IT. HIE COTTAGE GARDENER. 171 
i 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 
jsq l 
JUNE 17—23, 1852. 
Weather 
Barometer. 
near London in 1851. 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Sun Sun 
Rises. Sets. 
Moon 
K. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun.: 
Day of 
Year. 
17 Th 
Puff-ball seen. 
30.383 — 30.209 
66—38 N.W. 
_ 
44 a. 3 ; 17 a. 8 
sets. 
0 
53 
169 
18 F 
Mullein flowers. 
30.402 — 30.231 
71—55 : w. 
05 
44 18 
9 a 10 
1 
0 
48 
170 
19 s 
Viper’s Bugloss flowers. 
33.160 —30.108 
75—49 S.W. 
44 13 
10 0 
2 
1 
i?i 
20 Sun 
2 Sunday after Trinity. Q. Vic. Ac. 
30.098 — 30.035 
81—47 1 S.W. 
_ 
44 18 
10 42 
3 
1 
14 
172 
21 M 
Queen Victoria Pro. 
30.883 —29.689 
87—55 ' S.E. 
_ 
44 18 
11 14 
4 
1 
27 , 
173 
22 Tu 
Sun’s dccl., 23° 27' n. 
30.011 —29.813 
67—41 N.W. 
_ 
45 19 
11 41 
1 
40 
174 
23 W 
Thistle-upon-Thistle flowers. 
30.248 — 30.163 
67—35 N.W. 
— 
45 19 
morn. 
6 
1 
53 
175 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 72.7° and 50.2° respectively. The greatest heat, <JP, occurred on the 19th in 1810 : and the lowest cold, 31 ° on the 18th 
in 1830. During the period 99 days were fine, and on 76 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD BLOWERS. 
CROWFOOTS—RANUNCULACEJS. 
(Continued from p. 143.) 
MYOSURUS. MOUSE-TAIL. 
Generic Character. —Calyx inferior, ol’ five spear-head 
shaped, concave, coloured, spreading, deciduous leaves; 
i spurred at the base, below their point of insertion. Petals 
I live, very small, shorter than the calyx, tubular and bearing 
honey at their base, expanding obliquely at the inner side. 
Stamens five, or more, the length of the calyx. Anthers 
terminal, erect, of two narrow parallel cells. Styles none. 
Stigmas solitary, minute. Germens very numerous, egg- 
shaped, seated on a long, tapering, upright receptacle. Seeds 
oblong, acute, naked, imbricated all over the surface of the 
elongated, columnar, pointed receptacle. 
Myosurus minimus : Mouse-tail. 
Description .—It is an annual. Rout fibrous, small, annual. 
Leaves all springing direct from the root, upright, unequal 
in length, narrow, rather broadest at the top, flat, slightly 
channelled on each side, usually smooth, and rather fleshy, 
but sometimes hairy, yellowisli-green, but reddish at the 
base. Flower-stems four or five, from two to four inches 
high ; longer than the leaves, upright, round, smooth, a little 
j thickened at the top, each bearing one flower. Calyx sepals, 
or leaflets, concave, with the claws lengthened behind, 
! tapering to a point, and pressed to the flowering-stem. Petals 
light yellow, with a pore or nectary at the base. Stamens 
varying from four to twenty. Germens two or three hundred, 
j green, forming a long spike raised much above the other 
j parts of the flower, and resembling a mouse’s tail, especially 
j when the seeds are ripe. Seeds wedge-shaped, outer side 
rusty-coloured, other sides blackish. 
Places where found .—Not very uncommon in corn-fields, 
meadows, and pastures, where the soil is gravelly ; especially 
where liable to be flooded. 
Time of flowering .—April to June. 
History .—The generic name is from niys, a mouse, and 
oura, a tail; the specific name is minima, least. This plant | 
is one of the rare instances of a very great disproportion of i 
males and females in the same flower, yet the seeds usually ! 
are all prolific. It is the only English species. The whole j 
plant is acrid. Parkinson says that it was sometimes called 
Blood-strange, but, he adds, “ I think corruptly from blood- 
staying ; ” “ the country people apply it not only to those 
that bleed at the nose, by bruising the leaves and putting it 
up therein, but also to stay the much bleeding of wounds, 
and to heal them.” 
It having been demonstrated long since that the roots 
of plants can take in food for their support, and for the 
maintenance of their growth, only either in a liquid or 
gaseous state, it is somewhat surprising that cultivators 
have not been more attentive to the application of 
manures to their crops in one or other of those states. 
The absence of such attention is only explicable upon 
the too general rule that old practices, like old habits, 
are difficult to depart from. 
The nearest approach to the general application of 
manure in a liquid state, is the old practice of turning 
over stable manure until reduced to a soapy mass, then 
much more readily soluble in water than the crude litter 
when first heaped up from the yard. In some very large 
farming establishments, the process of fermentation or 
decay, which renders it thus soluble, is carried on in 
waterproof tanks, and every care is taken to preserve the 
liquid which drains from it. This is another step in the 
right direction, and we expect, as we hope, to live to see 
the day when such manure is applied only in a liquid 
state, for such a mode of application is very much the 
most economical. One ton of stable manure properly 
decomposed, and its soluble parts removed almost as soon 
as formed, and applied to growing crops in a liquid state, 
would be as productive of as i much benefit to those crops i 
as five tons of the same manure applied in a solid form. 
This is a truth that will very soon be admitted by all 
who have energy sufficient to try it practically ; and we 
shall then see manure applied by tho water-cart and the ; 
water-pot, instead of as now by the dung-cart and wheel- j 
barrow. 
To illustrate and enforce our opinion, we will at 
present only quote the following from a most valuable 
pamphlet published by the Board of Health, entitled 
Minutes of Information on the Practical Application of 
Sewer Water and Town Manures to Agricultural Pro¬ 
duction :— 
“ The greater proportion of what is lost from cleconi- 
No CXC1V., Vol. VIII. 
