January 31.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
900 
/V/V tJ 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
D D 
! 
JAN. 31—FEB. 6, 1850. 
Weather near London. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
3i!Th 
Hilary Term ends. Song Thrush heard. 
T. 47°—22°. 
w. 
Rain. 
43 a. 7 
45 a. 4 
9 30 
18 
13 
45 
31 
IF 
Chaffinch heard. 
T. 44°—35°. 
s.w. 
Rain. 
41 
47 
10a.43 
19 
13 
54 
32 
2B 
Purification. Candlemas Day. 
T. 49°—42°. 
s.w. 
Rain. 
40 
49 
11 54 
20 
14 
1 
33 
3]SCN 
Sexagesima S. Blase. Brent goose goes. 
T. 50°—44°. 
s.w. 
Rain. 
38 
50 
morn. 
21 
14 
8 
34 
4 M 
Goosander goes. 
T. 52°—37°. 
s.w. 
Fine. 
37 
52 
1 2 
€ 
14 
14 
35 
5 Tu 
Agatha. Pin-tailed duck goes. 
T. 52°—40°. 
w. 
Fine. 
35 
54 
2 6 
23 
14 
19 
36 
6 W 
Golden-plover goes. 
T. 45°—41°. 
s.w. 
Fine. 
33 
56 
3 8 
24 
14 
23 
37 
Candlemas Day was evidently so named from tlie number of 
lights formerly burnt in our churches upon the occasion ; and a pro¬ 
clamation of Henry VIII. announces, “that the bearing of candels 
on this day is done in memory of Christ, the spiritual Light.” In 
those days of superstition, each person who had borne a candle, and 
had it blessed at this festival, carefully preserved it, and re-lighted it 
during any time of danger, firmly believing, that neither evil spirit, 
storm, or other power, could injure him- whose candle was burning ! 
On the eve of this day, by our ancestors, all the evergreen household 
decorations were removed, and others placed as their successors. 
Herrick, one of the most harmonious poets of the 16 th century, says, 
of this regarnishing: — 
Down with the rosemary and 
bays, 
Down with the mistletoe ; 
Instead of holly, now upraise 
The greener box for show. 
The holly hitherto did sway; 
Let box now domineer, 
Until the dancing Easter day 
Or Easter’s eve appear. 
Then youthful box, which now hath 
grace 
Your houses to renew, 
Grown old, surrender must his place 
Unto the crisped yew. 
When yew is out, then birch comes 
in, 
And many flowers beside ; 
Both of a fresh and fragrant kin, 
To honour Whitsuntide. 
Green rushes then, and sweetest 
bents, 
With cooler oaken boughs, 
Come in for comely ornaments. 
To re-adorn the house. 
St. Blase. —Why this good bishop of Sebastia should have been 
selected by those of our Christian ancestors that were woollen manu¬ 
facturers, to be their patron, is lost in the darkness of the unrecorded 
portion of our history. There seems to be no reason for supposing, 
that he invented the comb with which he was tortured, for wool- 
combing appears to have been practised by the Britons when Ciesar 
first invaded our shores. Be this as it may, St. Blase is the patron 
of all artificers connected with the woollen trade, and a septennial 
jubilee is held in the clothiery districts of Yorkshire, professedly in 
his honour, but really for the sake of revelry. Jason, the captor of 
the Golden Fleece, Bishop Blase, shepherdesses, &c., and innumer¬ 
able devices worked in wool, form parts of the procession. The value 
of our woollen trade may be estimated from the facts, that in 1848, 
more than sixty-nine millions of pounds of wool were imported into 
England; and the value of our woollen manufactured goods, exported 
the same year, was nearly five and three quarters millions of sterling 
pounds. 
Meteorology of the Week. —The average highest temperature 
of these seven days, from observations made during the last twenty- 
three years, is 43'8°, and the average lowest temperature, 317°. Du¬ 
ring the same years, 93 days were fine, and on 68 days rain fell. The 
highest temperature observed was 56°, on the 2nd of February, 1835 ; 
and the lowest, 14°, on the 3rd, in 1841. 
Insects. —A few years 
since, we were annoyed by 
finding many of the blos¬ 
soms of our raspberries 
lying on the ground, with¬ 
out any apparent cause for 
their fall. There were no 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
little feet-prints on the 
freshly-raked soil, so the 
bullfinches and the tomtits 
were condemned as the 
ravagers. However, upon 
turning to Kirby ancL 
Spence’s “ Entomology,” 
we found this notice—“ When in flower, the footstalks of the rasp¬ 
berry’s blossoms are occasionally eaten through by a minute beetle, 
Byturus tomentosus, which I once saw prove fatal to a whole crop.” 
