January 2-i.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
217 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
W 
D 
JANUARY 24—30, 1850. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
1 Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
24 
Th 
Great Titmouse heard. 
T. 50°—47°. 
S.W. 
Fine. 
52 a. 7 
33 a. 4 
S 
50 
11 
12 
25 
24 
25 
F 
Conversion of St. Paul. Hepaticaflowers. 
T. 51°—44°. 
S.W. 
Rain. 
51 
34 
5 
1 
12 
12 
39 
25 
26 
S 
Missel-thrush heard. 
T. 49°—26°. 
W. 
Rain. 
50 
36 
6 
8 
13 
12 
52 
26 
27 
Sun Septuagesima S. House-flies in windows. 
T. 45°—34°. 
s. 
Rain. 
49 
38 
7 
4 
14 
13 
4 
27 
28 
M 
Daisy flowers. 
T. 45°—33°. 
w. 
Rain. 
47 
40 
rises 
© 
13 
16 
28 
29 
Tu 
Honey Bee comes abroad. [flowers. 
T. 42°—24°. 
N. 
Rain. 
46 
41 
6 a 57 
16 
13 
27 
29 
30 
W 
K. Chas. I. martyred 1619. Double daisy 
T. 48°—29°. 
s. 
Rain. 
44 
43 
8 
15 
17 
13 
36 
30 
Conversion of St. Paul. —This commemoration of the conver¬ 
sion of the greatest enemy of our faith, to be one who “laboured 
more abundantly” than any of the other apostles to promote its dif¬ 
fusion “among all nations,” was first instituted a.d. 813, but not 
adopted into the ritual of our church until 1662. For many centuries 
we find it recorded in all writers upon the weather, that from the 
meteorological phenomena of this day might be deduced the fortunes 
of the entire year, l.lovd, in his “ Dial! of Daies,” says—“ From 
this day the husbandmen prognosticate the whole year ; if it be 
windy, there will be wars ; and if it be cloudy, it doth foreshow the 
plague that year.” In “The Shepherd’s Almanack” for 1676, we 
find—“ If the sun shines on St. Paul’s day, it betokens a good year ; 
if it rain or snow, indifferent; if misty, great dearth; and if it thun¬ 
der, great winds, and death of people, that year.” It is not needful 
now to add Gay’s warning— 
“Let no such vulgar tales debase thy mind— 
Nor Paul, nor Swithin, rules the clouds and wind.” 
Meteorology of the Week. —The highest average temperature 
during the last 23 years of the above seven days, is 44-2°; and the 
average lowest 32'7°. Of the 161 days, 96 were fine, and on 65 rain 
occurred. The highest point reached by the thermometer was 56° on 
the 28th in 1843 ; and the lowest, on the 27th in 1827, was 17 0 . 
Natural Phenomena Indicative of Weather. —Pigs run¬ 
ning about, or hastening home squeaking, and throwing up their 
heads with a particular jerk, indicate the approach of windy weather, 
Hence the common saying, that “ pigs can see the wind.” Night¬ 
mare, though usually caused by an overloaded stomach, yet often 
occurs when the weather changes during the night. The same obser¬ 
vation applies to the distressing dreams which some persons have in 
particular kinds of weather. An east wind beginning to blow during 
the night will often cause them, and sometimes the same are produced 
by the atmospheric changes preceding a heavy fall of snow. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
Insects. —The Carpen¬ 
ter, or Leaf-cutter bees are 
among the insects marked 
by habits which approach 
closely to those of supe¬ 
rior intellect. Kirby and 
Spence describe them as 
“ hangers of tapestry,” 
and the species we have 
selected— Megachile een- 
tuncularis — well illus¬ 
trates their mode of fur¬ 
nishing their solitary cell, 
entitling them to be so de¬ 
scribed. The insect is of 
the size shown by the 
cross-lines by the side of 
our drawing. It is of a 
pitchy hue, its legs yellow¬ 
ish, the abdomen ringed 
with white lines, and the 
whole covered with yel¬ 
lowish, woolly hairs. To 
line its dwelling, it cuts 
out circular pieces from 
the leaves of roses, the 
petals of pelargoniums, 
&c., and the whole has 
been thus described :—• 
“ August 2.—Cut out this morning, from an old oaken rail, the nest of the Carpenter bee—a 
curious receptacle, well known to many persons ; but yet it merits attention, because it seems 
to be a construction upon which more than usual foresight has been manifested—it not being 
merely an asylum in which the young may be matured in quiet, but secured against external 
annoyance front its most destructive enemy by a contrivance so unusual and effective, that it 
