October 17.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
29 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
D D 
OCTOBER 1/—23, 1850. 
Weather 
Barometer. 
NEAR LO 
Thermo. 
NDON 
Wind. 
n 1849. 
Rain in In. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of j 
Year. | 
17 Th 
Etheldreda. Dogwood red. 
29.955—29.888 
66—52 
s. 
0.02 
29 a. 6 
2 a. 5 
1 56 
12 
14 
31 
290 
18 P 
St. Luke. Lime stript. 
30.164—30.130 
67—44 
s. 
— 
31 
0 
3 2 
13 
14 
43 
291 
19S 
Elder leaves fall. 
30.060—29 944 
69-46 
s. 
— 
32 
IV 
4 9 
14 
14 
54 
292 
20 Sun 
21 Sunday after Trinity. 
29-903—29.854 
65—48 
w. 
0.12 
34 
56 
5 18 
15 
15 
5 
293 
21 M 
Sun’s dedin. 10° 41' a. Walnut stript. 
29.934—29.769 
57—33 
w. 
0.08 
36 
54 
rises. 
© 
15 
14 
294 
22 Tu 
Privet berries ripe. 
30.071—'30.053 
59—51 
s.w. 
— 
38 
52 
6 a. 5 
17 
15 
24 
205 
23 W 
Golden Plover comes. 
30.124—30.058 
63—50 
s.w. 
— . 
39 
50 
6 37 
19 
15 
32 
295 1 
On the 25th of October, 1822, died James Sowerby, at his residence 
near the Asylum, Lambeth, in the sixty-sixth year of his age—a man 
whose memory will survive as long as taste and science delight in English 
j Botany. Mr. Sowerby was, in his early years, a teacher of drawing and 
a portrait painter. In the first of these employments he was required 
especially to instruct in the graceful and difficult accomplishment of 
j flower painting, and his skill in this soon attracted the notice of con tern - 
1 porary botanists. Mr. Sowerby’s practice as a miniature painter aided 
| him to attain excellence in delineating the portraits of plants, for success 
| in both depends equally upon delicacy of touch and a happy appreciation of 
j minute characteristics. Sir James Edward Smith, the President of the 
Linnjean Society, employed him to illustrate some of his works, and this 
confirmed Mr. Sowerby’s resolution to enter upon that department of 
art for the illustration of science in which he subsequently became so 
eminent. His first work on the subject was published in 1789, entitled, | 
A Botanical Drawing Book, or an easy introduction to drawing flowers ! 
according to Nature, a volume which we strongly recommend to all our i 
readers who have a propensity to flower painting; for we can assure them j 
that one of the greatest trials the politeness of a man of science has 
to endure, is the inspection of pictures which certainly are not infractions 
of the second commandment—being like nothing on this earth, nor in 
the waters under the earth. To pourtray the petals, leaves and stems of a 
plant, is to please the eye only ; but to copy also correctly the parts j 
essential to be known in arranging it scientifically adds to its beauty, and 
is to render the same picture more valuable, because useful as a botanical | 
illustration. In 1/91 Mr. Sowerby published The Florist's Delight , being 
portraits of flowers, with botanical descriptions; this, however, did not 
meet with encouragement; and in 1797 he commenced publishing in 
parts, and in 1803 completed in three volumes folio, his Figures of 
English Fungi, or Mushrooms, accompanied by botanical descriptions. 
During this time, and throughout the remainder of his life, he was 
employed very extensively by other authors to furnish drawings to illus¬ 
trate their works, and we may remark that his graphic skill was employed 
upon minerals as well as upon plants. His great work, however, is 
English Botany, which extended to thirty-six volumes, containing 2592 
coloured figures of native plants, the descriptions of which are from the pen 
of Sir. J. E. Smith, and which is far superior to any other work hitherto 
published illustrative of the British Flora. It has been well observed 
of periodical works like this, that they serve as immediate and imperish¬ 
able records of species which never afterwards lose a place in systems of 
natural history, while they remain as standards of reference, and lighten 
the work for future labourers. We believe that many a tolerable botanist 
and still more collectors have been made by these works. We so think 
because we know that many a mind delighting in knowledge is rendered 
ardent in the attempt to gather together illustrations of nature, when 
they have the ready means of acquiring their name, history and properties. 
It is not much above fifty years, says the author we have alluded to, 
since a work of this kind appeared among us; and the diffusion of a taste 
for the study of nature has, to our certain knowledge, at least kept pace 
with that appearance. Formerly, the rarest plant bloomed for its master 
alone, but now no sooner does a blossom expand than its portrait is dis¬ 
tributed not only over this country, but in a short period reaches the 
abode of every botanist and cultivator of choice plants. The reference 
to a drawing enables the inhabitant of Petersburgh and New York to 
acquire the plant he requires from a nurseryman in London, while for¬ 
merly a name without an illustration had long proved a source of 
confusion and imposition. If we refer back even only to the early volumes 
of the Botanical Magazine , and compare their portraits of plants with 
those now published in the Gardeners' Magazine of Botany —one of the j 
most beautifully illustrated periodicals ever published—we shall thence j 
learn to appreciate the progress made in this department of the fine 
arts—a progress mainly promoted by Mr. Sowerby. The lesson he taught 
had an influence not confined to Europe ; and the remembrance of the 
pleasing impression still survives which was made upon us when we wit¬ 
nessed the native artists copying flowers for Dr. Wallicli at the Botanical 
Garden of Calcutta. The vividness of their colouring, and their minute 
accuracy, were lessons which might be regarded advantageously by all 
flower painters. 
