. of St Paul's Cathedral, London, on the District
and London & South Western railways. Pop. (1901) 11,377. It has grown
into an extensive residential suburb of London. Its situation at the
junction of two great roads from the west of England made it an
important coaching station, and some 500 coaches formerly passed through
it daily. A priory of friars of the Holy Trinity was founded at Hounslow
in 1296, and existed till the dissolution of the monasteries. The priory
chapel was used as a church till 1830, after which its place was taken
by the existing church of the Holy Trinity (1835). Hounslow Heath, west
of the town, had, according to the survey of 1546, an area of 4293
acres. It was the site of Roman and British camps, and in the wars of
the 17th century was the scene of several important military rendezvous.
It was a favourite resort of highwaymen, whose bodies were exposed on
gibbets along the road. In 1784 the base-line of the first
trigonometrical survey in England was laid down on the heath. In 1793
large cavalry barracks were erected upon it, and it is also the site of
extensive powder mills. It began to be enclosed towards the end of the
reign of George III. In Osterley Park, N.E. of Hounslow, Sir Thomas
Gresham built a mansion in 1577, and this was rebuilt with great
magnificence by Francis and Robert Child c. 1770. Hounslow is divided
between the parishes of Heston and Isleworth. Pop. of urban district of
Heston and Isleworth (1901) 30,863.
HOUR, the twenty-fourth part of a civil day, the twelfth part of a
natural day or night, a space of time of sixty minutes' duration. The
word is derived through the O. Fr. _ure_, _ore_, _houre_, mod. _heure_,
from Lat. _hora_, Gr. [Greek: hôra], season, time of day, hour (see
CALENDAR).
HOUR ANGLE, the angular distance of a heavenly body from the meridian,
as measured around the celestial pole. It is equal to the angle at the
pole between the hour circle through the body and the meridian, but is
usually expressed in time.
HOUR-GLASS, a device for measuring intervals of time, also known as
sand-glass, and as log-glass when used in conjunction with the common
log for ascertaining the speed of a ship. It consists of two pear-shaped
bulbs of glass, united at their apices and having a minute passage
formed between them. A quantity of sand (or occasionally of mercury) is
enclosed in the bulbs, and the size of the passage is so proportioned
that this sand will completely run through from one bulb to another in
the time it is desired to measure--e.g. an hour or a minute. Instruments
of this kind, which have no great pretensions to accuracy, were formerly
common in churches. In the English House of Commons, as a preliminary to
a division, a two-minute sand-glass is still turned, and while the sand
is running the "division bells" are set in motion in every part of the
building, to give members notice that a division is at hand.
HOURI, the term for a beautiful virgin who awaits the devout Mahommedan
in Paradise. The word is the French representative of the Pers. _huri_,
Arab, _hawra'_, a black-eyed virgin, from _hawira_, to be black-eyed,
like a gazelle.
HOURS, CANONICAL, certain portions of the day set apart by rule (canon)
of the church for prayer and devotion. The Jewish custom of praying
three times a day, i.e. at the third, sixth and ninth hours, was
perpetuated in the early Christian Church (Acts ii. 15, iii. 1, x. 9),
and to these were added midnight (when Paul and Silas sang in prison),
and the beginning of day and of night. Ambrose, Augustine and Hilary
commended the example of the psalmist who gave praise "seven times a
day" (Ps. cxix. 164). The seventh (Compline, _Completorium_) was added
by Benedict. These hours were adopted especially in the monasteries as a
part of the canonical life, and spread thence to the cathedral and
collegiate chapters.
Since the 6th century the number and order of the hours have been fixed
thus: matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, compline.
_Matins_ theoretically belongs to midnight, but in Italy it is said
about 7 or 8 A.M. and in France often on the preceding evening in
accordance with the statement "evening and morning were one day." At
matins is said the _Venite_ (Ps. xcv.) and a hymn, followed by a
_Nocturna_ or night-watch (on Sundays three) which consists of twelve
psalms. After the _nocturna_ comes a lesson divided into three parts,
one biblical and two patristic, and finally the _Te Deum_.
_Lauds_ is proper to sunrise, but is mostly grouped with matins. It
consists of four psalms, a canticle, psalms 148-150, a hymn, the
Benedictus (Luke i. 68-79) and prayers.
_Prime_ (6 A.M.), _Terce_ (9 A.M.), _Sext_ (noon) and _None_ (3 P.M.)
are called the Little Day Hours, are often said together, and are alike
in character, consisting of a hymn and some sections of Ps. cxix.,
followed by a prayer. On Sundays the Athanasian Creed is said at prime.
_Vespers_ or _Evensong_ consists of five varying psalms, a hymn, the
_Magnificat_ (Luke i. 46-55) and prayers. It belongs theoretically to
sunset.
_Compline_, technically 9 P.M., but usually combined with vespers, is a
prayer for protection during the darkness. It consists of the general
confession, four fixed psalms, a hymn, the _Nunc dimittis_ (Luke ii.
29-32), prayers and a Commemoration of the Virgin.
The term "canonical hours" is also used of the time during which
English marriages may be solemnized without special licence, i.e.
between 8 A.M. and 3 P.M.
HOUSE (O. Eng. _hús_, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut.
_huis_, Ger. _Haus_; in Gothic it is only found in _gudhûs_, a temple;
it may be ultimately connected with the root of "hide," conceal), the
dwelling-place of a human being (treated, from the architectural point
of view, below), or, in a transferred sense, of an animal, particularly
of one whose abode, like that of the beaver, is built by the animal
itself, or, like that of the snail, resembles in some fancied way a
human dwelling. Apart from the numerous compound uses of the word,
denoting the purpose for which a building is employed, such as
custom-house, lighthouse, bakehouse, greenhouse and the like, there may
be mentioned the particular applications to a chamber of a legislative
body, the Houses of Parliament, House of Representatives, &c.; to the
upper and lower assemblies of convocation; and to the colleges at a
university; the heads of these foundations, known particularly as
master, principal, president, provost, rector, &c., are collectively
called heads of houses. At English public schools a "house" is the usual
unit of the organization. In the "houses" the boys sleep, have their
"studies" and their meals, if the school is arranged on the
"boarding-house" system. The houses have their representative teams in
the school games, but have no place in the educational class-system of
the school. It may be noticed that in Scotland the words "house" and
"tenement" are used in a way distinct from the English use, "tenement"
being applied to the large block containing "houses," portions, i.e.,
occupied by separate families. "The House" is the name colloquially
given to such different institutions as the London Stock Exchange, the
House of Commons or Lords and to a workhouse.
In the transferred sense, "house" is used of a family, genealogically
considered, and of the audience at a public meeting or entertainment,
especially of a theatre. A "house-physician" and "house-surgeon" is a
member of the resident medical staff of a hospital. In astrology the
twelve divisions into which the heavens are divided, and through which
the planets pass, are known as houses, the first being called the "house
of life." The word "house," "housing," used of the trappings of a horse,
especially of a covering for the back and flanks, attached to the
saddle, is of quite distinct origin. In medieval Latin it appears as
_hucia_, _houssia_ and _housia_ (see Ducange, _Glossarium_, s.v.
_housia_), and comes into English from the O. Fr. _huche_, modern
_housse_. It has been supposed to have been adopted, at the time of the
crusades, from the Arabic _yushiah_, a covering.
Architecturally considered, the term "house" is given to a building
erected for habitation, in contradistinction to one built for secular or
ecclesiastical purposes. The term extends, therefore, to a dwelling of
any size, from a single-room building to one containing as many rooms as
a palace; thus in London some of the largest dwellings are those
inhabited by royalty, such as Marlborough House, or others by men of
rank, such as Devonshire House, Bridgewater House, Spencer House, &c.;
and even those which, formerly built as habitations, have subsequently
been devoted to other purposes, such as Somerset House and Burlington
House, retain the term. In Paris the larger houses thus named would be
called _hôtel_.
So far as the history of domestic architecture is concerned, the
earliest houses of which remains have been found are those of the
village of Kahun in Egypt, which were built for the workmen employed in
the building of the pyramid at Illahun, and deserted on its completion.
They varied in size from the habitations of the chief inspectors to the
single room of the ordinary labourer, and were built in unburnt brick
with open courts in the larger examples, to give light and air to the
rooms round. The models found in 1907 at Deir-Rifa opposite Assiut in
Upper Egypt, by Flinders Petrie, and assumed by him to be those of
"soul-houses," suggest that the early type of building consisted of a
hut, to which later a porch or lean-to, with two poles in front, has
been added; subsequently, columns replaced the poles, and a flat roof
with parapet, suggesting the primitive forms of the Egyptian temple.
The only remains of early houses found in Mesopotamia are those within
the precincts of the Temple of Bel, at Nippur, occupied by the king; but
beyond the fact that the walls were built in unburnt brick and were
sometimes of great thickness, nothing is known.
The houses in Crete would seem to have been small in area, but this was
compensated for in height, as the small plaques found in the palace at
Cnossus show houses in two or three storeys, with gable roofs and
windows subdivided by mullions and transomes, corresponding with those
of the 15th to 17th centuries in England. The stone staircase in the
palace rising through two storeys shows that even at this early period
the houses in towns had floors superposed one above the other; to a
certain extent the same extension existed in the later Greek houses
found in Delos, in two of which there was clear evidence of wooden
staircases leading within to the roof or to an upper storey. The largest
series hitherto discovered is that at Priene in Asia Minor, where the
remains of some thirty examples were found, varying in dimensions, but
all based on the same plan; this consisted of an entrance passage
leading to an open court, on the north side of which, and therefore
facing south, was an open portico, corresponding to the _prostas_ in
Vitruvius (vi. 7), and in the rear two large rooms, one of which might
be the oecus or sitting-room, and the other the thalamos or chief
bedroom. Other rooms round the court were the triclinium, or dining
room, and cubicula or bedchambers. The largest of these houses occupied
an area measuring 75 × 30 ft. Those found in Delos, though fewer in
number, are of much greater importance, the house in the street of the
theatre having twelve rooms exclusive of the entrance passage and the
great central court, surrounded on all four sides by a peristyle; in
this house the oecus measured 26 × 18 ft. In a second example the
prostas consisted of a long gallery, the whole width of the site, which
was lighted by windows at each end, the sills of which were raised 8 ft.
or 9 ft. from the floor.
[Illustration: PLATE II.
_Photo, Neurdein._
FIG. 4.--MUSICIAN'S HOUSE, REIMS.
_Photo, F. Frith & Co._
FIG. 5.--JEW'S HOUSE, LINCOLN.
_Photo, Neurdein._
FIG. 6.--HÔTEL DE CLUNY, PARIS.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.
_Photo, Neurdein._
FIG. 7.--HÔTEL DE JACQUES COEUR, BOURGES, FAÇADE.
Fig. 8.--HALF-TIMBERED HOUSE AT HILDESHEIM.
_Photo. F. Frith & Co._
FIG. 9.--HOUSE OF JOHN HARVARD'S MOTHER, STRATFORD-ON-AVON.]
The remains of the houses found in the Peiraeus are of the same simple
plan as those at Priene, and suggest that the Greek house was considered
to be the private residence only for the members of the family, and
without any provision for entertaining guests as in Rome and Pompeii.
From the descriptions given by Vitruvius (ii. 8) it may be gathered that
in his time many of the houses in Rome were built in unburnt brick, the
walls of which, if properly protected at the top with a course of burnt
brick projecting over the face of the brickwork, and coated inside and
outside with stucco, were considered to be more lasting than those built
in soft stone. Vitruvius refers also to Greek houses thus built, and
states that in the house of Mausolus, at Halicarnassus, the walls were
of unburnt brick, and the plastering with which they were covered was
so polished that they sparkled like glass. In Rome, however, he points
out, such walls ought to be forbidden, as they are not fit to carry an
upper storey, unless they are of great thickness, and as upper storeys
become necessary in a crowded city such walls would occupy too much
space. The houses in Pompeii (q.v.) were built in rubble masonry with
clay mortar, and their walls were protected at the top by burnt brick
courses and their faces with stucco; they were, however, of a second- or
third-rate class compared with those in Rome, the magnificence of which
is attested in the descriptions given by various writers and
substantiated by the remains occasionally found in excavations.
Vitruvius refers to upper storeys, which were necessary in consequence
of the limited area in Rome, and representations in mosaic floors and in
bas-relief sculpture have been found on which two or three storeys are
indicated. The plans of many Roman houses are shown on the _Marble
Plan_, and they resemble those of Pompeii, but it is probable that the
principal reception rooms were on an upper storey, long since destroyed.
The house of Livia on the Palatine Hill was in two storeys, and the
decoration was of a much finer character than those of Pompeii; this
house and the House of the Vestals might be taken as representative of
the Roman house in Rome itself. In those built in colder climates, as in
England and Germany, account has to be taken of the special provision
required for warming the rooms by hypocausts, of which numerous examples
have been found, with rich mosaic floors over them.
Of the houses in succeeding centuries, those found in the cities of
central Syria, described in the article ARCHITECTURE, are wonderfully
perfect, in consequence of their desertion at the time of the Mahommedan
invasion in the 7th century. Very little is known of the houses in
Europe during the dark ages, owing to the fact that they were generally
built in wood, with thatched roofs. The only examples in stone which
have been preserved are those in the island of Skellig Michael, Kerry,
which were constructed like the beehive tombs at Mycenae with stone
courses overlapping inside until they closed in at the top. These houses
or cells were rectangular inside and round or oval outside, with a small
low door at one end, and an opening above to let the smoke out.
The houses, even in large towns like London, were built mainly in wood,
in some cases down to the 17th century; in the country, the smaller
houses were constructed with trunks of trees in pairs, one end of the
trunk being sunk in the ground, the other bent over and secured by a
ridge piece, thus forming a pointed arch, the opening of which was about
11 ft. The pairs were fixed 16 ft. apart, and the space included
constituted a bay, any requisite increase in the size of the house being
made by doubling or trebling the bays. The roofs were thatched with
straw on battens, and sometimes with a collar beam carrying a floor,
which constituted an upper storey. The end walls were closed with wooden
studs and wattle-and-daub filling. The pairs of trees were known as
forks or crucks. Vitruvius (ii. 1) suggests a similar kind of building
in ancient times, except that the interlaced twigs were covered with
clay, so as to carry off the rain. In Yorkshire there was another type
of house, known as a coit, which was a dwelling-house and barn (shippon)
united; the latter contained the cow-stalls with loft above, and the
former was in two storeys, with a ladder inside the room leading to the
upper floor.[1]
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Houses at Cluny.]
Passing now to structures of a less ephemeral character, the earliest
houses of which there still remain substantial relics are those built in
stone (see MANOR HOUSE). The Jew's House at Lincoln, 12th century, is
one of the best-known examples, and still preserves its street front in
stone, with rich entrance doorway and first-floor windows lighting the
principal room, which seems invariably in those early houses to have
been on the first floor, the ground floor being used for service and
stores (see Plate I. fig. 5). To the 13th century belongs the old
Rectory House at West Dean, Sussex, and to the 14th century the
Parsonage House at Market Deeping, Lincolnshire. The principal examples
of the domestic architecture of this early period in the country are
castles, manor houses and farm buildings, as town houses occupied sites
too valuable to be left untouched; this, however, is not the case in
France, and particularly in the south, where streets of early houses are
still to be found in good preservation, such as those at Cluny (fig. 1)
and Cordes (Tarn), and others at Montferrand, Cahors, Figeac, Angers,
Provins, Sarlat (fig. 2), St Emilion, Périgueux, Soissons and Beauvais,
dating from the 12th to the 14th centuries. One of the most remarkable
examples is the Musician's House at Reims (see Plate I., fig. 4), with
large windows on the first floor, between which are niches with
life-size figures of musicians seated in them. Generally speaking, the
ground storeys of these houses, which in many cases were occupied by
shops, have been transformed, but occasionally the old shop fronts
remain, as in Dinan, Morlaix and other old towns in Brittany. Houses of
the first Renaissance of great beauty exist in Orleans, such as the
house of Agnes Sorel; and the example in the Market Place illustrated in
fig. 3; in Tours, Tristan's house in brick with stone quoins and
dressings to windows; in Rouen, Caen, Bayeux, Toulouse, Dijon and, in
fact, in almost every town throughout France. Of houses of large
dimensions, which in France are termed _hôtels_, there are also many
other fine examples, the best known of which are the hôtel de Jacques
Coeur (see Plate II., fig. 7), at Bourges, and the hôtel de Cluny at
Paris (see Plate I., fig. 6). In the 15th and 16th centuries in France,
owing to the value of the sites in towns, the houses rose to many
storeys, the upper of which were built in half-timber, sometimes
projecting on corbels and richly carved; of these numerous examples
exist at Rouen, Beauvais, Bayeux and other towns in Normandy and
Brittany. Of such structures in English towns (see Plate II. fig. 9)
there are still preserved some examples in York, Southampton, Chester,
Shrewsbury, Stratford-on-Avon, and many smaller towns; the greatest
development in half-timber houses in England is that which is found more
particularly throughout Kent, Sussex and Surrey, in houses of modest
dimensions, generally consisting of ground and first floor only, with
sometimes additional rooms in the roof; in these the upper storey
invariably projects in front of the lower, giving increased dimensions
to the rooms in the former, but adopted in order to protect the walls of
the ground storey from rain, which in the upper storey was effected by
the projecting eaves of the roof. In the north and west of England,
where stone could be obtained at less cost than brick, and in the east
of England, where brick, often imported from the Low Countries, was
largely employed, the ordinary houses were built in those materials,
and in consequence of their excellent construction many houses of the
16th and 17th centuries have remained in good preservation down to the
present day; they are found in the Cotswolds generally, and (among small
towns) at Broadway in Worcestershire and (of brick) throughout Essex and
Suffolk. Among the larger half-timber houses built in the 15th and 16th
centuries, mention may be made of Bramhall Hall, near Manchester; Speke
Hall, near Liverpool (see Plate III., fig. 10); The Oaks; West Bromwich;
and Moreton Old Hall, Cheshire, one of the most elaborate of the series
(see Plate III., fig. 11).
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--House at Sarlat.]
On the borders of the Rhine, as at Bacharach and Rhense, and throughout
Germany, hall-timber houses of the most picturesque character are found
in every town, large and small, those of Hildesheim (see Plate II., fig.
8) dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, and in some cases rising to
a great height with four or five storeys, not including those in the
lofty roofs. Houses in stone from the 12th to the 16th century are found
in Cologne, Metz, Trier, Hanover and Münster in Westphalia, where again
there are whole streets remaining; and in brick at Rostock, Stralsund,
Lübeck, Greifswald and Dantzig, forming a very remarkable series of 15th
and 16th-century work.
Of half-timber work in Italy there are no examples, but sometimes (as at
Bologna) the rooms of the upper floors are carried on arcades, and
sometimes on corbels, as the casa dei Carracci in the same town. The
principal feature of the Italian house is the courtyard in the rear,
with arcades on one or more sides, the front in stone or brick, or both
combined, being of the greatest simplicity (examples in San Gimignano
and Pisa). At Viterbo are small houses in stone, two of which have
external stone staircases of fine design, and the few windows on the
ground floor suggest that the rooms there were used only for stores.
Houses with external staircases, but without any architectural
pretensions, are found throughout the Balkan provinces.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Detail of house at Orleans.]
The introduction of the purer Italian style into England in the 17th
century created a great change in domestic architecture. Instead of the
projecting wings and otherwise picturesque contour of the earlier work
the houses were made square or rectangular on plan, in two or three
storeys, crowned with a modillion cornice carrying a roof of red tiles;
the only embellishments of the main front were the projecting courses of
stone on the quoins and architraves round the windows, and flat
pilasters carrying a hood or pediment flanking the entrance doorway. In
the larger mansions more thought was bestowed on the introduction of
porticoes (scarcely necessary in the English climate), with sometimes
great flights of steps up to the principal floor, which was raised above
a basement with cold and dark passages; a great saloon in the centre of
the block, lighted from above, took the place of the great entrance hall
of the Tudor period, and the rooms frequently led one out of the other,
without an independent entrance door. On the other hand, in the ordinary
houses, the deficiency in external ornament was amply made up for by the
comfort in the interior and the decoration of the staircase and other
rooms. Towards the close of the century the square mullioned and
transomed windows, with opening casements, gave way to sash windows,
introduced from Holland, and these with moulded and stout sash-bars gave
a certain character to the outside of the houses, which are valued now
for their quiet unpretentious character and excellent construction. In
the closes of many English cathedrals, on the outskirts of London, and
in some of the older squares, as Lincoln's Inn Fields and Queen Square,
are examples of this style of house. The substitution of thin sash-bars
in the 19th century, and their omission occasionally, in favour of
plate-glass, deprived the house-front of one of its chief attractions;
but the old English casements and oriels or bow-windows have been again
introduced, and a return has been made to the style which prevailed in
the beginning of the 18th century, commonly known as that of Queen Anne.
[Illustration: PLATE III.
_Photo, Frith & Co._
FIG. 10.--SPEKE HALL, NEAR LIVERPOOL.
_Photo, F. Frith & Co._
FIG. 11.--MORETON OLD HALL, NEAR CONGLETON, CHESHIRE.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
From Garner and Stratton, _Domestic Architecture of England during the
Tudor Period_, 1910. By permission of B. T. Batsford.
FIG. 12.--SOUTH COURT OF SUTTON PLACE, SURREY, 1525.
From _Gotch, Architecture of the Renaissance in England_, 1894. By
permission of B. T. Batsford.
FIG. 13.--MOYNS PARK, ESSEX, 1580.]
[Illustration: PLATE V.
From Belcher and Macartney, _Later Renaissance Architecture in
England_, 1901. By permission of B. T. Batsford.
FIG. 14.--HAM HOUSE, PETERSHAM, 1610.
From Gotch, _Architecture of the Renaissance in England_, 1894. By
permission of B. T. Batsford.
FIG. 15.--BRAMSHILL, HAMPSHIRE, 1612.]
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
From Belcher and MaCartney, _Later Renaissance Architecture in
England_, By permission of B. T. Batsford.
FIG. 16.--THE EARL OF BURLINGTON'S VILLA, CHISWICK. EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.
From the same source as above.
FIG. 17.--HOUSES IN CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON. EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
Perhaps in one respect the greatest change which has been made in the
English house is the adoption of "flats"; commenced some time in the
'fifties in Ashley Gardens, Westminster, they have spread throughout
London. In consequence of the great value of the sites on which they are
sometimes built, to which must be added the cost of the houses pulled
down to make way for them, the question of expense in material and rich
decoration has not always been worth considering, so that frontages in
stone, with the classic orders brought in with many varieties of design,
have given the character of a palace to a structure in which none of the
rooms exceeds the modest height of 10 ft. The increasing demand for
these, however, shows that they meet, so far as their accommodation and
comfort are concerned, the wants and tastes of the upper and middle
classes. In some of the London streets, where shops occupy the ground
floor, a far finer type of house has been erected than that which could
have been afforded for the shopkeeper's residence above, as in old
times, so that London promises in time to become a city of palaces. The
same change in the aspects of its streets has long been evident in
Paris, but there is one feature in the latter city which has never yet
found its way into London, much to the surprise of French visitors, viz.
the _porte-cochère_, through which the occupants of the house can in wet
weather drive and be landed in a covered hall or vestibule. This
requires, of course, a small court at the back, so small that one
wonders sometimes how it is possible for the carriage to turn round in
it. The _porte-cochère_ also, from its dimensions, is a feature of more
importance than the ordinary street doorway, even when a portico of some
kind is added; on the other hand, the strict regulations in Paris as
regards the projection of cornices and other decorative accessories
gives to the stranger the appearance of monotony in their design, which
certainly cannot be said of the houses in flats lately built in London.
Within recent years an old English feature, known as the bow-window, has
been introduced into Paris, the primary object of which does not seem
yet to have been thoroughly understood by the French architect. An
English bow-window, by its slight projection in front of the main wall,
increases greatly the amount of light entering the room, and it is
generally placed between solid piers of stone or brick. The French
architects, however, project their piers on immense corbels, and then
sink their windows with deep external reveals, so that no benefit
accrues to the room, so far as the increased light is concerned. In
Paris, since 1900, there has been a tendency to introduce a style of
design in French houses which is known as "l'art nouveau," a style which
commenced in furniture as a reaction against the revival of the Empire
and Louis XIV. and XVI. periods, and was then extended to house fronts;
this style has unfortunately spread through the various towns in France
and apparently to Germany, again as a reaction against the formal
classic style of the latter half of the 19th century. It is probable
that in Italy and Spain "l'art nouveau" may meet with the same success,
and for the same reasons, so that in the latter country it will be a
revival, with modifications, of the well-known Churrigueresque style,
the most debased Rococo style which has ever existed. In England it has
never met with any response. (R. P. S.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] A complete description of these houses will be found in _The
Evolution of the English House_, by S. O. Addy.
HOUSEHOLD, ROYAL. In all the medieval monarchies of western Europe the
general system of government sprang from, and centred in, the royal
household. The sovereign's domestics were his officers of state, and the
leading dignitaries of the palace were the principal administrators of
the kingdom. The royal household itself had, in its turn, grown out of
an earlier and more primitive institution. It took its rise in the
_comitatus_ described by Tacitus, the chosen band of _comites_ or
companions who, when the Roman historian wrote, constituted the personal
following, in peace as well as in war, of the Teutonic chieftain. In
England before the Conquest the _comitatus_ had developed or
degenerated into the thegnhood, and among the most eminent and powerful
of the king's thegns were his dishthegn, his bowerthegn, and his
horsethegn or staller. In Normandy at the time of the Conquest a similar
arrangement, imitated from the French court, had long been established,
and the Norman dukes, like their overlords the kings of France, had
their seneschal or steward, their chamberlain and their constable. After
the Conquest the ducal household of Normandy was reproduced in the royal
household of England; and since, in obedience to the spirit of
feudalism, the great offices of the first had been made hereditary, the
great offices of the second were made hereditary also, and were
thenceforth held by the grantees and their descendants as
grand-serjeanties of the crown. The consequence was that they passed out
of immediate relation to the practical conduct of affairs either in both
state and court or in the one or the other of them. The steward and
chamberlain of England were superseded in their political functions by
the justiciar and treasurer of England, and in their domestic functions
by the steward and chamberlain of the household. The marshal of England
took the place of the constable of England in the royal palace, and was
associated with him in the command of the royal armies. In due course,
however, the marshalship as well as the constableship became hereditary,
and, although the constable and marshal of England retained their
military authority until a comparatively late period, the duties they
had successively performed about the palace had been long before
transferred to the master of the horse. In these circumstances the
holders of the original great offices of state and the household ceased
to attend the court except on occasions of extraordinary ceremony, and
their representatives either by inheritance or by special appointment
have ever since continued to appear at coronations and some other public
solemnities, such as the opening of the parliament or trials by the
House of Lords.[1]
The materials available for a history of the English royal household are
somewhat scanty and obscure. The earliest record relating to it is of
the reign of Henry II. and is contained in the _Black Book of the
Exchequer_. It enumerates the various inmates of the king's palace and
the daily allowances made to them at the period at which it was
compiled. Hence it affords valuable evidence of the antiquity and
relative importance of the court offices to which it refers,
notwithstanding that it is silent as to the functions and formal
subordination of the persons who filled them.[2] In addition to this
record we have a series of far later, but for the most part equally
meagre, documents bearing more or less directly on the constitution of
the royal household, and extending, with long intervals, from the reign
of Edward III. to the reign of William and Mary.[3] Among them, however,
are what are known as the _Black Book of the Household_ and the
_Statutes of Eltham_, the first compiled in the reign of Edward IV. and
the second in the reign of Henry VIII., from which a good deal of
detailed information may be gathered concerning the arrangements of the
court in the 15th and 16th centuries. The _Statutes of Eltham_ were
meant for the practical guidance merely of those who were responsible
for the good order and the sufficient supply of the sovereign's
household at the time they were issued. But the _Black Book of the
Household_, besides being a sort of treatise on princely magnificence
generally, professes to be based on the regulations established for the
governance of the court by Edward III., who, it affirms, was "the first
setter of certeynties among his domesticall meyne, upon a grounded rule"
and whose palace it describes as "the house of very policie and flowre
of England"; and it may therefore possibly, and even probably, take us
back to a period much more remote than that at which it was actually put
together.[4] Various orders, returns and accounts of the reigns of
Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., Charles II., and William and Mary throw
considerable light on the organization of particular sections of the
royal household in times nearer to our own.[5] Moreover, there were
several parliamentary inquiries into the expenses of the royal household
in connexion with the settlement or reform of the civil list during the
reigns of George III., George IV. and William IV.[6] But they add little
or nothing to our knowledge of the subject in what was then its
historical as distinguished from its contemporary aspects. So much,
indeed, is this the case that, on the accession of Queen Victoria,
Chamberlayne's _Present State of England_, which contains a catalogue of
the officials at the court of Queen Anne, was described by Lord
Melbourne the prime minister as the "only authority" which the advisers
of the crown could find for their assistance in determining the
appropriate constitution and dimensions of the domestic establishment of
a queen regnant.[7]
In its main outlines the existing organization of the royal household is
essentially the same as it was under the Tudors or the Plantagenets. It
is now, as it was then, divided into three principal departments, at the
head of which are severally the lord steward, the lord chamberlain and
the master of the horse, and the respective provinces of which may be
generally described as "below stairs," "above stairs" and "out of
doors." The duties of these officials, and the various officers under
their charge are dealt with in the articles under those headings. When
the reigning sovereign is a queen, the royal household is in some other
respects rather differently arranged from that of a king and a queen
consort. When there is a king and a queen consort there is a separate
establishment "above stairs" and "out of doors" for the queen consort.
She has a lord chamberlain's department of her own, and all the ladies
of the court from the mistress of the robes to the maids of honour are
in her service. At the commencement of the reign of Queen Victoria the
two establishments were combined, and on the whole considerably reduced.
On the accession of Edward VII. the civil list was again reconstituted;
and while the household of the king and his consort became larger than
during the previous reign, there was a tendency towards increased
efficiency by abolishing certain offices which were either redundant or
unnecessary.
The royal households of such of the continental monarchies of Europe as
have had a continuous history from medieval times resemble in general
outlines that described above. There are, common to many, certain great
offices, which have become, in course of time, merely titular and
sometimes hereditary. In most cases, as the name of the office would
suggest, they were held by those who discharged personal functions about
the sovereign. Gradually, in ways or for reasons which might vary in
each individual case, the office alone survived, the duties either
ceasing to be necessary, or being transferred to officers of less
exalted station and permanently attached to the sovereign's household.
For example, in Prussia, there are certain great titular officers, such
as the Oberstmarschall (great chamberlain); the Oberstjägermeister
(grand master of the hunt); the Oberstschenk (grand cup-bearer) and the
Obersttruchsess (grand carver), while, at the same time, there are also
departments which correspond, to a great extent--both as to offices and
their duties--to those of the household of the English sovereigns. This
is a feature which must necessarily be reproduced in any monarchical
country, whatever the date of its foundation, to a more or less limited
extent, and varying in its constitution with the needs or customs of the
particular countries.
See also LORD STEWARD; LORD CHAMBERLAIN; MASTER OF THE HORSE; PRIVY
PURSE; and CIVIL LIST.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The great officers of state and the household whom we have
particularly mentioned do not of course exhaust the catalogue of
them. We have named those only whose representatives are still
dignitaries of the court and functionaries of the palace. If the
reader consults Hallam (_Middle Ages_, i. 181 seq.), Freeman (_Norman
Conquest_, i. 91 seq., and v. 426 seq.) and Stubbs (_Const. Hist._ i.
343, seq.), he will be able himself to fill in the details of the
outline we have given above.
[2] The record in question is entitled _Constitutio Domus Regis de
Procurationibus_, and is printed by Hearne (_Liber Niger Scaccarii_,
i. 341 sq.). It is analysed by Stubbs (_Const. Hist._ vol. i. note 2,
p. 345).
[3] _A Collection of Ordinances and Regulations for the Government of
the Royal Household, made in Divers Reigns from King Edward III. to
King William and Queen Mary_, printed for the Society of Antiquaries,
(London, 1790). See also Pegge's _Curialia_, published partly before
and partly after this volume; and Carlisle's _Gentlemen of the Privy
Chamber_, published in 1829. Pegge and Carlisle, however, deal with
small and insignificant portions of the royal establishment.
[4] _Liber niger domus Regis Edward IV._ and _Ordinances for the
Household made at Eltham in the seventeenth year of King Henry VIII.,
A.D. 1526_, are the titles of these two documents. The earlier
documents printed in the same collection are _Household of King
Edward III. in Peace and War from the eighteenth to the twenty-first
year of his reign_; _Ordinances of the Household of King Henry IV. in
the thirty-third year of his reign, A.D. 1455_, and _Articles
ordained by King Henry VII. for the Regulation of his Household, A.D.
1494_.
[5] _The Book of the Household of Queen Elizabeth as it was ordained
in the forty-third year of her Reign delivered to our Sovereign Lord
King James, &c._, is simply a list of officers' names and allowances.
It seems to have been drawn up under the curious circumstances
referred to in _Archaeologia_ (xii. 80-85). For the rest of these
documents see _Ordinances and Regulations, &c._, pp. 299, 340, 347,
352, 368 and 380.
[6] Burke's celebrated Act "for enabling His Majesty to discharge the
debt contracted upon the civil list, and for preventing the same from
being in arrear for the future, &c.," 22 Geo. III. c. 82, was passed
in 1782. But it was foreshadowed in his great speech on "Economical
Reform" delivered two years before. Since the beginning of the 19th
century select committees of the House of Commons have reported on
the civil list and royal household in 1803, 1804, 1815, 1831 and
1901.
[7] Torrens's _Memoirs of William, second Viscount Melbourne_,
ii-303.
HOUSEL, the English name, until the time of the Reformation, for the
Eucharist. The word in O. Eng. was _húsel_. Its proper meaning is
"sacrifice," and thus the word _hunsl_ appears in Ulfilas' Gothic
version of Matt. ix. 13, "I will have mercy and not sacrifice." The
ultimate origin is doubtful. The _New English Dictionary_ connects it
with a Teutonic stem meaning "holy"; from which is derived the
Lithuanian _szwentas_, and Lettish _swéts_. Skeat refers it to a root
meaning "to kill," which may connect it with Gr. [Greek: kainein].
HOUSELEEK, _Sempervivum_, a genus of ornamental evergreen plants
belonging to the natural order _Crassulaceae_. About 30 species are
known in gardens, some of which are hardy perennial herbs, and grow well
in dry or rocky situations; the others are evergreen shrubs or
undershrubs, fit only for cultivation in the greenhouse or conservatory.
The genus _Sempervivum_ is distinguished from the nearly allied _Sedum_
by having more than five (about 12) petals, and by the glands at the
base of the ovary being laciniated if present. The common houseleek, _S.
tectorum_ (Ger. _Hauswurzel_, Fr. _joubarbe_), is often met with in
Britain on roofs of outhouses and wall-tops, but is not a native.
Originally it was indigenous in the Alps, but it is now widely dispersed
in Europe, and has been introduced into America. The leaves are thick,
fleshy and succulent, and are arranged in the form of a rosette lying
close to the soil. The plant propagates itself by offsets on all sides,
so that it forms after a time a dense cushion or aggregation of
rosettes. The flowering stem, which is of rather rare occurrence, is
about 1 ft. high, reddish, cylindrical and succulent, and ends in a
level-topped cyme, reflexed at the circumference, of reddish flowers,
which bloom from June to September. The houseleek has been known
variously as the houselick, homewort or great houseleek. _Sedum acre_
(stone-crop) is styled the little houseleek. In Germany it is sometimes
called _Donnerkraut_, from being supposed to protect the house on which
it grows from thunder. The leaves are said to contain malic acid in
considerable quantity, and have been eaten as salad, like _Portulaca_.
_S. glutinosum_ and _S. balsamiferum_, natives respectively of Madeira
and the Canary Islands, contain a very viscous substance in large
quantity, and are used for the preparation of bird-lime; fishermen in
Madeira, after dipping their nets in an alkaline solution, rub them with
this substance, rendering them as tough as leather. _S. montanum_,
indigenous in Central Europe, according to Gmelin, causes violent
purging; _S. arboreum_, [Greek: to mega aeizôon] of Dioscorides, is
employed in Cyprus, the East, and northern Africa as an external remedy
for malignant ulcers, inflammations and burns, and internally for mucous
discharges.
HOUSING. The housing of the poorer classes has become a pressing problem
in all populous Western countries, and has engaged, in a varying but
constantly increasing measure, the attention of legislative and
administrative bodies and of philanthropic individuals and societies.
The general interest was signalized by an International Congress held
in London in 1907. The recognition of the problem is due in the first
instance to the science of public health, the rise of which dates from
the second quarter of the 19th century; and in the second instance to
the growth of urban populations consequent on the development of
manufacturing industries and of trading and transporting agencies, both
of which tend to mass increasing numbers of people in convenient
centres. To have a clear view of the subject it is necessary to
distinguish these factors and their respective influence upon the
problem. Urban congestion is quite secondary, and only important because
and so far as it has a prejudicial effect upon health and strength.
Further, the requirements on the scientific side, made on behalf of
public health, are of very much wider application and more expansive
than those which arise from the mere growth of urban population. That is
obvious at once from the fact that they extend to rural housing, which
has indeed become a prominent feature of the question in recent years.
To ascribe the housing problem to the "factory system," as some writers
have done, is to put forward an inadequate and misleading view of it. It
is, in fact, particularly acute in some places totally devoid of
factories and least acute in some purely factory towns. If the factory
system were abolished with all its effects the housing question would
remain. But there is a more important distinction than extent of
application. The requirements of public health are indeterminate and
interminable; knowledge increases, or rather changes, and the standard
constantly rises. It is the changing standard which gives most trouble;
housing at one period thought good enough is presently condemned. Fifty
years ago no house existed which would satisfy modern sanitary
standards, and the mansions of the great were in some respects inferior
to the worst quarters to-day. And to this process there is no end. It is
quite conceivable that urban congestion might cease to be a difficulty
at all. That actually happens in particular towns where the population
is stationary or diminishing. One whole nation (France) has already
reached that point, and others are moving towards it at varying rates.
But even where the supply of houses exceeds the demand and many stand
empty, the housing problem remains; condemnation of existing
accommodation continues and the effort to provide superior houses goes
on. In other words, there are two main aspects of the housing question,
quality and quantity; they touch at various points and interact, but
they are essentially distinct. The problem of quantity may be "solved,"
that of quality has no finality.
The importance attached to housing is much enhanced by the general
tendency to lay stress on the material conditions of life, which
characterizes the present age. Among material conditions environment
takes a leading place, largely under the influence of the theory of
evolution in a popular and probably erroneous form; and among the
factors of environment the home assumes a more and more prominent
position. There is reason in this, for whatever other provision be made
for work or recreation the home is after all the place where people
spend most of their time. Life begins there and generally ends there. At
the beginning of life the whole time is spent there and home conditions
are of paramount importance to the young, whose physical welfare has
become the object of increasing care. But the usual tendency to run to
extremes has asserted itself. It may be admitted that it is extremely
difficult to raise the character and condition of those who live in
thoroughly bad home surroundings, and that an indispensable or
preliminary step is to improve the dwelling. But if in pursuit of this
object other considerations are lost sight of, the result is failure.
Bad housing is intimately connected with poverty; it is, indeed, largely
a question of poverty now that the difference between good and bad
housing is understood and the effects of the latter are recognized. The
poorest people live under the worst housing conditions because they are
the cheapest; the economic factor governs the situation. Poverty again
is associated with bad habits, with dirt, waste, idleness and vice, both
as cause and as effect. These factors cannot be separated in real life;
they act and react upon each other in such a way that it is impossible
to disentangle their respective shares in producing physical and moral
evils. To lay all responsibility upon the structural environment is an
error constantly exposed by experience.
Defective quality embraces some or all of the following
conditions--darkness, bad air, damp, dirt and dilapidation. Particular
insanitary conditions independent of the structure are often associated;
namely defects of water-supply, drainage, excrement and house refuse
removal, back-yards and surrounding ground; they contribute to dirt,
damp and bad air. Defective quantity produces high rents and
overcrowding, both of which have a prejudicial effect upon health; the
one by diminishing expenditure on other necessaries, the other by
fouling the atmosphere and promoting the spread of infectious illness.
