April 7, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



253 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



. Day 



Day 



of 



of 



M'nth 



Week. 



7 



To 



8 



W 



9 



Th 



10 



F 



11 



S 



13 



SCN 



13 



11 



APRIL 7—13, 1S63. 



Easter Tcesdat. P. Leopold b. 



J.C. Loudon born, 17S3. G. [1S53. 



Crowberry flowers. 



Birch flowers. 



W. Kent died, 1743. G. 



1st, oa Low Sunday. 



Box flowers. 



"Weather near London in IS 



I 



30.182-20 093 

 30.229—30.091 

 30.047—29.929 

 SO.fOO— 29.904 

 30.166—30.077 

 30.248-30.13S 

 30. 139-29. S52 



Tbermom. 



Wind. 



Rain in 

 Inches. 



degrees. 







53-42 



N.E. 



.01 



48-38 



N.E. 



.69 



51—39 



N.E. 



.73 



56—39 



N.E. 



— . 



45-27 



N.E. 



— 



46-21 



N. 



— 



46-20 



N. 



— 



Sun 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 25af5 



Sun 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises 



and Sets 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 



before Day of 

 Sun. Year. 



m. h. 



m. h. 





40af6 



20 11 



19 



41 6 



morn. 



20 



43 6 



23 



21 



45 6 



14 1 



22 



46 6 



54 1 



€ 



43 6 



27 2 



24 



50 6 



54 2 



25 



15 

 58 

 41 

 24 

 8 

 52 

 36 



97 

 9S 

 99 



100 

 101 

 102 

 103 



Meteoroioot of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations daring the last thivty-six years, the average highest and lowest 

 temperatures of these davs are 55.7° and 35 3° respectively. The greatest heat, 79', occurred oa the 7th, in 1S59; and the lowest cold, 20 , 

 on the 10th, in 1S50. During the period 130 days were fine, and on 122 rain fell. 



HARDINESS OF SIKMM EHODODENDBONS. 



E, EOBSON, at 



page 224, has 

 referred to my 

 having found 

 two or three 

 species of Sik- 

 kirn Rhododen- 

 drons hardy. 

 It may interest 

 him, and per- 

 haps others, to 

 know that I 

 have found all 

 that I have had to do with, consisting of those sent 

 over by Dr. Hooker and distributed from Eew, perfectly 

 hardy, with the exception of Dalhousianum and Edg- 

 worthii. 



They have now been planted out in the open borders 

 for five years, and many of them have flowered ; but, 

 unfortunately, like all the first cross with the Nepaul 

 varieties, they flower too early to be of much use out of 

 doors, unless in very favourable seasons. 



At the time I am writing (March 30), I have ciliatum 

 in beautiful flower ; also a plant of Wallichii 5 feet high, 

 with a fine truss expanded, and others swelling fast. 

 This is pretty much in the way of the old campanulatum, 

 only the colour is deeper. Bobustnni is another in the 

 same way, but with larger leaves and more compact habit. 

 Thomsoni and fulgens both look very promising, but 

 have not flowered out of doors yet. Campylocarpum has 

 flowered the last three years. This has a compact truss, 

 individual flowers rather small, and the colour is a deli- 

 cate violet purple. Glaucum, which is figured in the 

 same Number, flowers very freely, and when in flower 

 is very pretty, but the plant is not always handsome. 

 Cinnabarinum and anthopogon have also flowered freely. 

 Madden's argenteum is a very compact-growing plant, 

 and when larger will have a very handsome appearance 

 without flowers. But the gem of all for foliage is Fal- 

 coneri, and it is as hardy as a laurel ; but unfortunately 

 the leaves are so large and heavy, that unless very much 

 sheltered they get broken by high winds. Barbatum, 

 also, has a very good foliage, and is a handsome-growing 

 plant. 



Some others which with me came up amongst the 

 fulgens, but are very different from it, are very pro- 

 mising in foliage and habit, but have not yet flowered. 

 The great fault of most of them is early flowering, and 

 early starting into growth, by which the points of the 

 leaves are sometimes nipped by the morning frosts, giving 

 them in the summer the appearance of being burnt; yet, 

 notwithstanding all drawbacks, they are an interesting 

 race of plants, and likely to find work for the hybridiser 

 for some years yet. 



I have not had much experience with the Bhotan 

 varieties ; but I have one plant now, said to be a Bhotan, 

 No. 106.— Voi. IV., New Semes. 



which has three beautiful, yellow-looking, smooth flower- 

 buds, with no sign of expansion yet. If it turn out we-11 

 I will let you know. — John Cox, Redleaf. 



FUMIGATING WITH TOBACCO. 



Gardening operations of many kinds call for a display 

 of tact as well as of skill. In fact, those two qualities 

 are closely allied, and to a certain extent are, or should 

 be, inseparable. What the skilful man does he does 

 well, but tact enables him to do it quickly, and often 

 with imperfect means. Thus he economises time and 

 material while doing everything at the right time and in 

 the right place. Much has been said about taking time 

 by the forelock and having everything done in advance, 

 so that one may be prepared for a season of pressure ; 

 but this is only one side of the question, and the man of 

 tact has no occasion to hurry at any particular season, 

 although he does not, to ordinary observation, keep in 

 advance of his work. 



In no particular is a display of tact more requisite than 

 in doing battle with the various pests which to the care- 

 less gardener are a source of trouble and anxiety, but 

 which the man who possesses tact takes as a matter of 

 course, for he knows how, when, and where to meet 

 them. The appearance of green fly, thrips, scale, mealy 

 bug, red spider, &c, on his plants, if they do appear, 

 gives him no anxiety, for he applies the remedy or 

 remedies, and it is done with ; but then comes the 

 question, What are the remedies? A dozen gardeners 

 will answer the question in as many different ways. 



In my school-boy days I remember almosfc_ every 

 boy in the school had a way of his own of forming the 

 figure S. One would commence below on the right hand, 

 another on the left ; one would begin at the top, another 

 would make a regular pothook of it, and some, again, 

 would make a horizontal dash to connect the points, and 

 so on. In this way gardeners differ in performing some 

 of the most simple operations for destroying green fly. 

 One says, Use nothing but the best tobacco, and apply it 

 by means of the bellows ; another says, Use the flower- 

 pot pierced with holes. One says tobacco paper is best.; 

 another, Try Neat's pastils ; and consequently Neal's 

 pastils are tried, probably with not sufficient strength, 

 and the fly is not killed, or the dose is too strong, and 

 the plants are killed as well as the fly. Advice of this 

 kind is often given and taken ; mishaps occur through 

 misunderstanding or misapplying the remedies, which 

 are set down as ineffectual, and are, with those who 

 recommend them and the vendors, mentally consigned 

 to the rubbish-heap, if a more unpleasant situation does 

 not happen to be before the mental vision of the dis- 

 appointed experimentalist. 



In the process of fumigating with tobacco or tobacco 

 paper — for, in my opinion, both are equally safe and 

 effective — I could never perceive the necessity of being 

 in the smoke myself, or of seeing others inside the 

 house with it, for apart from the fact of the operator being 

 No. 75S.— Vol. XXIX., Old Series. 



