M W 
D D 
SEPTEMBER 16—22, 1852. 
Weather 
Barometer. 
near London in 1851. 
Thermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R, & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day 0 
Year 
16 Th 
Wych Elm leaves fall. 
30.572 — 30.460 
66—52 
N.E. 
39 a. 5 
11 a. 6 
7 
42 
3 
5 
20 
260 
17 F 
Peewits flock. 
30.411 — 30.30t> 
69—45 
N.E, 
_ 
40 
9 
8 
7 
4 
5 
41 
261 
18 S 
Sycamore leaves fall. 
30.273 —30.117 
66-47 
N.E. 
_ 
42 
6 
8 
3 7 
5 
6 
2 
262 
19 Son 
15 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.063 — 30.025 
66—4 5 
N.E. 
_ 
43 
9 
13 
6 
6 
24 
263 
20 M 
Syringa turns yellow. 
30.065 —30.020 
67—42 
N.E. 
— 
45 
2 
9 
57 
3 
6 
45 
264 
21 To 
St. Matthew. 
30 . 026 — 29.993 
65—49 
N.E. 
_ 
47 
10 
51 
8 
7 
6 
265 
22 W 
Sun’s declination, 0° 9' n. 
30.055 — 30.005 
67—39 
N.E. 
— 
48 
57 
11 
55 
9 
7 
26 
266 
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 67 ° and 46 ° respectively. The greatest heat, 84°, occurred on the l/thin 1843 ; and the lowest cold, 29°, on the 17 th 
in 1840. During the period 95 days were fine, and on 80 rain fell. 
September 16. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
377 
The prize offered by the London Horticultural Society 
having roused attention to the difficulties of obtaining 
late crops of peas, we shall not be doing a small service 
to our readers by placing before them the results of 
some researches upon the subject. The chief cause of 
failure in obtaining autumnal crops of peas is the 
violent dissimilarity of temperatures to which their 
stems and leaves are exposed, whilst their roots are 
enjoying a temperature equable and high. We have 
found, from repeated experiments, that in a light loamy 
soil—the only one fit for late peas—in July, August, 
September, and October, except during a long series of 
rain, the temperature of the earth at niue inches below 
the surface never rises above 70° nor sinks below 55°. 
On the other hand, the temperature of the air, during 
those months, ranges between 00° by day and 30° at 
night. The contrast of the moisture of the soil and of 
the air, at those seasons, is quite as extremely in con¬ 
trast. The soil is usually in a state of excessive dryness; 
whilst the air by day has a high degree of moistness, 
and deposits at night heavy dews upon all vegetation. 
Such extremes and contrasts invariably produce 
exudations of sap, gangreen, and their consequence, 
mildew, the popular name for fungi, on the growing 
juicy foliage of plants exposed to them. The means of 
preventing these results, so fatal to all hopes of pro¬ 
ductiveness, are such applications to the soil as may 
keep the moisture in it proportioned to the active con¬ 
sumption by the roots caused by the high temperature 
of the soil; and such shelter as may keep the leaves 
and stems of the peas from exposure to such excessive 
variations of temperature. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
CROWFOOTS—RANUNCULACE*. 
(Continued from page 349.) 
ACTiEA. BANE-BERRY. 
Generic Character.— Calyx below fruit, of four roundisli- 
oblong, concave, blunt, deciduous leaves. Petals four, alter¬ 
nate with the calyx, oblong or reversed-egg-shaped, with 
claws, deciduous. Stamens numerous, about thirty. Fila¬ 
ments cylindrical, swelling upwards. Anthers of two lobes, 
on the inner side of the summit of each filament. Ger- 
mens egg-shaped. Style none. Stigma round, thick, obliquely 
depressed. Berry nearly globular, with a lateral furrow, 
smooth, of one cell, not bursting. Seeds numerous, semi- 
orbicular, depressed, ranged vertically over each other in 
two rows. 
Act.ea spicata. Herb Christopher. Black Bane-berry. 
Description .—It is a perennial. Root creeping and rather 
fleshy, black outside, and yellow within. Root-leaves on 
foot-stalks, which divide into three, these are tliree-leafleted; 
each leaflet is egg-shaped, three-lobed, deep shining green, 
from one to two inches long, and sharply saw-edged. The 
leaflets on the flower-stem are smallest. Stem three-sided, 
from twelve to eighteen inches high, leafy, slightly branched. 
The whole plant nearly or quite smooth. Flowers several, 
in a rather close cluster, or spike, each flower with a small 
bracte just below its downy stalk ; petals white, with a slight 
pinkish tinge; stamens rather longer than the petals, with 
thread-like filaments, and with a knobbed anther. Berries 
purplish-black, shape and size of a small pea, juicy; seeds 
about twelve. 
Places where found. —In woods and shady places ; very 
rare. One or two places in Yorkshire, Durham, Westmore¬ 
land, and Essex, are the only spots where it has been dis¬ 
covered. 
Time of flowering. —May and June. 
History .—The generic name is derived from the Greek 
word actaia, shore-loving, which is not applicable to this 
species, further than that as it prefers damp, shady places, 
it might flourish on the wooded banks of a stream ; spicata 
refers to the spiked form in which the flowers cluster. The 
whole plant is acridly poisonous. Children tempted by its 
glossy berries have died from eating them. Preparations 
of the plant have been used to repel tumours; and the root 
has been administered in some diseases of the nerves, but 
great caution is required in using it. The juice of the 
berries mixed with alum affords a black dye. It is said that 
toads resort to it, being gratified by its fetid smell. This 
requires confirmation; and Dr. Withering’s explanation that 
toads are perhaps found near it because they also prefer 
damp situations, seems singularly unsatisfactory, for toads 
prefer dry, warm places. Sheep and goats eat it, but it is 
rejected by horses, oxen, and pigs. (Smith. Martyn. 
Gerard. Withering.) 
No. CCVIL, Vol. VIII. 