appears formed from the result of a reasoning upon probabilities. This creature—a short, 
stout, plain bee—mines a tubular channel into some decayed woody substance—a post, pale, 
or some such thing—boring in the direction of the fibre, making her repository at the bottom, 
being sufficiently deep for her purpose. She cuts from the leaf of arose several large pieces, 
often an half, conveying them to the bottom of her cave, and rolling them up so as to form a 
case ; in this she deposits an egg. The mouth of the cave is then covered with five or six cir¬ 
cular patches of leaves ; fragments of wood, like saw-dust, are then lodged over them, and the 
remainder of this channel filled up with other patches of the leaf, requiring, perhaps, twenty 
or more to accomplish it. This requires no great effort or time to effect, the active workman 
labouring with great assiduity ; but the conveyance of the fragments which form the nest 
seems to be attended with much fatigue, for I have often seen this bee, with its burden drawn 
between its legs, retire to rest against the bole of a tree, or upon a wall, the abdomen contract¬ 
ing and dilating with rapidity, like the sides of a creature after exertion. Having acquired 
strength, her labours are resumed. All these layers and saw-dust are designed to secure the larva from punctures by|the Ichneumon fly, 
which is constantly seeking for caterpillars of various insects, in which to deposit her egg : this hatches and grows with their growth, feed¬ 
ing on their vitals, consuming them, and perfecting itself. But all these guards effectually prevent the purport of the fly—the larva remaining 
safe in its asylum until sufficiently matured j it then penetrates through all these layers, assuming the form of the parent bee. I believe the 
rose, and the cytisus laburnum only, are made use of for these circular layers. In this specimen the larva was perfected ; but, at an earlier 
period, an egg would have been found, with a reservoir of glutinous matter near it, to constitute the food of the hatched creature.” 
Jan. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
24 
B. 
/ 30.161 
29.853 
29.869 
30.242 
29.937 
29.644 
29.416 
30.358 
30.374 
129.796 
29.634 
29.837 
30.184 
29.586 
29.330 
29.245 
30.338 
30.200 
R. 
0.02 
0.12 
0.02 
— 
_ 
0.24 
0.22 
— 
— 
25 
B. 
f 30.336 
29.745 
30.059 
30.262 
30.038 
29.339 
29.321 
30.370 
30.089 
1.30.195 
29.327 
29-999 
30.188 
29.680 
29.143 
29.303 
30.242 
29.907 
R. 
0.01 
0.10 
— 
0.01 
0.07 
0.59 
0.02 
— 
0.04 
26 
B. 
f30.000 
29.518 
30.038 
30.282 
29707 
29.242 
29.449 
30.072 
29.931 
129.988 
29.175 
30.010 
30.225 
29.571 
29.168 
29.259 
30.038 
29.804 
R. 
— 
0.14 
— 
0.02 
0.11 
0.08 
0.02 
— 
0.01 
27 
B. 
f 30.225 
29-794 
29.959 
30.249 
29-239 
29.624 
29.385 
30.134 
29.948 
130.015 
29.638 
29.901 
30.134 
29.111 
29.359 
29.258 
29.953 
29.385 
R. 
— 
— 
— 
0.02 
0.04 
0.02 
0.21 
— 
0.43 
28 
B. 
f 30.300 
29.907 
29.907 
29.900 
29.034 
29.584 
29.275 
29.857 
29.379 
l 30.250 
29.831 
29772 
29.883 
28.932 
29.394 
28.990 
29.828 
29.321 
R. 
— 
_ 
0.02 
— 
0.11 
0.06 
0.02 
— 
0.02 
29 
B. 
f30.208 
30.075 
29.911 
29-997 
29.293 
29.78O 
29.367 
29.914 
30.079 
\ 30.176 
29.921 
29.826 
29745 
29.257 
29.344 
29.305 
29.820 
29.571 
R. 
0.02 
0.03 
— 
— 
— 
0.23 
— 
0.06 
0.01 
30 
B. 
/ 30.251 
30.219 
29.905 
29.843 
29.212 
29.919 
29.538 
29.657 
30.138 
\ 30.204 
29.906 
29724 
29.634 
29.171 
29-863 
29.474 
29.276 
29.900 
R. 
0.08 
— 
0.03 
0.02 
0.01 
As the young root, described at p. 200, always ad¬ 
vances in the direction most suited to its nourish¬ 
ment, and into the medium where it can best exercise 
its functions, so does the young plantlet as invari¬ 
ably direct itself towards the surface of the soil, 
where its leaves, stem, and other superior parts can 
develope themselves, and perform the functions de¬ 
signed for them at their creation. 
The requisites, in search of which their upward 
course is directed, are air and light, but especially 
the first, for the plantlet rises above the surface, 
though the seed is germinated in a totally dark room; 
No. LXIX., Voi.. III. 