The physical effects of these conditions have been demonstrated by
comparative statistics of mortality general and special; among the
latter particular stress is laid on the mortality of infants, that from
consumption and from "zymotic" diseases. The statistical evidence has
been especially directed to the effects of overcrowding, which can be
stated with greater precision than other insanitary conditions. It
generally takes the form of comparing the death-rates of different areas
having widely contrasted densities of population or proportions of
persons to a given space. It is not necessary to quote any of these
figures, which have been produced in great abundance. They broadly
establish a connexion between density and mortality; but the inference
that the connexion can be reduced to a precise numerical statement and
that the difference of mortality shown is all due to overcrowding or
other housing conditions is highly fallacious. Many other factors ought
to be taken into account, such as the age-distribution of the
population, the birth-rate, the occupations, means, character and habits
of the people, the geographical situation, the number of public
institutions, hospitals, workhouses, asylums and so forth. The
fallacious use of vital statistics for the purpose of proving some
particular point has become so common that it is necessary to enter a
warning against them; the subject of housing is a popular field for the
exercise of that art, though there is no need of it.
The actual state of housing in different countries and localities, the
efforts made to deal with it by various agencies, the subsidiary points
which arise in connexion with it and the results attained--all these
heads embrace such a vast mass of facts that any attempt to treat them
fully in detail would run to inordinate length. It must suffice to
review the more salient points; and the most convenient way of doing so
is to deal first with Great Britain, which has led the way historically
in extent of need, in its recognition and in efforts to meet it, adding
some notes upon other countries, in which the question is of more recent
date and for which less information is available.
THE UNITED KINGDOM
The importance of housing and the need of improvement had by 1909
received public recognition in England for nearly 70 years, a period
coinciding almost exactly with the systematic study of sanitation or
public health. The active movement definitely began about 1841 with
voluntary effort in which Lord Shaftesbury was the most prominent and
active figure. The motive was philanthropic and the object was to
improve the condition of the working classes. It took the form of
societies; one was the "Metropolitan Association for Improving the
Dwellings of the Industrial Classes," incorporated in 1845 but founded
in 1841; another was the "Society for Improving the Condition of the
Labouring Classes," originally the "Labourers' Friend Society," of which
the Prince Consort became president. That fact and the statement of the
Society concerning improved housing that "the moral were almost equal to
the physical benefits," sufficiently prove that public interest in the
subject and a grasp of its significance already existed at that date.
Legislation followed not long after and has continued at intervals ever
since.
_Legislation._--Twenty-eight Housing and Health Acts, passed between
1851 and 1903, are enumerated by Mr Dewsnup, whose monograph on _The
Housing Problem in England_ is the fullest account of the subject
published. The first was the Shaftesbury Act of 1851 for the
establishment of lodging-houses for the working classes; the last was
the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1903. The Shaftesbury Act
had in view the provision by local authorities of good lodging-houses
for the better class of artisans, and particularly of single persons,
male and female, though families were also contemplated. It was
accompanied in the same year by another act, not included in the list
of twenty-eight, for the regulation and control of common
lodging-houses, from which Mr Dewsnup reasonably infers that the
object of Lord Shaftesbury, who inspired both acts, was the separation
of the casual and disorderly class frequenting common lodging-houses
from the more regularly employed and respectable workers who were
sometimes driven to use them for lack of other accommodation. At any
rate this early legislation embodied the principle of differential
treatment and showed a grasp of the problem not always visible in
later procedure. The most important of the subsequent acts were those
of 1855 and 1866, both intended to encourage private enterprise in the
provision of working-class dwellings; the Torrens Act of 1868
(Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Act) for the improvement or
demolition of existing buildings; the Cross Act of 1875 (Artisans' and
Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act), for extending that process to
larger areas; the Public Health Act of 1875; the Housing of the
Working Classes Act of 1885 following the report of the Royal
Commission on the Housing of the Working Classes, of which King
Edward, then prince of Wales, was a member; the Housing of the Working
Classes Act of 1890; the Public Health (London) Act of 1891. The acts
of 1875 (Public Health), of 1890 and of 1891 are still in force. The
story of this half-century of legislation (which also includes a
number of Scotch and Irish acts, local private acts and others bearing
on the question) is one of tentative efforts first in one direction
then in another, of laws passed, amended, extended, consolidated,
superseded. Many of the enactments, originally of limited application,
were subsequently extended, and the principal laws now in force apply
to the whole of the United Kingdom. Two main objects can be
distinguished--(1) the treatment of existing dwellings by demolition
or improvement; (2) the construction of new ones. The second head is
further subdivided into (a) municipal action, (b) private action.
These objects have been alternately promoted by legislative measures
conceived and carried out on no systematic plan, but gradually and
continuously developed into an effective body of law, particularly
with regard to the means of dealing with existing insanitary
dwellings. The advancing requirements of public health are clearly
traceable in the series of enactments directed to that end. The
Nuisances Removal Act of 1855 took cognizance of premises in such a
state as to be "a nuisance or injurious to health," and made provision
for obtaining an order to prohibit the use of such premises for human
habitation. In the same act overcrowding obtained statutory
recognition as a condition dangerous or prejudicial to health, and
provision was made for compelling its abatement. The campaign against
bad housing conditions thus inaugurated by the legislature was
extended by subsequent acts in 1860, 1866 and 1868, culminating in the
Cross Act of 1875 for the demolition (and reconstruction) of large
insanitary areas and the extremely important Public Health Act of the
same year. The constructive policy, begun still earlier in 1851 by
Lord Shaftesbury's Act, was concurrently pursued, and for some years
more actively than the destructive; but after 1866 the latter became
more prominent, and though the other was not lost sight of it fell
into the background until revived by the Royal Commission of 1885 and
the housing legislation which followed, particularly the Housing of
the Working Classes Act of 1890, amending and consolidating previous
acts.
The laws in operation at the beginning of 1909 were the Public Health
Acts of 1875 and 1891 (London), as amended by subsequent minor measures,
and the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890, amended in 1894,
1900 and 1903. The Public Health Acts place upon the local sanitary
authority the obligation of securing, under by-laws, the proper
construction, draining and cleaning of streets, removal of house refuse
and building of houses, including structural details for the prevention
of damp and decay, the provision of sanitary conveniences and an
adequate water-supply; also of inquiring into and removing nuisances,
which include any premises in such a condition as to be a nuisance or
injurious to health and any house so overcrowded as to be dangerous or
injurious to health. For the purpose of carrying out these duties the
local authority has the power of inspection, of declaring a building
unfit for human habitation and of closing it by order. The Housing Acts
give more extended power to the local authority to demolish insanitary
dwellings and clear whole areas or "slums," and also to construct
dwellings for the working classes with or without such clearance; they
also retain the older provisions for encouraging private enterprise in
the erection of superior dwellings for the working classes. The
procedure for dealing with insanitary property under these Acts is too
intricate to be stated in detail; but, briefly, there are two ways of
proceeding. In the first the local authority, on receiving formal
complaint of an unhealthy area, cause an inspection to be made by their
medical officer, and if the report in their opinion justifies action,
they may prepare an "improvement scheme," which is submitted to the
Local Government Board. The Board holds an inquiry, and, if satisfied,
issues a provisional order, which has to be confirmed by a special act
of parliament, under which the local authority can proceed to demolish
the houses concerned after paying compensation to the owners. This
procedure, which is authorized by part i. of the act of 1890, is
obviously both cumbrous and costly. The second way, provided for by part
ii. of the act, is much simpler and less ambitious; it only applies to
single houses or groups of houses. The medical officer in the course of
his duty reports to the local authority any houses which are in his
opinion unfit for human habitation; the local authority can then make an
order to serve notices on the owners to repair the houses at their own
expense. Failing compliance on the part of the owners, an order for
closing the houses can be obtained; and if nothing is done at the end of
three months an order for demolition can be made. Buildings injurious by
reason of their obstructive character (e.g. houses built back to back so
as to be without through ventilation and commonly called "back-to-back"
houses) can be dealt with in a similar manner. Small areas containing
groups of objectionable houses of either kind may be made the subject of
an improvement scheme, as above. Where areas are dealt with under
improvement schemes there is a certain obligation to re-house the
persons displaced. Building schemes are provided for under part iii. of
the act. Land may be compulsorily purchased for the purpose and the
money required may be raised by loans under certain conditions. The
provisions thus summarized were considerably modified by the "Housing,
Town Planning, &c., Act," passed at the end of 1909. It rendered
obligatory the adoption (previously permissive) of the housing
provisions (part iii.) of the act of 1890 by local authorities,
simplified the procedure for the compulsory purchase of land required
for the purpose and extended the facilities for obtaining loans. It
further gave power to the Local Government Board to compel local
authorities to put in force the act of 1890 in regard both to existing
insanitary housing and the provision of new housing. Power was also
given to county councils to act in default of rural district councils in
regard to new housing. The procedure for dealing with insanitary houses
by closing and demolition under part ii. (see above) was rendered more
stringent. The general intention of the new act was partly to facilitate
the administration of the previous one by local authorities and partly
to provide means of compelling supine authorities to take action. Its
town-planning provisions are noted below.
_Effects of Legislation._--The efficacy of laws depends very largely on
their administration; and when they are permissive and dependent on the
energy and discretion of local bodies their administration varies
greatly in different localities. That has been the case with the British
housing and health laws, and is one cause of dissatisfaction with them.
But in the aggregate they have effected very great improvement. Public
action has chiefly taken effect in sanitary reform, which includes the
removal of the worst housing, through demolition or alteration, and
general sanitary improvements of various kinds. In some large towns the
worst parts have been transformed, masses of old, narrow, crowded,
dilapidated and filthy streets and courts have been swept away at one
blow or by degrees; other parts have been reconstructed or improved. The
extent to which this has been accomplished is not generally recognized.
It is not easily demonstrated, and to realize it local knowledge,
observation and memory are needed. The details of the story are hidden
away in local annals and official reports; and writers on the subject
are usually more concerned with what has not than with what has been
done. Both the Public Health and the Housing Acts have had a share in
the improvement effected. The operation of the former is slow and
gradual, but it is continuous and far more general than that of the
latter. It embraces many details which are not usually taken into
account in discussing housing, but which have as much bearing on the
healthiness of the home as the structure itself. The Public Health Acts
have further had a certain preventive influence in laying down a
standard for the erection of new houses by the ordinary commercial
agencies. Such houses are not ideal, because the commercial builder
studies economy and the question of rent; but the standard has risen,
and building plans involving insufficient light and air, such as once
were general, have now for several years been forbidden almost
everywhere. Supervision of commercial building is, in fact, vastly more
important than the erection of dwellings by public or philanthropic
agencies, because it affects a vastly larger proportion of the
population. The influence of the Public Health Acts in improving the
conditions of home life cannot be estimated or summarized, but it is
reflected in the general death-rate, which fell steadily in the United
Kingdom from 21.1 per 1000 in 1878 to 15.4 per 1000 in 1907.
_Insanitary Areas._--The operation of the Housing Acts is more
susceptible of being stated in figures, though no fully comprehensive
information is available. The original Shaftesbury Act of 1851 for
erecting municipal lodging-houses appears to have been practically
inoperative and little or nothing was done for a good many years. In
1864, however, Liverpool obtained a private act and entered on the
policy of improvement by the demolition of insanitary dwellings on a
considerable scale, following it up in 1869 by re-housing. In 1866
Glasgow, also under a private act, created an Improvement Trust,
administered by the city council, and embarked on a large scheme of
improvement. These seem to have been the earliest examples. The
Torrens Act of 1868, which embodied the improvement policy, did not
produce much effect. According to a parliamentary return, during the
years 1883-1888, proceedings were only taken under this act in respect
of about 2000 houses in London and four provincial towns. More
advantage was taken of the Cross Act of 1875, which was intended to
promote large improvement schemes. Between 1875 and 1885 23 schemes
involving a total area of 51 acres and a population of about 30,000
were undertaken, in London; and 11 schemes in provincial towns. By far
the most important of these, and the largest single scheme ever
undertaken, was one carried out in Birmingham. It affected an area of
93 acres and involved a net cost of £550,000. Altogether between
£4,000,000 and £5,000,000 were raised for improvement schemes under
those acts. After the Housing Act of 1890 the clearance policy was
continued in London and extended in the provinces. During the period
1891-1905 loans to the amount of about £2,300,000 were raised for
improvement schemes by 28 provincial towns in England and Wales. The
largest of these were Leeds (£923,000), Manchester (£285,000),
Liverpool (£178,000), Sheffield (£131,000), Brighton (£112,000). The
Leeds scheme affected an area of 75 acres, which was cleared at a cost
of £500,000. In London the area cleared was raised to a total of 104
acres; the gross cost, down to March 31, 1908, was £3,417,337, the net
cost £2,434,096, and the number of persons displaced 48,525. Glasgow
has under its Improvement Trust cleared an area of 88 acres with a
population of 51,000. At the same time the policy of dealing with
houses unfit for habitation singly or in small groups by compelling
owners to improve them has been pursued by a certain number of local
authorities. In the six years 1899-1904 action was taken each year on
the average in respect of about 5000 houses by some 400 local
authorities large and small outside London. Representations were made
against 33,746 houses, 17,210 were rendered fit for habitation,
closing orders were obtained against 4220 and demolition orders
against 748. These figures do not include cases in which action was
taken under local acts and Public Health Acts. In Manchester, between
1885 and 1905, nearly 10,000 "back-to-back" houses were closed and
about half of them reopened after reconstruction. Hull, an old seaport
town with a great deal of extremely bad housing, has made very
effective use of the method of gradual improvement and has transformed
its worst areas without appearing in any list of improvement schemes.
In recent years this procedure has been systematically taken up in
Birmingham and other places, and has been strongly advocated by Mr J.
S. Nettlefold (_Practical Housing_) in preference to large improvement
schemes on account of the excessive expense involved by the latter in
buying up insanitary areas. In the six years 1902-1907 Birmingham
dealt with 4111 houses represented as unfit for habitation; 1780 were
thoroughly repaired, 1005 were demolished; the rest were under notice
or in course of repair at the end of the period. Among other towns
which have adopted this policy are Liverpool, Cardiff, York,
Warrington and two London boroughs.
_Building._--On the constructive side the operation of the Housing
Acts has been less extensive and much less general. In London alone
has the erection of working-class dwellings by municipal action and
organized private enterprise assumed large proportions. Philanthropic
societies were first in the field and date from a period anterior to
legislation, which however, stimulated their activity for many years
by affording facilities. Fourteen organizations were in operation in
London prior to 1890 and some of them on a large scale; others have
since been formed. The earliest was the Metropolitan Association for
Improving the Dwellings of the Industrial Classes, whose operations
date from 1847; it has built 1441 tenements containing 5105 rooms. The
largest of these enterprises are the Improved Industrial Dwellings
Company (1864), which has built 5421 tenements containing 19,945
rooms; the Peabody Fund (1864) with 5469 tenements containing 12,328
rooms; the Artisans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company (1867),
with 1467 tenements containing 3495 rooms, and 6195 cottage dwellings;
the East-End Dwellings Company (1885) with 2096 tenements containing
4276 rooms; the Guinness Trust (1889) with 2574 tenements containing
5338 rooms. The Artisans' Dwellings Company alone has housed upwards
of 50,000 persons. In addition to these there are the Rowton Houses
(1892), which are hotels for working men, six in number, accommodating
5162 persons. So far as can be estimated, private enterprise has
housed some 150,000 persons in improved dwellings in London on a
commercial basis. The early activity of the building companies was
largely due to the policy of the Metropolitan Board of Works, which
adopted extensive improvement schemes and sold the cleared sites to
the companies, who carried out the re-housing obligations imposed by
the law. Since the London County Council, which replaced the Board of
Works in 1889, adopted the policy of undertaking its own re-housing,
their activity has greatly diminished. The buildings erected by them
are nearly all in the form of blocks of tenements; the Artisans'
Dwellings Company, which has built small houses and shops in outlying
parts of London, is an exception. The tenement blocks are scattered
about London in many quarters. For instance the Peabody Fund has 18
sets of dwellings in different situations, the Metropolitan
Association has 14; the Artisans' Dwellings Company has 10; the
Guinness Trust has 8. In 1909 an important addition to the list of
philanthropic enterprises in London was put in hand under the will of
Mr W. R. Sutton, who left nearly £2,000,000 for the purpose of
providing improved working-class dwellings. The erection of tenement
blocks containing accommodation for 300 families was begun on a site
in the City Road. In only a few provincial towns has private
enterprise contributed to improved housing in a similar manner and
that not upon a large scale; among them are Newcastle, Leeds, Hull,
Salford and Dublin.
_Municipal Building_ has been more generally adopted. The following
details are taken from Mr W. Thompson's _Housing up to Date_, which
gives comprehensive information down to the end of 1906. The number of
local authorities which had then availed themselves of part iii. of
the Housing Act of 1890, which provides for the erection of
working-class dwellings, was 142. They were the London County Council,
12 Metropolitan Boroughs, 69 County Boroughs and Town Councils, 49
Urban District Councils and 12 Rural District Councils. The dwellings
erected are classified as lodging-houses, block dwellings, tenement
houses, cottage flats and cottages. Lodging-houses have been built by
12 towns, of which 8 are in England, 3 in Scotland (Glasgow, Aberdeen
and Leith) and 1 in Ireland (Belfast). The total number of beds
provided was 6218, of which Glasgow accounts for 2414, London for
1846, Manchester and Salford together for 648. Four other towns have
built or are building municipal lodging-houses for which no details
are available. The other municipal dwellings erected are summarized as
follows:--
+------------------+-----------------+-------------+
| Kind of Dwelling.|No. of Dwellings.|No. of Rooms.|
+------------------+-----------------+-------------+
| Blocks | 12,165 | 27,523 |
| Tenement Houses | 2,507 | 6,068 |
| Cottage flats | 2,004 | 5,747 |
| Cottages | 3,830 | 17,611 |
+------------------+-----------------+-------------+
| Total | 20,506 | 56,949 |
+------------------+-----------------+-------------+
It appears from these figures that municipal building has provided for
a smaller number of persons in the whole of the United Kingdom than
private enterprise in London alone. The principal towns which have
erected dwellings in blocks are London (7786), Glasgow (2300),
Edinburgh (596), Liverpool (501), Dublin (460) and Manchester (420).
The great majority of such dwellings contain either two or three
rooms. Tenement houses have been built in Liverpool (1424), Manchester
(308), Sheffield (192), Aberdeen (128), and in seven other towns on a
small scale. Such tenements are generally somewhat larger than those
built in blocks; the proportion of three- and four-roomed dwellings is
higher and only a small number consist of a single room. Cottage flats
have been built in Dublin (528), West Ham (401), Battersea (320),
Plymouth (238), East Ham (212), and on a small scale in Liverpool,
Birmingham, Newcastle and seven other places. The majority of the
cottage flats contain three or more rooms, a considerable proportion
have four rooms. Cottages have been built in 67 places, chiefly small
towns and suburban districts. Of the large towns which have adopted
this class of dwellings Salford stands first with 633 cottages; three
London boroughs, all on the south side of the Thames, have built 234;
Manchester has 228, Sheffield 173, Huddersfield 157, Birmingham 103.
The number of rooms in municipal cottages ranges from three to eight,
but the great majority of these dwellings have four or five rooms.
Some further details of municipal housing in particular towns are of
interest. In London, the work of the London County Council down to
March 31, 1908, not including three lodging-homes containing 1845
cubicles, is given in the official volume of London Statistics,
published by the Council, as follows:--
_Buildings Erected and in Course of Erection._
+----------+--------+--------------+----------------+
| No. of | No. of | Cost of Land | No. of Persons |
|Dwellings.| Rooms. | and Building.| in Occupation. |
+----------+--------+--------------+----------------+
| 8,373 | 22,939 | £2,438,263 | 26,687 |
+----------+--------+--------------+----------------+
With regard to the cost, it is to be noted that the actual cost of the
land purchased for improvement schemes was very much greater than that
stated, having been written down to an arbitrary figure called
"housing valuation." The financial accounts of L.C.C. dwellings for
the year ending March 31, 1908, are thus summarized:--
_London County Council Dwellings, Accounts 1907-1908._
+--------+--------------+-------------+-----------+--------+
| Gross |Deductions for| |Expenditure| Net |
| Rental.| Empties, &c. |Net Receipts.| including |Returns.|
| | | | Interest. | |
+--------+--------------+-------------+-----------+--------+
|£180,169| £19,455 | £160,714 | £157,141 | £3,573 |
+--------+--------------+-------------+-----------+--------+
It appears from this that if the actual commercial cost of the land
were taken the housing of the Council would be run at a considerable
annual loss. The occupations of the tenants are stated in the
following proportions: labourers 789, clerks 312, policemen 251, shop
assistants 202, warehousemen 183, printers 182, charwomen 182, tailors
155, cabinetmakers 146, canvassers 122, cigarette makers 118, widows
116, tram drivers 110, postmen 107, packers 97, engineers 87,
dressmakers 41, coachmen 31, motormen 26, milliners 19. These
proportional figures show that though a considerable number of
labourers have been housed, the great majority of the occupants of
London municipal dwellings are of a superior class. The mean weekly
rent in London County Council dwellings is 2s. 10½d. per room against
2s. 4d. in dwellings erected by other agencies. The most important
feature of the County Council's policy in recent years has been the
acquisition of suburban sites for the erection of cottages. There are
four such sites, two on the south, one on the north and one on the
west side of London; the total area is 349 acres, and the total
accommodation contemplated is for 66,000 persons at an estimated cost
of £3,105,840; the present accommodation is for about 8000. In
addition to the housing provided by the County Council, fourteen
London Borough Councils and the City Corporation had at the beginning
of 1909 erected or adapted 3136 dwellings containing 7999 rooms.
In Liverpool, down to 1907, about £920,000 had been spent in clearing
insanitary areas and building new dwellings; the demolition of about
8000 houses and purchase of land cost about £500,000; and the erection
of 2046 dwellings, containing 4961 rooms, cost about £350,000. The
size of the dwellings and the number of each class are: 1 room, 193; 2
rooms, 965; 3 rooms, 719; 4 rooms, 167. The great majority are in
tenement houses of three storeys. The mean weekly rent is 1s. 6½d. per
room, but a large number are let at less. The net return on the total
outlay is just over 1%, on the building outlay it is 2(2/3)%. The
principal classes of persons occupying the dwellings are labourers
675, carters 120, charwomen 103, firemen 93, porters 80, hawkers 64,
sailors 45, scavengers 40. These all belong to the poorest classes,
living by casual or irregular work. Liverpool has, in fact, succeeded
more than any other town in providing municipal dwellings in which the
really poor can afford to live.
In Manchester 956 dwellings have been built at a total cost for
building and improvement of £451,932; of the whole number 420 are in
blocks, 308 in tenement houses and 228 in cottages. The rents are much
higher than in Liverpool; in the tenement houses the mean weekly rent
is about 6d. per room more than in Liverpool. The gross profit on the
block dwellings is 1(1/3)% on the capital outlay, on the tenement
houses 3%, on the cottages 2(2/3)%. "The total loss during the last
seven to ten years, including loan charges, has amounted to about
£54,240" (Thompson).
In Glasgow the corporation has built under improvement schemes 2280
new dwellings containing 4013 rooms and 241 shops. The dwellings,
which are all in blocks and centrally situated, are occupied chiefly
by artisans; only 28% have been reserved for the poorest class of
tenants. The total amount taken from the rates on this account in 30
years is £600,000. Dwellings valued at £400,000 for building and
£300,000 for land give a net return of 3.06% on outlay; dwellings
valued at £280,000 for land and building return 3.03% on outlay;
leaving the sinking fund charges to be defrayed out of rates.
In Edinburgh insanitary areas have been bought for £107,023 and new
dwellings containing 1032 rooms have been built for £87,970. Nearly
all the dwellings are of one or two rooms only. The rents charged
average about 2s. a week per room; actual rents received average 1s.
4d. per room and they have to be subsidized out of the rates to the
extent of 2s. 3d. per room to meet the cost of site.
In Dublin provision has been or was in 1909 shortly to be made for
housing 5394 families or 19,000 persons; of which 1041 families, or
about one-fifth, are housed by the Corporation, the rest by companies
and private persons. Altogether it was estimated that £500,000 would
be spent under the act of 1890. Fifteen streets, containing 1665
houses, have been declared unhealthy areas by the medical officer, and
between 1879 and 1909 more than 3000 houses were closed as unfit for
habitation.
_Co-operative Building._--Municipal and philanthropic housing by no
means exhaust the efforts that have been made to provide working-class
dwellings outside the ordinary building market. Their special function
has been to substitute better dwellings for pre-existing bad ones,
which is the most costly and difficult, as well as the most urgent,
part of the problem in old towns. But in the provision of new
dwellings alone they have been far surpassed by organized self-help in
different forms. Down to 1906 there had been built 46,707 houses by
413 co-operative societies at a cost of nearly £10,000,000. They are
most numerous in the manufacturing towns and particularly in the
north-western district of England. Of the whole number 8530 were owned
by the societies which built them; 5577 had been sold to members, and
32,600 had been built by members on money lent by the societies. These
figures do not include the particular form of co-operative building
known as co-partnership housing, which will be mentioned later on, or
the operations of the so-called building societies, which are really
companies lending money to persons on mortgage for the purpose of
building. The difference between them and the co-operative societies
which do the same thing is that the latter retain the element of
co-operation by lending only to their own members, whereas the
building societies deal in the open market. Their operations are on an
immense scale; at the end of 1908 the invested funds of the registered
building societies exceeded £72,000,000. An agency working on this
scale, which far exceeds the operations of all the others put
together, is obviously an important factor in housing. The number of
houses built must help to relieve congestion, and since they are built
to suit the owners or tenants they cannot be of the worst class. They
also represent a form of thrift, and deserve notice on that account.
The Small Dwellings Acquisition Act of 1899, which has not previously
been mentioned, was intended to facilitate the building or purchase of
small houses by their tenants by means of loans advanced by local
authorities. Down to 1906 about £82,000 had been so advanced by 5
county boroughs, 17 urban councils and 1 rural district council.
_Housing by Employers._--No comprehensive information is available on
this head, but it has not been an important factor in towns, being
chiefly confined to agricultural, mining and suburban manufacturing
districts. The former two belong to the subject of Rural Housing,
which is separately discussed below; the third has an interest of its
own on account of its connexion with "model settlements." The building
of houses for their workpeople by industrial employers has never been
widely adopted in this country, but it has attracted considerable
attention at two different periods. Sir Titus Salt was a pioneer in
this direction, when he built his woollen mills at Saltaire, on the
outskirts of Bradford, and housed his workpeople on the spot. That
plan was maintained by his successors, who still own some 900
excellent and cheap cottages, and was adopted by a few other
manufacturers in the same neighbourhood. Saltaire was a model
settlement with many institutions for the benefit of the mill-hands,
and as such it attracted much attention; but the example was not
generally followed, and the interest lapsed. Recently it has been
revived by the model settlements at Port Sunlight, near Liverpool,
started about 1888, Bournville near Birmingham (1895), and Earswick,
near York (1904), which are of a much more elaborate character.
Elsewhere, employers setting down works in some new locality where no
provision existed, have had to build houses for their workmen; but
they have done so in a plain way, and this sort of housing has not
assumed large proportions.
_Conditions in 1909._--It has been said above that great improvements
have been effected, and of that there is no doubt at all. Both quantity
and quality are more satisfactory than they were, though both are still
defective. The conditions vary greatly in different places, and no
general indictment can be sustained. The common practice of citing some
exceptionally bad cases, and by tacit inference generalizing from them
to the whole country, is in nothing more misleading than in the matter
of housing. Local differences are due to several causes--age,
population, occupations and means of the people, public opinion and
municipal energy. The first three chiefly determine the difficulty and
extent of the problem, the last two influence its treatment. The
difficulty is greatest in towns which are old, have large populations
and a high percentage of poor. Such pre-eminently are the large
seaports, where much casual labour is employed. London, Liverpool,
Glasgow, the Tyne, Hull, Sunderland are examples. Old inland towns
having a large trading as well as an industrial element present the same
features. Such are Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and
Bradford. In all these, and some others like them, the past has left a
heavy legacy of bad housing by malconstruction and dilapidation, which
has been increased by growth of population and overcrowding. They have
attacked it with varying degrees of energy according to the prevalent
local spirit and with varying results.
_Overcrowding._--The one condition which permits of precise and
comprehensive statement is overcrowding. A standard has been officially
adopted in England based on the number of persons to a room in each
dwelling; and the facts in relation to this standard are embodied in the
census returns. It is a much better criterion than that of "density" or
number of persons per acre, which is very deceptive; for an apparently
low density may conceal much overcrowding within walls and an apparently
high one may be comparatively guiltless. The room-density is the
important thing in actual life. Some light is also thrown on this
question by the number of rooms contained in each dwelling, and that is
also given in the census. The standard of overcrowding is more than two
persons to a room. In 1901 there were in England and Wales 2,667,506
persons or 8.2% of the population living in a state of overcrowding
according to this definition. Their distribution is extremely irregular
and capricious. In rural districts the proportion was only 5.8%, in
urban districts 8.9%; but these summary figures give no idea of the
actual state of things in different localities. In both rural districts
and in towns the proportion of overcrowding varies in different
localities from less than 1% to over 30% of the population. The towns
are the most important and we shall confine attention chiefly to them. A
list of 84 having a population of 50,000 and upwards, exclusive of
London, is given by Mr Dewsnup. The overcrowding ranges from 34.54% in
Gateshead and 32.42% in South Shields to 0.97% in Northampton and 0.62%
in Bournemouth. Of the whole number exactly one-half have less than 5%;
15 have less than 2% and 22 have 10% or more. Neither size nor character
has much to do with the variation. Bournemouth, at the bottom of the
list with 0.62%, is a residential place and health resort with a
population of about 50,000; so is Tynemouth, which is nearly at the top,
with 30.71%. The two largest towns, Liverpool and Manchester, are 26th
and 32nd on the list, with only 7.94% and 6.28% respectively, or
considerably less than the average; and on the other hand none of the
first 17 towns with the highest proportion of overcrowding are of the
largest size. Again, with regard to character, Leicester and
Northampton, which are almost at the bottom of the list, with 1.04% and
0.97% respectively, are both purely industrial towns. The most striking
facts are that the six towns, which alone have more than 20% of
overcrowding, namely Gateshead (34.5), South Shields (32.4), Tynemouth
(30.7), Newcastle (30.4), Sunderland (30.10), Plymouth (20.1) are all
old seaports, that four of them at the head of the list are on the Tyne
and the fifth on the Wear. This points strongly to special local
conditions and it is borne out by the facts with regard to rural
districts. Northumberland and Durham show a great excess of overcrowding
over other counties; and some of their rural districts even surpass any
of the towns. The highest of all is the district of Tynemouth, with
38.18% of overcrowding. The explanation lies in a special combination of
large families and small houses prevalent in this area. All the rural
districts are seats of coal-mining, and miners are the most prolific
section of the population. They also live in small houses of a
traditional and antiquated character, often of one storey only or built
back to back. Many are built by colliery proprietors. Large families
and small houses also prevail in the towns. Some of them contain
coal-pits and the rest of their industrial population is engaged chiefly
in engineering and shipbuilding works, occupations also usually
associated with a high birth-rate. The men live as near their work as
possible and the practice of living in flats or occupying part of a
house prevails extensively.
In London the number of persons living in overcrowded conditions in 1901
was 726,096 or 16.0% of the population. The proportion varied from 2.6%
in Lewisham to 35.2% in Finsbury, but in 23 out of the 29 boroughs into
which the county is divided it exceeded the urban mean for the whole
country, and in 9 boroughs having an aggregate population of 1,430,000
it was more than double the mean. Conditions in London are evidently
untypical of English towns.
In the light of the census figures it is clear that no large proportion
of the English industrial population is living under conditions of
serious overcrowding, outside the special districts mentioned and that
the expression "house famine" cannot be properly applied to England or
English towns in general. In the House of Commons, on the 16th of August
1909, the president of the Local Government Board, Mr John Burns, gave a
list of the number of unoccupied houses and tenements in each of the
London boroughs and in the eight largest provincial towns, including
Glasgow; the total was 104,107. By a further analysis of the census
returns Mr Dewsnup shows that a great deal of the overcrowding is of a
comparatively mild character and that it is due to a relatively small
excess of population. Bradford, for instance, is credited with 40,896
overcrowded persons, representing the high percentage of 14.61 of the
population; but in the case of nearly 20,000 the excess over the
standard is very slight, and the proportion of gross overcrowding comes
down to 7.55%. Moreover, this serious overcrowding is produced by no
more than 2.79 of the population, so that its cure presents no
insuperable difficulty. The argument is confirmed by the very
substantial diminution which actually took place between 1891 and 1901.
The facts are so striking that they deserve to be presented in tabular
form:--
_Percentage of Population Overcrowded._
+------------------+--------+--------+
| | 1891 | 1901 |
+------------------+--------+--------+
| England and Wales| 11.23 | 8.20 |
| | | |
| Gateshead | 40.78 | 34.54 |
| Newcastle | 35.08 | 30.47 |
| Sunderland | 32.85 | 30.10 |
| Plymouth | 26.27 | 20.19 |
| Halifax | 21.31 | 14.49 |
| Bradford | 20.61 | 14.61 |
| Huddersfield | 19.89 | 12.88 |
| London | 19.70 | 16.01 |
| Leeds | 16.46 | 10.08 |
| St Helens | 15.72 | 10.86 |
| Birmingham | 14.27 | 10.32 |
| Burnley | 12.74 | 7.14 |
| Sheffield | 11.58 | 9.50 |
| Bolton | 11.22 | 6.50 |
| Liverpool | 10.96 | 7.94 |
| Oldham | 10.13 | 7.42 |
| Salford | 9.39 | 7.54 |
| West Ham | 9.34 | 9.27 |
| Wolverhampton | 9.31 | 4.67 |
| Swansea | 9.25 | 5.57 |
| Stockport | 8.50 | 4.98 |
| Manchester | 8.25 | 6.28 |
| Bristol | 8.03 | 3.55 |
| Hull | 7.86 | 6.12 |
| Blackburn | 7.05 | 3.92 |
| Birkenhead | 6.80 | 5.02 |
| Norwich | 4.91 | 3.34 |
| Brighton | 4.56 | 3.07 |
| Cardiff | 4.31 | 2.92 |
| Preston | 4.13 | 2.64 |
| Nottingham | 3.62 | 3.65 |
| Croydon | 2.76 | 2.74 |
| Derby | 2.69 | 1.18 |
| Leicester | 2.22 | 1.04 |
| Portsmouth | 1.74 | 1.19 |
+------------------+--------+--------+
To what is this remarkable movement due? It is far too general to be
attributed to the operation of the Housing Acts; for, though they have
helped in some cases, a great diminution has occurred in many places in
which no use has been made of them. Towns of all kinds and in all parts
of the country exhibit the same movement in some degree; those which had
little and those which had much overcrowding, the worst and the best. In
London the percentage fell by 3.7, and the number of persons overcrowded
was reduced by 103,669 in spite of an increase of population of 324,798.
In Gateshead a fall of 6.2%, in Newcastle one of 4.6% took place; while
at the other end of the scale Leicester and Derby reduced their already
very low proportions by more than one-half. Nottingham is the only
exception in the whole list. And in 28 out of the 35 towns the decrease
of overcrowding was absolute as well as relative in spite of a large
increase of population. London has been cited. The other large towns may
be tabulated with it, thus:--
+------------+------------+------------+
| |Increase of | Decrease of|
| Town. | Population.| Overcrowded|
| | | Persons. |
+------------+------------+------------+
| London | 324,898 | 103,669 |
| Liverpool | 166,978 | 2,381 |
| Manchester | 38,504 | 7,545 |
| Birmingham | 44,091 | 14,290 |
| Leeds | 61,463 | 17,252 |
| Sheffield | 56,550 | 1,388 |
| Bristol | 107,367 | 6,105 |
| Bradford | 63,406 | 3,696 |
+------------+------------+------------+
The very divergencies make the uniform diminution of overcrowding the
more remarkable. The large increase of population in Liverpool and
Bristol no doubt means extension of boundaries, which might have the
effect of reducing the proportions of overcrowding, but it cannot
account for the actual decrease of overcrowded persons. The change seems
to be due to three factors all of which have been in general operation
though in varying degrees. They are (1) the centrifugal movement
promoted by improved locomotive facilities, (2) the declining
birth-rate, (3) public health administration. (1) The first is the most
important and the chief element has been tramways, of which a great
extension accompanied by electrification took place in the decade. Thus
the process of urbanization has been modified by one of suburbanization.
Bristol is a prominent case; its overcrowding has been reduced by more
than one-half without any large and costly municipal interference,
mainly through the operation of ordinary economic forces. Tramways have
made the outskirts accessible and builders have utilized the
opportunity. They have built good houses, too, under supervision, and
Bristol, though an old seaport and industrial town with much poverty,
has the lowest general death-rate and the lowest infantile death-rate of
all the great towns. (2) The birth-rate and the size of families are
conditions which affect overcrowding in a very marked degree, though no
attention is paid to them in that connexion. The case of the mining
districts and the towns on the Tyne has been mentioned above; the same
thing is seen in London, where all the most overcrowded districts
(Finsbury, Stepney, Shoreditch and Bethnal Green) have high birth-rates,
ranging from 31.3 to 36.4 per 1000 in 1902-1906. The necessity imposed
on poor parents of putting several children into a cheap and therefore
small dwelling accounts for a large proportion of overcrowding, which
automatically diminishes with a falling birth-rate. The ultimate
advantage of this method of reducing overcrowding is a question on which
opinions may differ, but there is no doubt about the fact. (3) Public
health administration is the third general cause; it attracts no notice
and works very gradually, but it does work. The last annual report (for
1907) of the medical officer to the London County Council says of
overcrowding: "There is reason for thinking that in recent years greater
attention has been paid by sanitary authorities to the abatement of the
nuisance, and Dr Newman states that in Finsbury there has been an
enormous reduction in overcrowding, the reduction having been effected
mainly in the years 1901-1905." The medical officers of the metropolitan
boroughs reported in 1907 2613 dwellings overcrowded in 23 boroughs and
3216 such dwellings remedied in 27 boroughs. It should not be forgotten
that a good deal of overcrowding is voluntary. Families which have not
enough room for their own members nevertheless take in lodgers; and in
some places, of which London is the most conspicuous but not the only
example, foreigners herd together thickly in a very small space.
The improvement shown by the statistics of overcrowding is confirmed by
those relating to the size of dwellings. Between 1891 and 1901 the
percentage of the population living in very small dwellings appreciably
diminished thus--in 1-roomed dwellings, from 2.2 to 1.6%; in 2-roomed
dwellings, from 8.3 to 6.6%; in 3-roomed dwellings, from 11.1 to 9.8%;
while the proportion living in dwellings of 5 rooms and upwards
increased from 54.9 to 60.1%. This again is referable to the suburban
movement and a higher standard of requirements. Six-roomed houses with a
bathroom tend to replace the old four-roomed type. The general report
accompanying the census says: "However the tenement figures for England
and Wales are compared it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the
comparison affords satisfactory evidence of distinct improvement in the
housing of the people during the ten years 1891-1901." In short, the
problem of quantity is only acute in a few places and steadily becoming
less so.
The foregoing facts apply only to England and Wales. In Scotland the
state of things is much less satisfactory. No statistics of
overcrowding are available, but the following comparative table shows
how different the housing conditions are in the two countries:--
_Size of Dwellings, England and Scotland, 1901._
+-----------------+-------------------------+
| |Percentage of Population.|
| Dwelling. +------------+------------+
| | England. | Scotland. |
+-----------------+------------+------------+
| 1 room | 1.6 | 11.1 |
| 2 rooms | 6.6 | 39.5 |
| 3 rooms | 9.8 | 19.9 |
| 4 rooms | 21.9 | 9.1 |
| 5 rooms and over| 60.1 | 20.4 |
+-----------------+------------+------------+
Over 50% of the population of Scotland live in tenements of one or two
rooms; only 8.2% in England. A comparison of the largest towns in the
two countries gives the following result:--
_Percentage of Population._
+----------------------------+----------------------------+
| Scotland. | England. |
+-----------+-------+--------+-----------+-------+--------+
| Town. |1 Room.|2 Rooms.| Town. |1 Room.|2 Rooms.|
+-----------+-------+--------+-----------+-------+--------+
| Glasgow | 16.2 | 38.9 | London | 6.7 | 15.5 |
| Edinburgh | 8.9 | 32.4 | Liverpool | 2.7 | 5.9 |
| Dundee | 11.3 | 51.7 | Manchester| 0.8 | 4.01 |
| Aberdeen | 6.1 | 33.2 | Birmingham| 0.3 | 2.4 |
| Greenock | 11.3 | 47.6 | Sheffield | 0.4 | 4.0 |
| Kilmarnock| 18.9 | 43.3 | Bristol | 1.6 | 5.7 |
+-----------+-------+--------+-----------+-------+--------+
| Mean | 12.7 | 42.4 | Mean | 1.8 | 6.7 |
+-----------+-------+--------+-----------+-------+--------+
The conditions in Scottish towns where very tall tenement houses are
common, resemble those in other countries, in which overcrowding is
far greater than in England. All these matters are comparative, and
the superiority of conditions in England ought to be recognized. Yet,
in Scotland, too, great improvements have been effected. In 1861 there
were 25,959 houses without windows; in 1901 only 130. These facts
throw light on the long standing of the housing question, the change
of standard and the improvement effected.
