FROM THE OLD BOOK

Yes, I think it's horses too!!

 

:WINK1: oh my gosh I had one of those too Zig.. In fact I still have somewhere.. I will have a look tomorrow... :D

 

Aww good grief Zig... You little heat breaker you..... Ah well you obviously made an old lady very happy with it in her twilight years my friend..... Good for you.. I shall have a look for my old ring later today....

 

it's amazing what roads this Thread is taking us all on!! We're still learn everyday. Ziggy, what did your mother tell you about going out with older women?!

 

RE: FROM THE OLD BOOK [3]

While browsing through the old books I came upon the extract below. Normally, because the text from the books are a bit "dry" and lengthy I have to reduce it by picking the interesting, and sometimes controversial, parts while quoting it word for word otherwise the thinking and reality of 90 -100 years ago would be lost. But this extract I have to give it in it's entirety. It's fairly lengthy but read all of it because it will either make you grin or it will make your blood boil! Like I've said before remember the person writing this lived back in the very early 1900's so picture yourself back on cobbled streets with gas lamps and then read on.

"GARDEN ROBBERS.


Of the enemies the gardener has to fear, none are great than Garden Robbers. These are not usually grown men and women, but young scamps or juveniles of both sexes, who rob gardens more for the sport of the game than for the produce they get. We consider it is of little use to praise the existing treatment of such scamps. English Law treats them badly and often makes them worse instead of better. We may say that we consider girls as bad as boys in robbing gardens, especially the "tomboy", who is, alas! so common in modern times. The old way is to catch your robbers first and then summon them at the Local Police Court. They may be sentenced to goal. or to a reformatory, for the paltry offence of stealing a few apples, pears, cabbages, or peas. In either case they come out worse than when they went in; they have been in most cases hardened instead of mortified and are determined to "get their own back somehow" They have learnt all manner of tricks during their confinement through contact with persons worse than themselves, and when they get out again they very often do something far worse than the stealing of apples.

The method below would, if adopted, be much simpler, more effective, and better in every way. It is well known that most young person of modern times hold a respectful dread of corporal punishment, and advantage of this should be taken. The birch for the boys and the cane for the girls would, if properly used, soon stop them robbing gardens. The young scamps know they have only got what they deserved. They are not taught worse mischief as in the case when they are sent to prison or reformatories, and they soon learn to realise that stealing will not do. A gentleman, for whom we have the highest respect for, told us when we were chatting the other day, about garden robbers and of his method of dealing with them. When first he went to live at a new house in the country he was continually losing his apples, and when it came to a valuable new tree being stripped of fruit he determined that this sort of thing must stop. He knew that the thieves were a group of rough young people in the village. The following night he had a dish of apples brought into the library, and he determined that he would sit up. His two gardeners lay concealed in the garden near the orchard, and about ten o'clock some of the young scamps appeared . Two of them - a boy and a girl - got into a tree and started pitching apples down to the others. The gardeners came upon them unawares, the rest of the robbers escaped, but the two in the tree were caught and marched up into the library. Our friend was waiting for them, and when the gardeners had withdrawn from the room, he turned to the boy, "Young man", he said, "you have been stealing my apples. Don't you know it's wrong to steal, eh?" "Well", he continued," you must learn your lesson this once. Get over that chair!" Our friend gave the young scamp a dozen biting strokes with his can. Then he turned to the girl. ^Now, young lady" he said, "if you think that because you are a girl, I shall let you go without feeling this, you are mistaken. Get over that chair at once!" "Yes" he told us, "I was bold enough to give her six cuts of my cane, and she never murmured a sound. After I had caned both of them", he continued, "I sat them down by the table and handed them the apples, At first they would not touch them, but at length I managed to induce them to eat two each. After they had finished I told them that when they wanted some apples they were to come and ask me for some,and then I let them go. I have never lost an apple since, That's the way to treat them," he concluded, smiling, - "no prison or legal proceedings, simply a homely but effective way", and we certainly agree with him"


What do you think? There's a few "modern" thoughts there that are kicking around today that aren't so modern!!

