March 21,] 
TflK COTTAGE GARDENER 
T>0 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
lM 
ID 
1 
W 
D 
MARCH 21 — 27 , 1850. 
Weather near London 
in 1849 . 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
,21 
Tn 
Benedict. 
T, 53°—29°. 
S.W. 
Fine. 
3 a. C 
12 a. 5 
1 
43 
3 
7 
23 
80 
|22 
r (Cambridge Term ends. Magpie builds. 
T, 42°—36°. 
E. 
Fine. 
1 
14 
2 
43 
9 
7 
4 
81 
23 
S 
Oxford Term e. Common Linnet’s song bepr. 
T. 44°—30°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
V 
15 
3 
35 
10 
6 
4fi 
82 
'24 
Sun Palm Sunday. Red Currant leaves. 
T. 44°—27°. 
N. 
Fine. 
5S 
17 
4 
18 
11 
6 
27 
83 
25 
M 
Annunc., or Lady Day. Earwig appears. 
T. 40°—33°. 
N.E. 
Rain. 
54 
19 
4 
53 
12 
6 
9 
84 
26 
Tu 
Dog’s Mercury flowers. 
T. 43°—32°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
51 
20 
5 
25 
13 
6 
50 
85 
'27 
W 
Six-cleft Plume Moth appears. 
T. 45°—34°. 
S.E. 
Rain. 
49 
22 
rises 
© 
5 
32 
86 I 
St. Benedict, surnamed “The Great,” was born, about the year 
480, at Spoleto, in Italy, and became a hermit at the early age of 
fourteen, but soon accepted the office of abbot to a neighbouring 
monastery, and again returned to his seclusion, disgusted with the 
manners of the monks. From that time, he sought to reform and 
elevate the monks of the West to a power equal to that attained by 
the Eastern monks. In 592 , he laid the foundation of the celebrated 
monastery of Monte Cassino, and instituted the Benedictine Order of 
monks, which soon overspread Europe. The rules of the Order were 
founded upon pious and moral principles; but man was not created 
for seclusion and mechanical devotion ; and the order soon became, 
like its predecessors, an instrument of avarice and ambition. This 
depravity and subversion of the Order did not occur until after the 
9th century. St. Benedict died on this day, a.d. 543. 
Palm Sunday is so called in commemoration of Christ’s entrance 
into Jerusalem just previously to his sacrifice—on which occasion his 
disciples strewed palm branches before him. Decorating houses and 
churches with evergreens, on this anniversary, has been a practice in 
this country from a very early age; and the box and the yew being 
substituted for the palm of the East, is believed by some persons to 
be the reason why they are so generally found near our churches. In 
place of the evergreens, or in union with them, the twigs of the 
sallow, with its yellow and velvet-coated buds, are now gathered on 
this day; and the expedition for obtaining them is called, in the north 
of England, “ going a palmsoning.” Many are the superstitions 
associated with this anniversary ; but it was not until very lately that 
we heard of a conversation in a seed-shop, where the lady was urgent 
to have her flower-seeds, because, “ if sown on Palm Sunday the 
flowers would certainly be double.” 
Meteorological Phenomena. —During the last twenty-three 
years, the average highest and lowest temperatures of these days have 
been, respectively, 52° and 34.6°. The greatest heat was on the 27 th 
in 1830, the thermometer then reaching 75°; and the extreme cold 
was on the 20t.h in 1845, when it fell to 16 °. During the period, rain 
occurred on G5 days, and 
96 were fine. 
Natural Phenomena 
Indicative op Wea¬ 
ther. — Fulling stars 
usually occur during fine 
weather, but usually in¬ 
dicate a change. Mice 
squeaking and gamboling 
much more than usual 
behind the wainscotting of 
our rooms, foretel a change 
of weather, especially from 
fair to foul. Missel thrush - 
es before storms are ob¬ 
served to whistle unusually 
loud, and to prolong then- 
song until the very com¬ 
mencement of the rain. 
