October 20. 
TI-IE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
33 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Weather near London in 1852. 
M 
D 
n 
w 
OCTOBEIT20—26, 1853. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. Wind. 
Itain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
20 
Th 
Hen Chaffinches flock. 
30.357—30.151 
59—33 s. 
__ 
35 a. 6 
55 a. 4 
6 
37 ! 
21 
F 
Sun’s declination, 10° 4/' s. 
30 . 006 — 29.867 
59—49 s. 
26 
36 
53 
7 
7 ! 
22 
S 
Coddy-moddy Gull inland. 
29 . 762 — 29.612 
GO—51 S. 
14 
38 
51 
7 
45 
23 
Sdn 
22 Sunday after Trinity. 
29 . 686 — 29.052 
58—40 S.W. 
18 
40 
49 
8 
35 1 
24 
M 
Short-eared Owl comes. 
29 . 629 — 29.590 
57—37 S.W. 
65 
42 
47 
9 
36 I 
25 
To 
29.446—29.285 
50—31 W. 
55 
43 
45 
10 
43 
26 
W 
Whitethorn leaves fall. 
29.377—28.877 
49—30 1 S. 
33 
45 
43 
11 
56 1 
Age. 
Clock Day of 
af. Sun. Year. 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
24 
15 9 
15 19 
15 28 
15 36 
15 44 
15 51 
15 57 
293 
294 
295 
296 
297 
298 
299 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tem- 
! peratures of these days are 5/° and 40.8° respectively. The greatest heat, 73°, occurred on the 21st in 1830 ; and the lowest cold 20° on the 
21 st in 1842. During the period 95 days were fine, and on 87 rain fell. * 1 
NEW PLANTS. 
Britxantaisia Owariensis ( Owarian Brillantaisia). —This \ 
native of Africa is a Lamium-like stove plant, belonging to I 
the natural order of Acanthads and to Diandria Monogynia 
of Linnaeus. It was discovered and named by M. Nees von 
Esenbeck, but some later botanists to whom specimens were 
submitted, overlooking its previous discovery, have severally 
named it Belanllieria lamium, and Lcucographis lamium. It 
has bloomed in the Chelsea Garden, where it was received : 
from Sierra Leone. The dark purple flowers are like those 
of Sage, and are fully expanded in March. It is an under- 
shrub, about three feet high. — ( Botanical Magazine, 
t. 4717.) 
Rhododendron Daliiousi.e ( Lady Dalhousie’s Rhodo¬ 
dendron). —This is one of the most striking of the Sikkim 
Rhododendrons, whether regard be had to its large White- 
Lily-like flowers, or its native mode of epiphytal growth in 
moss, upon the branches of trees in the damp forests of 
East Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhotau. It is there found at an 
elevation of from 0,000 to 9,000 feet. It is a straggling 
shrub, from six to eight feet high, bearing leaves and flowers 
only at the extremity of the branches. Seeds of it arrived 
in England during the spring of 1850, and in the March of 
1853 it was for the first time bloomed here by Mr. Laing, 
gardener to the Earl of Rosslyn, at Dysart House, Kirkaldy. 
His detail of the culture he adopted is as follows :— 
“ In January, 1852, 1 selectecl from our wood a vigorous 
plant of Rhododendron Ponlicnm , with a clean straight stem, 
about six feet high, removing all the lateral branches, and 
potting in an eight-inch pot. About the end of January it 
was placed in the stove, where it was soon after inarched 
with R. Dalhousice. As the young shoot of the latter began 
to harden, it was gradually cut through till separated, and 
the plant was removed to a cool greenhouse to rest. It very 
soon showed symptoms of making another growth, when it 
was transferred to the stove, to ripen its wood preparatory to 
its being again put into a cool house as the shoot ripened. 
Here it did not remain long before it made further progress, 
and again required the heat of the stove to ripen its third 
growth. About the end of October a flower-bud was formed, 
when water was gradually withheld until it was moderately 
dry at the roots, and the plant was removed to a cool green¬ 
house for tbo entire winter. About the third week in Feb¬ 
ruary, 1853, it was placed in the stove, and began to show 
colour on the 10th of this month. When the flowers first 
appeared they were of a greenish colour, which gradually 
changed into a yellow, which also has died away, until it is 
of the colour of the flower sent, and I have no doubt but 
ere tlie flower drop it will be nearly white (as represented in 
our plate). I may also state, that the plant has never been 
exposed out-of-doors: had it been so, the rusty colour on 
the upper surface of the leaf would very likely have been 
removed. The bark on the first shoot or growth is of a 
brown colour; but the other two growths are yet green.”— 
{Botanical Magazine, t. 4718.) 
Skimmia Jaronica {Japanese Skimmia ).—This is one of 
the many instances of the absurd practice among botanists 
of naming plants by appending a Latin termination to the 
name by which they are known in the countries of which 
they are natives. The plant before us is called by the 
Japanese Mijami-Skimmi, and Thunberg has rendered it 
classical, but without condescending to enlighten us as to its 
meaning. Botanists differ as to the Natural Order in which 
it should be included, but they cannot he far from the 
truth who refer it to Aurantiaceee, for it partly resembles 
both tho Lemon and Daphne. It is in the Tetrandria 
Monogynia of the Linn man system. Sprengel calls it Ilex 
Skimmia. It is an evergreen shrub, about three or four feet 
high, and a native of the mountains near Nangasaki, in 
Japan. It was introduced by Mr. Fortune, and lias endured, 
uninjured, two winters in the open ground of Messrs. 
Standisli and Noble’s nursery, but they bloomed it in a cool 
greenhouse. Every part of it is aromatic. Its white flowers, 
which open in early spring, resemble in fragrance the Daphne 
odora. “ The evergreen shining leaves, the clusters of 
numerous graceful flowers, which all the summits of the 
branches produce, their perfume, and its scarlet berries at 
the close of autumn, justify its position as a decorative 
plant.” {Siebold.)—{Botanical Magazine, t. 4719.) 
Nothing in gardening, more forcibly than “ the shuttle¬ 
cock-seeded weeds,” reminds us of the sterling wisdom 
contained in the old proverb, “ a stitch iu time saves 
I nine.” Every slovenly gardener and agriculturist knows 
this to their cost. The Dandelion, the Groundsel, and 
the Thistle, may easily be picked up, cut down, or 
destroyed when in a young state. But just let them 
alone until their downy seeds are perfected, and hours, 
No. CCLXIV., Vcl. XL 