The even tenour of the days of a man devoted to science and the fine 
arts rarely offers salient points for the biographer, and Mr. Sowerby was ! 
notone of the rare exceptions. He was a Fellow of the Linnsean and 
Geological Societies; collected a museum rich in specimens connected 
with their pursuits, and was worthily liberal in throwing open its door to 
the student. Men like him rarely die wealthy ; but, whether he was an 
exception or not, we hope that his family will find an extensive sale for 
! the English Botany, which they are reissuing at a price much below that 
at which it was originally published. 
Meteorology of tiie Week. —From observations made at Chiswick 
during the last twenty-three years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 58.3° and 41.2°, respectively. The greatest 
heat, 72 °, occurred in several years ; and greatest cold, 20°, on the 21st 
in 1842. On 81 days rain fell, and 80 days were fine. 
Insects. —A correspondent on the coast of Hampshire having com- I 
plained that “ all through the summer the buds and branches of his out¬ 
door grapes have been disfigured by a caterpillar and its web,” we applied , 
for specimens, but having failed in obtaining them, we now publish a 
description from Kollar of the Cochylis or Tortrug vitisana, or Vine Tor- 
trix, in the hope that if this is the insect some of our readers may recognise 
it, and send us specimens of the infected vine shoots, and the caterpillars, 
for w r e are not aware of its having been noticed in England, though it 
often does much injury to the vines in Germany and France. 
4, Male Moth ; 4 a, Female ; 4 b , Caterpillar; 4 c , Eggs ; 4 d and 4 e , 
Chrysalis. 
If the vines in gardens are examined in April and May, this moth will 
be seen sitting on the branches ; it is most readily observed if the branch 
is beaten with a stick, when the insect flies out, and soon settles on it 
again. The female at that season lays her eggs singly on the twigs or 
buds of the vine, from which the young are hatched at the time when the 
blossom-buds are unfolded. These caterpillars fasten several blossom- 
buds together by means of whitish threads, and eat off the inner parts of 
the blossoms. When they have finished one part of the bunch of blos¬ 
soms they proceed to another part, and do the same till the whole bunch 
is as if covered by a spider’s web. The longer the blossom-buds remain 
small, the greater number of them will be required for the food of the 
caterpillar; therefore, the devastations of this insect will be most felt in 
cold wet springs. Instances have occurred of trellises, though rich in 
blossom, not having produced a single ripe bunch of grapes, all having 
fallen a prey to these caterpillars. 
When fully grown, the little caterpillar measures three or four lines, is 
dirty green, and beset with whitish minute warts, from which arise stiff 
hairs ; the head and first segment of the body are yellowish brown, the 
six fore-feet blackish, and the others the same colour as the body. They 
enter the pupa state towards the end of June, and appear as moths twelve 
days afterwards. Pupation takes place either in the cocoon or in a curled 
up leaf. The pupa is brown, with rough points. 
The moth is three or four lines long, and, with the w'ings extended, six 
lines broad. The head is yellowish brown ; the antennas, which arc half 
as long as the whole insect, are black and annulatcd. The upper wings 
appear marbled with rust-colour and blueisli grey, having two incomplete 
cross bands of the latter colour, or whitish, in the middle of the first of 
which, towards the centre, is a dark rusty dot. The second band has several 
dots and streaks of the same colour, placed irregularly; and a confused 
whitish mark which springs from four pair of little hooks, on the anterior 
edge; the space between the innermost pair is very dark. The under 
wings are white, with brownish veins and snow-white fringes. 
The caterpillars of the second generation of this moth appear towards 
the end of August and beginning of September, from the eggs of the 
first. These are also found on the bunches of grapes, but they do less 
damage, as the berries are then of considerable size. The caterpillar 
penetrates into them, and feeds on their unripe pulp. When a berry is 
so much consumed that it begins to wither, its caterpillar spins a round, 
hollow passage, which forms a bridge for its passage into another grape. 
Four or five grapes are sufficient, in general, for the nourishment of one 
caterpillar ; but in rainy weather the mischief extends to a greater 
number, because those the caterpillars have begun to devour soon rot, 
and the infection spreads to those near. The fully grown caterpillar then 
leaves the bunch of grapes, to undergo pupation either at the root of the 
vine or in some other suitable place. The pupae of the second generation 
remain in this state throughout the winter, and it is not till April of the 
next year that the moths are developed from them. 
No. CYII-, Vol. V. 