In Ireland there is more overcrowding than in England, though probably
less than in Scotland, with the possible exception of Dublin, which
has a larger proportion of one-roomed dwellings than any Scottish
town, namely, 24.7%. The percentage of population living in
overcrowded conditions in the principal towns is--Dublin 40.6,
Limerick 31.7, Cork 23.4, Waterford 20.6, Londonderry 16.7, Belfast
8.2.
_Sanitary Conditions._--With regard to the quality of existing housing
reference has already been made to the effect of the Public Health Acts
and the general improvement in sanitation. The only numerical measure is
afforded by the death-rates, which have fallen in England from 20.9 per
1000 in 1871-1875 to 15.4 per 1000 in 1903-1907 and in the United
Kingdom from 21.3 to 15.7 per 1000 in the same period. The condition of
the dwelling must be credited with a considerable share in this fall.
There have, in fact, been great changes and all in the direction of
improvement. The rise and development of sanitation, of house and main
drainage and sewage disposal, the purification of water and provision of
a constant service in the house, the removal of refuse, the segregation
of infectious illness, sanitary inspection--all these, apart from the
demolition of the worst housing and the provision of better, have raised
the general healthiness of the dwellings of the people. In face of these
facts and of the vital statistics, to say that the people are physically
deteriorating through the influence of bad housing is to talk obvious
nonsense, for all conditions have been improving for more than a
generation. If physical deterioration is going on, of which there is no
proof, either it is not caused by bad housing or there is less than
there was. Deterioration may be caused by the continued process of
urbanization and the congregating of an ever larger proportion of the
population in towns; but that is a different question. If the town has
any injurious influence it is not due to the sanitary condition of the
houses, which is in general superior to that of houses in the country,
but to the habits and occupations of the people or to the atmosphere and
the mere aggregation. But much misapprehension prevails with regard to
towns. The most distinctive and the most valuable feature of English
housing is the general predominance of the small house or cottage
occupied by a single family. Only in London and a few other towns do
blocks of large tenement houses of the continental type exist, and even
there they are comparatively few. In England and Wales 84% of the
population live in dwellings of 4 rooms and upwards, which means broadly
separate houses. Now the prevalence of small houses involves spreading
out and the covering of much ground with many little streets, which
produce a monotonous effect; a smoky atmosphere makes them grimy and
dull skies contribute to the general dinginess. The whole presents to
the eye a vast area of dreary meanness and monotony. Thus the best
feature of English national housing turns to its apparent disadvantage
and the impression is gained by superficial observers that the bulk of
our working-class populations lives in "slums." The word "slum" has no
precise meaning, but if it implies serious sanitary defects it is not
applicable to most of our town housing. There are real slums still, but
the bulk of the working class population do not live in them; they live
in small houses, often of a mean and dingy exterior but in essential
respects more sanitary than the large and often handsome blocks to be
seen in foreign towns, which are not put down as slums because they do
not look dirty. A smoky atmosphere is injurious to health, but it must
be distinguished from defects of housing. Ideal houses in a smoky place
soon look bad; inferior ones in a clean air look brighter and deceive
the eye. The worst of the old housing has disappeared; the filthy,
dilapidated, airless and sunless rookeries--the real slums--and the
underground dwellings have been swept away in most cases, and what
remains of them is not so bad as what has gone. But reform has been very
regularly applied. Some towns have done much, others little. The large
towns, in which the evil was most intense and most conspicuous in bulk,
have as a class done far more than smaller ones in which the need
perhaps was less great, but in which also a less healthy public spirit
prevailed. The worst housing conditions to-day are probably to be found
in old towns of small and medium size, in which the ratepayers have a
great disinclination to spend money on anything, and the control of
local affairs is apt to be in the hands of the owners of the most
insanitary property. Nor is this state of things altogether confined to
old places. Some of recent growth have been allowed, for the same
reason, to spring up and develop without any regard to sanitary
principles or the requirements of public health. There is therefore
abundant scope for further reform and in not a few cases urgent need of
it. On the other hand, we have a number of towns, particularly
manufacturing towns, both large and small in the midlands and the north
of England, which have already reached a good general standard of
housing in all essential requirements, and only need the regular and
steady exercise of vigilance by the public health service to remove such
defects as still remain or may reveal themselves with the lapse of time.
_Rents._--Rent is a matter of great importance from every point of
view, and that is now being realized. A quantity of official
information on the subject has been collected and made available by an
elaborate inquiry ordered by the Board of Trade in 1905 and published
in 1908 (Cd. 3864). It relates to working class dwellings in the
principal industrial towns in the United Kingdom, 94 in all: namely,
77 in England and Wales, 11 in Scotland and 6 in Ireland. The
following tables give in a condensed form the chief statistical
results obtained in October 1905:--
_Predominant Range of Weekly Rents._
+----------+--------------------------+------------+------------+
| | England and Wales. | | |
| +-------------+------------+ Scotland. | Ireland. |
| | London. | Provincial | | |
| | | towns | | |
+----------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+
| One room | .. | .. | 2/- to 2/6 | 1/6 to 2/6 |
| Two rooms| 4/6 to 7/6 | 3/- to 3/6 | 3/10 to 4/3| 2/6 to 3/6 |
| Three " | 6/- to 9/- | 3/9 to 4/6 | 5/2 to 6/5 | 4/- to 5/- |
| Four " | 7/6 to 10/6 | 4/6 to 5/6 | .. | 5/6 to 6/9 |
| Five " | 9/- to 13/- | 5/6 to 6/6 | .. | .. |
| Six " | 10/6 to 15/6| 6/6 to 7/9 | .. | .. |
+----------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+
Rents are lowest in Ireland and next lowest in English provincial
towns, considerably higher in Scotland and highest of all in London,
for which further special details are given. It is divided into three
zones (1) central, (2) middle, (3) outer, which have the following
mean weekly rents:--
_London Mean Weekly Rents._
+----------+---------------------------+
| | Zone. |
| +---------+--------+--------+
| | Central.| Middle.| Outer. |
+----------+---------+--------+--------+
| One room | 4/6 | 3/9 | .. |
| Two rooms| 7/- | 6/- | .. |
| Three " | 8/9 | 7/6 | 6/6 |
| Four " | .. | 9/- | 7/9 |
| Five " | .. | 11/- | 9/6 |
| Six " | .. | 13/- | 11/- |
+----------+---------+--------+--------+
In central London--which extends to Stepney in the East, Lambeth m the
South, Islington in the North, and includes Westminster, Holborn,
Finsbury, Marylebone, Shoreditch, most of Bethnal Green, Southwark and
Bermondsey--the rent of a single room may be as high as 6s. or even
6s. 6d. (Holborn) a week. It is here that overcrowding is greatest,
and block-tenements, philanthropic and municipal, most numerous. The
rentals of the block dwellings have not been taken into account in the
foregoing official statistics; they range as follows: 1 room, 2s. 6d.
to 5s.; 2 rooms, 5s. to 8s.; three rooms, 6s. 6d. to 11s. The lowest
rent for which a single room can be obtained in this area is 2s. 6d. a
week. In no English town are rents nearly so high as in London. If 100
is taken as the index number for rent in London the nearest towns to
it (Croydon and Plymouth) only reach 81, and one town on the list
(Macclesfield) is as low as 32. The index number of twenty-one towns
out of the whole is 50 or under, and these include a number of
important industrial centres--Hull, Leicester, Blackburn, Northampton,
Warrington, Coventry, Crewe and others. The index numbers of the great
towns are: Liverpool 65, Manchester and Salford 62, Birmingham 59,
Leeds 56, Sheffield 55, Bristol 53, Bradford 59, Hull 48; that is to
say the level of rents in these towns is little more than half that in
London. This is one more proof of the untypical character of London,
and of the fallacy of generalizing from it to the rest of the country.
Even in the overcrowded towns on Tyneside rents do not run to
three-fourths of the London level. When the towns are divided into
geographical groups the index numbers run thus: London 100, Northern
Counties 62, Yorkshire 56, Lancashire and Cheshire 54, Midlands 51,
Eastern Counties 50, Southern Counties 61, Wales and Monmouth 60.
Rents are always highest in capitals, and Edinburgh complies with the
rule; but it is very slightly in advance of Glasgow, and in Scotland
generally the range is much smaller than in England. Dublin, on the
other hand, is differentiated from the other Irish towns as widely as
London from English ones.
A general and progressive rise in rents has been taking place for many
years. The following index numbers for the great towns are given in
the second series of memoranda published by the Board of Trade in 1904
(Cd. 1761):--
_Relative Working-Class Rents._
1880 86.6 | 1890 89.9
1885 90.1 | 1900 100.0
1895 96.3 |
The tendency to rise is attributable to increased cost of labour, due
to higher wages and less work, increased cost of materials and higher
rates. Weekly working-class rents generally include rates which are
paid by the landlord. Housing reform has contributed to the rise, both
directly and through the rates, on which it has thrown a heavy burden
in various ways. When slums are cleared away and replaced by superior
dwellings the new rents are generally higher than the old and this
fact has proved a great difficulty. Most of the improved housing is
beyond the means of those who need it most, and they seek other
quarters resembling the old ones as nearly as possible. The example of
Liverpool, which has the largest proportion of casual and ill-paid
labour of all the great towns, and has been the most successful in
providing new dwellings of a fair quality, centrally situated and not
in blocks, at really low rates, shows that the problem is not
insoluble; but as a rule too little attention is paid to the question
of rent in housing reform, especially in building undertaken by
municipalities. It is not ignored, but the importance attached to it
by the poor is not realized. To them it is the first consideration
after four walls, a roof and a fire-place; and 6d. a week makes a vast
difference in their calculations. Reform which aims at raising the
lowest classes of tenants by improving their dwellings defeats itself
when it drives them away.
_Rural Housing._--Little has hitherto been said about rural housing. It
is of less importance than urban housing because it concerns a much
smaller proportion of the population, and because in rural life the
influence of inferior housing on health is offset by other conditions;
but it has recently attracted much attention and was made the subject of
inquiry by a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1906. The
report laid stress chiefly on the inaction of local rural authorities
under the Public Health and Housing Acts, and on various obstacles in
the way of improving existing houses and of providing more and better
ones at rents which agricultural labourers can afford to pay. The
available facts with regard to rural housing are scrappy and
unsatisfactory. The word "rural" has no precise meaning and it includes
several very different sections of the population; for instance, the
inhabitants of suburbs, mining villages and mill villages as well as the
real agricultural population. Complaint is made of both the quantity and
the quality of rural housing. With regard to quantity it is said that in
spite of migration to the towns there is a dearth of cottages through
dilapidation and demolition without rebuilding. That may happen in
particular localities, but there is no evidence to support a general
allegation. Inquiries issued by the Board of Trade to agricultural
correspondents brought the following replies: insufficient 56,
sufficient 111, more than sufficient 32. Similar inquiries of land
agents and owners resulted thus: insufficient 9, sufficient 11, more
than sufficient 4, variable 6. From which it appears that insufficiency
exists but is not general. The official evidence with regard to
overcrowding is that it is much less acute than in the towns. The
proportion of the rural population in England living in overcrowded
conditions in 1901 was 5.8%; if the rural mining districts, the
exceptional overcrowding of which has been noted above, be eliminated,
the rest cannot be very bad. Moreover, the percentage has appreciably
diminished; in 1891 it was 8.46. The complaint of bad quality is better
founded. Some landowners take great pride in the state of their
property, and excellent cottages may be found in model villages and
elsewhere in many parts of the country; but much rural housing is of an
extremely insanitary character. A good deal of evidence on this head has
of late years been published In the reports of medical inspectors to the
Local Government Board. And local authorities are very reluctant to set
the law in motion against insanitary dwellings. On the other hand, they
have in some cases hindered and prevented building by too rigid
insistence on by-laws, framed with a view to urban housing and quite
unsuited to rural conditions. A few rural authorities have taken action
with regard to building schemes under Part III. of the Housing Act. A
list of 31 in 17 counties is given in "Housing up to Date"; 13
applications were refused and 13 granted by the respective county
councils and others were dropped. Details are given by the same
authority of 54 houses built by 17 rural district councils. Public
action may thus be said to amount to nothing at all. Landowners,
however, have borrowed under the Improvements of Lands Acts upwards of
£1,250,000 for building labourers' cottages; and this is probably only a
fraction of the amount spent privately.
In Ireland a special condition of affairs exists. A series of about a
dozen acts, dating from 1881 and culminating in the Labourers (Ireland)
Act of 1906, have been passed for promoting the provision of labourers'
cottages; and under them 20,634 cottages had been built and some
thousands more authorized previous to the act of 1906, which extended
the pre-existing facilities. The principle is that of the English
Housing Acts applied to rural districts, but the procedure is simpler
and quicker. The law provides that a representation may be made to the
local authority by three ratepayers or resident labourers that "the
existing house accommodation for agricultural labourers and their
families is deficient having regard to the ordinary requirements of the
district, or is unfit for human habitation owing to dilapidation, want
of air, light, ventilation or other convenience or to any other sanitary
defects," whereupon the local authority shall make an improvement
scheme. It may also initiate a scheme without representation, or the
Local Government Board may do so in default of the local authority. The
scheme is published, an inquiry held, notice given and an order made
with very much less delay and expense than under the English law. Land
is purchased by agreement, or compulsorily and the money for land and
building raised by loan. Loans amounting to about 3½ millions sterling
had been raised down to 1906. The great majority of the cottages built
are in Münster and Leinster. They must have at least 2 bedrooms and a
kitchen, and the habitable rooms must be 8 ft. high. One of the most
remarkable features is the low cost--about £150--at which these cottages
have been built, including land and the expenses of procedure.
_Recent Developments._--It is clear from a general review of the subject
that the problem of housing the working classes in a satisfactory manner
has proved more complex than was at one time realized. Experience has
falsified hopes and led to a change of attitude. It is seen that there
are limits to drastic interference with the normal play of economic
forces and to municipal action on a large and ambitious scale. A
reaction has set in against it. At the same time the problem is being
attacked on other sides and from new points of departure. The tendency
now is towards the more effectual application of gradual methods of
improvement, the utilization of other means and the exercise of
prevention in preference to cure. Under each of these heads certain
movements may be noted.
The most troublesome problem is the treatment of existing bad housing.
In regard to this the policy of large improvement schemes under which
extensive areas are bought up and demolished has had its day, and is not
likely to be revived to any considerable extent. That is not only
because it is extremely costly but also because it has in the main done
its work. It has done what could not have been done otherwise, and has
swept away the worst of the old housing _en masse_. To call it a failure
because it is costly and of limited application would be as great a
mistake as to regard it as a panacea. The procedure which seems to be
coming into favour in place of it is that adopted in Birmingham and
advocated by Mr J. S. Nettlefold (_Practical Housing_) coupled with a
more general and effective use of the Public Health Acts. The principle
is improvement in detail effected by pressure brought to bear on owners
by public authority. The embodiment of this principle forms an important
part of the Housing and Town Planning Bill introduced by the Local
Government Board in 1908, which contained clauses empowering the central
authority to compel apathetic local authorities to do their duty in
regard to the closing of unfit houses, and authorizing local authorities
both to issue closing orders and to serve notices on landlords requiring
them "to execute such works as the local authority may specify as being
necessary to make the house in all respects reasonably fit for human
habitation."
Among the other and less direct means to which attention is being turned
is the policy of getting people away from the towns. The effect of
improved travelling facilities in reducing urban overcrowding has been
noted above. That object was not specifically contemplated in the
building and electrification of tramways, and in the development of
other means of cheap local travel, but the beneficial effect has caused
them to be recognized as an important factor in relation to housing and
to be more systematically applied in that connexion. A newer departure,
however, is to encourage migration not to the outskirts of towns but
altogether into the country by facilitating the acquisition of small
holdings of land. This has been done by private landowners in an
experimental way for some years, and in 1907 the policy was embodied in
the Small Holdings Act, which gives county and borough councils power to
purchase or hire land compulsorily and let it in holdings of not more
than 50 acres or £50 annual value. Failing action on their part the
Board of Agriculture may frame schemes. Power is also conferred on the
Board and on County Councils to establish co-operative agricultural
societies and credit banks. These measures have been adopted from
foreign countries, and particularly from Denmark and Germany. A very
large number of applications for holdings have been made under this act,
but it is too early to state the effects. They will depend on the
success of tenants in earning a livelihood by agricultural produce.
Another new and quite different departure is the attempt to establish a
novel kind of town, called a "Garden City," which shall combine the
advantages of the town and the country. The principal points are the
choice of a site, which must be sufficiently convenient to enable
industries to be carried on, yet with rural surroundings, the laying out
of the ground in such a way as to ensure plenty of open space and
variety, the insistence on building of a certain standard and the
limitation of size. One has been established at Letchworth in
Hertfordshire, 34 m. from London, and so far seems to be prospering. It
consists of an area of 3800 acres, bought from the previous owners by a
company registered in 1903 and entitled First Garden City Ltd., with a
capital of £300,000 in £5 shares. The interest is limited to a dividend
of 5%, all further profits to be devoted to the benefit of the town. The
estate is divided into a central urban area of 1200 and a surrounding
agricultural belt of 2600 acres. The town is planned for an eventual
population of 30,000 and at present (1909) has about 5000. Some London
printing works and other small industrial establishments have been
planted there, and a number of model cottages have been built. In this
connexion another recent novelty has appeared in the shape of an
exhibition of cottages. The idea, originated by Mr St Loe Strachey, was
to encourage the art of designing and building cheap but good and
convenient cottages, especially for the country. Two exhibitions have
been held at Letchworth in 1905 and 1907, and others at Sheffield (1907)
and Newcastle (1908). The two latter were held on municipal land, and it
is proposed by the National Housing Reform Council to hold one every
year.
The "Garden City" has led to the "Garden Suburb," an adaptation of the
same idea to suburban areas. One was opened near Hampstead Heath in
1907: it consists of 240 acres, of which 72 have been reserved for
working-class cottages with gardens. These developments, with which may
be associated the model industrial villages, mentioned above, at
Bournville, Port Sunlight and Earswick, represent an aspiration towards
a higher standard of housing for families belonging to the upper ranks
of the working classes; and the same movement is demonstrated in a still
more interesting fashion by a particular form of co-operative activity
known as Co-partnership Housing. The first complete example of this
method of organization was the Ealing Tenants Limited, a society
registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act in 1901,
though the Tenant Co-operators Limited, formed in 1888, was a precursor
on very nearly the same lines. The essential principle is self-help
applied by combination to the provision of superior homes, and the
chief material feature is the building of houses which are not only of
good design and workmanship, but disposed on a systematic plan so as to
utilize the ground to the best advantage. Land is bought and houses are
built with combined capital to which each tenant contributes a
substantial share; the houses are let at rents which will return 5% on
share capital and 4% on loan capital after defraying all expenses, and
the surplus profits are divided among the tenant members in proportion
to the rents paid by them. Each tenant's share of profits is credited to
him in shares until his share capital equals the value of the house he
occupies, after which it is paid in cash. There is thus common ownership
of the whole group, which forms a little community. This system has
caught on in a remarkable way and has spread with great rapidity. In
1905 a central organizing body was formed called the Co-partnership
Housing Council, for the purpose of promoting the formation of societies
and assisting them with advice; it is supported by voluntary
contributions. In 1909 twelve societies, including the original Tenant
Co-operators, had been formed with a total investment of £536,300. They
are situated at Ealing, Letchworth, Seven-oaks, Leicester, Manchester,
Hampstead (two), Harborne near Birmingham, Fallings Park,
Stoke-on-Trent, Wayford and Derwentwater. The rapidity with which the
movement has developed and spread since the establishment of the
Co-partnership Housing Council indicates great vitality, and since it is
based on thoroughly sound lines it has probably a large future. It is
the most interesting and in many respects the best of all recent
developments. The Report of the Select Committee on Rural Housing
mentioned above suggested that a Co-partnership Housing Society should
be formed in every county in England.
All the enterprises just described have one feature in common, namely,
the laying out of sites on a plan which takes cognizance of the future,
secures a due proportion of open space, variety in the arrangement of
streets and the most advantageous disposition of the houses and other
buildings. They go beyond sanitary requirements and take account of
higher needs. They have lent force to the advocacy of municipal
"town-planning," as practised by several towns in Germany; and provision
was made for this procedure in the Housing and Town Planning Act of
1909. The act contains clauses giving local authorities power to prepare
plans with reference to any land which appears likely to be used for
building purposes within or near their own boundaries; and also to
purchase land comprised in a town-planning scheme and either build on it
themselves or let plots for building in accordance with the plan. The
chief object is to safeguard the future, prevent the repetition of past
defects and encourage a higher standard of housing.
These new developments represent an upward movement at the higher end of
the scale. They cater for the superior ranks of working classes, those
who attach some importance to the aesthetic and moral influence of
pleasant and wholesome surroundings, and are willing to sacrifice
immediate gratifications to a higher end. They embody an aspiration, set
an example and exercise an educative influence. But they have nothing to
do with the housing of the really poor, which is the great difficulty;
and their very attractiveness seems in some danger of drawing attention
from it. Garden cities and suburbs will never house the poor or even the
bulk of our working class population, and it would be a pity if the
somewhat sentimental popularity of romantic schemes led to a distaste
for the plodding effort which alone can effect a real cure of
deep-seated social evils of long standing. All the new schemes and
legislative proposals leave untouched the greatest difficulty of all,
which lies not in the dwelling but in the tenant. It is comparatively
easy to afford better opportunities to those who are willing to take
advantage of them, but how to raise those who are not? The lesson taught
by Miss Octavia Hill's classical experiment is, if not forgotten,
certainly neglected in the presence of more showy efforts. Or perhaps it
would be more true to say that half of it is neglected. Miss Hill was
one of the pioneers in the comparatively modest method of improving and
reconstructing bad houses, which, as we have noted, is now being more
generally recognized and pursued; but that was only half her work. She
improved bad dwellings and made them decent, but she also managed them
on business lines, by a system of inspection and rent collection which
combined a judicious discipline with the stimulus of reward. This was
done by means of personal service, which is the secret of all really
effective work among the poor. Her words written years ago remain true
to-day: "The people's homes are bad partly because they are badly built
and arranged; they are tenfold worse because the tenants' habits and
lives are what they are. Transplant them to-morrow to healthy and
commodious homes and they will pollute and destroy them."
The following is a list of the principal associations formed for the
promotion of housing reform: Mansion House Council on the Dwellings of
the Poor, Rural Housing and Sanitation Association, Workmen's National
Housing Council, National Housing Reform Council, Co-partnership
Tenants Housing Council. They are all of recent date, except the
first. There are also local associations at Liverpool, Oldham,
Rochdale, York, Plymouth, and elsewhere.
OTHER COUNTRIES
At the International Housing Congress organized by the National Housing
Reform Council and held in London in 1907 representatives were present
from a number of foreign countries and a good deal of information was
collected and published in the report of the Congress. Further detailed
data have been supplied by foreign correspondents to Mr W. Thompson and
published in _Housing up to Date_. The more important facts relating to
the principal industrial countries are here condensed from this and
other sources of information.
_Austria._--An act for encouraging the building of cheap working-class
dwellings was passed in 1902; it provides for exemption from taxes for
24 years of working-class dwellings which fulfil certain conditions
including sanitary requirements, a minimum area per room, minimum
height, minimum door and window spaces, thickness of walls, a maximum
number of inhabitants (one to 4 sq. metres in sleeping rooms),
prohibition of lodgers, fixed rent and maximum profit. The
municipalities are the authority for administering sanitary and
housing laws; they have no power of compulsory purchase of land
without a special law. There is excessive overcrowding in the large
towns; in Vienna (1900) 43% of the population live in dwellings of 1
room or 1 room and a kitchen; in 60 provincial towns the proportion is
63%. Overcrowding is reckoned at more than 5 persons to a room and
more than 9 to two rooms; the proportion of overcrowded on this basis
is nearly one-fifth in Vienna and one-fourth in the provincial towns
(Thompson).
_Belgium._--An act was passed in 1889 instituting _Comités de
Patronage_; since then other Acts relating to loan societies, and to
inheritance and succession in the case of small properties. Comités de
Patronage are semi-official bodies, but without legal power, whose
function it is to study the subject of housing, to report to local
authorities on existing conditions, to advise, to collect funds and
promote the provision of good houses by any means in their power. They
influence public opinion and stimulate the activity of local
authorities which have the power to compel improvements and close
dwellings unfit for habitation; they have led to the formation of
numerous societies for erecting working-class dwellings. The latter
are encouraged by the law in various ways; they are exempt from the
payment of some government duties and partly exempt from others.
Working men buying or building houses liable to registration fees up
to from 72 to 171 francs are exempted from personal, provincial and
communal taxes. The National Savings Bank of Belgium is empowered to
lend money to working men for buying or building houses and to insure
the lives of those doing so, to preserve the home for the family. In
1904 the number of workmen's homes exempted from taxation was 164,387,
and the amount of taxation remitted considerably exceeded 3 million
francs; workmen had acquired lands and houses valued at nearly
£4,000,000; there were 161 societies for building working-class
dwellings; 30,000 workmen representing a population of 150,000 had
become owners of property; and 70,000 representing a population of
350,000 had availed themselves of the law in obtaining exemptions and
loans (O. Velghe). The foregoing results effected in 15 years are
remarkable and indicate a great capacity for self-help on the part of
Belgian workmen with suitable and well-considered assistance. But this
movement, in common with those of a similar character in other
countries, does not touch the problem of housing the very poor. No
statistics of overcrowding are available, but the average number of
persons to a dwelling is over 5 for the whole country and nearly 9 in
Brussels. The communal administrations are the authorities for health
and housing; they have power to abate nuisances but not to compel
landowners to sell land for building, though they have the right to
dispossession for "public purposes." No town has constructed quarters
devoted entirely to working-class dwellings and only one commune (St
Giles) has built any. In towns the height of buildings is regulated by
the width of streets; generally it is the width plus 6 metres. The
height of rooms and thickness of walls are prescribed by local
regulations but not the area of rooms. The housing difficulty has been
lessened in a notable degree by cheap transport facilities, including
railroads, light railroads and tramways; a large proportion of the
workpeople travel long distances to and from work. One-quarter travel
on the State railways alone; fares are 1s. 6d. a week for a daily
double journey of 20 m., 2s. for 44 m. and 2s. 6d. for 66 m. The area
of the labour market of Liége extends nearly to Ostend and out of 5830
workmen travelling over 1000 live more than 50 kilometres from Liége.
Some journeys last 3 hours.
_France._--The question of housing was publicly raised in France quite
as early as in England on grounds of public health in connexion with
the first visitation of cholera, and building societies were formed as
early as 1851, but little was done until after 1889, when the _Société
Française des Habitations à Bon Marché_ was founded under the
inspiration of M. Siegfried. This led to the formation of several
societies, which increased rapidly after the passage of _la loi
Siegfried_ in 1894, for promoting the provision of working-class
dwellings. In 1902 a Public Health Act and in 1906 a Housing of the
Working Classes Act were passed, and these three enactments with
regulations made in 1907 govern the procedure. The act of 1906
embodies the Belgian system of Comités de Patronage, of which at least
one was to be established in each department with grants in aid, and
exemptions from certain taxes of working-class dwellings fulfilling
specified conditions as to sanitation and rent. The law promotes the
formation of Housing Societies by granting various facilities for the
investment of money in building by public bodies and benevolent
institutions by taking shares or by loans. Down to the end of 1906
there had been lent for this purpose £233,000 by savings banks,
£258,000 by the Caisse des Dépôts, and £14,000 by charitable
institutions. The law does not authorize municipalities to build
houses and none of the communes have acquired land for this purpose.
Under the Public Health Act of 1902 towns can purchase land
compulsorily in connexion with unhealthy areas. The Public Health and
Housing Acts are administered by the local authority, which makes
regulations for building and for laying out building land. A minimum
height of 2.6 metres and a minimum cubical content of 25 cubic metres
are prescribed for rooms; there are no regulations for thickness of
walls. Housing societies are under the Ministry of Works and a
Superior Housing Council, which is a central advisory body. These
societies are now numerous; there are 46 in Paris alone, but their
operations are not on a large scale. One of them deserves special
notice on account of its special object. It is called the _Société de
logements pour familles nombreuses_ and it builds special flats called
_maisons des enfants_ which are let at low rents only to persons with
large families. In 1907 it had housed 168 families, averaging 6.8
persons, in two blocks at Belleville and Montmartre. The great defect
in France is the large quantity of old, bad, insanitary housing. Real
slums exist in all the old towns and in some of them, such as
Marseilles and Lyons, on an extensive scale. Very little has hitherto
been done to grapple with this difficulty. The standard of sanitation
is altogether lower in France than in England, as is shown by the
death-rates, and this holds good of the housing. But conditions vary
widely in different parts of the country. They are better, generally
speaking, in the industrial towns of the north, which are largely
Flemish and distinguished by the prevalence of small houses after the
English fashion, than in the central or southern districts where tall
old tenement houses of six and seven storeys abound. There are no
statistics and no standard of overcrowding; but the careful inquiry
carried out by the Board of Trade and published in 1909 shows the
extraordinary prevalence of tenements consisting of 1, 2 or 3 rooms.
In 16 towns for which information was obtained the average proportion
of dwellings containing less than 4 rooms was 75% of the whole; in
some it was as high as 89% and in none lower than 61%. In 8 towns,
including Paris, the number of one-roomed dwellings was more than a
quarter of the whole, and in two towns (Brest and Fougères) it was
more than half. Some corresponding statistics for English and German
towns are given below in the section on Germany. According to the same
report, the general accuracy of which has been confirmed by personal
inquiries, made in 1909 by the writer in a number of towns, rents are
decidedly lower in France. If the London level be taken as 100 that of
Paris is only 78 and the other French towns are considerably lower, 21
out of 29 being less than half the London standard. A general
comparison between a number of English and French towns shows the
average level of French rents to be less than three-fourths of English
ones. A noticeable feature of housing in France is the large number of
dwellings built by employers in recent years. The mining companies,
particularly in the Pas de Calais, have built whole groups of
villages; the railway companies and various manufacturers have also
done a great deal, chiefly in rural areas. Among the manufacturers MM.
Schneider at Le Creusot and the textile mill-owners in the Vosges are
noticeable. The houses provided are of a charming type, white with red
roofs; the rooms are of good size, the rents low, and a large garden
is usually attached to every house.
_Germany._--In no country is the problem of housing more acute than
in Germany, where the increase of population, the growth of
manufacturing industry and the urbanization of the people have
proceeded at an exceptionally rapid pace in recent years and have
combined with increasing wealth and a rising standard of living to
force the question into prominence. Up to 1909 no uniform legislation
for the empire had been framed and no central authority existed for
dealing with housing; but the several states have their own public
health and housing laws, and great activity has been developed in
various directions. The most general difficulty is deficiency of
quantity consequent on the rapid change in the distribution of the
population. The proportion of the whole population living in the great
towns increased from 7.2% to 16.2%, or more than doubled between 1890
and 1900; in England it only increased by about one-tenth. Slums are a
much less conspicuous feature than in England because of the
comparatively recent development of German towns, but where old
quarters exist on a large scale, as in Hamburg, the conditions are
quite as bad as anything in English towns, and call for similar
measures. Public sanitation in Germany is still as a whole less
advanced than in England; but in some cases it is superior and in
general it is coming up rapidly; the administration of sanitary laws,
as of others, is more effective and uniform, and less subject to
evasion. This also contributes to the comparative absence of slums.
And there is a third factor which has perhaps the greatest influence
of all, and that is the superior manner in which German homes are
kept. But the pressure of inadequate quantity is urgent; it has caused
high rents, overcrowding, and the development of large barrack or
block dwellings which are becoming the prevailing type. At the same
time it has led to many and varied efforts to meet the difficulty.
Isolated attempts go back to an early date. For instance a building
society was formed in Berlin in 1849, Alfred Krupp began to build his
"colonies" at Essen in 1863, Barmen started a society in 1871 and
there were other cases; but general attention seems first to have been
drawn to the subject by the reforming efforts of Pastor Bodelschwingh
at Bielefeld about 1884 in connexion with his _Arbeiterheim_. In short
housing reform in Germany is really a matter of the last 20 years. The
first efficient by-laws for regulating building in Berlin were not
adopted till 1887; the previous regulations dating from 1853 permitted
many abuses and under them a great deal of bad housing was
constructed, especially after the establishment of the empire and the
beginning of the great development of the capital.
The worst feature is the general prevalence of dwellings containing a
very small number of rooms--from 1 to 3--and consequent overcrowding.
The following figures are extracted from the Report to the Board of
Trade on Rents, Housing, &c., in Germany (1908, Cd. 4032). They
indicate the proportion of dwellings containing 1, 2 or 3 rooms, or
(in a few cases) the proportion of the population living in such
dwellings. The towns are those for which the information is given.
They are not selected as particularly bad specimens but as
representative, and they include most of the capitals and chief
industrial centres. The figures relate to the year 1900, except in a
few cases, in which they are taken from a municipal house census in
1905.
_Percentage of Dwellings or Population living in Dwellings
containing_
+-------------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
| Town. |1 Room. |2 Rooms.|3 Rooms.|Total under|
| | | | | 4 Rooms. |
+-------------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
| Berlin | 8.0 | 37.2 | 30.6 | 75.8 |
| Aachen | 13.7 | 32.0 | 21.9 | 67.6 |
| Barmen (pop.) | 1.5 | 24.3 | 28.8 | 54.6 |
| Bremen | 3.8(?)| 26.8 | 26.1 | 56.7(?) |
| Breslau (pop.) | 3.9 | 46.0 | 24.4 | 74.3 |
| Chemnitz (pop.) | 1.7 | 34.8 | 29.9 | 66.4 |
| Dantzig | 3.3 | 45.0 | 29.9 | 78.2 |
| Dortmund | 4.7 | 45.5 | 30.0 | 80.2 |
| Dresden | 0.8 | 3.5 | 27.8 | 32.1 |
| Düsseldorf | 5.0 | 26.4 | 22.7 | 54.1 |
| Elberfeld | 8.4(?)| 36.9 | 21.7 | 67.0(?) |
| Essen | 2.9 | 35.4 | 30.0 | 68.3 |
| Hamburg | 1.0 | 3.9 | 24.7 | 29.6 |
| Königshütte (pop.)| 10.0 | 60.4 | 16.8 | 87.2 |
| Leipzig (pop.) | 0.4 | 1.7 | 14.5 | 16.6 |
| Mannheim | 3.1 | 22.1 | 40.4 | 65.6 |
| Munich (pop.) | 4.6 | 24.1 | 28.4 | 57.1 |
| Plauen (pop.) | 1.3 | 14.2 | 21.8 | 36.3 |
+-------------------+--------+--------+--------+-----------+
The figures must be read with a certain amount of caution, as they are
not in every case compiled on a precisely uniform method with regard
to inclusion of kitchens and attics. For this reason the position of
Bremen and Elberfeld is probably more unfavourable than it ought to
be. But broadly the table shows that in most of the large towns in
Germany more than half, and in some cases more than three-quarters of
the dwellings have less than 4 rooms. Leipzig is the most striking
exception. If working-class quarters alone are taken it is found that
dwellings of more than 3 rooms are so few as to be negligible. In
Stuttgart, where housing is very dear, the percentages for
working-class quarters are--1 room 21.0, 2 rooms 51.8, 3 rooms 26.9;
total under 4 rooms 98.7. Königshütte, the chief coal and iron centre
in Silesia and a purely working-class town, shows the same state of
things; 60% of the whole population live in dwellings of 2 rooms and
87% in less than four. It is interesting to compare English towns. The
proportion of dwellings containing less than 4 rooms in London was
(1901) 52.2%, in Berlin 75.8%; the proportion of the population living
in such dwellings was--London 38.7%, Berlin 71.5%. Not only is the
proportion of small dwellings very much higher in Berlin but the
proportion of the population living in them shows a far greater
discrepancy. This indicates a much higher degree of overcrowding. The
only point in which Berlin has the advantage is the smaller number of
single-room dwellings. The proportions are London 14.7%, Berlin 8.0%.
But it is to be observed that overcrowding is not so common in 1-room
dwellings, which are often occupied by a single person, as in those
with 2 or 3 rooms, which are occupied by families, though probably the
most extreme cases of overcrowding occur in particular 1-room
dwellings. In the English county boroughs the proportion of dwellings
with less than 4 rooms was 24.0%, in other urban districts 17.4, and
in all urban areas including London 26.4%. When all allowance is made
for minor errors and discrepancies it may be broadly concluded that
the proportion of small dwellings containing less than 4 rooms is at
least twice as great in German as in English towns, and that the
conditions as to accommodation which in England prevail only in London
are general in urban Germany. As a set-off German rooms are generally
larger than English ones and in block dwellings there is often a
little ante-room or landing which does not count but really increases
the space.
The German census does not take cognisance of overcrowding and there
is no general official standard; but some towns have adopted a
standard of their own, namely, six or more persons to 1 room and ten
or more to 2 rooms. In Breslau, which is one of the worst towns, 17.5%
of the population (53,000) of the "city" or inner ring were
overcrowded on this basis in 1900. In Barmen, which is not one of the
worst, 20% of the 2-roomed and 17% of the 3-roomed dwellings (together
housing more than half the population) were overcrowded according to
the English standard. Overcrowding and other bad conditions are worst
in the basement or cellar dwellings, of which some towns have a very
large number. In Breslau 15,000 persons were living in 3853 such
dwellings in 1900; in Berlin 91,426 persons were living in 24,088
basements. Some of these are free from objection, but 11,147, housing
38,663 persons, were situated in back buildings and unfit for
habitation on account of darkness, damp, dilapidation and the like.
"Back" houses are a feature of old towns; they are houses which do not
give on the street but lie behind and are approached by a passage;
they are what we call courts and quite as insanitary as anything of
the kind in English towns.
With regard to rents the Board of Trade (London) Report gives the
following figures for Berlin and a number of other towns:--
+-------------+-----------------------------------+
|No. of Rooms | Predominant Range of Weekly Rents.|
|per Dwelling.+----------------+------------------+
| | Berlin. | Other Towns. |
+-------------+----------------+------------------+
| 2 rooms | 5/- to 6/- | 2/8 to 3/6 |
| 3 rooms | 7/- to 9/3 | 3/6 to 4/9 |
| 4 rooms | .. | 4/3 to 6/- |
+-------------+----------------+------------------+
Rents are higher in Berlin than in any other town, though Stuttgart
comes very near it. The following table of index numbers shows the
relations of 32 towns to Berlin:--
+--------------+-------++---------------+-------+
| Town. | Index || Town. | Index |
| |Number.|| |Number.|
+--------------+-------++---------------+-------+
| Berlin | 100 || Nuremberg | 53 |
| Stuttgart | 97 || Aachen | 53 |
| Düsseldorf | 79 || Crefeld | 52 |
| Dortmund | 68 || Bremen | 52 |
| Anchaffenburg| 67 || Plauen | 52 |
| Hamburg | 66 || Leipzig | 51 |
| Mannheim | 64 || Dantzig | 49 |
| Königsberg | 62 || Mülhausen | 48 |
| Munich | 63 || Königshütte | 47 |
| Essen | 62 || Stettin | 46 |
| Solingen | 61 || Magdeburg | 43 |
| Bochum | 57 || Chemnitz | 40 |
| Elberfeld | 57 || Zwickau | 38 |
| Barmen | 57 || Brunswick | 37 |
| Remscheid | 56 || Stassfurt | 33 |
| Breslau | 56 || Oschersleben | 28 |
| Dresden | 54 || | |
+--------------+-------++---------------+-------+
Comparing rents in Germany and England, the Board of Trade Report
gives the following table, to which the corresponding ratio of French
towns has been added.
+-------------+-------------------------+-------------+-------------+
| |Predominant Weekly Rents.| Ratio of | Ratio of |
|No. of rooms.+-----------+-------------+ German to | French to |
| | England. | Germany. |English (100)|English (100)|
+-------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 2 rooms |3/- to 3/6 | 2/8 to 3/6 | 95 | 79 |
| 3 rooms |3/9 to 4/6 | 3/6 to 4/9 | 100 | 86 |
| 4 rooms |4/6 to 5/6 | 4/3 to 6/- | 102 | 78 |
+-------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
If the mean of the English and German figures be taken it shows a very
slight difference in favour of Germany; the mean weekly rent per room
being 1s. 5d. in England and 1s. 4¾d. in Germany. But in England rent
usually includes local taxation (rates) whereas in Germany it does
not; if this be added German rents are to English as 123 to 100, or
nearly one-fourth more.