We immediately searched, and found that this, too, was our enemy. 
It may be called the Raspberry-stalk beetle, and is named, by some 
naturalists, Dermestes tomentosus. Our cut represents it both of its 
natural size and .magnified. The whole of the upper part of the body 
Jan. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
31 
B. 
f 30.190 
30.124 
29.931 
29.811 
29.601 
29.965 
29.624 
29.305 
30.242 
\ 30.165 
29.930 
29.834 
29.799 
29.131 
29.804 
29.593 
29-232 
30.131 
Feb. 
1 
R. 
0.12 
0.12 
0.07 
0.15 
— 
— 
— 
0.12 
0.01 
B. 
/ 30.346 
30.130 
29 902 
30.018 
29.842 
29.834 
29.750 
30.071 
30.294 
130.268 
30.100 
29-833 
29.900 
29747 
29-830 
29-601 
29763 
30.230 
R. 
— 
-s- 
0.16 
— 
— 
0.52 
— 
0.13 
0.02 
B. 
1-30.093 
30.241 
29 742 
29.596 
29.984 
29.932 
29.813 
30.315 
30.348 
129.931 
30.059 
29.612 
29.469 
29.862 
29.614 
29.785 
30.153 
30.286 
R. 
— 
0.02 
0.20 
0.32 
— 
— 
0.02 
— 
0.04 
B. 
/ 30.020 
30.409 
29.517 
29.943 
29.972 
29.894 
30.052 
30.363 
30.408 
I 29-977 
30.3/7 
29.130 
29.914 
29.873 
29-821 
29.821 
30.241 
30.358 
R. 
— 
— 
0.20 
— 
0.10 
0.01 
— 
0.01 
0.01 
B. 
f 29.803 
30.439 
29-757 
29.697 
30.200 
30.053 
30.151 
30.167 
30.456 
t 29.670 
30.351 
29-348 
29.427 
30.163 
29.956 
30.119 
30.111 
30.424 
R. 
— 
— 
0.16 
0.18 
— 
0.31 
— 
0.03 
— 
B. 
f 29.722 
30.267 
29.854 
29.495 
30.017 
29.833 
30.141 
30.100 
30.454 
l 29.688 
30.177 
29-798 
29.403 
29-871 
29.744 
29.976 
30.059 
30.428 
R. 
— 
— 
0.08 
— 
— 
— 
0-02 
0.23 
— 
B. 
/ 29.661 
30.109 
29.868 
29.560 
29.940 
29.988 
29-683 
30.139 
30.412 
I 29 . 6 O 9 
29.892 
29.736 
29.459 
29.851 
29.937 
29.565 
30.075 
30.388 
It. 
0.06 
0.09 
0.02 
~ 
0.02 
0.01 
“ 
is a dull brown colour, dotted over with minute black spots, and 
covered thickly with a short down. The antennae, feet, ana beneath 
the body, are dull yellowish-red, and the eyes black. It may be ob¬ 
served in the blossoms of the whitethorn, and umbelliferous plants, 
during May and June. When the raspberry-canes are attacked, burn¬ 
ing green garden refuse to windward of them, so as to envelope them 
for some time thickly in smoke, might put the plunderers to flight. 
Notwithstanding the very full information we gave 
at p. 22 of our second volume, relative to the culti¬ 
vation of the mistletoe, and the additional particu¬ 
lars that information elicited from a correspondent— 
p. 166 of the same volume—we continue to receive 
letters asking questions, the answers to which we 
shall endeavour to embody in one connected reply. 
One letter on the subject, from the Rev. Hugh Nan- 
ney, of Causby Rectory, Lincolnshire, we will insert 
here; because it not only contains the information 
required by our correspondent, but some notes in 
natural history worthy of preservation:— 
“ In answer to your correspondent, ‘ Allendale,’ I 
beg to inform him, that there is a very fine specimen 
of the ‘mistletoe’ growing on an apple-tree in the 
gardens at Bradley Hall, not many miles down the 
Tyne, below the mouth of the Allen. So much as to 
its growing in Northumberland. But how to propa¬ 
gate it, I am at a loss, as a friend of mine, the late 
curate of Ryton, not far from Bradley Hall, has tried 
to engraft the seed on the apple, oak, and thorn, but 
without success. 
“ As I know you like facts connected with natural 
history, as well as with gardening, I would wish 
to mention, that a very fine specimen of the yellow¬ 
breasted martin was killed near the manor-house, in 
this parish, in a hole, adjoining the moat which sur- 
No. LXX., YOL. III. 
