December 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
101 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
W 1 DEC. 27, 1349—JAN. 2, 1850. ; 
D I 
Weather near London. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
27 
Tu St. JonN Evan. Black diver comes. ! 
T. 
49—39- 
w. 
Rain. 
8 a. 8 
55 a. 3 
5 0 
13 
I 
26 
361 
28 
F (Innocents. Gray Goosander comes. ; 
T. 
44 — 39 . 
N.E. 
Fine. 
9 
55 
6 16 
14 
1 
56 
362 
29 
S Velvet Duck comes. [to Tarn Id. 
T. 
44—30. 
N. 
Fine. 
9 
56 
rises 
© 
2 
25 
363 
30 
Sun |1 S. aft. Ciiristm. Eider duck comes \ 
T. 
40—29. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
9 
57 
5 a. 33 
Id 
2 
54 
364 
31 
M Silvester. GeometraincompletariaMoth 
T. 
40—30. 
N.E. 
Rain. 
9 
58 
6 48 
17 
3 
23 
365 
1 
Tu Circumcision. Redbreast sings. 
T. 
33—19. 
E. 
Fine. 
8 
IV. 
8 8 
18 
3 
51 
1 
2 
VV Lime Hawk Moth’s Grubs found. 
T. 
29 — 20 . 
E. 
Fine. 
8 
0 
9 25 
19 
4 
19 
2 
St. John, the apostle and evangelist, “one of his disciples whom 
Jesus loved,” was a son of Zebedee and Salome. John was con¬ 
stantly distinguished by his Divine master shewing him special marks 
of regard. Whenever a select number of disciples accompanied our 
Saviour John was always of the number; at the Last Supper he was 
leaning on the bosom of Jesus ; he was at the foot of the cross, and 
received from his dying Lord the injunction to regard His mother as 
his own. “ From that hour” John took Mary to his home, was spe¬ 
cially noticed by Jesus after his resurrection, evangelized in Syria 
and Asia Minor, resided during the late years of his life at Ephesus, 
and died there, a.d. 100 , aged 91 years. Deep affection for his master, 
and for his brethren in Christ, characterized his nature and his 
writings. In death as in life his great theme was, “My children, 
love one another.” 
Innocents’ Day, os Childermas. —On this day is commemo¬ 
rated the murder of the infants at Bethlehem by the order of Herod. 
In our last year’s notice of this festival we stated that the Papal 
Church perform masses upon this anniversary for the repose of the 
souls of those “ Innocents,” on which statement we have received a 
note pointing it out as a mistake. Our correspondent says—“ Roman 
Catholics do not pray for the repose of the souls of martyrs, nor say 
masses for that purpose. It will, perhaps, also occur, on reflection, to 
the writer, that no class of Christians would deem it necessary to pray 
for the souls of children under two years of age, even if they were 
not martyrs. The Collect used by the Established church on this 
occasion will be found to be a paraphrase of the prayer before the 
Epistle and Gospel for that day in the Roman Missal, which latter 
are identical.” In the “Calendar of Superstition” Brand tells us 
this day is of most unlucky omen. None ever married, put on a new 
suit, pared his nails, or began any undertaking, on Childermas Day. 
On account of this superstition, the coronation of King Edward IV. 
was postponed to the day following; and Addison, in the “ Spectator,” 
alludes to it when he makes a mother say that her child “ shall not 
go into join-hand on Childermas Day.” 
Meteorology of the Week. —The average highest temperature 
of these seven days during the last twenty-two years is 42.5°, and the 
average lowest temperature 27.1°. The greatest heat during the 
time was on the 1st of January, 1840, the thermometer then indicat¬ 
ing 55° ; and the greatest cold occurred on the 1st of January, 1837, 
when the mercury fell to 12°. The number of days on which there 
was rain is only 56, and of fine days 98. 
Natural Phenomena Indicative of Weather.— Flora's 
Clock, or the Vial of Flowers, is the name by which is included all 
the flowers either opening or closing at particular hours of the day. 
Some flowers open to meet the dawn ; others, like the water-lily, do 
not expand until noon ; a third group, like the Evening primrose, 
unfold their petals as the sun sets, ana close them during the time of 
his greatest power ; whilst the Eight-blooming Cereus blooms only 
during the hours of darkness ; but the greater number are like 
The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun. 
And with him rises weeping. 