 

Here's some more extracts from Gardening books published 90-100 years ago. Don't forget taken your clogs off and turn up the gas lamp before you read and get idea an of what an Allotment Holder did and used to grow his crops just after the Great War.

ALLOTMENTS


"Almost every amateur gardener in the country [except in the congested districts] through the activities of the National Union of Allotment Holders and the legislation which they have been able to get through Parliament, to obtain an allotment sufficient for the cultivation of vegetables for an average family.The size of the plot usually cultivated by the spare-time gardener is 10 Rods and a great deal of research work has been done by the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture in order to discover the best method of cropping a piece of land of this size to obtain a supply of vegetables all year round.
In many case during the war, exceedingly rough building land was taken over by amateurs sometimes with rubbish, bricks, old timber, etc strewn over it to a depth of 3-4 feet."

We take the use of Allotments for granted these days, not really aware of the struggle people in those days had to get the right to have an Allotment. I take my hat to them, having to fight the Establishment, the Class culture in order to get land to grow food for their families. I know we try to get the most and best crops out of the Allotments today but we're not under the pressure of having to grow food or starve!

Here's some tables they used 100 years ago in gardening:
"
A cubic foot of water weighs 1000 ozs
A cubic yard of water weighs 3/4 ton
A pint of pure water weighs 1 and 1/4lbs
A gallon of water weighs 10lbs
A gallon of water occupies 277 cub ins
About 6 and 1/4 gallons occupy 1 cub ft

12" = 1ft
144 sq inches = 1 sq foot
1728 cubic inches = 1 cubic ft
5 and 1/2 yards = 1 pole
30 and 1/4 sq yards = 1 sq pole
22 yards = 1 chain [the length of a cricket pitch]
10 sq chains = 1 acre
4840 sq yards = 1 acre
8 pints = 1 gallon
8 gallons = 1 bushel
2240lbs = 1 ton
Standard brick = 9"x 4 and 1/2"x 3" "

If you take into account that back then education wasn't that good then you might be surprised to know that the Gardening book I have taken the above from goes on for 6 more pages using table for trigonometry, fractions percentages, and working out the cubic capacity of tanks etc. They knew what they were doing!!

Here's a list of Acids in general use on an allotment and in gardens in the 18th and early 19th cnetury. Mind your fingers:
2
Carbolic Acid [C6H80H] - used as a soil fumigant
Carbonic Acid [H2CO3] - breaks down clay
Citric Acid [C6H8O7+ H2O] - used in test for phosphate presence.
Hydrochloric Acid [HC1] - testing for lime, it is also called Spirit of Salts
Hydrocyanic Acid [HCN] - used for fumigating. Extremely dangerous - also known as Prussic Acid
Hydroflouric Acid [HF] - Used for cleaning glass. Very dangerous and stored in rubber bottles
Hydroflour-silic Acid - used for cleaning glass. Dangerous but less active than Hydroflouric Acid
Nitric Acid - used for dissolving bones. Very powerful and dangerous. Also known as Aqua Fortis
Nitro-phosphoric - if neutralised with carbonate of potash makes a powerful plant food
Phosphoric Acid - forms part of superphosphate as a plant food
Suphuric Acid [H2SO4] -used as a weed killer, dissolving bones, Mixed with fine ashes and pumice will clean glass. Great heat is generated when water is in contact with this acid and the gardener must take care to stand right to the windward when using a hose to wash off the acid. Also know as Oil of Vitriol.
Suphurous Acid [H2SO3] - produced by burning sulphur in a very damp atmosphere. Also known as Sulphur Dioxide."

No wonder the life span of the estate gardeners wasn't a long one after breathing in all those fumes.

 

yes and another name we gave the half crown was half a dollar because there were at least $4 US to our GBP

At least no one has mentioned Groats or have they




Yep! In post 16

 

YES, Ziggy, mentioned them. I thought they were some kind of grazing animal.

 

What was a Dutchman doing in Scotland ferrying people to Orkney? Had he got lost?