The statistics given above indicate a wide range of variation in the
conditions prevailing in different towns in Germany; and that holds
good with regard to improvements. The administration of the laws
relating to public health and housing is in the hands of the local
authorities. The public health service is generally efficient and
sometimes very good. Increasing attention has been paid in recent
years to the sanitary inspection of houses and in some towns it is now
thorough and systematic, but active efforts to deal with old and
insanitary quarters _en masse_ are isolated and exceptional. Hamburg
is an instance; scared by the visitation of cholera in 1892 the
authorities put in hand an extensive improvement scheme on the English
plan at a cost of half a million sterling. But demolition is
exceptional; slums are usually subjected to supervision and are not
allowed to be in a state of dilapidation, and sometimes, as at
Mannheim, notices are served to abate overcrowding. In Munich a policy
of gradually buying up insanitary houses has been adopted. But
improvement has principally been promoted by new building and the
reduction of the population in old insanitary quarters, to which cheap
locomotive facilities have greatly contributed. The great bulk of
urban Germany is new, and the most valuable contribution made by it to
the housing question is the more effective control of new building and
particularly the principle of town-planning, coupled with the purchase
of neighbouring ground with a view to future extension. This policy is
comparatively recent and still very partially applied, but it is now
rapidly extending. A general act providing for the planning of streets
was passed in Prussia in 1875 and still forms the basis of building
legislation; but as noted above no effective by-laws were adopted even
in Berlin until after 1887, and consequently a very faulty style of
building was adopted, especially in large blocks which conceal grave
defects behind an imposing exterior. The Saxon towns have been
conspicuously successful in regard to housing. Leipzig stands alone
among German towns in having 83.4% of its population living in
dwellings of 4 rooms and upwards. Yet it is a great commercial city,
the fifth in the empire, with a population of upwards of half a
million. It also comes low on the rent table, having an index number
little more than half that of Berlin. All the Saxon towns are low,
Chemnitz and Zwickau particularly so, and the position of Dresden,
being a capital, is remarkable. More than two-thirds of the population
live in dwellings of 4 rooms or more, and the rent index number is
only 54. In Saxony a general Building Act, especially providing for
town planning, was passed in 1900; and the Grand Duchy of Hesse, which
alone among the German states has a government Housing Department,
adopted a Housing of the Working Classes Act in 1902. Other states
have followed or are following and the air is full of movement. The
distinctive features of urban housing reform in Germany are (1) the
systematic planning of extensions, (2) purchase of ground by
municipalities, (3) letting or sale of municipal land for building
under prescribed conditions. Many of the great towns, including
Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Leipzig, Cologne, Frankfort and Düsseldorf,
are owners of land to a variable but sometimes large extent. This
policy seems to have been originally adopted on economic grounds and
those municipalities which bought or otherwise came into possession of
town land at an early date derive a substantial revenue from it now,
besides being in a position to promote housing improvement. There is
comparatively little municipal building, and that as a rule only or
principally for municipal servants, as at Düsseldorf, Mannheim and
Nuremberg; but there seems to be a tendency to venture further in this
direction and some towns have built houses for letting. The
municipalities generally sell or let their land, and the building
agencies which enjoy most official favour are the societies "of public
utility"; they are encouraged in every way and have greatly developed,
particularly in the Rhine province. Some are co-operative, others
semi-philanthropic in that they aim at building good houses and limit
their profits. In 1901 the Prussian Government issued an order urging
municipalities to support these societies by remitting the cost of
constructing streets and sewers, placing the assistance of building
officials at their disposal, taking their shares, lending them money
and becoming security for them. A great deal of public money has been
advanced to building societies, and one very important source of
supply has been developed, since the Old Age and Infirmity Insurance
Act of 1889, in the National Insurance Funds which invest their
surplus capital in this way. Down to 1906 the Boards of insurance had
lent £8,650,000 to societies for building; the Imperial Government
had lent £1,250,000, the Prussian Government £1,825,000, and the other
states further large sums in addition to the municipalities. Money
lent by the state is usually limited to building houses for state
employees and Insurance Boards lend on condition that the houses are
let to persons who come under the insurance laws. The development of
building societies has been promoted by the formation of general
building associations of which the earliest was established in
Düsseldorf in 1897 for the Rhine provinces; under its influence
one-fifth of the new housing provided in 1901 was erected by the
societies. The example was followed at Frankfort, Münster and
Wiesbaden. Housing by employers has also been carried out on a large
scale in Germany. States and municipalities have to some extent built
houses as employers, the former chiefly for railwaymen, besides
lending money to societies for the purpose; but most housing of this
kind has been done by private employers. Krupps, who had built 4274
dwellings housing nearly 27,000 persons down to 1901, are the most
famous example; but they are only one among many. In Rhineland and
Westphalia employers had in 1902 provided 22,269 houses containing
62,539 dwellings at a cost of £10,500,000; more than half the families
so housed belonged to the mining industry, the rest to various
manufactures. These two provinces, in which industrial development has
been extremely rapid, are exceptional; but housing by employers is not
confined to them. At Mannheim for instance over 1000 working-class
households have been so provided. At Nuremberg the Siemens Schuckert
Company have encouraged an interesting system of collective building
among their employees, by which 722 dwellings have been provided.
_Holland._--In 1901 a Public Health and a Housing Act were passed, and
these two embody most of the features of housing reform adopted in
other countries. The first provides for a general sanitary service
under the Ministry of the Interior. The second ordains that local
authorities shall frame by-laws for building and for the maintenance
and proper use of dwellings; that they shall inspect existing
dwellings, order improvements or repairs or demolition; empowers them
to take land compulsorily for the purposes of the act, to prohibit
building or rebuilding on sites reserved for public purposes and to
make grants or loans to societies or companies operating exclusively
for the improvement of working-class dwellings. If they fail to make
by-laws the provincial authorities may take action. Land buying with a
view to extensions has been adopted by a number of municipalities
including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and other important towns, and
the practice is increasing. Amsterdam has also begun the systematic
planning of extensions. There has been a little municipal building in
some small places, but it is on an insignificant scale; the tendency
is rather to favour societies of public utility as in France, Germany
and Belgium. The new laws are too recent to have had much effect and
housing reform is as yet in an early stage. Rents are high in the
large towns, namely, 1 room 1s. 8d. to 3s.; 2 rooms 2s. 6d. to 5s.; 3
rooms 3s. 6d. to 6s; 4 rooms 4s. 2d. to 7s.
_Italy._--A Housing of the Working Classes Act was passed in 1903, to
promote the improvement and provision of workmen's dwellings.
Municipalities have the power to purchase land compulsorily for
housing purposes and also to build workmen's dwellings. A few towns,
of which Milan is one, have done so. There are building regulations
relating to the area and height of rooms and the thickness of walls.
The antiquity of the Italian towns and the great quantity of old and
insanitary building make housing improvement a very difficult matter.
_La Società Umanitaria_, a benevolent trust founded by Prosper Loria
of Milan in 1902, has taken up this subject among others and has built
two model tenements, housing 2000 persons.
_United States._--Interest in the housing question in the United
States is confined to a few of the largest cities and can only be said
to be acute in New York, though there have been investigations by
commissions elsewhere and Miss Octavia Hill's work in London has found
admirers and imitators in Philadelphia and Boston as well as in New
York. The evils of housing in New York have been the subject of much
sensational writing which has elevated them to the position of a
world-wide scandal. It is not necessary to accept all the allegations
made in order to see that several circumstances have combined to
produce an exceptional state of things in this great city. The limited
space--the island or peninsula of Manhattan--in which central New York
is built has compelled the erection of large tenement blocks,
otherwise rare in American towns; the incessant inrush of immigrants
from the poorest parts of Europe has filled these tenements with
immense numbers of persons of many nationalities accustomed to a low
standard of living; the generally backward state of public sanitation
in America, and the absence or evasion of regulations and supervision,
have permitted the erection of bad dwellings, their deterioration into
worse, and their misuse by excessive overcrowding. Other large cities
in which bad housing conditions are known to exist are Chicago,
Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Jersey City.
There are doubtless many others, but bad housing conditions are not so
general in the United States as in Europe. Outside the very large
cities there is more space, more light and air, less crowding
together, less darkness, dirt and dilapidation. Large houses, occupied
by two or perhaps three families, are common, but they have more room
space than is usual in Europe. The 18th annual report (1903) of the
Commissioner of Labour gives the result of a special inquiry embracing
23,447 families distributed in 33 states. The average number of rooms
was 4.95 per family and 1.04 per individual. It is a fair inference
that overcrowding is confined to a comparatively small number of
exceptional places. A large number of the schedules were furnished by
the eminently urbanized and manufacturing states of New York,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio and Illinois; and in all these the
average number of rooms to a family exceeded 4, ranging from 4.2 in
Ohio to 5.5 in Massachusetts. The condition of homes as to sanitation
and cleanliness was statistically stated thus: Sanitary
condition--good 61.46%, fair 32,59%, bad 5.95%; Cleanliness--good
79.63%, fair 14.66 bad 5.71%. Other special inquiries have been
carried out in particular towns. In 1891-1892 the tenements in Boston
were investigated for the Massachusetts Labour Bureau, which found
3657 sleeping rooms without outside windows and about 8% of the
population living in conditions objectionable from one cause or
another. In 1892 Congress authorized a special inquiry into the slum
population of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Baltimore, the
results of which were published in the seventh special report (1894)
of the United States Commissioner of Labour. It was estimated that the
total "slum population" (presumably those living in unhealthy
conditions) was--New York 360,000, Chicago 162,000, Philadelphia
35,000, Baltimore 25,000. In Baltimore 530 families, consisting of
1648 persons, were living in single rooms with an average of 3.15
persons to a room; in Philadelphia 401 families were so living with an
average of 3.11 persons to a room. The proportion of 1-room dwellings
was less in New York and Chicago. In New York 44.55% or nearly half
the families investigated were found living in 2-roomed dwellings, in
Baltimore 27.88%, in Philadelphia 19.41% and in Chicago 19.14%. These
figures conclusively prove that European conditions reproduce
themselves in American cities. Poverty was not the cause, as the
average earnings per family ranged from £3, 4s. a week in Baltimore to
£4, 6s. a week in Chicago. Another official investigation in New York
was carried out in 1895 by the Tenement House Commission appointed by
the State of New York. It reported "many houses in the city in an
insanitary condition which absolutely unfits them for habitation."
Further details have been compiled from the census by the New York
Federation of Churches, chiefly relating to density of population in
the city. In 1900, out of a total of nearly 250,000 dwellings, 95,433
(38.2%) contained from 2 to 6 persons, 60,672 (24.2%) from 7 to 10
persons and 89,654 (35.9%) 11 persons or more. The density of
population for the whole city as now constituted was 19 persons to the
acre, in Manhattan 149; in the south-eastern district of Manhattan 382
and in one ward 735. Between 1900 and 1905 the density increased in
every district, and in the latter year there were 12 blocks with from
1000 to 1400 persons to the acre. The number of persons to the acre in
London (1901) is 60.6; in the most densely populated borough 182, and
in the most densely populated district (a very small one) 396. This
will give a measure of comparison. The large tenement blocks in New
York have been constructed with far less regard to health than those
in Berlin, and reproduce in an aggravated form the same evil of
insufficient light and air. In place of the inadequate courts round
which many are built in Berlin, the New York tenements have merely
narrow air shafts. In 1904 there were reported to be 362,000 dark
interior rooms, that is with no outside windows.
If American cities have nothing to learn from other countries in
regard to bad housing, they have nothing to teach in the way of
reform. They are following Europe slowly and a long distance behind.
There is no serious attempt to deal with insanitary areas as they have
been dealt with in England, or to prevent the creation of new ones by
regulation and planning of extensions as in Germany, or to promote the
provision of superior houses by organized public effort as in several
countries. A little has been done in New York to improve the worst
housing. A Tenement House Act was passed after the report of the
Commission of 1895 and a Department formed to give effect to it. Some
cleansing and repairing and insertion of windows is carried out every
year, but more attention seems to be paid to fire escapes. Societies
for providing improved dwellings exist in New York, Boston, Chicago
and Philadelphia. The oldest is one formed in Boston in 1871, called
the Co-operative Building Company; it was followed in 1876 by an
Improved Dwellings Company in Brooklyn, and in 1879 by a similar
society in Manhattan, and in 1885 by another in Boston. The largest
concern of the kind is the City and Suburban Houses Company in New
York, formed in 1896 under the guidance of Dr E. R. L. Gould; it has
built four groups of tenements housing 1238 families in the city and
112 houses on a suburban estate at Brooklyn; in all it has housed some
6000 persons. More recently Mr Henry Phipps has given £200,000 for the
provision of model dwellings in New York, and a building has been
erected on the plan of the Maison des Enfants in Paris. In Chicago the
City Houses Association works at housing reforms in various ways.
There are some other institutions of a like kind, but the aggregate
results are inconsiderable. Two other building agencies have done far
more in the United States than philanthropic societies; these are the
building and loan associations and private employers. The former are
co-operative provident societies; they are widely diffused throughout
the United States and their operations are on a very large scale. They
date from 1831, when the Oxford Provident Building Association was
formed at Frankfort, near Philadelphia. Pennsylvania has still the
largest number of associations, but from 1843 onwards the movement
spread rapidly and continuously in other states. The high-water mark
appears to have been reached in 1897, when the total assets of the
associations amounted to about £133,000,000. In 1905 there were 5326
associations with an aggregate membership of 1,686,611 and assets of
about £130,000,000. The states of Pennsylvania and Ohio head the list,
but the movement is very strong in many others. It accounts for the
comparatively large number of houses owned by working-class families
in the United States. With regard to housing by employers, no
comprehensive information is available, but the total amount is
certainly considerable though probably not so large as in Germany or
in France. Some of the better-known instances are the Pelzer
Manufacturing Company at Pelzer in South Carolina, which has built
about 1000 dwellings; the Maryland Steel Company at Sparrows Point,
Maryland, 800 dwellings; Ludlow Manufacturing Associates at Ludlow,
Mass., 500 dwellings; Whitin Machine Works at Whitinsville, Mass., 600
dwellings; Westinghouse Air Brake Co. at Wilmerding, Penn., 360
dwellings; Draper Co., Hopedale, Mass., 250 dwellings. These are all
more or less "model" settlements, not in cities, but in outlying or
country places, where works have been established, and that is
generally true of housing by employers in the United States, whereas
in Germany much has been provided by them in the large towns. Rents
are very much higher in American cities than in European towns of
comparable size and character.
AUTHORITIES.--Board of Trade _Reports_--"Cost of Living of the Working
Classes (England)" (1908); "Cost of Living in German Towns" (1908);
"Cost of Living in French Towns" (1909). _Proceedings of International
Housing Congress_ (London, 1907); _The New Encyclopaedia of Social
Reform_; E. R. Dewsnup, _The Housing Problem in England_; T. C.
Horsfall, _The Example of Germany_; J. S. Nettlefold, _Practical
Housing Reform_; A. Shadwell, _Industrial Efficiency_, ch. xi. on
"Housing"; W. Thompson, _The Housing Handbook, Housing up to Date_.
(A. Sl.)
HOUSMAN, LAURENCE (1867- ), English writer and artist, was born on the
18th of June 1867. Having studied at South Kensington, he first made a
reputation as a book-illustrator. Some of his best pictorial work may be
seen in the editions of Meredith's _Jump to Glory Jane_ (1892), the
_Weird Tales of Jonas Lie_ (1892), Jane Barlow's _Land of Elfintoun_
(1894), Christina Rossetti's _Goblin Market_ (1893), _Werewolf_ (1896),
by his sister, Miss Clemence Housman, Shelley's _Sensitive Plant_
(1898), and his own _Farm in Fairyland_ (1894). His designs were
engraved on wood by Miss Housman. His volumes of verse include _Green
Arras_ (1896), _Rue_ (1899), _Spikenard_ (1898) and _Mendicant Rhymes_
(1906); and the mysticism which characterizes the devotional poems in
_Spikenard_ recurs in his half-allegorical tales, _All Fellows_ (1896),
_The Blue Moon_ (1904) and _The Cloak of Friendship_ (1906). His
nativity play, _Bethlehem_, was presented in the Great Hall of London
University at South Kensington for a week in December 1902. In 1900 he
published anonymously _An Englishwoman's Love Letters_, which created a
temporary sensation; and he followed this essay in popular fiction by
the novels _A Modem Antaeus_ (1901) and _Sabrina Warham_ (1904). On the
23rd of December 1904 his fantastic play _Prunella_, written in
collaboration with Mr Granville Barker, was produced at the Court
Theatre.
His brother, Alfred Edward Housman (b. 1859), an accomplished scholar,
professor of Latin at University College, London, is known as a poet by
his striking lyrical series, _A Shropshire Lad_ (1896).
HOUSSAYE, ARSÈNE (1815-1896), French novelist, poet and man of letters,
was born at Bruyères (Aisne), near Laon, on the 28th of March 1815. His
real surname was Housset. In 1832 he found his way to Paris, and in 1836
he published two novels, _La Couronne de bluets_ and _La Pécheresse_. He
had many friends in Paris, among them Jules Janin and Théophile Gautier,
and he wrote in collaboration with Jules Sandeau. He produced art
criticism in _L'Histoire de la peinture flamande et hollandaise_ (1846);
semi-historical sketches In _Mlle de la Vallière et Mme de Montespan_
(1860) and _Galerie de portraits du XVII^e siècle_ (1844); literary
criticism in _Le Roi Voltaire_ (1858) and his famous satirical _Histoire
du quarante et unième fauteuil de l'académie française_ (1855); drama in
his _Comédiennes_ (1857); poetry in his _Symphonie des vingt ans_
(1867), _Cent et un sonnets_ (1873), &c.; and novels, _Les Filles
d'Ève_ (1852) and many others. In 1849, through the influence of Rachel,
he was entrusted with the administration of the Théâtre Français, a
position he filled with unfailing tact and success until 1859, when he
was made inspector-general of works of art. He died on the 26th of
February 1896.
His _Confessions, souvenir; d'un démi-siècle_ appeared in 1885-1891.
See also J. Lemaître, _Arsène Houssaye_ (1897), with a bibliography.
His son, HENRY HOUSSAYE (1848- ), the historian, was born in Paris. His
early writings were devoted to classical antiquity, studied not only in
books but on the actual Greek sites which he visited in 1868. He
published successively _Histoire d'Apelles_ (1867), a study on Greek
art; _L'Armée dans la Grèce antique_ (1867); _Histoire d'Alcibiade et de
la république athénienne depuis la mort de Périclès jusqu'à l'avènement
des trente tyrans_ (1873); Papers on _Le Nombre des citoyens d'Athènes
au V^ème siècle avant l'ère chrétienne_ (1882); _La Loi agraire à
Sparte_ (1884); _Le Premier Siège de Paris en 52 av. J.-C._ (1876); and
two volumes of miscellanies, _Athènes, Rome, Paris, l'histoire et les
moeurs_ (1879), and _Aspasie, Cléopatre, Théodora_ (6th ed. 1889). The
military history of Napoleon I. then attracted him. His first volume on
this subject, called _1814_ (1888), went through no fewer than forty-six
editions. It was followed by _1815_, the first part of which comprises
the first Restoration, the return from Elba and the Hundred Days (1893);
the second part, Waterloo (1899); and the third part, the second
abdication and the White Terror (1905). He was elected a member of the
French Academy in 1895.
HOUSTON, SAM, or SAMUEL (1793-1863), American general and statesman, of
Scotch-Irish descent, was born near Lexington, Virginia, on the 2nd of
March 1793. His father, who had fought in the War of Independence, died
in 1806, and soon afterward Samuel removed with his mother to the
frontier in Blount county, Tennessee. When he was about fifteen his
elder brothers obtained for him a place as clerk in a trader's store,
but he ran away and lived with the Cherokee Indians of East Tennessee
for nearly three years. On his return he opened a country school, and
later attended a session or two of the Academy at Maryville. During the
War of 1812 he served under Andrew Jackson against the Creek Indians,
and his bravery at the battle of Tohopeka, in which he was disabled by
several wounds, won promotion to a lieutenancy. In 1817 he was appointed
sub-agent in managing the business relating to the removal of the
Cherokees from East Tennessee to a reservation in what is now Arkansas,
but he was offended at a rebuke from John C. Calhoun, then secretary of
war, for appearing before him in Indian garments, as well as at an
inquiry into charges affecting his official integrity, and he resigned
in 1818. He entered a law office in Nashville, and was admitted to the
bar, and was soon elected a district attorney. From 1823 to 1827 Houston
represented the ninth district of Tennessee in Congress, and in 1827 was
elected governor of the state by the Jackson Democrats. He married Eliza
Allen in January 1829; his wife left him three months later, and he
resigned his office of governor, again took up his residence among the
Cherokees, who were at this time about to remove to Indian Territory,
and was formally adopted a member of their nation.
In 1830 and again in 1832 he visited Washington to expose the frauds
practised upon the Cherokees by government agents, and attracted
national attention by an encounter on the 13th of April 1832 with
William Stanberry, a Congressman from Ohio, who intimated that Houston
himself was seeking to defraud them. Commissioned by President Jackson,
Houston went to Texas in December 1832 to negotiate treaties with the
Indian tribes there for the protection of American traders on the
border. He decided to remain in Texas, and was elected a delegate to the
constitutional convention which met at San Felipe on the 1st of April
1833 to draw up a memorial to the Mexican Congress asking for the
separation of Texas from Coahuila, in which the anti-American party was
in control, as well as to frame a constitution for the commonwealth as a
new member of the Mexican Republic, and he served as chairman of the
drafting committee, and took a prominent part in the preparations for
war when next year the petition was refused. In October 1835, soon after
the outbreak of the War for Texan Independence, the committees of the
township of Nacogdoches chose Houston as commander-in-chief of the
forces in eastern Texas, and after the San Felipe convention in November
he was chosen commander-in-chief of the Texan army. On the 21st of April
1836, while in command of 743 raw troops, he met on the bank of the San
Jacinto about 1600 Mexican veterans led by Santa Anna and completely
routed them; on the next day Santa Anna was taken prisoner.
Texan independence was won by this victory (although the Mexican
government repudiated the treaty negotiated by Santa Anna), and Houston
was elected president of Texas (1st of September) and was inaugurated on
the 22nd of October. His term expired in December 1838; he was elected
again in 1841 and served until 1844. During his first term a newly
founded city was named in his honour and this was the seat of government
in 1837-39 and in 1842-45. Texas having been admitted as a state of the
American Union in 1845, Houston was elected one of its first two United
States senators. He served as a stalwart Union Democrat from March 1846
until 1859; he opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill in an able speech (3rd
March 1854), and spoke frequently in defence of the rights of the
Indians. In 1859 he was elected governor of Texas and tried to prevent
the secession of his state; upon his refusal, in March 1861, to swear
allegiance to the Confederacy he was declared deposed. He died at
Huntsville, Texas, on the 26th of July 1863. Houston was an able
soldier, wary, intrepid and resolute; and was a legislator of rare
foresight, cool discrimination and fearless candour.
See A. M. Williams, _Sam Houston and the War of Independence in Texas_
(Boston, 1893); Henry Bruce, _Life of General Houston_ (New York,
1891); and W. C. Crane, _Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam
Houston_ (Philadelphia, 1884).
HOUSTON, a city and the county-seat of Harris county, Texas, U.S.A., at
the head of deep-sea navigation on Buffalo Bayou, a tributary of
Galveston Bay, 50 m. N.W. of Galveston, and about 325 m. W. of New
Orleans. Pop. (1880) 16,513; (1890) 27,557; (1900) 44,633, of whom 4415
were foreign-born and 14,608 were negroes; (1910 census) 78,800. The
land area in 1906 was 16.02 sq. m.; in 1908, about 20 sq. m. It is
served by the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (Southern Pacific),
the Galveston, Houston & Henderson, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, the
Houston & Texas Central (Southern Pacific), the Houston, East & West
Texas, the International & Great Northern, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas,
the San Antonio & Aransas Pass, the Trinity & Brazos Valley, the St
Louis, Brownsville & Mexico, the Texas & New Orleans, and the Houston
Belt & Terminal railways, several of which have their headquarters at
Houston. The Federal government has greatly improved the natural channel
from the city to the Gulf of Mexico, straightening, widening and
deepening it to a depth of 25 ft. for the entire distance from the
Galveston jetties to the Houston turning basin--where the municipality
has constructed free municipal wharves. The city occupies an unusually
fine site on both sides of the Buffalo Bayou. Among the principal
buildings are a Carnegie library, the Houston Lyceum, the Federal
building, the Masonic temple, the city high school, the city hall and
market house, the Harris County Court House, the Cotton Exchange, and
the First and Commercial National banks. Houston is the seat of the
Texas Dental College, of St Thomas College (1903), and of the Houston,
Annunciation and St Agnes academies; and the will (1901) of William
Marsh Rice provided an endowment (valued in 1908 at about $7,000,000)
for the William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature,
Science and Art, of which Dr Edgar Odell Lovett, formerly professor of
mathematics (1900-1905) and of astronomy (1905-1908) in Princeton
University, was made president in 1908. The city is the most important
railway and shipping centre of South Texas, and has a large trade in
cotton (the receipts for the year ending Aug. 31, 1907 being 2,967,535
bales), cotton-seed oil, sugar, rice,[1] lumber and citrus fruits.
Houston is important also as a manufacturing centre, its factory product
being valued at $13,564,019 in 1905, an increase of 81% over the factory
product in 1900. There are extensive railway car-shops, cotton-seed oil,
petroleum and sugar refineries, cotton gins and compresses, steel
rolling mills, car-wheel factories, boiler, pump and engine works, flour
mills, rice mills and a rice elevator, breweries, planing and saw-mills,
pencil factories, and brick and tile factories. Its proximity to the
Texas oil fields gives the city a cheap factory fuel. The assessed
valuation of taxable property in the city increased from $27,480,898 in
1900 to $51,513,615 in 1908. The No-Tsu Oh Carnival week each November
is a distinctive feature of the city. Houston, like Galveston, adopted
in 1905 a very successful system of municipal government by commission,
a commission of five (one of whom acts as mayor) being elected
biennially and having both executive and legislative powers. The
waterworks are owned and operated by the municipality, which greatly
improved them from the city's surplus under the first two years of
government by commission. In 1908 extensive improvements in paving,
drainage and sewerage were undertaken by the city. The payment of an
annual poll-tax of $2.50 is a prerequisite to voting. Houston was
settled and laid out in 1836, and was named in honour of General Sam
Houston, whose home in Caroline Street was standing in 1908. In
1837-1839 and in 1842-1845 Houston was the capital of the Republic of
Texas. About 15 m. E.S.E. of the city is the battleground of San
Jacinto, which was bought by the state in 1906 for a public memorial
park.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Much rice is cultivated in the vicinity of Houston by Japanese
farmers.
HOUWALD, CHRISTOPH ERNST, FREIHERR VON (1778-1845), German dramatist and
author, was born at Straupitz in Lower Lusatia, a son of the president
of the district court of justice, on the 28th of November 1778. He
studied law at the university of Halle, and on completion of his
academic studies returned home, married, and managed the family estates.
In 1816 he afforded a home to his friend K. W. S. Contessa (1777-1825),
himself a poet, who had met with serious reverses of fortune; Contessa
lived with Houwald, assisting and stimulating him in his literary work,
for eight years. In 1821 Houwald was unanimously elected syndic for
Lower Lusatia, an office which placed him at the head of the
administration of the province. He died at Neuhaus, near Lübben, on the
28th of January 1845.
Houwald is remembered as the author of several so-called "Fate
tragedies" (see GERMAN LITERATURE), of which the best known are _Das
Bild_, _Der Leuchtturm_, _Die Heimkehr_, _Fluch und Segen_ (all
published in 1821). They have, however, small literary value, and
Houwald is seen to better advantage in his narratives and books for
juvenile readers, such as _Romantische Akkorde_ (publ. by W. Contessa,
Berlin, 1817); _Buch für Kinder gebildeter Stände_ (1819-1824); and
_Jakob Thau, der Hofnarr_ (1821). Houwald's collected works,
_Sämtliche Werke_, were published in five volumes (Leipzig, 1851; 2nd
ed., 1858-1859). See J. Minor, _Die Schicksalstragödie in ihren
Hauptvertretern_ (Frankfurt, 1883), and _Das Schicksalsdrama_ in
Kürschner's _Deutsche Nationalliteratur_; vol. cli. (Stuttgart, 1884);
O. Schmidtborn, _C. E. von Houwald als Dramatiker_ (1909).
HÒVA, the name originally applied to the middle-class Malayo-Indonesian
natives of Madagascar (q.v.), as distinct from the noble class
_Andrìana_ and the slave class _Andèvo_. Hòva has now come to mean the
most numerous and powerful of the tribes which form the native
population of Madagascar. The Hòva, who occupy the province of Imérina,
the central plateau of the island, are of Malayo-Indonesian origin. The
period at which the Hòva arrived in Madagascar is still a subject of
dispute. Some think that the immigration took place in very early times,
before Hinduism reached the Malay Archipelago, since no trace of
Sanskrit is found in Malagasy. Others believe that the Hòva did not
reach the island until the 12th or 13th century. At the French conquest
of Madagascar (1895), the Hòva were the most powerful and, politically,
the dominant people; but were far from having subjected the whole of the
island to their rule. The Hòva are short and slim, with a complexion of
a yellowish olive, many being fairer than the average of southern
Europeans. Their hair is long, black and smooth but coarse. Their heads
are round, with flat straight foreheads, flat faces, prominent
cheekbones, small straight noses, fairly wide nostrils, and small black
and slightly oblique eyes. The physical contrast to the negro is usually
very obvious, but, especially among the lower classes, there is a
tendency to thick lips, kinky hair and dark skin. In many of their
customs, such as taboo, infanticide, marriage and funeral rites, they
show their Indonesian origin. Most of them now profess Christianity.
HOVE, a municipal borough of Sussex, England, adjoining the
watering-place of Brighton on the west, on the London, Brighton, & South
Coast railway. Pop. (1901) 36,535. The great seawall of Brighton
continues along the front at Hove, forming a pleasant promenade. Here is
the Sussex county cricket ground. The municipal borough, incorporated in
1898, includes the parishes of Hove and Aldrington, of which the first
is within the parliamentary borough of Brighton, but the second is in
the Lewes division of the county. The corporation consists of a mayor,
10 aldermen and 30 councillors. Area, 1521 acres.
HOVENDEN, THOMAS (1840-1895), American artist, was born in Dunmanway,
Co. Cork, Ireland, on the 28th of December 1840. He was a pupil of the
South Kensington Art Schools and those of the National Academy of
Design, New York, whither he had removed in 1863. Subsequently he went
to Paris and studied in the École des Beaux Arts under Cabanel, but
passed most of his time with the American colony in Brittany, at
Pont-Aven, where he painted many pictures of the peasantry. Returning to
America in 1880, he became an academician in 1882, and attracted
attention by an important canvas of "The Last Moments of John Brown"
(now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art). His "Breaking Home Ties," a
picture of American farm life, was engraved with considerable popular
success. Hovenden was mortally injured in a heroic effort to save a
child from a railroad train in the station at Germantown, near
Philadelphia, and died at Norristown, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of
August 1895. Among his principal works are:--"News from the Conscript"
(1877), "Loyalist Peasant Soldier of La Vendée" (1879). "A Breton
Interior," "Image Seller" and "Jerusalem the Golden" (in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art).
HOW, WILLIAM WALSHAM (1823-1897), English divine, son of a Shrewsbury
solicitor, was born on the 13th of December 1823, and was educated at
Shrewsbury school and Wadham College, Oxford. He was ordained in 1846,
and for upwards of thirty years was actively engaged in parish work at
Whittington in Shropshire and Oswestry (rural dean, 1860). He refused
preferment on several occasions, but his energy and success made him
well known, and in 1879 he became a suffragan bishop in London, under
the title of bishop of Bedford, his province being the East End. There
he became the inspiring influence of a revival of church work. He
founded the East London Church Fund, and enlisted a large band of
enthusiastic helpers, his popularity among all classes being immense. He
was particularly fond of children, and was commonly called "the
children's bishop." In 1888 he was made bishop of Wakefield, and in the
north of England he continued to do valuable work. His sermons were
straightforward, earnest and attractive; and besides publishing several
volumes of these, he wrote a good deal of verse, including such
well-known hymns as "Who is this so weak and helpless," "Lord, Thy
children guide and keep." In 1863-1868 he brought out a _Commentary on
the Four Gospels_; and he also wrote a _Manual for the Holy Communion_.
In the movement for infusing new spiritual life into the church
services, especially among the poor, How was a great force. He died on
the 10th of August 1897. He was much helped in his earlier work by his
wife. Frances A. Douglas (d. 1887).
See his _Life_ by his son, F. D. How (1898).
HOWARD (FAMILY). Among English families, the house of Howard has long
held the first place. Its head, the duke of Norfolk, is the first of the
dukes and the hereditary earl marshal of England, while the earls of
Suffolk, Carlisle and Effingham and the Lord Howard of Glossop represent
in the peerage its younger lines.
Its founder was a Norfolk lawyer, William Howard or Haward, who was
summoned to parliament as a justice in 1295, being appointed a justice
of the common pleas in 1297. Over the parentage of this man genealogists
have disputed for centuries. The pedigree-makers have hailed him in turn
as the descendant of a Norman "Auber, earl of Passy" and as the heir of
Hereward, "the last of the English." But out of the copies of Norfolk
deeds and records collected for Thomas, earl of Arundel, in the early
part of the 17th century, it seems clear enough that he sprang from a
Norfolk family, several of whose members held lands at Wiggenhall near
Lynn. These notes from deeds, evidently collected by an honest inquirer,
make no extravagant claims of ancient ancestry or illustrious origin for
the Howards, although the facts contained in them were recklessly
manipulated by subservient genealogists. Doubtless the judge was the son
of John Howard of Wiggenhall, living about 1260, whose widow Lucy,
called by the genealogists the daughter of John Germund, was probably
the wife of John Germund by her second marriage. William Howard was
employed as counsel by the corporation of Lynn, and it is worthy of note
that the "crosslets fitchy" in his shield of arms suggest the cross with
which the dragon was discomfited by St Margaret, the patroness of Lynn.
Prospering by the law, William Howard of Wiggenhall rose to knight's
rank and acquired by purchase Grancourt's manor in East Winch, near
Lynn, where he had his seat in a moated house whose ruins remain. He was
probably dead and buried in his chapel at East Winch before November 27,
1308, the date of the patent by which Henry Scrope succeeded him as a
commissioner of trailbaston. His two wives, Alice Ufford and Alice
Fitton--heir of Fitton's manor in Wiggenhall--were both daughters of
knightly houses. Before his death his eldest son, John Howard, was a
knight and already advanced by his marriage with Joan of Cornwall, one
of the bastard line founded by Richard of Cornwall, king of the Romans.
Sir John Howard served in Edward II.'s wars in Scotland and Gascony, was
sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk and governor of Norwich Castle. When he
died in 1331 he was seised of many Norfolk manors. His son and heir,
another Sir John, admiral of the king's navy in the north, was a
banneret who displayed his banner in the army that laid siege to Calais.
By the admiral's wife Alice, sister and heir of Sir Robert de Boys, the
Howards had the Boys manor of Fersfield, near Diss, which is still among
the possessions of the dukes of Norfolk. His son Sir Robert Howard, who
had married a daughter of Sir Robert Scales (Lord Scales), died in 1388.
From Sir John Howard, the only son of Sir Robert, two branches of the
house of Howard spring. The elder line was soon extinct. By his first
wife, Margaret, daughter and heir of Sir John Plays, Sir John Howard had
a son who died before him, leaving a daughter through whom descended to
her issue, the Veres, earls of Oxford, the ancient Norfolk estates of
the Howards at East Winch and elsewhere, with the lands of the houses of
Scales, Plays and Walton, brought in by the brides of her forefathers.
After the death of Margaret Plays, her widower found, with the peculiar
instinct of his race, a second well-endowed wife. By her, the heir of
the Tendrings of Tendring, he had a second son, Sir Robert Howard, a
knight who fought under Henry V. in France, and died, like his
half-brother, before the old knight's career ended in 1436.
It is to the marriage of this young knight that the house of Howard owes
the tragedy of its greatness. He was a younger son, although he had some
of his mother's inheritance. Had he married the landless daughter of a
neighbour he might have been the ancestor of a line of Essex squires,
whose careers would have had the parish topographer for chronicler. But
his bride was Margaret Mowbray, daughter of the banished duke of
Norfolk. Although this was a noble alliance, it is probable that the
lady had no great portion. The head of her elder brother, the boy earl
marshal, had been stricken off in the cornfield under the walls of York,
but her younger brother's right to his father's dukedom was allowed by
parliament in 1425.
Sir John Howard, only son of the match between Howard and Mowbray, took
service with his cousin the third duke of Norfolk, who had him returned
as knight of the shire for Norfolk, where, according to the _Paston
Letters_, this Howard of the Essex branch was regarded by the gentry as
a strange man. He followed the White Rose and was knighted at the
crowning of King Edward IV., who pricked him for sheriff of Norfolk and
Suffolk. In the duke's quarrel he brawled with the Pastons, his wife
boasting that, should her husband's men meet with John Paston "there
should go no penny for his life." "And Howard," writes Clement Paston,
"hath with the king a great fellowship." Offices and lands came to John
Howard by reason of that fellowship. Henry VI., when restored, summoned
him to parliament in 1470 as Lord Howard, a summons which may have been
meant to lure him to London into Warwick's power, but he proclaimed the
Yorkist sovereign on his return and fought at Barnet and Tewkesbury.
When peace was made, Edward summoned him again as a baron and gave him
the Garter and the treasurership of his household. After Edward's
burial, at which he bore the king's banner, Howard, an enemy of the
Wydviles, linked his fortunes with those of the duke of Gloucester. At
this time came his sudden lifting to the highest rank in the peerage.
The last of the dukes of Norfolk had left a child heir, Anne Mowbray,
married to the infant duke of York, the younger of the princes doomed by
Richard in the Tower. By the death of this little girl, John Howard
became one of the coheirs of her illustrious house, which was now
represented by the issue of Margaret Mowbray, his mother, and of her
sister Isabel, who had married James, Lord Berkeley. A lion's share of
the Mowbray estates, swollen by the great alliances of the house, heir
of Breouse and Segrave, and, through Segrave, of Thomas of Brotherton,
son of Edward I., fell to Howard, who, by a patent of June 28, 1483, was
created duke of Norfolk and earl marshal of England with a remainder to
the heirs male of his body. On the same day the lord Berkeley, the other
coheir, was made earl of Nottingham. High steward at Richard's crowning,
the duke bore the crown and rode as marshal into Westminster Hall. For
the rest of his life he was Richard's man, and though warned by the
famous couplet that "Dykon his master" was bought and sold, "Jack of
Norfolk" led the archer vanguard at Bosworth and died in the fight, from
which his son the earl of Surrey was carried away a wounded prisoner. An
attainder by the first parliament of Henry VII. extinguished the honours
of the father with those of the son, who had been created an earl when
the lord Howard was raised to the dukedom. Their estates were forfeit.
Thomas Howard, a politic mind, loyal to the powers that be, was released
from the Tower of London in 1489, his earldom of Surrey and his Garter
restored. Accepting the position in which the Tudor king would have his
great nobles, he became the faithful soldier, diplomatist and official
of the new power. In his seventieth year, as lieutenant-general of the
North, he led the English host on the great day of Flodden, earning a
patent of the dukedom of Norfolk, dated 1 February 1513/4, and that
strange patent which granted to him and his heirs that they should bear
in the midst of the silver bend of their Howard shield a demi-lion
stricken in the mouth with an arrow, in the right colours of the arms of
the king of Scotland. This augmentation has been interpreted as a golden
scocheon with the demi-lion within the Scottish tressure. Thus charged
on the silver bend, it makes bad armory and it is worthy of note that,
although the grant of it is clearly to the duke and his heirs in fee
simple, Howards of all branches descending from the duke bear it in
their shields, even though all right to it has long passed from the
house to the duke's heirs general, the Stourtons and Petres.