Some close in every kind of weather at mid-day, and on this account 
the Goat’s Beard is often called “ John-go-to-bed-at-noon and at 
the Cape of Good Hope the “four-o’clock flower” is the “Forked 
Marvel of Peru,” which closes at that hour. The flower of the Gar¬ 
den lettuce opens about seven, and shuts about ten. We have no 
I space for enlarging our catalogue, but we will say with Mrs. Hemans, 
“ ’Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours, 
As they floated in light away, 
By the opening and the folding flowers 
That laugh at the summer’s day. 
Oh ! let us live, so that flower by flower, 
Shutting in turn, may leave 
A lingerer still for the sunsetliour, 
A charm l'or^the shaded eve,” 
Insects. —Every gar¬ 
dener must have observed 
the edges of the young 
leaves of his peas, and 
sometimes of his beans, 
eaten away in scollops, 
or semicircular pieces. 
This is often done by the 
Sitona tibialis, but still 
more frequently by ano¬ 
ther of the short-snouted 
beetles—the Lined Wee- 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
! 
Dec. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
27 
B. 
/ 30.121 
29.661 
30.438 
30.033 
30.100 
30.494 
30.225 
30.103 
X 30.084 
29.321 
30.412 
29-998 
29-783 
30.396 
30.204 
30.036 
R. 
0.02 
0.01 
0.03 
— 
0.17 
— 
— 
0.30 
28 
B. 
r30.063 
30.144 
30.498 
29.944 
29-805 
30.499 
30.195 
30.166 
130.054 
29.929 
30.476 
29.906 
29-471 
30.432 
30.182 
29-985 
R. 
0.02 
— 
— 
0.15 
0.16 
— 
— 
— 
29 
B. 
r30.078 
30.174 
30.454 
29.932 
30.013 
30,505 
30.094 
30.180 
X 30.035 
30.112 
30.311 
29.910 
28.700 
30.444 
29.740 
30.149 
R. 
0.05 
— 
— 
0.15 
0.06 
— 
0.17 
— 
30 
B. 
r 30.166 
30.215 
30.278 
30.008 
29.963 
30.573 
29.856 
30.171 
\29.927 
30.161 
30.195 
29.951 
29.644 
30.552 
29.712 
30.084 
R. 
— 
— 
0.02 
— 
0.02 
— 
0.30 
— 
31 
B. 
r 30.211 
30.178 
29.979 
30.105 
30.106 
30.540 
29.854 
30.126 
130.187 
30.046 
29.664 
30.067 
29.465 
30.434 
29.817 
30.110 
Jan. 
R. 
— 
0.02 
0.30 
— 
0.44 
— 
— 
0.01 
B. 
r29.942 
30.197 
30.257 
29.606 
30.146 
30.051 
30.311 
29.S46 
30.179 
129.882 
30.171 
30.131 
29.562 
30.121 
29.692 
30.150 
29.807 
30.144 
R. 
.- 
— 
— 
0.43 
— 
— 
— 
0.22 
— 
/ 30.086 
30.170 
30.086 
29-898 
30.061 
30.475 
29-981 
29.831 
30.124 
B- 
"I 29.816 
30.053 
30.017 
29.485 
30.008 
30.190 
29-820 
29-783 
29-833 
R. 
0.15 
“ 
“ 
0.01 
vil, Sitona lineata of some naturalists, and Curculio lineatus of 
others. In Scotland it is commonly called “ the Cuddy,” or Donkey, 
from its grey colour. In our drawing it is magnified, but the line by 
its side shews the natural length. The whole body is grey, and 
marked with black lines ; the antenme reddish ; the eyes black. Mr. 
Spence found five or six upon a pea seedling. They survive the winter 
sheltered beneath moss, &c., and in bad weather at all seasons retire 
under stones, only to reappear with the sunshine. 
Resuming our observations on the scientific Prin¬ 
ciples of Gardening from where we left off at p. 59, 
and continuing our notice of the phenomena of the 
germination of seed, we will next remark, that, as we 
have seen that heat and moisture are necessary for 
that commencement of growth, so now we shall find 
that the presence of one of the constituent gases of i 
the atmosphere, oxygen, is also essential to germina- i 
tion. Ray proved that lettuce seeds will not ger¬ 
minate in the exhausted receiver of an air-pump, 
though they did so when the air was readmitted; 
and though the experiments of Homberg throw some 
doubt upon this conclusion, yet it was fully con¬ 
firmed by the researches of Boyle, Muschenbroek, 
Boerliaave and Saussure, for they showed that Hom¬ 
berg must have employed an imperfect apparatus. 
No LXY., Vol. III. 