Hence, in some localities, 
it is called “The Storm 
Cock.” Moles, when rain 
approaches, are unusually 
busy throwing up their 
hillocks, probably because 
the worms on which they 
prey then rise to nearer 
the’ earth’s surface. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
. 
March 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
21 
B. 
(•29.625 
30.157 
29 467 
30.017 
30.495 
29.643 
29.659 
29.448 
30.300 
l 29.482 
29.890 
29.379 
29.921 
30.479 
29.258 
29.524 
28726 
30.231 
R. 
0.12 
0.08 
0.21 
— 
0.08 
0.09 
— 
0.08 
— 
22 
B. 
/ 29.596 
30.151 
29.409 
29.739 
30.381 
29.203 
29.543 
29.638 
30.197 
l 29.362 
29.951 
29.341 
39.503 
30.308 
29.177 
29715 
29.574 
30.086 
R. 
0.02 
0.08 
0.02 
0.05 
0.08 
0.09 
— 
0.02 
— 
23 
B. 
f 30.128 
30.183 
29.555 
29.570 
30.197 
29.317 
29.810 
29.860 
30.037 
\ 29.803 
30.102 
29.416 
29.513 
29.957 
29.169 
29-729 
29.670 
29.979 
R. 
— 
0.03 
— 
— 
0.60 
0.03 
— 
— 
— 
24 
B. 
r 30.222 
30.221 
29.699 
29.655 
30.121 
29.338 
29.919 
30.105 
29.986 
t 30.192 
30.107 
29.538 
29.513 
30.022 
29.310 
29771 
29.994 
29.955 
R. 
— 
— 
— 
0.03 
— 
— 
— 
— 
— 
25 
B. 
r 30.123 
30.130 
29.734 
29.644 
30.032 
29-387 
30.011 
30.130 
29.914 
1 29.952 
29.607 
29.697 
29.573 
29-808 
29.361 
29 990 
30.015 
29.907 
R. 
— 
0.07 
0.06 
0.03 
0.10 
— 
— 
0.01 
26 
B. 
f 29.698 
29.029 
29756 
29.805 
29.899 
29.710 
30.017 
29.858 
29.896 
129.593 
29.581 
29.710 
29.617 
29.803 
29.443 
29-97-1 
29714 
29.842 
R. 
0.02 
0.01 
— 
— 
— 
0.02 
— 
0.05 
— 
27 
B. 
f29.863 j 
29.763 
29.719 
30.032 
29.874 
29.790 
29.996 
29.669 
29.5/0 
\ 29 . 72 i ; 
29.746 
29.700 
29.851 
29.803 
29.734 
29.808 
29.655 
29.351 
R. 
0.08 ! 
0.02 
0.24 
0.14 
Insects. —We have lately seen so much injury perpetrated by the 
Typographer Bark beetle —Bostrlchus typographic of some natural¬ 
ists, and Ips, Dermestes, and Tomicits typogruphus of others—that 
we are induced to publish some particulars, and a drawing of the 
insect, and its usual mode of attack. It is most fond of some of the 
fir tribe, but does not confine its visitations to them. The perfect 
insect is of the size represented by figure 2 in the annexed drawing ; 
and figure 1 exhibits it magnified. When first emerging from the 
chrysalis state it is brownish yellow, but soon becomes brownish 
black ; and the wing-sheaths are marked with dotted lines, and arc 
abruptly shortened with a toothed edge, as shewn in the same draw¬ 
ing. Its maggot is about a quarter of an inch long, wrinkled and white. 
The beetle is found in this country in June. The male and female 
combine to form the hole through which she may gain an entrance to 
the inner bark ; after which she proceeds alone to make those shafts and 
their branching galleries (see cut), at the end of each of which she depo¬ 
sits an egg. No 3 and 4 in the annexed woodcut shew the Scotch Pine 
Bark beetle (Hylurgus piniperda), of which a description will be 
found at p. 329 of o ur second volume, but of which we repeat a 
drawing, because we are enabled to add delineations 0 ” its maggot 
(fig. 5), and its chrysalis or pupa (fig. 6). 
No. LXXVJT., Yob. ITT. 