The victor of Flodden is the common ancestor of all living Howards that
can show a descent from the main stock. The second duke, twice married,
was father of at least eleven sons and six daughters, the sons including
Edward the lord high admiral, killed in boarding Prégent's galleys at
Brest, Edmund the knight marshal of the army at Flodden, and William the
first Lord Howard of Effingham. The eldest son, Thomas, succeeded as the
third duke of his name, although the second under the patent of 1514. He
had fought as captain of the vanguard at Flodden and after the victory
was created earl of Surrey. When Richard III. was allying himself with
the Howards, Thomas Howard, a boy of eleven, had been betrothed to Anne,
daughter of the late King Edward IV., and Henry VII. allowed the
marriage with his queen's sister to take place in 1495. This royal bride
died of consumption, leaving no living child, and her husband took in
1513, as his second wife, Elizabeth Stafford, daughter of that duke of
Buckingham upon whom the old duke of Norfolk, the tears upon his cheeks,
was forced to pass sentence of death. Succeeding his father in 1524,
Norfolk was created earl marshal in 1533. An unsuccessful diplomatist,
his chief services in arms were the butchery in the north after the
Pilgrimage of Grace and the raid into Scotland which ended with the rout
of Solway Moss. He left his wife for a mistress, Elizabeth Holland, was
in discord with his family, and lived to see his two nieces, Anne Boleyn
and Catherine Howard, and his son Surrey, the fiery-tempered poet, go in
turn to the block. He himself was attainted and was lying a prisoner in
the Tower, doomed to die in the morning, on the night of the death of
Henry VIII. He was not released until the accession of Mary, parliament
restoring his dukedom on his petition for reversal of the attainder. His
grandson Thomas succeeded him in 1554, and in 1556 made the second of
those marriages which have given the Howards their high place among the
English nobility. The bride was Mary, sole heir in her issue of her
father Henry, the last of the Fitzalan earls of Arundel. Her father's
line and the royal Stewards of Scotland sprang from one forefather,
Alan, son of Flaald the Breton. The Mowbray match had already brought to
the Howards the representation of an elder line of the Fitzalan earls,
who sat in the seats of their ancestors, the Aubignys and Warennes,
great earls near akin to their sovereigns. And now the younger line,
earls of Arundel and Lords Mautravers, were also to have a Howard to
represent them. From this time the spreading genealogy of the Howards
drew its origins from most of the illustrious names of the houses
founded after the Norman Conquest.
The young duchess died in her seventeenth year after giving birth to a
son, and the duke took a second wife from a humble stock, newly enriched
and honoured, the daughter of Henry VIII.'s subservient chancellor, the
Lord Audley of Walden. Within ten years he married a third time, the
lady being Elizabeth Leybourne, the widow of Lord Dacre of Gilsland. She
survived her marriage but a few months and her husband then obtained the
wardship of her Dacre offspring, a son who died young, and three
daughters whom the duke, with the true Howard eye for a rich
inheritance, gave as brides to three of his sons. After three such good
fortunes by marriage Norfolk in his folly looked for a crown with a
fourth match, listening to the laird of Lethington when he set forth the
scheme by which the duke was to marry a restored queen of Scots and rule
Scotland with her who should be recognized as Elizabeth's successor. Ten
months in the Tower under strong suspicion would have warned another
man, but Norfolk was unstable and false. After promising fidelity and
the abandonment of the Scots marriage scheme, Cecil took him
corresponding with Mary and tampering with the Ridolfi plot. He died on
Tower Hill in 1572 for an example to the disloyal counties, protesting
innocence and repentance, warning his children in a last letter to
discredit all "false bruits" that he was a papist.
By his attainder the Norfolk titles were once more forfeited. But Philip
Howard, the son and heir, succeeded to the ancient earldom of Arundel in
1580, on the death of his maternal grandfather, while the Lord Lumley,
his uncle by marriage, surrendered to him his life interest in the
castle and honour of Arundel. The next year an act of parliament
restored the earl in blood. After a profligate youth at court, he
followed his wife in professing the Roman faith, and in 1585 made an
attempt to leave England to seek safety from the penal laws. But his
ship was boarded in the Channel and the earl, condemned by the
Star-Chamber to a heavy fine and to imprisonment during the queen's
pleasure, suffered a harsh captivity in the Tower. After the defeat of
the Armada he had been condemned to death on a charge of high treason,
founded on the tale drawn by torture from a priest, that Arundel had
urged him to say a mass for the success of the Spaniards. But he was
allowed to linger in his prison until 1595 when he died, the sight of
his wife and children being cruelly refused to the dying man. Thus it
befell that, of the chiefs of the Howards born since the great Mowbray
alliance, two had died by the axe and one in the prison from which a
fourth had hardly escaped. A fifth had fallen in a lost battle, and only
one had died in peace in his own house.
The ill fate of the Howards seemed to be appeased by the death of
Philip, earl of Arundel. Tudor policy did its work well, and noblemen,
however illustrious their pedigrees, could no longer be counted as
menaces by the Crown, which was, indeed, finding another rival to its
power. In the first year of James I., Thomas, the young son of Earl
Philip, was restored in blood and given the titles of Arundel and
Surrey. But the lands belonging to these titles remained with the Crown
and he had to repair his fortunes by one of those marriages which never
failed his house, his wife being Alathea Talbot, who was at last the
heir of Gilbert, earl of Shrewsbury. To the grief of his mother he left
the Roman church. A knight of the Garter, he was in 1621 created earl
marshal for life, and revived the jurisdiction belonging to the office.
An act of 1627, one of several such aimed at aggrandizing families by
diverting the descent of dignities in fee from heirs general, entailed
the earldom and castle of Arundel upon Thomas, earl of Arundel and
Surrey and the heirs male of his body "and for default of such issue, to
the heirs of his body." His pride and austerity made him unpopular at
court and he left the country in 1642, settling at last in Padua, where
he died in 1646, impoverished by the sequestrations of the parliament,
whose forces had taken and retaken his castle of Arundel. In answer to
his petition for the dukedom, the king had, on the 6th of June 1644,
given him a patent of the earldom of Norfolk, in order, as it would
seem, to flatter him by suggesting that the title of Norfolk would at
least be refused to any other family. He is celebrated as a collector of
paintings, books, gems and sculptures, his "Arundel marbles" being given
by his grandson in 1667 to the University of Oxford. The dukedom for
which Arundel had petitioned Charles I. in vain was restored by act of
the first parliament of Charles II. to his grandson Thomas, a lunatic
living at Padua, on whose death in 1677 it passed to this Thomas's
brother, Henry Frederick, who had been created earl of Norwich and
hereditary earl marshal of England in 1672. In 1777 Edward, the ninth of
the Howard dukes, died childless in his ninety-second year. With him
ended the earldom of Norwich, while the representation of the Mowbrays
and Segraves passed to his nieces, the Ladies Stourton and Petre, the
abeyance of the two baronies being determined in 1878 in favour of Lord
Stourton. Under the act of 1627 the earldom of Arundel and the castle
passed with the dukedom to a second cousin, Charles Howard of Greystock
(d. 1786), an eccentric recluse. At his death in 1786 he was succeeded
by his son Charles, the notorious "Jockey of Norfolk," the big, coarse,
generous, slovenly, hard-drinking Whig of whom all the memoir-writers of
his age have their anecdotes. He conformed to the Church of England and
spent a vast sum in restoring Arundel Castle. A third cousin succeeded
him in 1815, Bernard Edward Howard, who, although a Roman Catholic, was
enabled, by the act of 1824, to act as earl marshal. This was the
grandfather of the fifteenth duke, earl of Arundel, Surrey and Norfolk,
and hereditary earl marshal of England.
The eldest of the cadet branches of the ducal house has its origin in
William (c. 1510-1573), eldest son of the victor of Flodden by his
second marriage. He survived the reign of Henry VIII., that perilous
age for the Howards, with no worse misadventure than the conviction of
himself and his wife of misprision of treason in concealing the
offences of his niece, Queen Catherine. But both were pardoned. In
1553 he had the office of lord admiral of England, and in the next
year the Garter. For his services against Sir Thomas Wyat he was
created (March 11, 1553/4) Lord Howard of Effingham, the title being
taken from a Surrey manor granted him by Edward VI. Queen Elizabeth
continued his employment in diplomacy, and had he been richer he might
have had an earldom. His eldest son Charles (1536-1624), lord admiral
of England in 1585, sailed as commander in chief against the Spanish
Armada, and, although giving due weight to the counsel of Drake and
his other officers, showed himself a leader as prudent as courageous.
He was created earl of Nottingham in 1596 and died in 1624. The legend
that the admiral was a Roman Catholic has no authority. Two of his
sons succeeded in turn to the earldom of Nottingham, extinct on the
death of Charles, the third earl in 1681. Sir William Howard of
Lingfield, younger brother of the great admiral, carried on the
Effingham line, his great-grandson succeeding to the barony on the
extinction of the earldom. Francis, seventh Lord Howard of Effingham,
was created earl of Effingham in 1731, a title extinct in 1816 with
the fourth earl, but revived again in 1837 for the eleventh baron, who
had served as a general officer in the Peninsular campaign, the
great-grandfather of the present peer.
A patent of 1604 created Henry Howard (1540-1614), younger son of
Surrey the poet, earl of Northampton, a peerage which ended with the
death of this, the most unprincipled of his house.
Thomas, son of the fourth duke of Norfolk's marriage with the daughter
and heir of Thomas, Lord Audley of Walden, founded the line of the
present earls of Suffolk and Berkshire and of the extinct Lords Howard
of Escrick. His barony of Howard of Walden has descended to his heirs
general. Lord William Howard (1563-1640), the "belted Will" of Scott's
Lay and the "bauld Willie" of more authentic legend, was another of
the sons of the fourth duke and Margaret Audley. Married in 1577 to
one of the three co-heirs of the Lord Dacre of Gilsland he suffered
under Elizabeth more than one imprisonment with his brother the
unfortunate earl of Arundel. But in 1603 he was able, on the partition
of the Dacre lands, to make his home at Naworth Castle, where he
lived, a border patriarch, cultivating his estates and serving as a
commissioner of the borders. His great-grandson Charles Howard,
although fledged in a nest of cavaliers, changed sides and fought at
Worcester for the parliament. The Protector summoned him in 1657 to
his House of Lords, but he was imprisoned in 1659 on suspicion of a
share in Booth's insurrection and, after the Restoration, was created,
in 1661, earl of Carlisle, Viscount Morpeth and Lord Dacre of
Gilsland, titles which are still held by his descendants. From Sir
Francis Howard, a cavalier colonel and a younger son of "bauld
Willie," come the Howards of Corby Castle in Cumberland, a branch
without a hereditary title.
William Howard, Viscount Stafford, was the fifth son of Thomas, earl
of Arundel, and grandson of Philip the prisoner. Marrying the sister
and heir of the fifth Lord Stafford, who died in 1637, he and his wife
were created Baron and Baroness Stafford by a patent of 1640, with
remainder, in default of heirs male, to heirs female. A grant of the
precedence enjoyed by the bride's father being held illegal, her
husband was in the same year created Viscount Stafford. Roger
Stafford, the impoverished heir male of the ancient Staffords, had
been forced to surrender his barony to the king by a deed dated in the
preceding year, a piece of injustice which is in the teeth of all
modern conceptions of peerage law. The Viscount Stafford was one of
the "five Popish lords" committed to the Tower in 1678 as a result of
the slanders of Titus Oates and he died by the axe in 1680 upon
testimony which, as the diarist Evelyn protested, "should not be taken
against the life of a dog." But three earls of his own
house--Carlisle, Suffolk and Berkshire--and the Lord Howard of
Escrick, an ex-trooper of Cromwell's guard and an anabaptist sectary,
gave their votes against him, his nephew Mowbray being the only peer
of his name in the minority for acquittal. In 1688 his widow was
created countess of Stafford for life, and his eldest son, Henry, had
the earldom of Stafford, with special remainder to his brothers. This
earldom ended in 1762, but the attainder was reversed by an act of
1824 and in the following year Sir George Jerningham, the heir
general, established his claim to the Stafford barony of 1640.
AUTHORITIES.--State papers; patent, close and plea rolls. Tierney,
_History of Arundel_; G. E. C., _Complete Peerage_; J. H. Round,
_Peerage Studies_; Howard of Corby, _Memorials of the Family of
Howard_; Brenan and Statham, _House of Howard_; Howard, _Historical
Anecdotes of the Howard Family_; Morant, _Essex_; Blomefield,
_Norfolk_. (O. Ba.)
HOWARD, CATHERINE (d. 1542), the fifth queen of Henry VIII., was a
daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd
duke of Norfolk (d. 1524). Her father was very poor, and Catherine lived
mainly with Agnes, widow of the 2nd duke of Norfolk, meeting the king at
the house of Stephen Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. Henry was evidently
charmed by her; the Roman Catholic party, who disliked the marriage with
Anne of Cleves, encouraged his attentions; and after Anne's divorce he
was privately married to Catherine at Oatlands in July 1540. Soon
afterwards she was publicly acknowledged as queen. Before her marriage
Catherine had had several lovers, among them being a musician, Henry
Mannock, or Manox; her cousin, Thomas Culpepper; and Francis Dereham, to
whom she had certainly been betrothed. After becoming queen she
occasionally met Dereham and Culpepper, and in November 1541 Archbishop
Cranmer informed Henry that his queen's past life had not been
stainless. Cranmer had obtained his knowledge indirectly from an old
servant of the duchess of Norfolk. Dereham confessed to his relations
with Catherine, and after some denials the queen herself admitted that
this was true; but denied that she had ever been betrothed to Dereham,
or that she had misconducted herself since her marriage. Dereham and
Culpepper were executed in December 1541 and their accomplices were
punished, but Catherine was released from prison. Some fresh
information, however, very soon came to light showing that she had been
unchaste since her marriage; a bill of attainder was passed through
parliament, and on the 13th of February 1542 the queen was beheaded.
See A. Strickland, _Lives of the Queens of England_ (vol. iii. 1877).
HOWARD, JOHN (1726-1790), English philanthropist and prison reformer,
was born at Hackney, probably on the 2nd of September 1726. His
childhood was passed at Cardington, near Bedford, where his father, a
retired merchant of independent means, had a small estate. He was
apprenticed to a firm of grocers in the city of London, but on the death
of his father in 1742, by which he inherited considerable property, he
bought up his indenture, and devoted more than a year to foreign travel.
Never constitutionally strong, he became, on his return to England, a
confirmed invalid. Having been nursed through an acute illness by an
attentive landlady, a widow of some fifty-three years of age, Howard, in
return for her kindness, offered her marriage and they were united in
1752. Becoming a widower in less than three years, he determined to go
abroad again, Portugal being his destination. The ship, however, in
which he sailed was taken by a French privateer, the crew and passengers
being carried to Brest, where they were treated with great severity.
Howard was permitted to return to England on parole to negotiate an
exchange, which he accomplished, as well as successfully representing
the case of his fellow-captives. He now settled down on his Cardington
property, interesting himself in meteorological observations. He was
admitted a member of the Royal Society in 1756. In 1758 he married
Henrietta, daughter of Edward Leeds, of Croxton, Cambridgeshire. He
continued to lead a secluded life at Cardington and at Watcombe,
Hampshire, busying himself in the construction of model cottages and the
erection of schools. In 1765 his second wife died after giving birth to
a son. In the following year Howard went for a prolonged foreign tour,
from which he returned in 1770.
In 1773 the characteristic work of his life may be said to have begun by
his acceptance of the office of high sheriff of Bedford. When the
assizes were held he did not content himself with sitting out the trials
in open court, his inquisitiveness and his benevolence alike impelled
him to visit the gaol. Howard found it, like all the prisons of the
time, wretchedly defective in its arrangements; but what chiefly shocked
him was the circumstance that neither the gaoler nor his subordinates
were salaried officers, but were dependent for their livelihood on fees
from the prisoners. He found that some whom the juries had declared not
guilty, others in whom the grand jury had not found even such appearance
of guilt as would warrant a trial, others whose prosecutors had failed
to appear, were frequently detained in prison for months after they had
ceased to be in the position of accused parties, until they should have
paid the fees of gaol delivery (see Introduction to _The State of the
Prisons of England and Wales_). His prompt application to the justices
of the county for a salary to the gaoler in lieu of his fees was met by
a demand for a precedent in charging the county with an expense. This he
undertook to find if such a thing existed. He went accordingly from
county to county, and though he could find no precedent for charging the
county with the wages of its servants he did find so many abuses in
prison management that he determined to devote himself to their reform.
In 1774 he gave evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, and
received the thanks of the house for "the humanity and zeal which have
led him to visit the several gaols of this kingdom, and to communicate
to the House the interesting observations which he has made on that
subject." Almost immediately an act was passed which provided for the
liberation, free of all charges, of every prisoner against whom the
grand jury failed to find a true bill, giving the gaoler a sum from the
county rate in lieu of the abolished fees. This was followed in June by
another requiring justices of the peace to see that the walls and
ceilings of all prisons within their jurisdiction were scraped and
whitewashed once a year at least; that the rooms were regularly cleaned
and ventilated; that infirmaries were provided for the sick, and proper
care taken to get them medical advice; that the naked should be clothed;
that underground dungeons should be used as little as could be; and
generally that such courses should be taken as would tend to restore and
preserve the health of the prisoners. It was highly characteristic of
the man that, having caused the provisions of the new legislation to be
printed at his own private cost in large type, he sent a copy to every
gaoler and warder in the kingdom, that no one should be able to plead
ignorance of the law if detected in the violation of its provisions. He
then set out upon a new tour of inspection, from which, however, he was
brought home by the approach of a general election in September 1774.
Standing as one of the anti-ministerial candidates for Bedford, he was
returned by a narrow majority but was unseated after a scrutiny.
After a tour in Scotland and Ireland, he set out in April 1775 upon an
extended tour through France, the Low Countries and Germany. At Paris he
was at first denied access to the prisons; but, by recourse to an old
and almost obsolete law of 1717, according to which any person wishing
to distribute alms to the prisoners was to be admitted, he succeeded in
inspecting the Bicêtre, the Force l'Évêque and most of the other places
of confinement, the only important exception being the Bastille. Even in
that case he succeeded in obtaining possession of a suppressed pamphlet,
which he afterwards translated and published in English, to the
unconcealed chagrin of the French authorities. At Ghent he examined with
special interest the great Maison de Force, then recently erected, with
its distinctive features--useful labour, in the profits of which the
prisoners had a share, and complete separation of the inmates by night.
At Amsterdam, as in Holland generally, he was much struck with the
comparative absence of crime, a phenomenon which he attributed to the
industrial and reformatory treatment there adopted. In Germany he found
little that was useful and much that was repulsive; in Hanover and
Osnabrück, under the rule of a British sovereign, he even found traces
of torture. After a short tour in England (Nov. 1775 to May 1776), he
again went abroad, extending his tour to several of the Swiss cantons.
In 1777 appeared _The State of the Prisons in England and Wales, with
Preliminary Observations, and an Account of some Foreign Prisons_. One
of the immediate results was the drafting a bill for the establishment
of penitentiary houses, where by means of solitary imprisonment,
accompanied by well-regulated labour and religious instruction, the
object of reforming the criminal and inuring him to habits of industry
might be pursued. New buildings were manifestly necessary; and Howard
volunteered to go abroad again and collect plans. He first went to
Amsterdam (April 1778), and carefully examined the "spin-houses" and
"rasp-houses"[1] for which that city was famous; next he traversed
Prussia, Saxony, Bohemia, Austria and Italy, everywhere inspecting
prisons, hospitals and workhouses, and carefully recording the merits
and defects of each. The information he thus obtained having been placed
at the service of parliament, a bill was passed for building two
penitentiary houses, and Howard was appointed first supervisor, but he
resigned the post before anything practical had been achieved. In 1780
he had published a quarto volume as an appendix (the first) to his
_State of Prisons_; about the same time also he caused to be printed his
translation of the suppressed French pamphlet on the Bastille; but on
obtaining release from his employments at home his passion for
accumulating statistics urged him to new and more extended continental
tours, as far as to Denmark, Sweden and Russia in 1781, and to Spain and
Portugal in 1783. The results of these journeys were embodied in 1784 in
a second appendix, with the publication of which his direct labours in
connexion with the subject of prison reform may be said to have ceased.
The five remaining years of his life were chiefly devoted to researches
on the means for prevention of the plague, and for guarding against the
propagation of contagious distempers in general. After an extended tour
on the continent his researches seemed to be complete; and with a great
accumulation of papers and memoranda, he was preparing to return
homewards from Constantinople by Vienna, when it occurred to his
scrupulous mind that he still lacked any personal experience of
quarantine discipline. He returned to Smyrna, and, deliberately choosing
a foul ship, took a passage to Venice. A protracted voyage of sixty
days, during which an attack by pirates gave Howard an opportunity of
manifesting his personal bravery, was followed by a weary term of
confinement which enabled him to gain the experience he had desired.
While imprisoned in the Venetian lazaretto he received the information
that his only son, a youth of twenty-two years of age, had lost his
reason and had been put under restraint. Returning hastily by Trieste
and Vienna (where he had a long and singular interview with the emperor
Joseph II.), he reached England in February 1787. His first care related
to his domestic concerns; he then set out upon another journey of
inspection of the prisons of the United Kingdom, at the same time
busying himself in preparing for the press the results of his recent
tour. The somewhat rambling work containing them was published in 1798
at Warrington, under the title _An Account of the Principal Lazarettos
in Europe: with various Papers relative to the Plague, together with
further Observations on some Foreign Prisons and Hospitals, and
additional Remarks on the present State of those in Great Britain and
Ireland_.
In July 1789 he embarked on what proved to be his last journey.
Travelling overland to St Petersburg and Moscow, and so southwards, and
visiting the principal military hospitals that lay on his route, he
reached Kherson in November. In the hospitals of this place and of the
immediate neighbourhood he found more than enough to occupy his
attention while he awaited the means of transit to Constantinople.
Towards the end of the year his medical advice was asked in the case of
a young lady who was suffering under the camp fever then prevalent, and
in attending her he himself took the disease, which terminated fatally
on the 20th of January 1790. He was buried near the village of Dauphigny
on the road to St Nicholas. There is a statue by Bacon to his memory in
St Paul's, London, and one at Bedford by A. Gilbert. In personal
appearance Howard is described as having been short, thin and
sallow--unprepossessing apart from the attraction of a penetrating eye
and a benevolent smile.
AUTHORITIES.--_Anecdotes of the Life and Character of John Howard,
written by a Gentleman_ (1790); Aikin, _View of the Character and
Public Services of the late John Howard_. (1792); _Memoirs_ by J.
Baldwin Brown (1818); T. Taylor (1836), Hepworth Dixon (1849), J.
Field (1850), and J. Stoughton, _Howard the Philanthropist_ (1884).
FOOTNOTE:
[1] The spinhouses were for women prisoners, who were set to spinning
or other useful work; in the rasp-houses, the prisoners were employed
in rasping wood.
HOWARD, OLIVER OTIS (1830-1909), American soldier, was born in Leeds,
Maine, on the 8th of November 1830. He graduated at Bowdoin College in
1850, and at the U.S. Military Academy in 1854. In 1857 he served in
Florida against the Seminole Indians, and from 1857 to 1861 he was
assistant professor of mathematics at West Point. At the beginning of
the Civil War he resigned to become colonel of the 3rd Maine volunteer
regiment, and at the first battle of Bull Run was in command of a
brigade. In September he was promoted brigadier-general of volunteers.
He served in the Peninsular Campaign, and at the battle of Seven Pines
(Fair Oaks) he was twice wounded, losing his right arm. On his return to
active service in August 1862 he took part in the Virginian campaigns of
1862-63; at Antietam he succeeded Sedgwick in command of a division,
and he became major-general of volunteers in March 1863. In the campaign
of Chancellorsville (see WILDERNESS) he commanded the XI. corps, which
was routed by "Stonewall" Jackson, and in the first day's battle at
Gettysburg he was for some hours (succeeding Doubleday after Reynolds's
death) in command of the Union troops. The XI. corps was transferred to
Tennessee after Rosecrans's defeat at Chickamauga, and formed part of
Hooker's command in the great victory of Chattanooga. When Sherman
prepared to invade Georgia in the spring of 1864 the XI. corps was
merged with the XII. into the new XX., commanded by Hooker, and Howard
was then placed, in command of the new IV. corps, which he led in all
the actions of the Atlanta campaign, receiving another wound at
Pickett's Mills. On the death in action of General M'Pherson, Howard, in
July 1864, was selected to command the Army of the Tennessee. In this
position he took part in the "March to the Sea" and the Carolinas
campaign. In March 1865 he was breveted major-general U.S.A. "for
gallant and meritorious service in the battle of Ezra Church and during
the campaign against Atlanta," and in 1893 received a Congressional
medal of honour for bravery at Fair Oaks. After the peace he served as
commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands
from 1865 until 1874; in 1872 he was special commissioner to the hostile
Apaches of New Mexico and Arizona; in 1874-1881 was in command of the
Department of the Columbia and conducted the campaign against Chief
Joseph in 1877 and that against the Bannocks and Piutes in 1878. In
1881-1882 he was superintendent of West Point; and in 1882-1886 he
commanded the Department of the Platte, in 1886-1888 the Department of
the Pacific, and in 1888-1894 the Department of the East. In 1886 he was
promoted major-general and in 1894 he retired. He died at Burlington,
Vermont, on the 26th of October 1909.
Howard was deeply interested, in the welfare of the negroes; and the
establishment by the U.S. Government in 1867 of Howard University, at
Washington, especially for their education, was largely due to him; it
was named in his honour, and from 1869 to 1873 he presided over it. In
1895 he founded for the education of the "mountain whites" the Lincoln
Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tenn. (see CUMBERLAND MOUNTAINS),
and became president of its board. He held honorary degrees of various
universities, and was a chevalier of the Legion of Honour. He wrote,
amongst other works, _Donald's Schooldays_ (1877); _Chief Joseph_
(1881); a life of General Zachary Taylor (1892) in the "Great
Commanders" series; _Isabella of Castile_ (1894); _Fighting for
Humanity_ (1898); _Henry in the War_ (1898); papers in the "Battles and
Leaders" collection on the Atlanta campaign; _My Life and Experience
among our Hostile Indians_ (1907); and _Autobiography of O. O. Howard_
(2 vols., New York, 1907).
HOWARD, SIR ROBERT (1626-1698), English dramatist, sixth son of Thomas
Howard, 1st earl of Berkshire, was born in 1626. He was knighted at the
second battle of Newbury (1644) for his signal courage on the Royalist
side. Imprisoned in Windsor Castle under the Commonwealth, his loyalty
was rewarded at the Restoration, and he eventually became auditor of the
exchequer. His best play is a comedy, _The Committee, or the Faithful
Irishman_ (1663; printed 1665), which kept the stage, long after its
interest as a political satire was exhausted, for the character of
Teague, said to have been drawn from one of his own servants. He was an
early patron of Dryden, who married his sister, Lady Elizabeth Howard,
and in the _Indian Queen_, a tragedy in heroic verse (1664; pr. 1665)
Howard had assistance from Dryden, although the fact was not made public
until the production of Dryden's _Indian Emperor_. The magnificence of
the spectacle, and the novelty of the costume of feathers, presented by
Mrs. Aphra Behn, that was worn by Zempoalla, the Indian queen, made a
great sensation. The scenery and accessories were unusually brilliant,
the richest ever seen in England, according to Evelyn. In 1665 Howard
published _Foure New Plays_, in the preface to which he opposed the view
maintained by Dryden in the dedicatory epistle to _The Rival Ladies_,
that rhyme was better suited to the heroic tragedy than blank verse.
Howard made an exception in favour of the rhyme of Lord Orrery, but by
his silence concerning Dryden implicated him in the general censure.
Dryden answered by placing Howard's sentiments in the mouth of Crites in
his own _Essay on Dramatic Poesy_ (1668). The controversy did not end
here, but Dryden completely worsted his adversary in the 1668 edition of
_The Indian Emperor_. Howard died on the 3rd of September 1698.
His brother, James Howard, wrote two comedies, _All Mistaken, or the Mad
Couple_, a comedy (1667; pr. 1672), and _The English Mounsieur_ (1666;
pr. 1674), the success of which seems to have been partly due to the
acting of Nell Gwynn.
HOWARD, LORD WILLIAM (1563-1640), known as "Belted, or Bauld (bold)
Will," 3rd son of Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk (executed in 1572),
and of his second wife Margaret, daughter of Lord Audley, was born at
Audley End in Essex on the 19th of December 1563. He married on the 28th
of October 1577 Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas, Lord Dacre, and proceeded
subsequently to the University of Cambridge. Being suspected of
treasonable intentions together with his elder brother, Philip, earl of
Arundel, he was imprisoned in 1583, 1585 and 1589. He joined the church
of Rome in 1584, both brothers being dispossessed by the queen of a
portion of their Dacre estates, which were, however, restored in 1601
for a payment of £10,000. Howard then took up his residence with his
children and grandchildren at Naworth Castle in Cumberland, restored the
castle, improved the estate and established order in that part of the
country. In 1603, on the accession of James, he had been restored in
blood. In 1618 he was made one of the commissioners for the border, and
performed great services in upholding the law and suppressing marauders.
Lord William was a learned and accomplished scholar, praised by Camden,
to whom he sent inscriptions and drawings from relics collected by him
from the Roman wall, as "a singular lover of valuable antiquity and
learned withal." He collected a valuable library, of which most of the
printed works remain still at Naworth, though the MSS. have been
dispersed, a portion being now in the Arundel MSS. in the Royal College
of Arms; he corresponded with Ussher and was intimate with Camden,
Spelman, and Cotton, whose eldest son married his daughter. He
published, in 1592 an edition of Florence of Worcester's _Chronicon ex
Chronicis_, dedicated to Lord Burghley, and drew up a genealogy of his
family, now among the duke of Norfolk's MSS. at Norfolk House. He died
in October 1640 at Greystock, to which place he had been removed when
failing in health to escape the Scots who were threatening an advance on
Naworth. He had a large family of children, of whom Philip, his heir,
was the grandfather of Charles, 1st earl of Carlisle, and Francis was
the ancestor of the Howards of Corby.
HOWARD OF EFFINGHAM, WILLIAM HOWARD, 1st BARON (c. 1510-1573), English
lord high admiral, was the son of the 2nd duke of Norfolk. He was
popular with Henry VIII., and at Anne Boleyn's coronation was deputy
earl marshal; and he was sent on missions to Scotland and France; but in
1541 he was charged with abetting his relative Queen Catherine Howard,
and was convicted of misprision of treason, but pardoned. In 1552 he was
made governor of Calais, and in 1553 lord high admiral, being created
Baron Howard of Effingham in 1554 for his defence of London in Sir
Thomas Wyat's rebellion against Queen Mary. He befriended the princess
Elizabeth, but his popularity with the navy saved him from Mary's
resentment; and when Elizabeth became queen he had great influence with
her and filled several important posts. His son, the second baron, who
is famous in English naval history, was created earl of Nottingham
(q.v.); and from a younger son the later earls of Effingham were
descended. William's descendant, Francis (d. 1695), inherited the barony
of Howard of Effingham on the death of his cousin, Charles, in 1681; and
Francis's son, Francis (1683-1743), was created earl of Effingham in
1731. This earldom became extinct on the death of Richard, the fourth
holder, in 1816; but it was created again in 1837 in favour of Kenneth
Alexander (1767-1845), another of William Howard's descendants, who had
succeeded to the barony of Howard of Effingham in 1816.
HOWE, ELIAS (1819-1867), American sewing-machine inventor, was born in
Spencer, Massachusetts, on the 9th of July 1819. His early years were
spent on his father's farm. In 1835 he entered the factory of a
manufacturer of cotton-machinery at Lowell, Massachusetts, where he
learned the machinist's trade. Subsequently, while employed in a machine
shop at Cambridge, Mass., he conceived the idea of a sewing machine, and
for five years spent all his spare time in its development. In September
1846 a patent for a practical sewing machine was granted to him; and
Howe spent the following two years (1847-1849) in London, employed by
William Thomas, a corset manufacturer, to whom he had sold the English
rights for £250. Years of disappointment and discouragement followed
before he was successful in introducing his invention, and several
imitations which infringed his patent, particularly that of Isaac
Merritt Singer (1811-1875), had already been successfully introduced and
were widely used. His rights were established after much litigation in
1854, and by the date of expiration of his patent (1867) he had realized
something over $2,000,000 out of his invention. He died in Brooklyn, New
York, on the 3rd of October 1867.
See _History of the Sewing Machine and of Elias Howe, Jr., the
Inventor_ (Detroit, 1867); P. G. Hubert, Jr., _Inventors_, in "Men of
Achievement" series (New York, 1893).
HOWE, JOHN (1630-1706), English Puritan divine, was born on the 17th of
May 1630 at Loughborough, Leicestershire, where his father was vicar. On
the 19th of May 1647 he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, as a sizar,
and in the following year took his degree of B.A. During his residence
at the university he made the acquaintance of Ralph Cudworth, Henry More
and John Smith, from intercourse with whom, as well as from direct
acquaintance with the _Dialogues_ themselves, his mind received that
"Platonic tinge" so perceptible in his writings. Immediately after
graduation at Cambridge, he migrated to Oxford, where he became fellow
and chaplain of Magdalen College, proceeding M.A. in 1652. He was then
ordained by Charles Herle (1598-1659), the Puritan rector of Winwick,
and in 1654 went as perpetual curate to Great Torrington in Devon, where
he preached the discourses which later took shape in his treatises on
_The Blessedness of the Righteous_ and on _Delighting in God_. In the
beginning of 1657 a journey to London accidentally brought Howe under
the notice of Cromwell, who made him his domestic chaplain. In this
position his conduct was such as to win the praise of even the bitterest
enemies of his party. Without overlooking his fellow-Puritans, he was
always ready to help pious and learned men of other schools. Seth Ward
(afterwards bishop of Exeter) and Thomas Fuller were among those who
profited by Howe's kindness, and were not ashamed subsequently to
express their gratitude for it. On the resignation of Richard Cromwell,
Howe returned to Great Torrington, to leave it again in 1662 on the
passing of the Act of Uniformity. For several years he led a wandering
and uncertain life, preaching in secret as occasion offered to handfuls
of trusted hearers. Being in straits he published in 1668 _The
Blessedness of the Righteous_; the reputation which he thus acquired
procured him an invitation from Lord Massereene, of Antrim Castle,
Ireland, with whom he lived for five or six years as domestic chaplain,
frequently preaching in public, with the approval of the bishop of the
diocese. Here too he produced the most eloquent of his shorter
treatises, _The Vanity of Man as Mortal_, and _On Delighting in God_,
and planned his best work, _The Living Temple_. In the beginning of 1676
he accepted an invitation to become joint-pastor of a nonconformist
congregation at Haberdashers' Hall, London; and in the same year he
published the first part of _The Living Temple_ entitled _Concerning
God's Existence and his Conversableness with Man: Against Atheism or the
Epicurean Deism_. In 1677 appeared his tractate _On the
Reconcileableness of God's Prescience of the Sins of Men with the Wisdom
and Sincerity of His Counsels, Exhortations and whatsoever means He uses
to prevent them_, which was attacked from various quarters, and had
Andrew Marvell for one of its defenders. _On Thoughtfulness for the
Morrow_ followed in 1681; _Self-Dedication_ and _Union among
Protestants_ in 1682, and _The Redeemer's Tears wept over Lost Souls_ in
1684.
For five years after his settlement in London Howe enjoyed comparative
freedom, and was on not unfriendly terms with many eminent Anglicans,
such as Stillingfleet, Tillotson, John Sharp and Richard Kidder; but the
greater severity which began to be exercised towards nonconformists in
1681 so interfered with his liberty that in 1685 he gladly accepted the
invitation of Philip, Lord Wharton, to travel abroad with him. In 1686
he determined to settle for a time at Utrecht, where he officiated in
the English chapel. Among his friends there was Gilbert Burnet, by whose
influence he obtained several confidential interviews with William of
Orange. In 1687 Howe availed himself of the declaration for liberty of
conscience to return to England, and in the following year he headed the
deputation of nonconformist ministers who went to congratulate William
on his accession to the English throne. The remainder of his life was
uneventful. His influence was always on the side of mutual forbearance,
between conformists and dissenters in 1689, and between
Congregationalists and Presbyterians in 1690. In 1693 he published three
discourses _On the Carnality of Religious Contention_, suggested by the
disputes that became rife among nonconformists as soon as liberty of
doctrine and worship had been granted. In 1694 and 1695 he published
various treatises on the subject of the Trinity, the principal being _A
Calm and Solemn Inquiry concerning the Possibility of a Trinity in the
Godhead_. The second part of _The Living Temple_, entitled
_Animadversions on Spinosa and a French Writer pretending to confute
him, with a recapitulation of the former part and an account of the
destitution and restitution of God's Temple among Men_, appeared in
1702. In 1701 he had some controversy with Daniel Defoe on the question
of occasional conformity. In 1705 he published a discourse _On Patience
in the Expectation of Future Blessedness_, but his health had begun to
fail, and he died in London on the 2nd of April 1706. Richard Cromwell
visited him in his last illness.
Though excelled by Baxter as a pulpit orator, and by Owen in exegetical
ingenuity and in almost every department of theological learning, Howe
compares favourably with either as a sagacious and profound thinker,
while he was much more successful in combining religious earnestness and
fervour of conviction with large-hearted tolerance and cultured breadth
of view. He was a man of high principle and fine presence, and it was
said of him "that he never made an enemy and never lost a friend."
The works published in his lifetime, including a number of sermons,
were collected into 2 vols. fol. in 1724, and again reprinted in 3
vols. 8vo. in 1848. A complete edition of the _Whole Works_, including
much posthumous and additional matter, appeared with a memoir in 8
vols, in 1822; this was reprinted in 1 vol. in 1838 and in 6 vols. in
1862-1863. E. Calamy's _Life_ (1724) forms the basis of _The Life and
Character of Howe, with an Analysis of his Writings_, by Henry Rogers
(1836, new ed. 1863). See also a sketch by R. F. Horton (1896).
HOWE, JOSEPH (1804-1873), Canadian statesman, was born at Halifax, Nova
Scotia, on the 13th of December 1804, the son of John Howe (1752-1835),
a United Empire Loyalist who was for many years king's printer and
postmaster-general for the Maritime Provinces and the Bermudas. He
received little regular education, and at the age of 13 entered his
father's office. In 1827 he started the _Acadian_, a weekly
non-political journal, but soon sold it, and in 1828 purchased the _Nova
Scotian_, which later became amalgamated with the _Morning Chronicle_.
From this date he devoted increasing attention to political affairs, and
in 1835 was prosecuted for libelling the magistrates of Halifax. Being
unable to find a lawyer willing to undertake his case, he pleaded it
himself, and won his acquittal by a speech of over six hours, which
secured for Nova Scotia the freedom of the press and for himself the
reputation of an orator. In 1836 he was elected member for Halifax in
the provincial assembly, and during the next twelve years devoted
himself to attaining responsible government for Nova Scotia. This
brought him into fierce conflict with the reigning oligarchy and with
the lieutenant-governor, Lord Falkland (1803-1884), whom he forced to
resign. Largely owing to Howe's statesmanship responsible government was
finally conceded in 1848 by the imperial authorities, and was thus
gained without the bloodshed and confusion which marked its acquisition
in Ontario and Quebec. In 1850 he was appointed a delegate to England on
behalf of the Intercolonial railway, for which he obtained a large
imperial guarantee. In 1854 he resigned from the cabinet, and was
appointed chief commissioner of railways. In 1855 he was sent by the
imperial government to the United States in connexion with the Foreign
Enlistment Act, to raise soldiers for the war in the Crimea. Through the
rashness of others he got into difficulties, and was attacked in the
British House of Commons by Mr Gladstone, whom he compelled to
apologize.
In 1855 he was defeated by Mr (afterwards Sir Charles) Tupper, but was
elected by acclamation in the next year in Hants county, and was from
1860 to 1863 premier of Nova Scotia. In the latter years he was
appointed by the imperial government fishery commissioner to the United
States, and thus took no part in the negotiations for confederation.
Though his eloquence had done more than anything else to make
practicable a union of the British North American provinces, he opposed
confederation, largely owing to wounded vanity; but on finding it
impossible to obtain from the imperial authorities the repeal of the
British North America Act, he refused to join his associates in the
extreme measures which were advocated, and on the promise from the
Canadian government of better financial terms to his native province,
entered (on the 30th of January 1869) the cabinet of Sir John Macdonald
as president of the council. This brought upon him a storm of obloquy,
under which his health gradually gave way. In May 1873 he was appointed
lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia, but died suddenly on the 1st of June
of the same year.
Howe's eloquence, and still more his unfailing wit and high spirits,
made him for many years the idol of his province. He is the finest
orator whom Canada has produced, and also wrote poetry, which shows in
places high merit. Many of his sayings are still current in Nova Scotia.
In 1904 a statue in his honour was erected in Halifax.
