April i. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
W 
D 
APRIL 1—7, 1852. 
Weather near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
1 
1 
Th 
Ash flowers. 
30.108 — 30.101 
55—38 N.E. 
_ 
36 a. 5 
32 a. 6 
4 m 34 
12 
3 51 
92 
2 
F 
Cambridge Term ends. 
30.085 — 30.021 
52—42 S.W. 
03 
34 
33 
5 5 
13 
3 33 
93 
1 3 
S 
Oxford Term ends. 
30.122 — 30.021 
57—38 N.W. 
08 
32 
35 
5 31 
14 
3 15 
94 
4 
Sun 
Palm Sunday. 
30.100 — 30.025 
53—26 N. 
— 
30 
36 
rises, 
© 
2 57 
95 
5 
M 
Wych Elm flowers. 
30.028 —29.971 
51—26 N.E. 
01 
28 
38 
8a 2 
16 
2 39 
9S 
6 
To 
Old Lady Day. 
30.066— 29 .991 
47— 21 N.E. 
— 
25 
40 
9 28 
17 
2 22 
97 
7 
W 
Black thorn riowers. 
30.055 — 30.002 
49—37 1 N.E. 
23 
41 
10 50 
18 
2 4 
98 
Meteorology of tub Week.— At Chiswick, from observations dunn, 
tures of these days are 56° and 36.4° respectively. The greatest heat, H 
in 1838. During the period 100 days were fine, and on 75 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
CROWFOOTS—RANUNCULACEAS. 
RANUNCULUS. 
( Continued, from page 1377, Vol. vii.) 
Ranunculus aquatilis : White Floating Crowfoot; Water 
Crowfoot. 
Dcsa-iption. —It is a water perennial. Boot fibrous. Stems 
several, long in proportion to the depth of the water, 
branched, clothed with alternate leaves, having broad mem¬ 
branous stipules at the bottom of each leaf-stalk. Leaves 
long-stalked, smooth, dark green; upper leaves floating on 
the surface, variously three or tive-lobed and notched, with 
leaf-stalk nearly in the centre; lower leaves under water, 
generally three-branched, and divided into numerous hair¬ 
like segments. Sometimes all the leaves are of this form, 
: none of them rising to the surface. This usually occurs in 
: rapid streams, and the leaves and their stalks then become 
much lengthened. Flowers on stalks arising from the same 
sheath with the leaves, and opposite to them. Petals white, 
with a yellow spot at the bottom. Nectary a short open 
tube. 
Variety 2. Large flowered. None of the leaves hair¬ 
like ; flowers very large. 
One of the most gratifying ancl animating of spectacles 
is a man religiously and patiently winning his way from 
obscurity and poverty to independence and distinction, 
with no other aids than his own acquirements, his own 
exertions, and the blessing of God, on whom he relies. 
Such a man is exhibited to us in the Forsyth MSS. in 
the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera- 
’, occurred on the 3rd in 1848; and the lowest cold, i6° on the 1st 
Variety 3. Circle leaved. (Circinatus.) All the leaves 
hair-like, and of such equal-lengthed segments, that 
these form a roundish outline. 
Variety 4. Spreading-leaved (Diffusus) or Fine Water 
Crowfoot. All the leaves hair-like, segments spread¬ 
ing, them outline irregular. 
Variety 5. Stream-dwelling. (Fluviatilis.) All the 
leaves hair-like, their segments very long, parallel, 
and floating in the direction of the current. Ex¬ 
hausted by the excessive production of leaves this 
variety rarely flowers. This is the R. pantothrix of 
some botanists. 
! Places where found. —Very common in ditches and ponds. 
[ Variety 5 in rapid streams, 
j Time of flowering. —May to July. 
j History. —This is not only not injurious, but is nutritious 
to some animals. Thus Dr. Pulteney has recorded, that in 
the neighbourhood of Ringwood, on the banks of the Avon, 
; some of the cottagers in his time supported their cows and 
even horses almost entirely by this plant, A quantity of it 
j was collected every morning and brought in a boat to the 
edge of the stream, from which the cows eat it with so 
1 much greediness, that each cow was allowed no more than 
; from 25 to 30 lbs. daily. One man kept five cows and one 
j horse so much upon this plant, with the scanty pasturage of 
I a heath, that they consumed only lialf-a-ton of hay in the 
J year, the hay being given only when the water was frozen. 
| Hogs, he states, also thrive so well upon this plant that 
they require no other food until put up to fatten. 
Ranunculus parvtflorus : Small - flowered Crowfoot; 
i Hairy Crowfoot. 
Description. —It is a trailing annual. Root fibrous. Herb 
! pale green, covered with soft hairs. Stems many, prostrate, 
cylindrical, hollow, branched, leafy, about nine inches long. 
Root-leaves long-stalked, kidney-shaped, acutely notched; 
; the upper ones three-lobed; uppermost of all in deep spear- 
I head entire segments ; all the leaves feel very soft. Flowers 
opposite to the leaves, solitary, stalked, small, yellow, with 
narrow reversed-egg petals, one or more of which are often 
wanting, or imperfect. Calyx a little bent back. Seeds 
lentil-shaped, with a broad, flattened, curved point; their 
sides covered with small, hooked prickles. 
Places where found. —Corn fields and meadows on a 
gravelly soil. Not common. 
Time of flowering. —May and June. 
History. —Although, following the opinion of other bo- j 
tanists, we state this to be a plant not common in Britain, , 
yet we believe it to be of much more frequent occurrence i 
than is usually supposed. Being an annual, its flowers ol' : 
brief duration, and its herbage trailing and inconspicuous, 
it often escapes notice. Hill, in his British Herbal, gives a 
drawing of it under the title of Low Crowfoot with prickly 
\ seeds. (Smith; Withering; Martyn.) 
the person of Alexander Anderson ; and though he 
has long been known to fame as an excellent botanist, 
yet, until these manuscripts came into our hands, little 
was known of his history. It shall be our most pleasant 
task, in this and some following notices, to trace his 
upward progress. 
No. CLXXXIII., Vol. VIII. 