His _Letters and Speeches_ were published in 1858 in Boston, Mass., in
2 vols., edited nominally by William Annand, really by himself. See
also _Public Letters and Speeches of Joseph Howe_ (Halifax, 1909). The
_Life and Times_ by G. E. Fenety (1896) is poor. The _Life_ by the
Hon. James W. Longley (Toronto, 1904) is dispassionate, but otherwise
mediocre. _Joseph Howe_, by George Monro Grant (reprinted Halifax,
1904), is a brilliant sketch. (W. L. G.)
HOWE, JULIA WARD (1819-1910), American author and reformer, was born in
New York City on the 27th of May 1819. Her father, Samuel Ward, was a
banker; her mother, Julia Rush [Cutler] (1796-1824), a poet of some
ability. When only sixteen years old she had begun to contribute poems
to New York periodicals. In 1843 she married Dr Samuel Gridley Howe
(q.v.), with whom she spent the next year in England, France, Germany
and Italy. She assisted Dr Howe in editing the _Commonwealth_ in
1851-1853. The results of her study of German philosophy were seen in
philosophical essays; in lectures on "Doubt and Belief," "The Duality of
Character," &c., delivered in 1860-1861 in her home in Boston, and later
in Washington; and in addresses before the Boston Radical Club and the
Concord school of philosophy. Samuel Longfellow, his brother Henry,
Wendell Phillips, W. L. Garrison, Charles Sumner, Theodore Parker and
James Freeman Clarke were among her friends; she advocated abolition,
and preached occasionally from Unitarian pulpits. She was one of the
organizers of the American Woman-Suffrage Association and of the
Association for the Advancement of Women (1869), and in 1870 became one
of the editors of the _Woman's Journal_, and in 1872 president of the
New England Women's Club. In the same year she was a delegate to the
Prison Reform Congress in London, and founded there the Woman's Peace
Association, one of the many ways in which she expressed her opposition
to war. She wrote _The World's Own_ (unsuccessfully played at
Wallack's, New York, in 1855, published 1857), and in 1858, for Edwin
Booth, _Hippolytus_, never acted or published. Her lyric poetry, thanks
to her temperament, and possibly to her musical training, was her
highest literary form: she published _Passion Flowers_ (anonymously,
1854), _Words for the Hour_ (1856), _Later Lyrics_ (1866), and _From
Sunset Ridge: Poems Old and New_ (1898); her most popular poem is _The
Battle Hymn of the Republic_, written to the old folk-tune associated
with the song of "John Brown's Body," when Mrs Howe was at the front in
1861, and published (Feb. 1862) in the _Atlantic Monthly_, to which she
frequently contributed. She edited _Sex and Education_ (1874), an answer
to _Sex in Education_ (1873) by Edward Hammond Clarke (1820-1877); and
wrote several books of travel, _Modern Society_ (1880) and _Is Polite
Society Polite?_ (1895), collections of addresses, each taking its title
from a lecture criticizing the shallowness and falseness of society, the
power of money, &c., _A Memoir of Dr Samuel G. Howe_ (1876), _Life of
Margaret Fuller_ (1883), in the "Famous Women" series. _Sketches of
Representative Women of New England_ (1905) and her own _Reminiscences_
(Boston, 1899). Her children were: Julia Romana Anagnos (1844-1886),
who, like her mother, wrote verse and studied philosophy, and who taught
in the Perkins Institution, in the charge of which her husband, Michael
Anagnos (1837-1906), whose family name had been Anagnostopoulos,
succeeded her father; Henry Marion Howe (b. 1848), the eminent
metallurgist, and professor in Columbia University; Laura Elizabeth
Richards (b. 1850), and Maud Howe Elliott (b. 1855), wife of John
Elliott, the painter of a fine ceiling in the Boston library,--both
these daughters being contributors to literature. Mrs Howe died on the
17th of October 1910.
HOWE, RICHARD HOWE, EARL (1726-1799), British admiral, was born in
London on the 8th of March 1726. He was the second son of Emmanuel
Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, who died governor of Barbadoes in March
1735, and of Mary Sophia Charlotte, a daughter of the baroness
Kilmansegge, afterwards countess of Darlington, the mistress of George
I.--a relationship which does much to explain his early rise in the
navy. Richard Howe entered the navy in the "Severn," one of the squadron
sent into the south seas with Anson in 1740. The "Severn" failed to
round the Horn and returned home. Howe next served in the West Indies in
the "Burford," and was present in her when she was very severely
damaged, in the unsuccessful attack on La Guayra on the 18th of February
1742. He was made acting-lieutenant in the West Indies in the same year,
and the rank was confirmed in 1744. During the Jacobite rising of 1745
he commanded the "Baltimore" sloop in the North Sea, and was dangerously
wounded in the head while co-operating with a frigate in an engagement
with two strong French privateers. In 1746 he became post-captain, and
commanded the "Triton" (24) in the West Indies. As captain of the
"Cornwall" (80), the flagship of Sir Charles Knowles, he was in the
battle with the Spaniards off Havana on the 2nd of October 1748. While
the peace between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven
Years' War lasted, Howe held commands at home and on the west coast of
Africa. In 1755 he went with Boscawen to North America as captain of the
"Dunkirk" (60), and his seizure of the French "Alcide" (64) was the
first shot fired in the war. From this date till the peace of 1763 he
served in the Channel in various more or less futile expeditions against
the coast of France, with a steady increase of reputation as a firm and
skilful officer. On the 20th of November 1759 he led Hawke's fleet as
captain of the "Magnanime" (64) in the magnificent victory of Quiberon.
By the death of his elder brother, killed near Ticonderoga on the 6th of
July 1758, he became Viscount Howe--an Irish peerage. In 1762 he was
elected M.P. for Dartmouth, and held the seat till he received a title
of Great Britain. During 1763 and 1765 he was a member of the Admiralty
board, and from 1765 to 1770 was treasurer of the navy. In that year he
was promoted rear-admiral, and in 1775 vice-admiral. In 1776 he was
appointed to the command of the North American station. The rebellion
of the colonies was making rapid progress, and Howe was known to be in
sympathy with the colonists. He had sought the acquaintance of Benjamin
Franklin, who was a friend of his sister Miss Howe, a clever eccentric
woman well known in London society, and had already tried to act as a
peacemaker. It was doubtless because of his known sentiments that he was
selected to command in America, and was joined in commission with his
brother Sir William Howe, the general at the head of the land forces, to
make a conciliatory arrangement. A committee appointed by the
Continental Congress conferred with the Howes in September 1776 but
nothing was accomplished. The appointment of a new peace commission in
1778 offended the admiral deeply, and he sent in a resignation of his
command. It was reluctantly accepted by Lord Sandwich, then First Lord,
but before it could take effect France declared war, and a powerful
French squadron was sent to America under the count d'Estaing. Being
greatly outnumbered, Howe had to stand on the defensive, but he baffled
the French admiral at Sandy Hook, and defeated his attempt to take
Newport in Rhode Island by a fine combination of caution and calculated
daring. On the arrival of Admiral John Byron from England with
reinforcements, Howe left the station in September. Until the fall of
Lord North's ministry in 1782 he refused to serve, assigning as his
reason that he could not trust Lord Sandwich. He considered that he had
not been properly supported in America, and was embittered both by the
supersession of himself and his brother as peace commissioners, and by
attacks made on him by the ministerial writers in the press.
On the change of ministry in March 1782 he was selected to command in
the Channel, and in the autumn of that year, September, October and
November, he carried out the final relief of Gibraltar. It was a
difficult operation, for the French and Spaniards had in all 46
line-of-battle ships to his 33, and in the exhausted state of the
country it was impossible to fit his ships properly or to supply them
with good crews. He was, moreover, hampered by a great convoy carrying
stores. But Howe was eminent in the handling of a great multitude of
ships, the enemy was awkward and unenterprising, and the operation was
brilliantly carried out. From the 28th of January to the 16th of April
1783 he was First Lord of the Admiralty, and he held that post from
December 1783 till August 1788, in Pitt's first ministry. The task was
no pleasant one, for he had to agree to economies where he considered
that more outlay was needed, and he had to disappoint the hopes of the
many officers who were left unemployed by the peace. On the outbreak of
the Revolutionary war in 1793 he was again named to the command of the
Channel fleet. His services in 1794 form the most glorious period of his
life, for in it he won the epoch-making victory of the 1st of June (see
FIRST OF JUNE, BATTLE OF). Though Howe was now nearly seventy, and had
been trained in the old school, he displayed an originality not usual
with veterans, and not excelled by any of his successors in the war, not
even by Nelson, since they had his example to follow and were served by
more highly trained squadrons than his. He continued to hold the nominal
command by the wish of the king, but his active service was now over. In
1797 he was called on to pacify the mutineers at Spithead, and his great
influence with the seamen who trusted him was conspicuously shown. He
died on the 5th of August 1799, and was buried in his family vault at
Langar. His monument by Flaxman is in St Paul's Cathedral. In 1782 he
was created Viscount Howe of Langar, and in 1788 Baron and Earl Howe. In
June 1797 he was made a knight of the Garter. With the sailors he was
always popular, though he was no popularity hunter, for they knew him to
be just. His nickname of Black Dick was given on account of his swarthy
complexion, and the well-known portrait by Gainsborough shows that it
was apt.
Lord Howe married, on the 10th of March 1758, Mary Hartop, the daughter
of Colonel Chiverton Hartop of Welby in Leicestershire, and had issue
two daughters. His Irish title descended to his brother William, the
general, who died childless in 1814. The earldom, and the viscounty of
the United Kingdom, being limited to heirs male, became extinct, but
the barony, being to heirs general, passed to his daughter, Sophia
Charlotte (1762-1835), who married the Hon. Penn Assheton Curzon. Their
son, Richard William Curzon (1796-1870), who succeeded his paternal
grandfather as Viscount Curzon in 1820, was created Earl Howe in 1821;
he was succeeded by his son, George Augustus (1821-1876), and then by
another son, Richard William (1822-1900), whose son Richard George Penn
Curzon-Howe (b. 1861) became 4th Earl Howe in 1900.
The standard _Life_ is by Sir John Barrow (1838). Interesting
reminiscences will be found in the _Life of Codrington_, by Lady
Bourchier. Accounts of his professional services are in Charnock's
_Biographia Navalis_, v. 457, and in Ralf's _Naval Biographies_, i.
83. See also Beatson's _Naval and Military Annals_, James's _Naval
History_, and Chevalier's _Histoire de la Marine française_, vols. i.
and ii. (D. H.)
HOWE, SAMUEL GRIDLEY (1801-1876), American philanthropist, was born at
Boston, Massachusetts, on the 10th of November 1801. His father, Joseph
N. Howe, was a ship-owner and cordage manufacturer; and his mother,
Patty Gridley, was one of the most beautiful women of her day. Young
Howe was educated at Boston and at Brown University, Providence, and in
1821 began to study medicine in Boston. But fired by enthusiasm for the
Greek revolution and by Byron's example, he was no sooner qualified and
admitted to practice than he abandoned these prospects and took ship for
Greece, where he joined the army and spent six years of hardship amid
scenes of warfare. Then, to raise funds for the cause, he returned to
America; his fervid appeals enabled him to collect about $60,000, which
he spent on provisions and clothing, and he established a relief depot
near Aegina, where he started works for the refugees, the existing quay,
or American Mole, being built in this way. He formed another colony of
exiles on the Isthmus of Corinth. He wrote a _History of the Greek
Revolution_, which was published in 1828, and in 1831 he returned to
America. Here a new object of interest engaged him. Through his friend
Dr John D. Fisher (d. 1850), a Boston physician who had started a
movement there as early as 1826 for establishing a school for the blind,
he had learnt of the similar school founded in Paris by Valentin Haüy,
and it was proposed to Howe by a committee organized by Fisher that he
should direct the establishment of a "New England Asylum for the Blind"
at Boston. He took up the project with characteristic ardour, and set
out at once for Europe to investigate the problem. There he was
temporarily diverted from his task by becoming mixed up with the Polish
revolt, and, in pursuit of a mission to carry American contributions
across the Prussian frontier, he was arrested and imprisoned at Berlin,
but was at last released through the intervention of the American
minister at Paris. Returning to Boston in July 1832, he began receiving
a few blind children at his father's house in Pleasant Street, and thus
sowed the seed which grew into the famous Perkins Institution. In
January 1833 the funds available were all spent, but so much progress
had been shown that the legislature voted $6000, later increased to
$30,000 a year, to the institution on condition that it should educate
gratuitously twenty poor blind from the state; money was also
contributed from Salem, and from Boston, and Colonel Thomas H. Perkins,
a prominent Bostonian, presented his mansion and grounds in Pearl Street
for the school to be held there in perpetuity. This building being later
found unsuitable, Colonel Perkins consented to its sale, and in 1839 the
institution was moved to South Boston, to a large building which had
previously been an hotel. It was henceforth known as the "Perkins
Institution and Massachusetts Asylum (or, since 1877, School) for the
Blind." Howe was director, and the life and soul of the school; he
opened a printing-office and organized a fund for printing for the
blind--the first done in America; and he was unwearied in calling public
attention to the work. The Institution, through him, became one of the
intellectual centres of American philanthropy, and by degrees obtained
more and more financial support. In 1837 Dr Howe went still further and
brought the famous blind deaf-mute, Laura Bridgman (q.v.) to the
school.
It must suffice here to chronicle the remaining more important facts in
Dr Howe's life, outside his regular work. In 1843 he married Julia Ward
(see above), daughter of a New York banker, and they made a prolonged
European trip, on which Dr Howe spent much time in visiting those public
institutions which carried out the objects specially interesting to him.
In Rome, in 1844, his eldest daughter, Julia Romana (afterwards the wife
of Michael Anagnos, Dr Howe's assistant and successor), was born, and in
September the travellers returned to America, and Dr Howe resumed his
activities. In 1846 he became interested in the condition and treatment
of idiots, and particularly in the experiments of Dr Guggenbühl on the
cretins of Switzerland. He became chairman of a state commission of
inquiry into the number and condition of idiots in Massachusetts, and
the report of this commission, presented in 1848, caused a profound
sensation. An appropriation of $2500 per annum was made for training ten
idiot children under Dr Howe's supervision, and by degrees the value of
his School for Idiotic and Feeble-minded Youths, which, starting in
South Boston, was in 1890 removed to Waltham, was generally appreciated.
It was the first of its kind in the United States. An enthusiastic
humanitarian on all subjects, Dr Howe was an ardent abolitionist and a
member of the Free Soil party, and had played a leading part at Boston
in the movements which culminated in the Civil War. When it broke out he
was an active member of the sanitary commission. In 1871 he was sent to
Santo Domingo as a member of the commission appointed by President Grant
to examine the condition of the island, the government of which desired
annexation; and when that scheme was defeated through Sumner's
opposition he returned (1872) as the representative of the Samana Bay
Company, which proposed to take a lease of the Samana peninsula; but
though in 1874 he revisited the island, it was only to see the flag of
the company hauled down. His health was then breaking and began soon
after to fail rapidly, and on the 9th of January 1876 he died at Boston.
The governor of the state sent a special message of grief to the
legislature on his death, eulogies were delivered in the two houses, and
a public memorial service was held, at which Dr O. W. Holmes read a
poem. Whittier had in his lifetime commemorated him in his poem "The
Hero," in which he called him "the Cadmus of the blind"; and in 1901 a
centennial celebration of his birth was held at Boston, at which, among
other notable tributes, Senator Hoar spoke of Howe as "one of the great
figures of American history."
A _Memoir_ of Dr Howe by his wife appeared in 1876. See also the
_Letters and Journals of S. G. Howe_, edited by Laura E. Richards
(1910). (H. Ch.)
HOWE, WILLIAM HOWE, 5TH VISCOUNT (1729-1814), British general, was the
younger brother of George Augustus, 3rd viscount, killed in the
Ticonderoga expedition of 1758, and of Richard, 4th viscount and
afterwards Earl Howe, the admiral. He entered the cavalry in 1746,
becoming lieutenant a year later. On the disbanding of his regiment in
1749 he was made captain-lieutenant and shortly afterwards captain in
Lord Bury's (20th) regiment, in which Wolfe was then a field officer.
Howe became major in 1756 and lieutenant-colonel in 1757 of the 58th
(now Northampton) regiment, which he commanded at the capture of
Louisburg. In Wolfe's expedition to Quebec he distinguished himself
greatly at the head of a composite light battalion. He led the advanced
party in the landing at Wolfe's Cove and took part in the battle of the
Plains of Abraham which followed. He commanded his own regiment in the
defence of Quebec in 1759-1760, led a brigade in the advance on Montreal
and took part on his return to Europe in the siege of Belleisle (1761).
He was adjutant-general of the force which besieged and took Havana in
1762, and at the close of the war had acquired the reputation of being
one of the most brilliant of the junior officers of the army. He was
made colonel of the 46th foot in 1764 and lieutenant-governor of the
Isle of Wight four years later. From 1758 to 1780 he was M.P. for
Nottingham. In 1772 he became major-general, and in 1774 he was
entrusted with the training of light infantry companies on a new system,
the training-ground being Salisbury Plain.
Shortly after this he was sent out to North America. He did not agree
with the policy of the government towards the colonists, and regretted
in particular that he was sent to Boston, where the memory of his eldest
brother was still cherished by the inhabitants, and General Gage, in
whom he had no confidence, commanded in chief. He was the senior officer
after Gage, and led the troops actively engaged in the storming of
Bunker Hill, he himself being in the thickest of the fighting. In the
same year Howe was made a K.B. and a lieutenant-general, and appointed,
with the local rank of general, to the chief command in the seat of war.
For the events of his command see AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. He
retained it until May 1778--on the whole with success. The cause of his
resignation was his feeling that the home government had not afforded
the proper support, and after his return to England, he and his brother
engaged in a heated but fruitless controversy with the ministers. Howe's
own defence is embodied in _Narrative of Sir William Howe before a
Committee of the House of Commons_ (London, 1780). In 1782 Howe was made
lieutenant-general of the ordnance; in 1790 he was placed in command of
the forces organized for action against Spain, and in 1793 he was made a
full general. He held various home commands in the early part of the
French revolutionary war, in particular that of the eastern district at
the critical moment when the French established their forces on the
Dutch coast. When Earl Howe died in 1799, Sir William succeeded to the
Irish viscounty. He had been made governor of Berwick-on-Tweed in 1795,
and in 1805 he became governor of Plymouth, where he died on the 12th of
July 1814. With his death the Irish peerage became extinct.
HOWEL DDA ("the Good") (d. 950), prince of Deheubarth (South Central
Wales) from before 915, and king of Wales from 943 to 950, was the
grandson of Rhodri Mawr (the Great), who had united practically the
whole of Wales under his supremacy. As Idwal Voel succeeded his father
Anarawd, the elder son of Rhodri, as lord of Gwynedd in 915, so Howel at
some time before that date succeeded Rhodri's younger son Cadell as
prince of Deheubarth. Howel married Elen, daughter of the last king of
Dyfed, and also added Kidweli and Gwyr to his dominions, while on the
death of Idwal, who was slain by the English in 943, he took possession
of Gwynedd. Both these princes had done homage to the English kings,
Edward the Elder and Aethelstan, in 922 and 926, and we find that Howel
attended the witans of the English kingdom and witnessed about ten
charters between the years 931 and 949. He was secure, therefore, from
attack on the eastern side of his kingdom, and it is not certain whether
he was engaged in any of the battles recorded during these years in
Wales, either in Môn 914, at Dinas Newydd 919 or at Brun 935. To the
peaceful character of his reign is probably due the high place which he
holds among the Welsh princes. From 943 to 950 Howel Dda was probably
ruler of all Wales except Powys (apparently dependent on Mercia),
Brecheiniog, Buallt, Gwent and Morgannwg. With Morgan Hen, king of
Morgannwg, Howel had a dispute which was eventually settled in favour of
the former at the court of the English king. Howel died in 950, and such
unity as he had preserved at once disappeared in a war between his sons
and those of Idwal Voel. The code of laws attributed to this prince is
perhaps his chief claim to fame. He is said to have summoned four men
from each cantref in his dominions to the Ty Gwyn (perhaps Whitland in
Caermarthenshire) to codify existing custom. Three codes, accordingly
called Venedotian, Demetian and Gwentian, are said to have been written
down by Bleggwryd, archdeacon of Llandaff (see Welsh Laws).
See Sir John Rhys and Brynmor-Jones, _The Welsh People_ (London,
1900); and Aneurin Owen, _Ancient Laws and Institutions of Wales_
(London, 1841).
HOWELL, JAMES (c. 1594-1666), British author, who came of an old Welsh
family, was born probably at Abernant, in Carmarthenshire, where his
father was rector. From the free grammar school at Hereford he went to
Jesus College, Oxford, and took his degree of B.A. in 1613. About 1616
he was steward in Sir Robert Mansell's glass-works in Broad Street, and
was commissioned to go abroad to procure the services of expert
workmen. It was not till 1622 that he returned, having visited Holland,
France, Spain and Italy. With the intention of utilizing to better
purpose his knowledge of continental languages and methods, he left the
glass business and applied for a diplomatic post. Failing to obtain
this, he was for a short time tutor in a nobleman's family. At the close
of 1622 he was sent on a special mission to Madrid to obtain redress for
the seizure of an English vessel, but, owing to the presence at the
Spanish court of Prince Charles and the duke of Buckingham to arrange a
marriage between the prince and the infanta of Spain, the negotiations
had to be broken off. He made many friends among the prince's retinue,
and, after his return in 1624, applied for employment to the duke of
Buckingham, but without success. In 1626 he became secretary to Lord
Scrope, Lord President of the North at York, and retained the office
under Scrope's successor, Thomas Wentworth. In 1627 he was elected M.P.
for Richmond; in 1632 he was sent as secretary to the embassy of the
earl of Leicester to Denmark; and in 1642 the king appointed him one of
the clerks of the privy council. In 1643 he was committed to the Fleet
prison by the parliament, according to his own account, on suspicion of
royalist leanings, or, as Anthony à Wood says, for debt. Whatever the
reason, he remained in prison until 1651. He had acquired considerable
fame by his allegorical [Greek: Dendrologia]: _Dodona's Grove, or the
Vocall Forest_, published in 1640, and his _Instructions for Forreine
Travell_ (1642), which has been described as the first continental
handbook; and now he was driven to maintain himself by his pen. He
edited and supplemented (1650) Cotgrave's French and English dictionary,
compiled _Lexicon Tetraglotton, or an English, French, Italian and
Spanish Dictionary_ (London, 1660), translated various works from
Italian and Spanish, wrote a life of Louis XIII. and issued a number of
political pamphlets, varying the point of view somewhat to suit the
changes of the time. Among these tracts may be mentioned a rather
malicious _Perfect Description of the People and Country of Scotland_,
which was revived by John Wilkes and printed in the _North Briton_
during the agitation directed against Lord Bute. In 1660 he asked for
the place of clerk of the privy council; and, though this was not
granted him, the post of historiographer royal was created for him. In
1661 he applied for the office of tutor in foreign languages to the
infanta Catherine of Braganza, and in 1662 published an _English Grammar
translated into Spanish_. He was buried in the Temple Church on the 3rd
of November 1666, having realized to the last his favourite motto,
"Senesco non segnesco."
All Howell's writings are imbued with a certain simplicity and
quaintness. His elaborate allegories are forgotten; his linguistic
labours, of value in their time, are now superseded; but his _Letters_,
the _Epistolae Ho-elianae_ (four volumes issued in 1645, 1647, 1650 and
1655), are still models of their kind. Their dates are often fictitious,
and they are, in nearly every case, evidently written for publication.
Thackeray said that the _Letters_ was one of his bedside books. He
classes it with Montaigne and says he scarcely ever tired of "the
artless prattle" of the "priggish little clerk of King Charles's
council."
The _Epistolae_ have been frequently edited, notably by J. Jacobs in
1890, with a commentary (1891), and Agnes Repplier (1907).
HOWELLS, WILLIAM DEAN (1837- ), American novelist, was born at Martin's
Ferry, Ohio, on the 1st of March 1837. His father, William Cooper
Howells, a printer-journalist, moved in 1840 to Hamilton, Ohio, and here
the boy's early life was spent successively as type-setter, reporter and
editor in the offices of various newspapers. In the midst of routine
work he contrived to familiarize himself with a wide range of authors in
several modern tongues, and to drill himself thoroughly in the use of
good English. In 1860, as assistant editor of the leading Republican
newspaper in Ohio, he wrote--in connexion with the Presidential
contest--the campaign life of Lincoln; and in the same year he was
appointed consul at Venice, where he remained till 1865. On his return
to America he joined the staff of the _Atlantic Monthly_, and from 1872
to 1881 he was its editor-in-chief. Since 1885 he has lived in New York.
For a time he conducted for _Harper's Magazine_ the department called
"The Editor's Study," and in December 1900 he revived for the same
periodical the department of "The Easy Chair," which had lapsed with the
death of George William Curtis. Of Mr Howells's many novels, the
following may be mentioned as specially noteworthy: _Their Wedding
Journey_ (1872); _The Lady of the Aroostook_ (1879); _A Modern Instance_
(1882); _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1885); _The Minister's Charge_
(1886); _A Hazard of New Fortunes_ (1889); _The Quality of Mercy_
(1892); _The Landlord at Lion's Head_ (1897). He also published _Poems_
(1873 and 1886); _Stops of Various Quills_ (1895), a book of verse;
books of travel; several amusing farces; and volumes of essays and
literary criticism, among others, _Literary Friends and Acquaintance_
(1901), which contains much autobiographical matter, _Literature and
Life_ (1902), and _English Films_ (1905).
Howells is by general consent the foremost representative of the
realistic school of indigenous American fiction. From the outset his aim
was to portray life with entire fidelity in all its commonplaceness, and
yet to charm the reader into a liking for this commonplaceness and into
reverence for what it conceals. Though in his earliest novels his method
was not consistently realistic--he is at times almost as personal and as
whimsical as Thackeray--yet his vivid impressionism and his choice of
subjects, as well as an occasional explicit protest that "dulness is
dear to him," already revealed unmistakably his realistic bias. In _A
Modern Instance_ (1882) he gained complete command of his method, and
began a series of studies of American life that are remarkable for their
loyalty to fact, their truth of tone, and their power to reveal, despite
their strictly objective method, both the inner springs of American
character and the sociological forces that are shaping American
civilization. He refuses to over-sophisticate or to over-intellectualize
his characters, and he is very sparing in his use of psychological
analysis. He insists on seeing and portraying American life as it exists
in and for itself, under its own skies and with its own atmosphere; he
does not scrutinize it with foreign comparisons in mind, and thus try to
find and to throw into relief unsuspected configurations of surface. He
keeps his dialogue toned down to almost the pitch of everyday
conversation, although he has shown in his comedy sketches how easy a
master he is of adroit and witty talk.
See also J. M. Robertson, _Essays towards a Critical Method_ (London,
1889); H. C. Vedder, _American Writers_ (Boston, 1894).
HOWITT WILLIAM, (1792-1879), English author, was born on the 18th of
December 1792 at Heanor, Derbyshire. His parents were Quakers, and he
was educated at the Friends' public school at Ackworth, Yorkshire. In
1814 he published a poem on the "Influence of Nature and Poetry on
National Spirit." He married, in 1821, Mary Botham (1799-1888), like
himself a Quaker and a poet. William and Mary Howitt collaborated
throughout a long literary career, the first of their joint productions
being _The Forest Minstrels and other Poems_ (1821). In 1831 William
Howitt produced a work for which his habits of observation and his
genuine love of nature peculiarly fitted him. It was a history of the
changes in the face of the outside world in the different months of the
year, and was entitled _The Book of the Seasons, or the Calendar of
Nature_ (1831). His _Popular History of Priestcraft_ (1833) won for him
the favour of active Liberals and the office of alderman in Nottingham,
where the Howitts had made their home. They removed in 1837 to Esher,
and in 1840 they went to Heidelberg, primarily for the education of
their children, remaining in Germany for two years. In 1841 William
Howitt produced, under the pseudonym of "Dr Cornelius," _The Student
Life of Germany_, the first of a series of works on German social life
and institutions. Mary Howitt devoted herself to Scandinavian
literature, and between 1842 and 1863 she translated the novels of
Frederika Bremer and many of the stories of Hans Andersen. With her
husband she wrote in 1852 _The Literature and Romance of Northern
Europe_. In June of that year William Howitt, with two of his sons, set
sail for Australia, where he spent two years in the goldfields. The
results of his travels appeared in _A Boy's Adventures in the Wilds
of Australia_ (1854), _Land, Labour and Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria_
(1855) and _Tallangetta, the Squatter's Home_ (1857). On his return to
England Howitt had settled at Highgate and resumed his indefatigable
book-making. From 1856 to 1862 he was engaged on Cassell's _Illustrated
History of England_, and from 1861 to 1864 he and his wife worked at the
_Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain_. The Howitts had left the
Society of Friends in 1847, and became interested in spiritualism. In
1863 appeared _The History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations,
and in all Churches, Christian and Pagan, demonstrating a Universal
Faith_, by William Howitt. He added "his own conclusions from a
practical examination of the higher phenomena through a course of seven
years." From 1870 onwards Howitt spent the summers in Tirol and the
winters in Rome, where he died on the 3rd of March 1879. Mary Howitt was
much affected by his death, and in 1882 she joined the Roman Catholic
Church, towards which she had been gradually moving during her connexion
with spiritualism. She died at Rome on the 30th of January 1888. The
Howitts are remembered for their untiring efforts to provide wholesome
and instructive literature. Their son, Alfred William Howitt, made
himself a name by his explorations in Australia. Anna Mary Howitt
married Alaric Alfred Watts, and was the author of _Pioneers of the
Spiritual Reformation_ (1883).
Mary Howitt's autobiography was edited by her daughter, Margaret
Howitt, in 1889. William Howitt wrote some fifty books, and his wife's
publications, inclusive of translations, number over a hundred.
HOWITZER (derived, through an earlier form _howitz_, and the Ger.
_Haubitz_, from the Bohemian _houfnice_ = catapult, from which come
also, through the Ital. _obiza_ or _obice_, the French forms _obus_ =
shell and _obusier_ = howitzer), a form of mobile ordnance in use from
the 16th century up to the present day. It is a short and therefore
comparatively light gun, which fires a heavy projectile at low velocity.
A high angle of elevation is always given and the angle of descent of
the projectile is consequently steep (up to 70°). On this fact is based
the tactical use of the modern howitzer. The field howitzer is of the
greatest value for "searching" trenches, folds of ground, localities,
&c., which are invulnerable to direct fire, while the more powerful
siege howitzer has, since the introduction of modern artillery and,
above all, of modern projectiles, taken the foremost place amongst the
weapons used in siege warfare.
See ARTILLERY, ORDNANCE and FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT.
HOWLER, a name applied to the members of a group of tropical American
monkeys, now known scientifically as _Alouata_, although formerly
designated _Mycetes_. These monkeys, which are of large size, with thick
fur, sometimes red and sometimes black in colour, are characterized by
the inflation of the hyoid-bone (which supports the roof of the tongue)
into a large shell-like organ communicating with the wind-pipe, and
giving the peculiar resonance to the voice from which they take their
title. To allow space for the hyoid, the sides of the lower jaw are very
deep and expanded. The muzzle is projecting, and the profile of the face
slopes regularly backwards from the muzzle to the crown. The long tail
is highly prehensile, thickly furred, with the under surface of the
extremity naked. Howlers dwell in large companies, and in the early
morning, and again in the evening, make the woods resound with their
cries, which are often continued throughout the night. They feed on
leaves, and are in the habit of sitting on the topmost branches of
trees. When active, they progress in regular order, led by an old male.
(R. L.*)
HOWRAH, a city and district of British India, in the Burdwan division of
Bengal. The city is situated opposite Calcutta, with which it is
connected by a floating bridge. The municipal area is about 11 sq. m.;
pop. (1901) 157,594, showing an increase of 35% in the decade. Since
1872 the population has almost doubled, owing to the great industrial
development that has taken place. Howrah is the terminus of the East
Indian railway, and also of the Bengal-Nagpur and East Coast lines. It
is also the centre of two light railways which run to Amta and
Sheakhala. Further, it is the headquarters of the jute-manufacturing
industry, with many steam mills, steam presses, also cotton mills, oil
mills, rope-works, iron-works and engineering works. Sibpur Engineering
College lies on the outskirts of the town. There is a hospital, with a
department for Europeans, and Howrah forms a suburban residence for many
people who have their place of business in Calcutta.
The DISTRICT OF HOWRAH extends southwards down the right bank of the
Hugli to the confluence of the river Damodar. For revenue purposes it is
included within the district of Hugli Its area is 510 sq. m.; pop.
(1901) 850,514, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. In addition to
the two steam tramways and the East Indian railway, the district is
crossed by the high-level canal to Midnapore, which communicates with
the Hugli at Ulubaria. The manufacturing industries of Howrah extend
beyond the city into the district. One or two systems of draining
low-lying lands are maintained by the government.
HOWSON, JOHN SAUL (1816-1885), English divine, was born at
Giggleswick-in-Craven, Yorkshire, on the 5th of May 1816. After
receiving his early education at Giggleswick school, of which his father
was head-master, he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and there became
tutor successively to the marquis of Sligo and the marquis of Lorne. In
1845 Howson, having taken orders, accepted the post of senior classical
master at the Liverpool College under his friend W. J. Conybeare, whom
he succeeded as principal in 1849. This post he held until 1865, and it
was largely due to his influence that a similar college for girls was
established at Liverpool. In 1866 he left Liverpool for the vicarage of
Wisbech, and in 1867 he was appointed dean of Chester Cathedral, where
he gave himself vigorously to the work of restoring the crumbling
fabric, collecting nearly £100,000 in five years for this purpose. His
sympathies were with the evangelical party, and he stoutly opposed the
"Eastward position," but he was by no means narrow. He did much to
reintroduce the ministry of women as deaconesses. The building of the
King's School for boys, and the Queen's School for girls (both in
Chester), was due in a great measure to the active interest which he
took in educational matters. He died at Bournemouth on the 15th of
December 1885, and was buried in the cloister garth of Chester. Howson's
chief literary production was _The Life and Epistles of St Paul_ (1852)
in which he collaborated with Conybeare.
The book is still of interest, especially for its descriptive
passages, which were mostly done by Howson; but later researches (such
as those of Sir W. M. Ramsay) have made the geographical and
historical sections obsolete, and the same may be said of the
treatment of the Pauline theology.
HOWTH [pronounced _Hoth_], a seaside town of Co. Dublin, Ireland, on the
rocky hill of Howth, which forms the northern horn of Dublin Bay, 9 m.
N.E. by N. of Dublin by the Great Northern railway. Pop. (1901) 1166. It
is frequented by the residents of the capital as a watering-place. The
artificial harbour was formed (1807-1832) between the mainland and the
picturesque island of Ireland's Eye, and preceded Kingstown as the
station for the mail-packets from Great Britain, but was found after its
construction to be liable to silt, and is now chiefly used by
fishing-boats and yachts. The collegiate church, standing picturesquely
on a cliff above the sea, was founded about 1235, and has a monastic
building attached to it. The embattled castle contains the two-handed
sword of Sir Almeric Tristram, the Anglo-Norman conqueror of the hill of
Howth, and a portrait of Dean Swift holding one of the Drapier letters,
with Wood, the coiner against whom he directed these attacks, prostrate
before him. The view of Dublin Bay from the hill of Howth is of great
beauty. Howth is connected with the capital by electric tramway, besides
the railway, and another tramway encircles the hill.
HÖXTER, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Westphalia,
prettily situated on the left bank of the Weser, and on the Prussian
state railways Börssum-Soest and Scherfede-Holzminden, 32 m. N. of
Cassel. Pop. (1905) 7699. It has a medieval town hall, and interesting
houses with high gables and wood-carved façades of the 15th and 16th
centuries. The most interesting of the churches is the Protestant church
of St Kilian, with a pulpit dating from 1595 and a font dating from
1631. There are a gymnasium, a school of architecture and a monument to
Hoffmann von Fallersleben in the town. The Weser is crossed here by a
stone bridge about 500 ft. in length, erected in 1833. On the Brunsberg
adjoining the town there is an old watch-tower, said to be the remains
of a fortress built by Bruno, brother of Widukind. Near Höxter is the
castle, formerly the Benedictine monastery, of Corvey. The principal
manufactures of the town are linen, cotton, cement and gutta-percha, and
there is also a considerable shipping trade. Höxter (Lat. _Huxaria_) in
the time of Charlemagne was a _villa regia_, and was the scene of a
battle between him and the Saxons. Under the protection of the monastery
of Corvey it gradually increased in prosperity, and became the chief
town of the principality of Corvey. Later it asserted its independence
and joined the Hanseatic League. It suffered severely during the Thirty
Years' War. After the peace of Westphalia in 1648 it was united to
Brunswick; in 1802 it was transferred to Nassau; and in 1807 to the
kingdom of Westphalia, after the dismemberment of which, in 1814, it
came into the possession of Prussia.
See Kampschulte, _Chronik der Stadt Höxter_ (Höxter, 1872).
HOY (Norse _Haey_, "high island"), the second largest island of the
Orkneys, county of Orkney, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 1216. It has an extreme
length from N.W. to S.E. of 13(1/3) m., its greatest breadth from E. to
W. is 8 m., and its area occupies 53 sq. m. It is situated 2 m. S.W. of
Pomona, from which it is separated by Hoy Sound. As seen from the west
it rises abruptly from the sea, presenting in this respect a marked
contrast to the rest of the isles of the Orcadian group, which as a
whole are low-lying. Its eastern and southern shores are indented by
numerous bays, one of which, Long Hope, forms a natural harbour 4 m.
long, with a breadth varying from ¼ m. to more than 1 m., affording to
any number of vessels a haven of refuge from the roughest weather of the
Pentland Firth. Off the eastern coast lie the islands of Graemsay, Cava,
Risa, Fara, Flotta and Switha, while the peninsula of South Walls,
forming the southern side of the harbour of Long Hope, is an island in
all but name. Red and yellow sandstone cliffs, sometimes over 1000 ft.
in height, stretch for 10 to 12 m. on the Atlantic front. The detached
pillar or stack called the Old Man of Hoy (450 ft.) is a well-known
landmark to sailors. The only break in this remarkable run of rocky
coast is at Rackwick in the bight below the head of Rora. In the
interior, Ward Hill (1564 ft.) is the loftiest summit in either the
Orkneys or Shetlands. In the valley between Ward Hill and the ridge of
the Hamars to the south-east is situated the famous Dwarfie Stone, an
enormous block of sandstone measuring 28 ft. long, from 11 ft. to 14½
ft. broad, and 6½ ft. high at one end and 2 ft. high at the other, in
which two rooms have been artificially hollowed out, traditionally
believed to be the bed-chambers of Trolld, the dwarf of the sagas, and
his wife. A boulder lying at the narrow end was supposed to be used to
close the entrance. The generally accepted theory is that it was a pagan
altar which some hermit afterwards converted into a cell. Other hills in
the island are the Cuilags (1420 ft.) and the Knap of Trewieglen (1308
ft.), besides several peaks exceeding 1000 ft. in height. Hoy is
commonly approached from Stromness, there being piers at Linksness, the
nearest point to Graemsay, and at Hackness, South Ness and North Bay,
the last three all on the harbour of Long Hope.
HOYLAKE, a watering-place in the Wirral parliamentary division of
Cheshire, England, 8 m. W. of Birkenhead, on the Wirral railway. With
West Kirby to the south, at the mouth of the estuary of the Dee, it
forms the urban district of Hoylake and West Kirby. Pop. (1901) 10,911.
The well-known links of the Royal Liverpool Golf Club are at Hoylake.
The town has a considerable population of fishermen.
HOYLAND NETHER, an urban district in the Hallamshire parliamentary
division of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, 5½ m. S.S.E. of
Barnsley, on the Midland railway. Collieries and brickworks employ the
large industrial population. Pop. (1901) 12,464.
HOYLE, EDMUND, or EDMOND (1672-1769), the first systematizer of the laws
of whist, and author of a book on games, was born in 1672. His parentage
and place of birth are unknown, and few details of his life are
recorded. For some time he was resident in London, and partially
supported himself by giving instruction in the game of whist. For the
use of his pupils he drew up a _Short Treatise_ on the game, which after
circulating for some time in manuscript was printed by him and entered
at Stationers' Hall in November 1742. The laws of Hoyle continued to be
regarded as authoritative until 1864, since which time they have been
gradually superseded by the new rules adopted by the Arlington and
Portland clubs in that year (see Whist). He also published rules for
various other games, and his book on games, which includes the _Short
Treatise_, has passed into many editions. The weight of his authority is
indicated by the phrase "according to Hoyle," which, doubtless first
applied with reference to whist, has gained currency as a general
proverb. Hoyle died in London on the 29th of August 1769.
HOZIER, PIERRE D', SEIGNEUR DE LA GARDE (1592-1660), French genealogist,
was born at Marseilles on the 10th of July 1592. In 1616 he entered upon
some very extensive researches into the genealogy of the noble families
of the kingdom, in which work he was aided by his prodigious memory for
dates, names and family relationships, as well as by his profound
knowledge of heraldry. In 1634 he was appointed historiographer and
genealogist of France, and in 1641 _juge d'armes_ of France, an officer
corresponding nearly to the Garter king-of-arms in England. In 1643 he
was employed to verify the claims to nobility of the pages and equerries
of the king's household. He accumulated a large number of documents, but
published comparatively little, his principal works being _Recueil
armorial des anciennes maisons de Bretagne_ (1638); _Les noms, surnoms,
qualitez, armes et blasons des chevaliers et officiers de l'ordre du
Saint-Esprit_ (1634); and the genealogies of the houses of La
Rochefoucauld (1654), Bournonville (1657) and Amanzé (1659). He was
renowned as much for his uprightness as for his knowledge, no slight
praise in a profession exposed to so many temptations to fraud. He died
in Paris on the 1st of December 1660. At his death his collections
comprised more than 150 volumes or portfolios of documents and papers
relating to the genealogy of the principal families in France. Of his
six sons, only two survived him. His eldest son, Louis Roger d'Hozier
(1634-1708), succeeded him as _juge d'armes_, but became blind in 1675,
and was obliged to surrender his office to his brother.
CHARLES RENÉ D'HOZIER (1640-1732), younger son of Pierre, was the true
continuator of his father. In addition to his commentary appended to
Antoine Varillas's history of King Charles IX. (1686 ed.), he published
_Recherches sur la noblesse de Champagne_ (1673). On the promulgation in
1696 of an edict directing all who had armorial bearings to register
them on payment of 20 livres, he was employed to collect the
declarations returned in the various _généralités_, and established the
_Armorial général de France_. This work, which contained not only the
armorial bearings of noble families, but also of those commoners who
were entitled to bear arms, is not complete, inasmuch as many refused to
register their arms, either from vanity or from a desire to evade the
fee.
The collection (now in the Bibliothèque Nationale) consists of 34
volumes of text and 35 of coloured armorial bearings, and in spite of
its deficiencies is a useful store of information for the history of
the old French families. It contains 60,000 names, grouped according
to provinces and provincial subdivisions. The sections relating to
Burgundy and Franche-Comté were published by Henri Bouchot
(1875-1876): those relating to the _généralité_ of Limoges, by Moreau
de Pravieux (1895); and those for the _élection_ of Reims, by P.
Gosset (1903).
In 1717, in consequence of a quarrel with his nephew Louis Pierre, son
of Louis Roger, Charles sold his collection to the king. It then
comprised 160 portfolios of genealogical papers arranged alphabetically,
175 volumes of documents, and numerous printed books profusely
annotated. In 1720 it was inventoried by P. de Clairambault, who added a
certain number of genealogies taken from the papers of F. R. de
Gaignières, increasing the total to 217 boxes and portfolios. Thus
originated the _Cabinet des titres_ of the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Charles subsequently became reconciled to his nephew, to whom he left
all the papers he had accumulated from the date of the quarrel until his
death, which occurred in Paris on the 13th of February 1732.
LOUIS PIERRE D'HOZIER (1685-1767), son of Louis Roger, succeeded his
uncle Charles as _juge d'armes_. He published the _Armorial général, ou
registre de la noblesse de France_ (10 vols., 1738-1768), which must not
be confounded with the publication mentioned above, inasmuch as it
related solely to noble families and was not an official collection.
Complete copies of this work, which should contain six _registres_, are
comparatively rare. A seventh _registre_, forming vol. xi., prepared by
Ambroise Louis Marie, nephew of Louis Pierre, was published in 1847 by
comte Charles d'Hozier. Louis Pierre died on the 25th of September 1767.
His eldest son, Antoine Marie d'Hozier de Sérigny (1721-c. 1810), was
his father's collaborator and continuator; and his fourth son, Jean
François Louis, wrote an account of the knights of St Michael in the
province of Poitou, which was published in 1896 by the vicomte P. de
Chabot.
His nephew, AMBROISE LOUIS MARIE D'HOZIER (1764-1846), was the last of
the _juges d'armes_ of France. He held the position of president of the
_cour des comptes, aides et finances_ of Normandy, and was therefore
generally known as President d'Hozier, to distinguish him from the other
members of the family. After the Restoration he was employed to verify
French armorial bearings for the _conseil du sceau des titres_. He died
in obscurity. His collection, which was purchased in 1851 by the
Bibliothèque Nationale, comprised 136 volumes, 165 portfolios of
documents and 200 packets of extracts from title-deeds, known as the
_Carrés d'Hozier_.
ABRAHAM CHARLES AUGUSTE D'HOZIER (1775-1846), who also belonged to his
family, was implicated in the conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal, and was
condemned to death, but Bonaparte spared his life. He did not, however,
recover his liberty until after the fall of the emperor, and died at
Versailles on the 24th of August 1846. (C. B.*)
HRABANUS MAURUS MAGNENTIUS (c. 776-856), archbishop of Mainz, and one of
the most prominent teachers and writers of the Carolingian age, was born
of noble parents at Mainz. Less correct forms of his name are Rabanus
and Rhabanus. The date of his birth is uncertain, but in 801 he received
deacon's orders at Fulda, where he had been sent to school; in the
following year, at the instance of Ratgar, his abbot, he went together
with Haimon (afterwards of Halberstadt) to complete his studies at Tours
under Alcuin, who in recognition of his diligence and purity gave him
the surname of Maurus, after St Maur the favourite disciple of Benedict.
Returning after the lapse of two years to Fulda, he was entrusted with
the principal charge of the school, which under his direction rose into
a state of great efficiency for that age, and sent forth such pupils as
Walafrid Strabo, Servatus Lupus of Ferières and Otfrid of Weissenburg.
At this period it is most probable that his _Excerptio_ from the grammar
of Priscian, long so popular as a text-book during the middle ages, was
compiled. In 814 he was ordained a priest; but shortly afterwards,
apparently on account of disagreement with Ratgar, he was compelled to
withdraw for a time from Fulda. This "banishment" is understood to have
occasioned the pilgrimage to Palestine to which he alludes in his
commentary on Joshua. He returned to Fulda on the election of a new
abbot (Eigil) in 817, upon whose death in 822 he himself became abbot.
The duties of this office he discharged with efficiency and success
until 842, when, in order to secure greater leisure for literature and
for devotion, he resigned and retired to the neighbouring cloister of St
Peter's. In 847 he was again constrained to enter public life by his
election to succeed Otgar in the archbishopric of Mainz, which see he
occupied for upwards of eight years. The principal incidents of
historical interest belonging to this period of his life were those
which arose out of his relations to Gottschalk (q.v.): they may be
regarded as thoroughly typical of that cruel intolerance which he shared
with all his contemporaries, and also of that ardent zeal which was
peculiar to himself; but they hardly do justice to the spirit of kindly
benevolence which in less trying circumstances he was ever ready to
display. He died at Winkel on the Rhine, on the 4th of February 856. He
is frequently referred to as St Rabanus, but incorrectly.
His voluminous works, many of which remain unpublished, comprise
commentaries on a considerable number of the books both of canonical
and of apocryphal Scripture (Genesis to Judges, Ruth, Kings,
Chronicles, Judith, Esther, Canticles, Proverbs, Wisdom,
Ecclesiasticus, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Maccabees, Matthew,
the Epistles of St Paul, including Hebrews); and various treatises
relating to doctrinal and practical subjects, including more than one
series of Homilies. Perhaps the most important is that _De
institutione clericorum_, in three books, by which he did much to
bring into prominence the views of Augustine and Gregory the Great as
to the training which was requisite for a right discharge of the
clerical function; the most popular has been a comparatively worthless
tract _De laudibus sanctae crucis_. Among the others may be mentioned
the _De universo libri xxii., sive etymologiarum opus_, a kind of
dictionary or encyclopaedia, designed as a help towards the historical
and mystical interpretation of Scripture, the _De sacris ordinibus_,
the _De disciplina ecclesiastica_ and the _Martyrologium_. All of them
are characterized by erudition (he knew even some Greek and Hebrew)
rather than by originality of thought. The poems are of singularly
little interest or value, except as including one form of the "Veni
Creator." In the annals of German philology a special interest
attaches to the _Glossaria Latino-Theodisca_. A commentary, _Super
Porphyrium_, printed by Cousin in 1836 among the _Ouvrages inédits
d'Abélard_, and assigned both by that editor and by Hauréau to
Hrabanus Maurus, is now generally believed to have been the work of a
disciple.
The first nominally complete edition of the works of Hrabanus Maurus
was that of Colvener (Cologne, 6 vols. fol., 1627). The _Opera omnia_
form vols. cvii.-cxii. of Migne's _Patrologiae cursus completus_. The
_De universo_ is the subject of _Compendium der Naturwissenschaften an
der Schule zu Fulda im IX. Jahrhundert_ (Berlin, 1880). Maurus is the
subject of monographs by Schwarz (_De Rhabano Mauro primo Germaniae
praeceptore_, 1811), Kunstmann (_Historische Monographie über Hrabanus
Magnentius Maurus_, 1841), Spengler (_Leben des heil. Rhabanus
Maurus_, 1856) and Köhler (_Rhabanus Maurus u. die Schule zu Fulda_,
1870). _Lives_ by his disciple Rudolphus and by Joannes Trithemius are
printed in the Cologne edition of the _Opera_. See also Pertz, _Monum.
Germ. Hist._ (i. and ii.); Bähr, _Gesch. d. römischen Literatur im
Karoling. Zeitalter_ (1840), and Hauck's article in the Herzog-Hauck
_Realencyklopädie_, ed. 3.
HRÓLFR KRAKI, perhaps the most famous of the Danish kings of the heroic
age. In _Beowulf_, where he is called Hrothwulf, he is represented as
reigning over Denmark in conjunction with his uncle Hrothgar, one of the
three sons of an earlier king called Healfdene. In the Old Norse sagas
Hrólfe is the son of Helgi (Halga), the son of Halfdan (Healfdene). He
is represented as a wealthy and peace-loving monarch similar to Hrothgar
in _Beowulf_, but the latter (Hróarr, or Roe) is quite overshadowed by
his nephew in the Northern authorities. The chief incidents in Hrólfr's
career are the visit which he paid to the Swedish king Aðils (Beowulf's
Eadgils), of which several different explanations are given, and the
war, in which he eventually lost his life, against his brother-in-law
Hiörvarðr. The name Kraki (pole-ladder) is said to have been given to
him on account of his great height by a young knight named Vöggr, whom
he handsomely rewarded and who eventually avenged his death on
Hiörvarðr. There is no reason to doubt that Hrólfr was an historical
person and that he reigned in Denmark during the early years of the 6th
century, but the statement found in all the sagas that he was the
stepson of Aðils seems hardly compatible with the evidence of _Beowulf_,
which is a much earlier authority.
See Saxo Grammaticus, _Gesta Danorum_, pp. 52-68, ed. A. Holder
(Strassburg, 1886); and A. Olrik, _Danmarks Hettedigtning_
(Copenhagen, 1903).
HROSVITHA (frequently ROSWITHA, and properly HROTSUIT), early medieval
dramatist and chronicler, occupies a very notable position in the
history of modern European literature. Her endeavours formed part of the
literary activity by which the age of the emperor Otto the Great sought
to emulate that of Charles the Great. The famous nun of Gandersheim has
occasionally been confounded with her namesake, a learned abbess of the
same convent, who must have died at least half a century earlier. The
younger Hrosvitha was born in all probability about the year 935; and,
if the statement be correct that she sang the praises of the three
Ottos, she must have lived to near the close of the century. Some time
before the year 959 she entered the Benedictine nunnery of Gandersheim,
a foundation which was confined to ladies of German birth, and was
highly favoured by the Saxon dynasty. In 959 Gerberga, daughter of Duke
Henry of Bavaria and niece of the emperor Otto I., was consecrated
abbess of Gandersheim; and the earlier literary efforts of the youthful
Hrosvitha (whose own connexion with the royal family appears to be an
unauthenticated tradition) were encouraged by the still more youthful
abbess, and by a nun of the name of Richarda.
The literary works of Hrosvitha, all of which were as a matter of course
in Latin, divide themselves into three groups. Of these the first and
least important comprises eight narrative religious poems, in leonine
hexameters or distichs. Their subjects are the Nativity of the Virgin
(from the apocryphal gospel of St James, the brother of our Lord), the
Ascension and a series of legends of saints (Gandolph, Pelagius,
Theophilus, Basil, Denis, Agnes). Like these narrative poems, the dramas
to which above all Hrosvitha owes her fame seem to have been designed
for reading aloud or recitation by sisters of the convent. For though
there are indications that the idea of their representation was at least
present to the mind of the authoress, the fact of such a representation
appears to be an unwarrantable assumption. The comedies of Hrosvitha are
six in number, being doubtless in this respect also intended to recall
their nominal model, the comedies of Terence. They were devised on the
simple principle that the world, the flesh and the devil should not have
all the good plays to themselves. The experiment upon which the young
Christian dramatist ventured was accordingly, although not absolutely
novel, audacious enough. In form the dramas of "the strong voice of
Gandersheim," as Hrosvitha (possibly alluding to a supposed etymology of
her name) calls herself, are by no means Terentian. They are written in
prose, with an element of something like rhythm, and an occasional
admixture of rhyme. In their themes, and in the treatment of these, they
are what they were intended to be, the direct opposites of the lightsome
adapter of Menander. They are founded upon legends of the saints,
selected with a view to a glorification of religion in its supremest
efforts and most transcendental aspects. The emperor Constantine's
daughter, for example, Constantia, gives her hand in marriage to
_Gallicanus_, just before he starts on a Scythian campaign, though she
has already taken a vow of perpetual maidenhood. In the hour of battle
he is himself converted, and, having on his return like his virgin bride
chosen the more blessed unmarried state, dies as a Christian martyr in
exile. The three holy maidens, Agape, Chionia and Irene, are preserved
by a humorous miracle from the evil designs of _Dulcitius_, to offer up
their pure lives as a sacrifice under Diocletian's persecutions.
_Callimachus_, who has Romeo-like carried his earthly passion for the
saintly Drusiana into her tomb, and among its horrors has met with his
own death, is by the mediation of St John raised with her from the dead
to a Christian life. All these themes are treated with both spirit and
skill, often with instinctive knowledge of dramatic effect--often with
genuine touches of pathos and undeniable felicities of expression. In
_Dulcitius_ there is also an element of comedy, or rather of farce. How
far Hrosvitha's comedies were an isolated phenomenon of their age in
Germany must remain undecided; in the general history of the drama they
form the visible bridge between the few earlier attempts at utilizing
the forms of the classical drama for Christian purposes and the miracle
plays. They are in any case the productions of genius; nor has Hrosvitha
missed the usual tribute of the supposition that Shakespeare has
borrowed from her writings.
The third and last group of the writings of Hrosvitha is that of her
versified historical chronicles. At the request of the abbess Gerberga,
she composed her _Carmen de gestis Oddonis_, an epic attempting in some
degree to follow the great Roman model. It was completed by the year
968, and presented by the authoress to both the old emperor and his son
(then already crowned as) Otto II. This poem so closely adheres to the
materials supplied to the authoress by members of the imperial family
that, notwithstanding its courtly omissions, it is regarded as an
historical authority. Unfortunately only half of it remains; the part
treating of the period from 953 to 962 is lost with the exception of a
few fragments, and the period from 962 to 967 is summarized only.
Subsequently, in a poem (of 837 hexameters) _De primordiis et
fundatoribus coenobii Gandersheimensis_, Hrosvitha narrated the
beginnings of her own convent, and its history up to the year 919.
The Munich MS., which contains all the works enumerated above except
the _Chronicle of Gandersheim_, was edited by the great Vienna
humanist, Conrad Celtes, in 1501. The edition of Celtes was published
at Nuremberg, with eight wood-cuts by Albrecht Dürer. It was re-edited
by H. L. Schurzfleisch and published at Wittenberg in 1707. The
comedies have been edited and translated into German by J. Bendixen
(Lübeck, 1857), and into French by C. Magnin (Paris, 1845), whose
introduction gives a full account of the authoress and her works. See
also her _Poésies latines_, with a translation into French verse by V.
Rétif de la Bretonne (Paris, 1854). A copious analysis of her plays
will be found in Klein, _Geschichte des Dramas_, iii. 665-754. See
also W. Creizenach, _Geschichte des neueren Dramas_, i. 17 sqq.
(Halle, 1893), and A. W. Ward, _History of English Dramatic
Literature_, i. 6 sqq. (Cambridge, 1899). Gustav Freytag wrote a
dissertation, _De Rosuitha poëtria_ (Breslau, 1839), to qualify
himself as an academical teacher, which, as he records (_Erinnerungen
aus meinem Leben_, Leipzig, 1887, p. 1839), showed "how impossible it
was to the German, a thousand years since, to compose dramatically";
and at the beginning of Albert Cohn's _Shakespeare in Germany_
(Berlin, 1865) Shakespearean parallels are suggested to certain
passages in Hrosvitha's dramas. Her two chronicles in verse were
edited by Z. H. Pertz in the _Monumenta Germaniae_, iv. 306-335
(Hanover, 1841). See also J. P. Migne, _Patrologiae curs. compl._
(Paris, 1853, vol. 137). The _Carmen_ was included by Leibnitz in his
_Scriptores rer. Brunsvic._ (Hanover, 1707-1711). For other early
editions of these see A. Potthast, _Bibliotheca historica medii aevi_
(supplement, Berlin, 1862-1868); and for an appreciation of them see
Wattenbach, _Geschichtsquellen_, pp. 214-216, and Giesebrecht,
_Deutsche Kaiserzeit_, i. 780, who mentions a German translation by
Pfund (1860). There is a complete edition of the works of Hrosvitha by
K. A. Barack (Nürnberg, 1858). J. Aschbach (1867) attempted to prove
that Celtes had forged the productions which he published under the
name of Hrosvitha, but he was refuted by R. Köpke (Berlin, 1869).
Anatole France, _La Vie littéraire_ (3^ème série, Paris, 1891), cited
by Creienach, mentions a curious recent experiment, the performance of
Hrosvitha's comedies in the Théâtre des Marionettes at Paris.
(A. W. W.)
HSÜAN TSANG (HIOUEN THSANG, HIWEN T'SANG, YÜAN TSANG, YUAN-CHWANG), the
most eminent representative of a remarkable and valuable branch of
Chinese literature, consisting of the narratives of Chinese Buddhists
who travelled to India, whilst their religion flourished there, with the
view of visiting the sites consecrated by the history of Sakya Muni, of
studying at the great convents which then existed in India, and of
collecting books, relics and other sacred objects.
The importance of these writings as throwing light on the geography
and history of India and adjoining countries, during a very dark
period, is great, and they have been the subject of elaborate
commentaries by modern students. Several Chinese memoirs of this kind
appear to have perished; and especially to be regretted is a great
collection of the works of travellers to India, religious and secular,
in sixty books, with forty more of maps and illustrations, published
at the expense of the emperor Kao-Tsung of the T'ang dynasty, A.D.
666, with a preface from the imperial hand. We will mention the
clerical travellers of this description who are known to us by name.
1. _Shi-tao-'an_ (d. 385) wrote a work on his travels to the "western
lands" (an expression applying often to India), which is supposed to
be lost. 2. _Fa-hien_ travelled to India in 399, and returned by sea
in 414. His work, called _Fo-Kwo-Ki, or Memoirs on the Buddha Realms_,
has been translated by Abel-Rémusat and Landresse, and again into
English by the Rev. S. Beale; Mr Laidlay of Calcutta also published a
translation from the French, with interesting notes. 3. _Hwai Seng_
and _Sung-Yun_, monks, travelled to India to collect books and
reliques, 518-521. Their short narrative has been translated by Karl
Fried. Neumann, and also by Mr Beale (along with Fa-hien). 4. _Hsüan
Tsang_, the subject of this notice. In relation to his travels there
are two Chinese works, both of which have been translated with an
immense appliance of labour and learning by M. Stanislas Julien, viz.
(a) the _Ta-T'ang-Si-Yu-Ki, or Memoirs on Western Countries issued by
the T'ang Dynasty_, which was compiled under the traveller's own
supervision, by order of the great emperor Tai-Tsung; and (b) a
_Biography of Hsüan Tsang_ by two of his contemporaries. 5. _The
Itinerary of Fifty-six Religious Travellers_, compiled and published
under imperial authority, 730. 6. _The Itinerary of Khi-Nie_, who
travelled (964-976) at the head of a large body of monks to collect
books, &c. Neither of the last two has been translated.
Hsüan Tsang was born in the district of Keu-Shi, near Honan-Fu, about
605, a period at which Buddhism appears to have had a powerful influence
upon a large body of educated Chinese. From childhood grave and
studious, he was taken in charge by an elder brother who had adopted the
monastic life, in a convent at the royal city of Loyang in Honan. Hsüan
Tsang soon followed his brother's example. For some years he travelled
over China, teaching and learning, and eventually settled for a time at
the capital Chang-gan (now Si-gan-fu in Shensi), where his fame for
learning became great. The desire which he entertained to visit India,
in order to penetrate all the doctrines of the Buddhist philosophy, and
to perfect the collections of Indian books which existed in China, grew
irresistible, and in August 629 he started upon his solitary journey,
eluding with difficulty the strict prohibition which was in force
against crossing the frontier.
The "master of the law," as his biographers call him, plunged alone into
the terrible desert of the Gobi, then known as the Sha-mo or "Sand
River," between Kwa-chow and Igu (now Hami or Kamil). At long intervals
he found help from the small garrisons of the towers that dotted the
desert track. Very striking is the description, like that given six
centuries later by Marco Polo, of the quasi-supernatural horrors that
beset the lonely traveller in the wilderness--the visions of armies and
banners; and the manner in which they are dissipated singularly recalls
passages in Bunyan's _Pilgrim's Progress_. After great suffering Hsüan
Tsang reached Igu, the seat of a Turkish principality, and pursued his
way along the southern foot of the T'ian-shan, which he crossed by a
glacier pass (vividly described) in the longitude of Lake Issyk-kul. In
the valley of the Talas river he encounters the great khan of the Turks
on a hunting party,--a rencontre which it is interesting to compare with
the visit of Zemarchus to the great khan Dizabul, sixty years before, in
the same region. Passing by the present Tashkend, and by Samarkand, then
inhabited by fire worshippers, he reached the basin of the Upper Oxus,
which had recently been the seat of the powerful dominion of the
Haiathelah, Ephthalites or White Huns, known in earlier days to the
Greeks as _Tochari_, and to Hsüan Tsang (by the same name) as _Tuholo_
or Tukhara. His account of the many small states into which the Tukhara
empire had broken up is of great interest, as many of them are identical
in name and topography with the high valley states and districts on the
Upper Oxus, which are at this day the object of so much geographical and
political interest.
Passing by Bamian, where he speaks of the great idols still so famous,
he crosses Hindu-Kush, and descends the valley of the Kabul river to
Nagarahara, the site of which, still known as Nagara, adjoining
Jalalabad, has been explored by Mr W. Simpson. Travelling thence to
Peshawar (_Purushapura_), the capital of Gandhara, he made a digression,
through the now inaccessible valley of Swat and the Dard states, to the
Upper Indus, returning to Peshawar, and then crossing the Indus
(_Sintu_) into the decayed kingdom of _Taxila_ (Ta-cha-si-lo,
Takshasila), then subject to Kashmir. In the latter valley he spent two
whole years (631-633) studying in the convents, and visiting the many
monuments of his faith. In his further travels he visited Mathura
(_Mot'ulo_, Muttra), whence he turned north to Thanesar and the upper
Jumna and Ganges, returning south down the valley of the latter to
Kanyakubja or Kanauj, then one of the great capitals of India. The
pilgrim next entered on a circuit of the most famous sites of Buddhist
and of ancient Indian history, such as Ajodhya, Prayaga (Allahabad),
Kausambhi, Sravasti, Kapilavastu, the birth-place of Sakya, Kusinagara,
his death-place, Pataliputra (Patna, the _Palibothra_ of the Greeks),
Gaya, Rajagriha and Nalanda, the most famous and learned monastery and
college in India, adorned by the gifts of successive kings, of the
splendour of which he gives a vivid description, and of which traces
have recently been recovered. There he again spent nearly two years in
mastering Sanskrit and the depths of Buddhist philosophy. Again,
proceeding down the banks of the Ganges, he diverged eastward to
Kamarupa (Assam), and then passed by the great ports of Tamralipti
(Tamluk, the misplaced _Tamalitis_ of Ptolemy), and through Orissa to
Kanchipara (Conjeeveram), about 640. Thence he went northward across the
Carnatic and Maharashtra to Barakacheva (Broach of our day, _Barygaza_
of the Greeks). After this he visited Malwa, Cutch, Surashtra
(peninsular Gujarat, _Syrastrene_ of the Greeks), Sind, Multan and
Ghazni, whence he rejoined his former course in the basin of the Kabul
river.
This time, however, he crosses Pamir, of which he gives a remarkable
account, and passes by Kashgar, Khotan (_Kustana_), and the vicinity of
Lop-nor across the desert to Kwa-chow, whence he had made his venturous
and lonely plunge into the waste fifteen years before. He carried with
him great collections of books, precious images and reliques, and was
received (April 645) with public and imperial enthusiasm. The emperor
T'ai-Tsung desired him to commit his journey to writing, and also that
he should abandon the eremitic rule and serve the state. This last he
declined, and devoted himself to the compilation of his narrative and
the translation of the books he had brought with him from India. The
former was completed A.D. 648. In 664 Hsüan Tsang died in a convent at
Chang-gan. Some things in the history of his last days, and in the
indications of beatitude recorded, strongly recall the parallel history
of the saints of the Roman calendar. But on the other hand we find the
Chinese saint, on the approach of death, causing one of his disciples to
frame a catalogue of his good works, of the books that he had translated
or caused to be transcribed, of the sacred pictures executed at his
cost, of the alms that he had given, of the living creatures that he had
ransomed from death. "When Kia-shang had ended writing this list, the
master ordered him to read it aloud. After hearing it the devotees
clasped their hands, and showered their felicitations on him." Thus the
"well-done, good and faithful" comes from the servant himself in
self-applause.
The book of the biography, by the disciples Hwai-li and Yen-t'sung, as
rendered with judicious omissions by Stan. Julien, is exceedingly
interesting; its Chinese style receives high praise from the translator,
who says he has often had to regret his inability to reproduce its
grace, elegance and vivacity.
AUTHORITIES.--_Fo-Koue-Ki_, trad. du Chinois, par Abel-Rémusat, revu
et complété par Klaproth et Landresse (Paris, 1836); _H. de la vie de
Hiouen-Thsang, &c._, trad. du Chinois par Stanislas Julien (Paris,
1853); _Mémoires sur les contrées occidentales ..._ trad. du Chinois
en Français (par le même) (2 vols., Paris, 1857-1858); _Mémoire
analytique_, &c., attached to the last work, by L. Vivien de St
Martin; "Attempt to identify some of the Places mentioned in the
Itinerary of Hiuan Thsang," by Major Wm. Anderson, C.B., in _Journ.
As. Soc. Bengal_, vol. xvi. pt. 2, p. 1183 (the enunciation of a
singularly perverse theory); "Verification of the Itinerary of Hwan
Thsang, &c.," by Captain Alex. Cunningham, Bengal Engineers, ibid.
vol. xvii. pt. 1, p. 476; _Travels of Fah-hian and Sung-Yan, Buddhist
Pilgrims, &c._, by Sam. Beal (1869); _The Ancient Geography of India_,
by Major-General Alex. Cunningham, R.E. (1871); "Notes on Hwen
Thsang's Account of the Principalities of Tokharistan," by Colonel H.
Yule, C.B., in _Journ. Roy. As. Soc._, new ser., vol. vi. p. 82; "On
Hiouen Thsang's Journey from Patna to Ballabhi," by James Fergusson,
D.C.L., ibid. p. 213. (H. Y.; R. K. D.)
HUAMBISAS, a tribe of South American Indians on the upper Marañon and
Santiago rivers, Peru. In 1841 they drove all the civilized Indians from
the neighbouring missions. In 1843 they killed all the inhabitants of
the village of Santa Teresa, between the mouths of the Santiago and
Morona. They are fair-skinned and bearded, sharing with the Jeveros a
descent from the Spanish women captured by their Indian ancestors at the
sack of Sevilla del Oro in 1599.
HUANCAVELICA, a city of central Peru and capital of a department, 160 m.
S.E. of Lima. The city stands in a deep ravine of the Andes at an
elevation of about 12,400 ft. above the sea, the ravine having an
average width of 1 m. Pop. (1906 estimate) 6000. The city is solidly and
regularly built, the houses being of stone and the stream that flows
through the town being spanned by several stone bridges. Near
Huancavelica is the famous quicksilver mine of Santa Barbara, with its
subterranean church of San Rosario, hewn from the native
cinnabar-bearing rock. Huancavelica was founded by Viceroy Francisco de
Toledo in 1572 as a mining town, and mining continues to be the
principal occupation of its inhabitants. The department is traversed by
the Cordillera Occidental, and is bounded N., E. and S. by Junin and
Ayacucho. Pop. (1906 official estimate) 167,840; area, 9254 sq. m. The
principal industry is mining for silver and quicksilver. The best-known
silver mines are the Castrovirreyna.
HUÁNUCO, a city of central Peru, capital of a department, 170 m. N.N.E.
of Lima in a beautiful valley on the left bank of the Huallaga river,
nearly 6000 ft. above sea-level. Pop. (1906 estimate) about 6000. The
town was founded in 1539 by Gomez Alvarado. Huánuco is celebrated for
its fruits and sweetmeats, the "chirimoya" (_Anona chirimolia_) of this
region being the largest and most delicious of its kind. Mining is one
of the city's industries. Huánuco was the scene of one of the
bloodthirsty massacres of which the Chileans were guilty during their
occupation of Peruvian territory in 1881-1883. The department of Huánuco
lies immediately N. of Junin, with Ancachs on the W. and San Martin and
Loreto on the N. and E. Pop. (1906 estimate) 108,980; area, 14,028 sq.
m. It lies wholly in the Cordillera region, and is traversed from S. to
N. by the Marañon and Huallaga rivers.
HUARAZ, a city of northern Peru and capital o£ the department of
Ancachs, on the left bank of the Huaraz, or Santa river, about 190 m.
N.N.W. of Lima and 58 m. from the coast. Pop. (1876) 4851, (1906
estimate) 6000. Huaraz is situated in a narrow fertile valley of the
Western Cordillera, at a considerable elevation above sea-level, and has
a mild climate. A railway projected to connect Huaraz with the port of
Chimbote, on the Bay of Chimbote, a few miles S. of the mouth of the
Santa river, was completed from Chimbote to Suchimán (33 m.) in 1872,
when work was suspended for want of money. In the valley of the Huaraz
cattle are raised, and wheat, sugar and fruit, gold, silver, copper and
coal are produced. Alfalfa is grown by stock-raisers, and the cattle
raised here are among the best in the Peruvian market. In the vicinity
of Huaraz are megalithic ruins similar to those of Tiahunaco and Cuzco,
showing that the aboriginal empire preceding the Incas extended into
northern Peru.
HUARTE DE SAN JUAN, or HUARTE Y NAVARRO, JUAN (c. 1530-1592), Spanish
physician and psychologist, was born at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Lower
Navarre) about 1530, was educated at the university of Huesca, where he
graduated in medicine, and, though it appears doubtful whether he
practised as a physician at Huesca, distinguished himself by his
professional skill and heroic zeal during the plague which devastated
Baeza in 1566. He died in 1592. His _Examen de ingenios para las
ciencias_ (1575) won him a European reputation, and was translated by
Lessing. Though now superseded, Huarte's treatise is historically
interesting as the first attempt to show the connexion between
psychology and physiology, and its acute ingenuity is as remarkable as
the boldness of its views.
HUASTECS, a tribe of North American Indians of Mayan stock, living to
the north of Vera Cruz. They are of interest to the ethnologist as being
so entirely detached from the other Mayan tribes of Central America. The
theory is that the Mayas came from the north and that the Huastecs were
left behind in the migration southward.
HUBER, FRANÇOIS (1750-1831), Swiss naturalist, was born at Geneva on the
2nd of July 1750. He belonged to a family which had already made its
mark in the literary and scientific world: his great-aunt, Marie Huber
(1695-1753), was known as a voluminous writer on religious and
theological subjects, and as the translator and epitomizer of the
_Spectator_ (Amsterdam, 3 vols., 1753); and his father Jean Huber
(1721-1786), who had served for many years as a soldier, was a prominent
member of the coterie at Ferney, distinguishing himself by his
_Observations sur le vol des oiseaux_ (Geneva, 1784). François Huber was
only fifteen years old when he began to suffer from an affection of the
eyes which gradually resulted in total blindness; but, with the aid of
his wife, Marie Aimée Lullin, and of his servant, François Burnens, he
was able to carry out investigations that laid the foundations of our
scientific knowledge of the life history of the honey-bee. His
_Nouvelles Observations sur les abeilles_ was published at Geneva in
1792 (Eng. trans., 1806). He assisted Jean Senebier in his _Mém. sur
l'influence de l'air, &c., dans la germination_ (Geneva, 1800); and he
also wrote "Mém. sur l'origine de la cire" (_Bibliothèque britannique_,
tome xxv.), a "Lettre à M. Pictet sur certains dangers que courent les
abeilles" (_Bib. brit_. xxvii), and "Nouvelles Observ. rel. au sphinx
Atropos" (_Bib. brit_. xxvii). He died at Lausanne on the 22nd of
December 1831. De Candolle gave his name to a genus of Brazilian
trees--_Huberia laurina_.
PIERRE HUBER (1777-1840) followed in his father's footsteps. His
best-known work is _Recherches sur les moeurs des fourmis indigènes_
(Geneva and Paris, 1810; new ed., Geneva, 1861), and he also wrote
various papers on entomological subjects.
See the account of François Huber, by De Candolle, in _Bibl.
universelle_ (1832); and the notice of Pierre in _Bibl. univ._ (1886);
also Haag, _La France protestante_.
HUBER, JOHANN NEPOMUK (1830-1879), German philosophical and theological
writer, a leader of the Old Catholics, was born at Munich on the 18th of
August 1830. Originally destined for the priesthood, he early began the
study of theology. By the writings of Spinoza and Oken, however, he was
strongly drawn to philosophical pursuits, and it was in philosophy that
he "habilitated" (1854) in the university of his native place, where he
ultimately became professor (extraordinarius, 1859; ordinarius, 1864).
With Döllinger and others he attracted a large amount of public
attention in 1869 by the challenge to the Ultramontane promoters of the
Vatican council in the treatise _Der Papst und das Koncil_, which
appeared under the pseudonym of "Janus," and also in 1870 by a series of
letters (_Römische Briefe_, a redaction of secret reports sent from Rome
during the sitting of the council), which were published over the
pseudonym Quirinus in the _Allgemeine Zeitung_. He died suddenly of
heart disease at Munich on the 20th of March 1879.
WORKS.--The treatise _Über die Willensfreiheit_ (1858), followed in 1859
by _Die Philosophie der Kirchenväter_, which was promptly placed upon
the _Index_, and led to the prohibition of all Catholic students from
attending his lectures; _Johannes Scotus Erigena_ (1861); _Die Idee der
Unsterblichkeit_ (1864); _Studien_ (1867); _Der Proletarier; zur
Orientirung in der sozialen Frage_ (1865); _Der Jesuitenorden nach
seiner Verfassung und Doctrin, Wirksamkeit und Geschichte_ (1873), also
placed upon the _Index_; _Der Pessimismus_ (1876); _Die Forschung nach
der Materie_ (1877); _Zur Philosophie der Astronomie_ (1878); _Das
Gedächtnis_ (1878). He also published adverse criticisms of Darwin,
Strauss, Hartmann and Häckel; pamphlets on _Das Papsttum und der Staat_
(1870), and on _Die Freiheiten der französischen Kirche_ (1871); and a
volume of _Kleine Schriften_ (1871).
See E. Zirngiebl, _Johannes Huber_ (1881); and M. Carrière in
_Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, xiii. (1881), and in _Nord und Süd_
(1879).
HUBER, LUDWIG FERDINAND (1764-1804), German author, was born in Paris on
the 14th of September 1764, the son of Michael Huber (1727-1804), who
did much to promote the study of German literature in France. In his
infancy young Huber removed with his parents to Leipzig, where he was
carefully instructed in modern languages and literature, and showed a
particular inclination for those of France and England. In Leipzig he
became intimate with Christian Gottfried Körner, father of the poet; in
Dresden Huber became engaged to Dora Stock, sister of Körner's
betrothed, and associated with Schiller, who was one of Körner's
stanchest friends. In 1787 he was appointed secretary to the Saxon
legation in Mainz, where he remained until the French occupation of
1792. While here he interested himself for the welfare of the family of
his friend Georg Forster, who, favouring republican views, had gone to
Paris, leaving his wife Therese Forster (1764-1829) and family in
destitute circumstances. Huber, enamoured of the talented young wife,
gave up his diplomatic post, broke off his engagement to Dora Stock,
removed with the Forster family to Switzerland, and on the death of her
husband in 1794 married Therese Forster. In 1798 Huber took over the
editorship of the _Allgemeine Zeitung_ in Stuttgart. The newspaper
having been prohibited in Württemberg, Huber continued its editorship in
Ulm in 1803. He was created "counsellor of education" for the new
Bavarian province of Swabia in the following year, but had hardly
entered upon the functions of his new office when he died on the 24th of
December 1804.
Huber was well versed in English literature, and in 1785 he published
the drama _Ethelwolf_, with notes on Beaumont and Fletcher and the old
English stage. He also wrote many dramas, comedies and tragedies, most
of which are now forgotten, and among them only _Das heimliche Gericht_
(1790, new ed. 1795) enjoyed any degree of popularity. As a critic he is
seen to advantage in the _Vermischte Schriften von dem Verfasser des
heimlichen Gerichts_ (2 vols., 1793). As a publicist he made his name in
the historical-political periodicals _Friedenspräliminarien_ (1794-1796,
10 vols.) and _Klio_ (1795-1798, 1819).
His collected works, _Sämtliche Werke seit dem Jahre 1802_ (4 vols.,
1807-1819), were published with a biography by his wife Therese Huber.
See L. Speidel and H. Wittmann, _Bilder aus der Schiller-Zeit_ (1884).
HUBERT (HUCBERTUS, HUGBERTUS), ST (d. 727), bishop of Liége, whose
festival is celebrated on the 3rd of November. The Bollandists have
published seven different lives of the saint. The first is the only one
of any value, and is the work of a contemporary. Unfortunately, it is
very sparing of details. In it we see that Hubert in 708 succeeded
Lambert in the see of Maestricht (Tongres), and that he erected a
basilica to his memory. In 825 Hubert's remains were removed to a
Benedictine cloister in the Ardennes, which thenceforth bore his name
(St Hubert, province of Luxemburg, Belgium), and ultimately became a
considerable resort of pilgrims. The later legends (_Bibliotheca
hagiographica latina_, nos. 3994-4002) are devoid of authority. One of
them relates, probably following the legend of St Eustace, the miracle
of the conversion of St Hubert. This conversion, represented as having
been brought about while he was hunting on Good Friday by a miraculous
appearance of a stag bearing between his horns a cross or crucifix
surrounded with rays of light, has frequently been made the subject of
artistic treatment. He is the patron of hunters, and is also invoked in
cases of hydrophobia. Several orders of knighthood have been under his
protection; among these may be mentioned the Bavarian, the Bohemian and
that of the electorate of Cologne.
See _Acta Sanctorum_, Novembris, i. 759-930; G. Kurth, _Chartes de
l'abbaye de St Hubert en Ardenne_ (Brussels, 1903); Anna Jameson,
_Sacred and Legendary Art_, i. 732-737 (London, 1896); Cahier,
_Caractéristiques des saints_, pp. 183, 775, &c. (Paris, 1867).
(H. De.)
HUBERTUSBURG, a château in the kingdom of Saxony, near the village of
Wermsdorf and midway 6 m. between the towns Oschatz and Grimma. It was
built in 1721-1724 by Frederick Augustus II., elector of Saxony,
subsequently King Augustus III. of Poland, as a hunting box, and was
often the scene of brilliant festivities. It is famous for the peace
signed here on the 15th of February 1763, which ended the Seven Years'
War. After undergoing various vicissitudes, it now serves the purpose of
a lunatic asylum and a training school for nursing sisters.
See Riemer, _Das Schloss Hubertusburg, sonst und jetzt_ (Oschatz,
1881).
HUBLI, a town of British India, in the Dharwar district of Bombay, 15 m.
S.E. of Dharwar town. Pop. (1901) 60,214. It is a railway junction on
the Southern Mahratta system, where the lines to Bangalore and Bezwada
branch off south and west. It is an important centre of trade and of
cotton and silk weaving, and has two cotton mills and several factories
for ginning and pressing cotton. Hubli was in early times the seat of an
English factory, which, with the rest of the town, was plundered in 1673
by Sivaji, the Mahratta leader.
HÜBNER, EMIL (1834-1901), German classical scholar, son of the
historical painter Julius Hübner (1806-1882), was born at Düsseldorf on
the 7th of July 1834. After studying at Berlin and Bonn, he travelled
extensively with a view to antiquarian and epigraphical researches. The
results of these travels were embodied in several important works:
_Inscriptiones Hispaniae Latinae_ (1869, supplement 1892), _I. H.
Christianae_ (1871, supplement 1900); _Inscriptiones Britanniae Latinae_
(1873), _I. B. Christianae_ (1876); _La Arqueologia de España_ (1888);
_Monumenta linguae Hibericae_ (1893). Hübner was also the author of two
books of the greatest utility to the classical student: _Grundriss zu
Vorlesungen über die römische Literaturgeschichte_ (4th ed. 1878,
edited, with large additions, by J. E. B. Mayor as _Bibliographical Clue
to Latin Literature_, 1875), and _Bibliographie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_ (2nd ed., 1889); mention may also be made of
_Römische Epigraphik_ (2nd ed., 1892); _Exempla Scripturae Epigraphicae
Latinae_ (1885); and _Römische Herrschaft in Westeuropa_ (1890). In 1870
Hübner was appointed professor of Classical Philology in the university
of Berlin, where he died on the 21st of February 1901.
HÜBNER, JOSEPH ALEXANDER, COUNT (1811-1892), Austrian diplomatist, was
born in Vienna on the 26th of November 1811. His real name was
Hafenbredl, which he afterwards changed to Hübner. He began his public
career in 1833 under Metternich, whose confidence he soon gained, and
who sent him in 1837 as attaché to Paris. In 1841 he became secretary of
embassy at Lisbon, and in 1844 Austrian consul-general at Leipzig. In
1848 he was sent to Milan to conduct the diplomatic correspondence of
Archduke Rainer, viceroy of Lombardy. On the outbreak of the revolution
he was seized as a hostage, and remained a prisoner for some months.
Returning to Austria, he was entrusted with the compilation of the
documents and proclamations relating to the abdication of the Emperor
Ferdinand and the accession of Francis Joseph. His journal, an
invaluable clue to the complicated intrigues of this period, was
published in 1891 in French and German, under the title of _Une Année de
ma vie, 1848-1849_. In March 1849 he was sent on a special mission to
Paris, and later in the same year was appointed ambassador to France. To
his influence was in large measure due the friendly attitude of Austria
to the Allies in the Crimean War, at the close of which he represented
Austria at the congress of Paris in 1856. He allowed himself, however,
to be taken by surprise by Napoleon's intervention on behalf of Italian
unity, of which the first public intimation was given by the French
emperor's cold reception of Hübner on New Year's Day, 1859, with the
famous words: "I regret that our relations with your Government are not
so good as they have hitherto been." He did not return to Paris after
the war, and after holding the ministry of police in the Goluchowski
cabinet from August to October 1859, lived in retirement till 1865, when
he became ambassador at Rome. Quitting this post in 1867, he undertook
extensive travels, his descriptions of which appeared as _Promenade
autour du monde, 1871_ (1873; English translation by Lady Herbert, 1874)
and _Through the British Empire_ (1886). Written in a bright and
entertaining style, and characterized by shrewd observation, they
achieved considerable popularity in their time. A more serious effort
was his _Sixte-Quint_ (1870, translated into English by H. E. H.
Jerningham under the title of _The Life and Times of Sixtus the Fifth_,
1872), an original contribution to the history of the period, based on
unpublished documents at the Vatican, Simancas and Venice. In 1879 he
was made a life-member of the Austrian Upper House, where he sat as a
Clerical and Conservative. He had received the rank of Baron (Freiherr)
in 1854, and in 1888 was raised to the higher rank of Count (Graf). He
died at Vienna on the 30th of July 1892. Though himself of middle-class
origin, he was a profound admirer of the old aristocratic régime, and
found his political ideals in his former chiefs, Metternich and
Schwarzenberg. As the last survivor of the Metternich school, he became
towards the close of his life more and more out of touch with the trend
of modern politics, but remained a conspicuous figure in the Upper House
and at the annual delegations. That he possessed the breadth of mind to
appreciate the working of a system at total variance with his own school
of thought was shown by his grasp of British colonial questions. It is
interesting, in view of subsequent events, to note his emphatic belief
in the loyalty of the British colonies--a belief not shared at that time
by many statesmen with far greater experience of democratic
institutions.
See Sir Ernest Satow, _An Austrian Diplomatist in the Fifties_ (1908).
HUC, ÉVARISTE RÉGIS (1813-1860), French missionary-traveller, was born
at Toulouse, on the 1st of August 1813. In his twenty-fourth year he
entered the congregation of the Lazarists at Paris, and shortly after
receiving holy orders in 1839 went out to China. At Macao he spent some
eighteen months in the Lazarist seminary, preparing himself for the
regular work of a missionary. Having acquired some command of the
Chinese tongue, and modified his personal appearance and dress in
accordance with Chinese taste, he started from Canton. He at first
superintended a Christian mission in the southern provinces, and then
passing to Peking, where he perfected his knowledge of the language,
eventually settled in the Valley of Black Waters or He Shuy, a little to
the north of the capital, and just within the borders of Mongolia.
There, beyond the Great Wall, a large but scattered population of native
Christians had found a refuge from the persecutions of Kia-King, to be
united half a century later in a vast but vague apostolic vicariate. The
assiduity with which Huc devoted himself to the study of the dialects
and customs of the Tatars, for whom at the cost of much labour he
translated various religious works, was an admirable preparation for
undertaking in 1844, at the instigation of the vicar apostolic of
Mongolia, an expedition whose object was to dissipate the obscurity
which hung over the country and habits of the Tibetans. September of
that year found the missionary at Dolon Nor occupied with the final
arrangements for his journey, and shortly afterwards, accompanied by his
fellow-Lazarist, Joseph Gabet, and a young Tibetan priest who had
embraced Christianity, he set out. To escape attention the little party
assumed the dress of lamas or priests. Crossing the Hwang-ho, they
advanced into the terrible sandy tract known as the Ordos Desert. After
suffering dreadfully from want of water and fuel they entered Kansu,
having recrossed the flooded Hwang-ho, but it was not till January 1845
that they reached Tang-Kiul on the boundary. Rather than encounter alone
the horrors of a four months' journey to Lhasa they resolved to wait for
eight months till the arrival of a Tibetan embassy on its return from
Peking. Under an intelligent teacher they meanwhile studied the Tibetan
language and Buddhist literature, and during three months of their stay
they resided in the famous Kunbum Lamasery, which was reported to
accommodate 4000 persons. Towards the end of September they joined the
returning embassy, which comprised 2000 men and 3700 animals. Crossing
the deserts of Koko Nor, they passed the great lake of that name, with
its island of contemplative lamas, and, following a difficult and
tortuous track across snow-covered mountains, they at last entered Lhasa
on the 29th of January 1846. Favourably received by the regent, they
opened a little chapel, and were in a fair way to establish an important
mission, when the Chinese ambassador interfered and had the two
missionaries conveyed back to Canton, where they arrived in October of
the same year. For nearly three years Huc remained at Canton, but Gabet,
returning to Europe, proceeded thence to Rio de Janeiro, and died there
shortly afterwards. Huc returned to Europe in shattered health in 1852,
visiting India, Egypt and Palestine on his way, and, after a prolonged
residence in Paris, died on the 31st of March 1860.
His writings comprise, besides numerous letters and memoirs in the
_Annales de la propagation de la foi_, the famous _Souvenirs d'un
voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet, et la Chine pendant les années
1844-1846_ (2 vols., Paris, 1850; Eng. trans. by W. Hazlitt, 1851,
abbreviated by M. Jones, London, 1867); its supplement, crowned by the
Academy, entitled _L'Empire chinois_ (2 vols., Paris, 1854; Eng.
trans., London, 1859); and an elaborate historical work, _Le
Christianisme en Chine, &c._ (4 vols., Paris, 1857-1858; Eng. trans.,
London, 1857-1858). These works are written in a lucid, racy,
picturesque style, which secured for them an unusual degree of
popularity. The _Souvenirs_ is a narrative of a remarkable feat of
travel, and contains passages of so singular a character as in the
absence of corroborative testimony to stir up a feeling of
incredulity. That Huc was suspected unjustly was amply proved by later
research. But he was by no means a practical geographer, and the
record of his travels loses greatly in value from the want of precise
scientific data.
See, for information specially relating to the whole subject, the Abbé
Desgodin's _Mission du Thibet de 1855 à 1870_ (Verdun, 1872); and
"Account of the Pundit's Journey in Great Tibet," in the _Royal
Geographical Society's Journal_ for 1877.
HUCBALD (HUGBALDUS, HUBALDUS), Benedictine monk, and writer on music,
was born at the monastery of Saint Amand near Tournai, in or about 840,
if we may believe the statement of his biographers to the effect that he
died in 930, aged 90. He studied at the monastery, where his uncle Milo
occupied an important position. Hucbald made rapid progress in the
acquirement of various sciences and arts, including that of music, and
at an early age composed a hymn in honour of St Andrew, which met with
such success as to excite the jealousy of his uncle. It is said that
Hucbald in consequence was compelled to leave St Amand, and started an
independent school of music and other arts at Nevers. In 860, however,
he was at St Germain d'Auxerre, bent upon completing his studies, and in
872 he was back again at St Amand as the successor in the headmastership
of the convent school of his uncle, to whom he had been reconciled in
the meantime. Between 883 and 900 Hucbald went on several missions of
reforming and reconstructing various schools of music, including that of
Rheims, but in the latter year he returned to St Amand, where he
remained to the day of his death on the 25th of June 930, or, according
to other chroniclers, on the 20th of June 932. The only work which can
positively be ascribed to him is his _Harmonica Institutio_. The _Musica
Enchiriadis_, published with other writings of minor importance in
Gerbert's _Scriptores de Musica_, and containing a complete system of
musical science as well as instructions regarding notation, has now been
proved to have originated about half a century later than the death of
the monk Hucbald, and to have been the work of an unknown writer
belonging to the close of the 10th century and possibly also bearing the
name of Hucbald. This work is celebrated chiefly for an essay on a new
form of notation described in the present day as _Dasia Notation_. The
author of the _Harmonica Institutio_ wrote numerous lives of the saints
and a curious poem on bald men, dedicated to Charles the Bald.
AUTHORITIES.--Sir John Hawkins, _General History of the Science and
Practice of Music_ (i. 153); _Histoire littéraire de la France_ (vi.
216 et seq.); Coussemaker, _Mémoire sur Hucbald_ (Paris, 1841); Hans
Müller, _Hucbald's echte und unechte Schriften über Musik_ (Leipzig,
1884); Spitta, _Die Musica Enchiriadis und seine Zeitalter_
(_Vierteljahresschrift für Musikwissenschaft_, 1889, 5th year).
HU-CHOW-FU, a city of China, in the province of Cheh-Kiang (30° 48´ N.,
120° 3´ E.), a little S. of Tai-hu Lake, in the midst of the central
silk district. According to Chinese authorities it is 6 m. in
circumference, and contains about 100,000 families. A broad stream or
canal crosses the city from south to north, and forms the principal
highway for boat traffic. The main trade of the place is in raw silk,
but some silk fabrics, such as flowered crape (_chousha_), are also
manufactured. Silk is largely worn even by the lowest classes of the
inhabitants.
HUCHOWN, "of the Awle Ryale" (fl. 14th century), Scottish poet, is
referred to by Wyntoun in his _Chronicle_ in these words:--
"Hucheon,
þat cunnande was in littratur.
He made a gret Gest of Arthure,
And þe Awntyr of Gawane,
Þe Pistil als of Suet Susane.
He was curyousse in his stille,
Fayr of facunde and subtile,
And ay to pleyssance hade delyte,
Mad in metyr meit his dyte
Litil or noucht neuir þe lesse
Wauerande fra þe suythfastnes."
(Cott. MS. bk. v. II, 4308-4318).
Much critical ingenuity has been spent in endeavouring to identify (a)
the poet and (b) the works named in the foregoing passage. It has been
assumed that "Huchown," or "Hucheon," represents the "gude Sir Hew of
Eglyntoun" named by Dunbar (q.v.) in his _Lament for the Makaris_ (i.
53). The only known Sir Hugh of Eglintoun of the century is frequently
mentioned in the public records from the middle of the century onwards,
as an auditor of accounts and as witness to several charters. By 1360 he
had married Dame Egidia, widow of Sir James Lindsay and half-sister of
Robert the Steward. His public office and association with the Steward
sorts well with the designation "of the Awle Ryale," if that be
interpreted as "Aula Regalis" or "Royal Palace." He appears to have died
late in 1376 or early in 1377.
The first of the poems named above, the _Gest of Arthure_ or _Gest
Historyalle_ (_ib._ i. 4288), has been identified by Dr Trautmann,
"Anglia," _Der Dichter Huchown_ (1877), with the alliterative _Morte
Arthure_ in the Thornton MS. at Lincoln, printed by the E.E.T.S. (ed.
Brock, 1865). The problem of the second (_The Awntyr of Gawane_) is
still in dispute. There are difficulties in the way of accepting the
conjecture that the poem is the "Awntyres of Arthure at the Tern
Wathelyne" (see S.T.S., _Scottish Alliterative Poems_, 1897, and
Introduction, pp. 11 et seq.), and little direct evidence in favour of
the view that the reference is to the greatest of middle English
romances, _Sir Gawain and the Grene Knight_. The third may be safely
accepted as the well-known _Pistil_ [Epistle] _of Swete Susan_, printed
by Laing (_Select Remains_, 1822) and by the S.T.S. (_Scottish
Alliterative Poems, u.s._).
See, in addition to the works named, above, G. Neilson's _Sir Hew of
Eglintoun and Huchown of the Awle Ryale_ (Glasgow, 1901), which
contains a full record of references to the historical Sir Hew of
Eglintoun; _Huchown of the Awle Ryale, the Alliterative Poet_
(Glasgow, 1902) by the same; J. T. T. Brown's _Huchown of the Awle
Ryale and his Poems_ (Glasgow, 1902), in answer to the foregoing. See
also the correspondence in the _Athenaeum_, 1900-1901, and the review
of Mr Neilson's pamphlets, ib. (Nov. 22, 1902); and J. H. Millar's
_Literary History of Scotland_ (1903), pp. 8-14.
HUCHTENBURG, the name of two brothers who were Dutch painters in the
second half of the 17th century. Both were natives of Haarlem. Jacob,
the elder, of whom very little is known, studied under Berghem, and went
early to Italy, where he died young about 1667. His pictures are
probably confounded with those of his brother. In Copenhagen, where
alone they are catalogued, they illustrate the style of a Dutchman who
transfers Berghem's cattle and flocks to Italian landscapes and
marketplaces.
John van Huchtenburg (1646-1733), born at Haarlem it is said in 1646,
was first taught by Thomas Wyk, and afterwards induced to visit the
chief cities of Italy, where, penetrating as far as Rome, he met and
dwelt with his brother Jacob. After the death of the latter he wandered
homewards, taking Paris on his way, and served under Van der Meulen,
then employed in illustrating for Louis XIV. the campaign of 1667-1668
in the Low Countries. In 1670 he settled at Haarlem, where he married,
practised and kept a dealer's shop. His style had now merged into an
imitation of Philip Wouvermans and Van der Meulen, which could not fail
to produce pretty pictures of hunts and robber camps, the faculty of
painting horses and men in action and varied dress being the chief point
of attraction. Later Huchtenburg ventured on cavalry skirmishes and
engagements of regular troops generally, and these were admired by
Prince Eugene and William III., who gave the painter sittings, and
commissioned him to throw upon canvas the chief incidents of the battles
they fought upon the continent of Europe. When he died at Amsterdam in
1733, Huchtenburg had done much by his pictures and prints to make
Prince Eugene, King William and Marlborough popular. Though clever in
depicting a _mêlée_ or a skirmish of dragoons, he remained second to
Philip Wouvermans in accuracy of drawing, and inferior to Van der Meulen
in the production of landscapes. But, nevertheless, he was a clever and
spirited master, with great facility of hand and considerable natural
powers of observation.
The earliest date on his pictures is 1674, when he executed the
"Stag-Hunt" in the Museum of Berlin, and the "Fight with Robbers" in
the Lichtenstein collection at Vienna. A "Skirmish at Fleurus" (1690)
in the Brussels gallery seems but the precursor of larger and more
powerful works, such as the "Siege of Namur" (1695) in the Belvedere
at Vienna, where William III. is seen in the foreground accompanied by
Max Emmanuel, the Bavarian elector. Three years before, Huchtenburg
had had sittings from Prince Eugene (Hague museum) and William III.
(Amsterdam Trippenhuis). After 1696 he regularly served as court
painter to Prince Eugene, and we have at Turin (gallery) a series of
eleven canvases all of the same size depicting the various battles of
the great hero, commencing with the fight of Zentha against the Turks
in 1697, and concluding with the capture of Belgrade in 1717. Had the
duke of Marlborough been fond of art he would doubtless have possessed
many works of our artist. All that remains at Blenheim, however, is a
couple of sketches of battles, which were probably sent to Churchill
by his great contemporary. The pictures of Huchtenburg are not very
numerous now in public galleries. There is one in the National
Gallery, London, another at the Louvre. But Copenhagen has four,
Dresden six, Gotha two, and Munich has the well-known composition of
"Tallart taken Prisoner at Blenheim in 1704."
HUCKABACK,[1] the name given to a type of cloth used for towels. For
this purpose it has perhaps been more extensively used in the linen
trade than any other weave. One of the chief merits of a towel is its
capacity for absorbing moisture; plain and other flat-surfaced cloths do
not perform this function satisfactorily, but cloths made with
huckaback, as well as those made with the honeycomb and similar weaves,
are particularly well adapted for this purpose. The body or foundation
of the cloth is plain and therefore sound in structure (see designs A
and B in figure), but at fixed intervals some of the warp threads float
on the surface of the cloth, while at the same time a number of weft
threads float on the back. Thus the cloth has a somewhat similar
appearance on both sides. Weave A is the ordinary and most used huck or
huckaback, while weave B, which is usually woven with double weft, is
termed the Devon or medical huck. The cloths made by the use of these
weaves were originally all linen, but are too often adulterated with
inferior fibres.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Skeat, _Etym. Dict._ (1898), says, "The word bears so remarkable
resemblance to Low Ger. _hukkebak_, Ger. _huckeback_, pick-a-back,
that it seems reasonable to suppose that it at first meant 'peddler's
ware.'" The _New English Dictionary_ does not consider that the
connexion can at present be assumed.
HUCKLEBERRY, in botany, the popular name in the north-eastern United
States of the genus _Gaylussacia_, small branching shrubs resembling in
habit the English bilberry (_Vaccinium_), to which it is closely allied,
and bearing a similar fruit. The common huckleberry of the northern
states is _G. resinosa_; while _G. brachycera_ and _G. dumosa_ are known
respectively as box and dwarf huckleberry. The name _Gaylussacia_
commemorates the famous French chemist Gay-Lussac.
HUCKNALL TORKARD, a town in the Rushcliffe parliamentary division of
Nottinghamshire, England; 132 m. N.N.W. from London by the Great Central
railway, served also by the Great Northern and Midland railways. Pop.
(1901) 15,250. The church of St Mary Magdalene contains the tomb of Lord
Byron. There are extensive collieries in the vicinity, and the town has
tobacco and hosiery works. Small traces are found of Beauvale Abbey, a
Carthusian foundation of the 14th century, in the hilly, wooded district
W. of Hucknall; and 3 m. N. is Newstead Abbey, in a beautiful situation
on the border of Sherwood Forest. This Augustinian foundation owed its
origin to Henry II. It came into the hands of the Byron family in 1540,
and the poet Byron resided in it at various times until 1818. There
remain the Early English west front of the church, a Perpendicular
cloister and the chapter-house; while in the mansion, wholly restored
since Byron's time, and in the demesne, many relics of the poet are
preserved. To the S. of Hucknall are traces of Gresley Castle, of the
14th century.
HUCKSTER, a dealer or retailer of goods in a small way. The word, in
various forms, is common to many Teutonic languages. In Early English it
is found as _howkester_, _hokester_, _huxter_; in early modern Dutch as
_heuker_, and Medieval Low German as _hoker_; but the ultimate origin is
unknown. Huckster apparently belongs to that series of words formed from
a verb,--as brew, brewer; but the noun "huckster" is found in use before
the verb to huck. Hawker and pedlar are nearly synonymous in meaning,
but "huckster" may include a person in a small way of trade in a settled
habitation, while a hawker or pedlar invariably travels from place to
place offering his wares. In a contemptuous sense, huckster is used of
any one who barters, or makes gain or profit in underhand or mean ways,
or who over-reaches another, to get advantage for himself.
HUDDERSFIELD, a municipal, county and parliamentary borough in the West
Riding of Yorkshire, England, 190 m. N.N.W. from London. Pop. (1901)
95,047. It is served by the Lancashire & Yorkshire and London & North
Western railways, and has connexion with all the important railway
systems of the West Riding, and with the extensive canal system of
Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is well situated on a slope above the river
Colne, a tributary of the Calder. It is built principally of stone, and
contains several handsome streets with numerous great warehouses and
business premises, many of which are of high architectural merit. Of the
numerous churches and chapels all are modern, and some of considerable
beauty. The parish church of St Peter, however, though rebuilt in 1837,
occupies a site which is believed to have carried a church since the
11th century. The town hall (1880) and the corporation offices (1877)
are handsome classic buildings; the Ramsden Estate buildings are a very
fine block of the mixed Italian order. The market hall (1880) surmounted
by a clock-tower is in geometrical Decorated style. The cloth-hall dates
from 1784, when it was erected as a clothiers' emporium. It is no longer
used for any such purpose, but serves as an exchange news-room. The
Armoury, erected as a riding-school, was the headquarters of a volunteer
corps, and is also used for concerts and public meetings. The chief
educational establishments are the Huddersfield College (1838), a
higher-grade school, the technical school and several grammar-schools,
of which Longwood school was founded in 1731. The Literary and
Scientific Society possesses a museum. Of the numerous charitable
institutions, the Infirmary, erected in 1831, is housed in a building of
the Doric order. The chief open spaces are Greenhead and Beaumont parks,
the last named presented to the town by Mr H. F. Beaumont in 1880. There
is a sulphurous spa in the district of Lockwood.
Huddersfield is the principal seat of the fancy woollen trade in
England, and fancy goods in silk and cotton are also produced in great
variety. Plain cloth and worsteds are also manufactured. There are silk
and cotton spinning-mills, iron foundries and engineering works. Coal is
abundant in the vicinity. The parliamentary borough returns one member.
The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a
mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 11,859 acres.
Huddersfield (_Oderesfelte_) only rose to importance after the
introduction of the woollen trade in the 17th century. After the
Conquest William I. granted the manor to Ilbert de Laci, of whom the
Saxon tenant Godwin was holding as underlord at the time of the Domesday
Survey. In Saxon times it had been worth l00s., but after being laid
waste by the Normans was still of no value in 1086. From the Lacys the
manor passed to Thomas Plantagenet, duke of Lancaster, through his
marriage with Alice de Lacy, and so came to the crown on the accession
of Henry IV. In 1599 Queen Elizabeth sold it to William Ramsden, whose
descendants still own it. Charles II. in 1670 granted to John Ramsden a
market in Huddersfield every Wednesday with the toll and other profits
belonging. By the beginning of the 18th century Huddersfield had become
a "considerable town," chiefly owing to the manufacture of woollen
kersies, and towards the end of the same century the trade was increased
by two events--the opening of navigation on the Calder in 1780, and in
1784 that of the cloth-hall or piece-hall, built and given to the town
by Sir John Ramsden, baronet. Since 1832 the burgesses have returned
members to parliament. The town possesses no charter before 1868, when
it was created a municipal borough.
HUDSON, GEORGE (1800-1871), English railway financier, known as the
"railway king," was born in York in March 1800. Apprenticed to a firm of
linendrapers in that city, he soon became a successful merchant, and in
1837 was elected lord mayor of York. Having inherited, in 1827, a sum of
£30,000, he invested it in North Midland Railway shares, and was shortly
afterwards appointed a director. In 1833 he had founded and for some
time acted as manager of the York Banking Company. He had for long been
impressed with the necessity of getting the railway to York, and he took
an active part in securing the passing of the York and North Midland
Bill, and was elected chairman of the new company--the line being opened
in 1839. From this time he turned his undivided attention to the
projection of railways. In 1841 he initiated the Newcastle and
Darlington line. With George Stephenson he planned and carried out the
extension of the Midland to Newcastle, and by 1844 had over a thousand
miles of railway under his control. In this year the mania for railway
speculation was at its height, and no man was more courted than the
"railway king." All classes delighted to honour him, and, as if a
colossal fortune were an insufficient reward for his public services,
the richest men in England presented him with a tribute of £20,000.
Deputy-lieutenant for Durham, and thrice lord mayor of York, he was
returned in the Conservative interest for Sunderland in 1845, the event
being judged of such public interest that the news was conveyed to
London by a special train, which travelled part of the way at the rate
of 75 m. an hour. Full of rewards and honours, he was suddenly ruined by
the disclosure of the Eastern Railway frauds. Sunderland clung to her
generous representative till 1859, but on the bursting of the bubble he
had lost influence and fortune at a single stroke. His later life was
chiefly spent on the continent, where he benefited little by a display
of unabated energy and enterprise. Some friends gave him a small annuity
a short time before his death, which took place in London, on the 14th
of December 1871. His name has long been used to point the moral of
vaulting ambition and unstable fortune. The "big swollen gambler," as
Carlyle calls him in one of the _Latter-Day Pamphlets_, was savagely and
excessively reprobated by the world which had blindly believed in his
golden prophecies. He certainly ruined scrip-holders, and disturbed the
great centres of industry; but he had an honest faith in his own
schemes, and, while he beggared himself in their promotion, he succeeded
in overcoming the powerful landed interest which delayed the adoption of
railways in England long after the date of their regular introduction
into America.
HUDSON, HENRY, English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his
personal history excepting such as falls within the period of the four
voyages on which his fame rests. The first of these voyages in quest of
new trade and a short route to China by way of the North Pole, in
accordance with the suggestion of Robert Thorne (d. 1527), was made for
the Muscovy Company with ten men and a boy in 1607. Hudson first coasted
the east side of Greenland, and being prevented from proceeding
northwards by the great ice barrier which stretches thence to
Spitzbergen sailed along it until he reached "Newland," as Spitzbergen
was then called, and followed its northern coast to beyond 80° N. lat.
On the homeward voyage he accidentally discovered an island in lat. 71°
which he named Hudson's Touches, and which has since been identified
with Jan Mayen Island. Molineux's chart, published by Hakluyt about
1600, was Hudson's blind guide in this voyage, and the polar map of 1611
by Pontanus illustrates well what he attempted, and the valuable results
both negative and positive which he reached. He investigated the trade
prospects at Bear Island, and recommended his patrons to seek higher
game in Newland; hence he may be called the father of the English
whale-fisheries at Spitzbergen.
Next year Hudson was again sent by the Muscovy Company to open a passage
to China, this time by the north-east route between Spitzbergen and
Novaya Zemlya, which had been attempted by his predecessors and
especially by the Dutch navigator William Barents. This voyage lasted
from the 22nd of April to the 26th of August 1608. He raked the Barents
Sea in vain between 75° 30´ N.W. and 71° 15´ S.E. for an opening through
the ice, and on the 6th of July, "voide of hope of a north-east passage
(except by the Waygats, for which I was not fitted to trie or prove),"
he resolved to sail to the north-west, and if time and means permitted
to run a hundred leagues up Lumley's Inlet (Frobisher Strait) or Davis's
"overfall" (Hudson Strait). But his voyage being delayed by contrary
winds he was finally compelled to return without accomplishing his wish.
The failure of this second attempt satisfied the Muscovy Company, which
thenceforward directed all its energies to the profitable Spitzbergen
trade.
Towards the end of 1608 Hudson "had a call" to Amsterdam, where he saw
the celebrated cosmographer the Rev. Peter Plancius and the cartographer
Hondius, and after some delay, due to the rivalry which was exhibited in
the attempt to secure his services, he undertook for the Dutch East
India Company his important third voyage to find a passage to China
either by the north-east or north-west route. With a mixed crew of
eighteen or twenty men he left the Texel in the "Half-Moon" on the 6th
of April, and by the 5th of May was in the Barents Sea, and soon
afterwards among the ice near Novaya Zemlya, where he had been the year
before. Some of his men becoming disheartened and mutinous (it is now
supposed that he had arrived two or three months too early), he lost
hope of effecting anything by that route, and submitted to his men, as
alternative proposals, either to go to Lumley's Inlet and follow up
Waymouth's light, or to make for North Virginia and seek the passage in
about 40° lat., according to the letter and map sent him by his friend
Captain John Smith. The latter plan was adopted, and on the 14th of May
Hudson set his face towards the Chesapeake and China. He touched at
Stromo in the Faroe Islands for water, and on the 15th of June off
Newfoundland the "Half-Moon" "spent overboard her foremast." This
accident compelled him to put into the Kennebec river, where a mast was
procured, and some communication and an unnecessary encounter with the
Indians took place. Sailing again on the 26th of July, he began on the
28th of August the survey where Smith left off, at 37° 36´ according to
his map, and coasted northwards. On the 3rd of September, in 40° 30´, he
entered the fine bay of New York, and after having gone 150 m. up the
river which now bears his name to near the position of the present
Albany, treating with the Indians, surveying the country, and trying the
stream above tide-water, he became satisfied that this course did not
lead to the South Sea or China, a conclusion in harmony with that of
Champlain, who the same summer had been making his way south through
Lake Champlain and Lake St Sacrement (now Lake George). The two
explorers by opposite routes approached within 20 leagues of each other.
On the 4th of October the "Half-Moon" weighed for the Texel, and on the
7th of November arrived at Dartmouth, where she was seized and detained
by the English government, Hudson and the other Englishmen of the ship
being commanded not to leave England, but rather to serve their own
country. The voyage had fallen short of Hudson's expectations, but it
served many purposes perhaps as important to the world. Among other
results it exploded Hakluyt's myth, which from the publication of Lok's
map in 1582 to the 2nd charter of Virginia in May 1609 he had lost no
opportunity of promulgating, that near 40° lat. there was a narrow
isthmus, formed by the sea of Verrazano, like that of Tehuantepec or
Panama.
Hudson's confidence in the existence of a North-West Passage had not
been diminished by his three failures, and a new company was formed to
support him in a fourth attempt, the principal promoters being Sir
Thomas Smith (or Smythe), Sir Dudley Digges and John (afterwards Sir
John) Wolstenholme. He determined this time to carry out his old plan of
searching for a passage up Davis's "overfall"--so-called in allusion to
the overfall of the tide which Davis had observed rushing through the
strait. Hudson sailed from London in the little ship "Discovery" of 55
tons, on the 17th of April 1610, and entered the strait which now bears
his name about the middle of June. Sailing steadily westward he entered
Hudson Bay on the 3rd of August, and passing southward spent the next
three months examining the eastern shore of the bay. On the 1st of
November the "Discovery" went into winter quarters in the S.W. corner of
James Bay, being frozen in a few days later, and during the long winter
months which were passed there only a scanty supply of game was secured
to eke out the ship's provisions. Discontent became rife, and on the
ship breaking out of the ice in the spring Hudson had a violent quarrel
with a dissolute young fellow named Henry Greene, whom he had befriended
by taking him on board, and who now retaliated by inciting the
discontented part of the crew to put Hudson and eight others (including
the sick men) out of the ship. This happened on the 22nd of June 1611.
Robert Bylot was elected master and brought the ship back to England.
During the voyage home Greene and several others were killed in a fight
with the Eskimo, while others again died of starvation, and the feeble
remnant which reached England in September were thrown into prison. No
more tidings were ever received of the deserted men.
Although it is certain that the four great geographical landmarks which
to-day serve to keep Hudson's memory alive, namely the Hudson Bay,
Strait, Territory and River, had repeatedly been visited and even drawn
on maps and charts before he set out on his voyages, yet he deserves to
take a very high rank among northern navigators for the mere extent of
his discoveries and the success with which he pushed them beyond the
limits of his predecessors. The rich fisheries of Spitzbergen and the
fur industry of the Hudson Bay Territory were the immediate fruit of his
labours.
See _Henry Hudson, the Navigator_ (Hakluyt Society, 1860); and T. A.
Janvier, _Henry Hudson_ (1909). In 1909 a great celebration of the
tercentenary was held in the United States.
HUDSON, JOHN (1662-1719), English classical scholar, was born at Wythop
in Cumberland. He was educated at Oxford, where the remainder of his
life was spent. In 1701 he was appointed Bodley's librarian, and in 1711
principal of St Mary's Hall. His political views stood in the way of his
preferment in the church and university. He died on the 26th of November
1719. As an editor and commentator he enjoyed a high reputation both at
home and abroad. His works, chiefly editions of classical authors,
include the following: Velleius Paterculus (1693); Thucydides (1696);
_Geographiae Veteris Scriptores Graeci minores_ (1698-1712) containing
the works and fragments of 21 authors and the learned, though diffuse,
dissertations of H. Dodwell--a rare and valuable work, which in spite of
its faulty text was not superseded until the appearance of C. W.
Müller's edition in the Didot series: the editio princeps of Moeris, _De
Vocibus Atticis et Hellenicis_ (1712); Josephus (1720, published
posthumously by his friend Anthony Hall, the antiquary), a correct and
beautifully printed edition, with variorum notes and translation.
See Wood, _Athenae Oxonienses_, iv.; introduction to the edition of
Josephus; W. Hutchinson, _History of Cumberland_ (1794).
HUDSON, a city and the county-seat of Columbia county, New York, U.S.A.,
on the E. side of the Hudson river, about 114 m. N. of New York City and
about 28 m. S. of Albany. Pop. (1890) 9970; (1900) 9528, of whom 1155
were foreign-born; (1910 census) 11,417. It is served by the Boston &
Albany, the New York Central & Hudson River and the (electric) Albany &
Hudson railways, by river steamboats, and by a steam ferry to Athens and
Catskill across the river. The city is picturesquely situated on the
slope of Prospect Hill; and Promenade Park, on a bluff above the
steamboat landing, commands a fine view of the river and of the Catskill
Mountains. Among the public buildings and institutions are a fine city
hall, the Columbia County Court House, a public library, a Federal
building, a State Training School for Girls, a State Firemen's Home, an
Orphan Asylum, a Home for the Aged and a hospital. The city's
manufactures include hosiery and knit goods, Portland cement (one of the
largest manufactories of that product in the United States being here),
foundry and machine shop products, car wheels, ice tools and machinery,
ale, beer, bricks and tiles and furniture. The value of the factory
products in 1905 was $4,115,525, an increase of 58.1% over that in 1900.
The municipality owns and operates the water-works. Hudson, which was
originally known as Claverack Landing, was for many years merely a
landing with two rude wharfs and two small storehouses, to which farmers
in the neighbourhood brought their produce for shipment on the river.
Late in 1783 the place was settled by an association of merchants and
fishermen from Rhode Island, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. The
present name was adopted in 1784, and the city was chartered in 1785.
For many years Hudson had a considerable foreign commerce and whaling
interests, but these were practically destroyed by the war of 1812.
HUDSON BAY (less often, but more correctly, Hudson's Bay), an inland sea
in the N.E. of Canada, extending from 78° to 95° W. and from 51° to 70°
N. On the east it is connected with the Atlantic Ocean by Hudson Strait,
and on the north with the Arctic Ocean by Fox Channel and Fury and Hecla
Strait. Its southern extremity between 55° and 51° N. is known as James
Bay. It is 590 m. in width, and 1300 from S. to N., including James Bay
(350 m.) and Fox Channel (350 m.). The customary use of the term
includes James Bay, but not Fox Channel. The average depth of water is
about 70 fathoms, deepening at the entrance of Hudson Strait to 100
fathoms. James Bay is much shallower, and unfit for shipping save for a
central channel leading to the mouth of the Moose river. The centre and
west of the main bay are absolutely free from shoals, rocks or islands,
but down its east coast extend two lines of small islands, one close to
shore, the other at 70 to 100 m. distance, and comprising a number of
scattered groups (the Ottawa Islands, the Sleepers, the Belchers, &c.).
Into Hudson and James Bays flow numerous important rivers, so much so
that the water of the latter is rather brackish than salt. Beginning at
the north-west, the chief of these are Churchill, Nelson (draining Lake
Winnipeg, and the numerous inland rivers of which it is the basin),
Hayes (the old boat route of the _voyageurs_ to Winnipeg), Severn,
Albany, Moose, Rupert river (draining Lake Mistassini), Nottaway, East
Main, Great Whale and Little Whale.
Save for some high bluffs on the east and north-east, the shores of the
bay are low. Around much of James Bay extend marshes and swampy ground.
Geologically the greater part of the Hudson Bay district belongs to the
Laurentian system, though there are numerous outcrops of later
formation; Cambro-Silurian on the south and west, and to the north of
Cape Jones (the north-eastern extremity of James Bay) a narrow belt of
Cambrian rocks, of which the islands are composed. Coal, plumbago, iron
and other minerals have been found in various districts near the coast.
The climate is harsh, though vegetables and certain root crops ripen in
the open air as far north as Fort Churchill; cattle flourish, and are
fed chiefly on the native grasses; spruce, balsam and poplar grow to a
fair size as far as the northern limit of James Bay. Caribou, musk ox
and other animals are still found in large numbers, and there is an
abundance of feathered game--ducks, geese, loons and ptarmigan; hunting
and fishing form the chief occupations of the Indians and Eskimo who
live in scattered bands near the shore. The bay abounds with fish, of
which the chief are cod, salmon, porpoise and whales. The last have long
been pursued by American whalers, whose destructive methods have so
greatly depleted the supply that the government of Canada is anxious to
declare the bay a _mare clausum_.
Hudson Strait is about 450 m. long with an average breadth of 100 m.,
narrowing at one point to 45. Its shores are high and bold, rarely less
in height than 1000 ft., save on the coast of Ungava Bay, a deep
indentation on the south-east. No islands or rocks impede navigation.
Its depth is from 100 to 200 fathoms. Owing to the violence of the
tides, which rise to a height of 35 ft., it never absolutely freezes
over.
After three centuries of exploration, the navigability of Hudson Bay
and Strait remains a vexed question. To Canada it is one of great
commercial interest, and numerous expeditions have been made and
reports issued by the Geological Survey. From Winnipeg to Liverpool
via Churchill is over 500 m. less than via Montreal, and from Edmonton
to Liverpool almost 1000 m. less. Were navigation open for a
sufficient time, such a route for the grain of the Canadian and
American west would be of enormous advantage. But the inlet from the
Arctic sends down masses of heavy ice, which drift about in the bay
and the strait. Past the mouth of the strait flows a stream often over
100 m. wide, of berg and floe ice, carried by the Arctic current.
Owing to the proximity of the Magnetic Pole (in Boothia) the compass
often refuses to work. For sailing ships, such as the Hudson's Bay
Company has long employed, the season for safe navigation is from the
15th of July to the 1st of October. In over 200 years very few serious
accidents have occurred to the company's ships within these limits. It
is claimed that specially built and protected steamers would be safe
from the 15th of June till the 1st of November, and the problem may be
solved by ice-breaking vessels of great power. The only good harbour
available is Fort Churchill, at the mouth of the Churchill river,
which is large and easy of access. Moose Factory (at the foot of James
Bay) and York Factory (at the mouth of the Nelson) are mere
roadsteads. Marble Island, south of Chesterfield Inlet, where the
whalers winter, is too far north for regular shipping.
The Cabots entered the strait in 1498, and during the next century a
series of Elizabethan mariners; but the bay was not explored until
1610, when Henry Hudson pushed through the ice and explored to the
southern limit of James Bay.
See Lieutenant Gordon, R.N., _Reports on the Hudson's Bay Expeditions_
(1884, 5, 6); William Ogilvie, _Exploratory Survey to Hudson's Bay in
1890_ (Ottawa, 1891); R. F. Stupart, _The Navigation of Hudson's Bay
and Straits_ (Toronto, 1904).
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 - "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay"" ***
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