February 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
358 
M 
D 
Wkathkr near London in 
1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
w 
FEBRUARY 9-15, 1S54. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
llain in 
Inches. 
Moon 
R.& S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Pay of 
Year. 
9 
Tn 
Platysoma picipes; bark. 
29.015—28.9^8 
40—34 
E. 
02 
23 a 7 
1 a 5 
5 40 
12 
14 
32 
10 
F 
Queen Victoria married 1840. 
29.324-29.081 
37—28 
N.E. 
06 
26 
3 1 
6 28 
13 
11 
s 
Platysoma depressus. 
29.368—29.362 
36—27 
E. 
— 
24 
5 
7 5 
14 
14 
33 
12 
Sun 
Sf.ptuagesima Sunday. 
29.494 — 29.388 
34—27 
N.E. 
— 
22 
7 
7 36 
15 
(V) 
13 
M 
Parnus scriceus ; pond bank. 
29.632—29.584 
34—2(5 
E. 
— 
21 
9 
rises. 
14 
31 
44 
14 
To 
Valentine. 
29.818—29.796 
32—18 
N.E. 
_ 
19 
10 1 
17 
29 
20 
15 
W 
Hydrophilus caraboides. 
29 . 818 — 29 . 79 O 
35—23 
N.W. 
— 
17 
12 
8 2 
18 
14 
46 
Meteorology of the Wf.ek.—A t Chiswick,from observations during the 
last twenty-seven vears. the average hierhest, and lowest tem. 
peratures of these daysare 45.6° and 31.3° respectively. The greatest heat, 65°, 
llth in 1845. During the period 117 days were fine, and ou 72 rain fell. 
occurred on the 10th in 1831 
; and the lowest cold 
.3°. 
on the 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
(Continued from page 293.) 
Arabis turrita: Tower Wall Cress; Tower Turkey-pod ; 
Great, Tower MustrrJ. 
Description ,—It is a biennial. Root tapering, simple, 
woody. Herb light green, more or less densely downy all 
over with fine, short, soft, starry hairs. Stem a foot or more 
in height, cylindrical, simple, erect, leafy. Leaves hairy on 
both sides, reversed-egg-shaped, broad, toothed, rather 
acute, but not pointed; the root ones tapering downward 
into footstalks ; the rest heart-shaped at the base, clasping 
the stem ; the uppermost gradually diminished into oblong 
bractes, each accompanying one of the short floiuer-stalhs. 
Cluster fiat-topped, nearly or quite simple. Petals pale 
sulphur-coloured, with a spreading border. Glands two at 
the inside of the shorter stamens, and two at the outside of 
the longer. Style very short, with a small, not dilated, 
stigma. Pods very long, fiat channeled, thickened at the 
edges, curved downwards as they ripen, chiefly towards one 
side; their valves slightly undulated, not at all keeled ; 
on short stalks. Seeds round, compressed. 
Places where found .—Oil old walls and stony places; very 
rare. It has been found in Cambridge on the walls of 
Trinity and St. John’s Colleges; in Oxford, on tho walls of 
Magdalen College; and in Kinross-shire on the walls of 
Cleish Castle. 
History .—This is the Turritis major of old botanists; and 
Euellius, as observed by Gerarde, states of the whole 
genus—“ the juice of the herb liealeth ulcers of the mouth, 
and the poor peasant doth use the oil (of the seed) in 
banquets, and the rich in their lamps." It was thought by 
Bauliin, Ray, and others, to belong to the genus Brassica, 
and its glands are those of that genus, but its flat accumbent 
cotyledons, and simple row of seeds, added to the habit, 
settle it as a species of Arabis. It was found at Lewisham, 
before the year 1732, by Professor John Martyn. (Smith. 
Withering. Martyn. Johnson's Gerarde.) : 
The present very high price of Bread has brought to 
us such a multitude of complaints and queries—all 
suggestive of desirable information—that we will com¬ 
bine the answers and observations they have elicited in 
one prominent notice. 
Every householder is competent to decide, from the 
evidence of his own eyes and his own palate, as to the 
quality of the bread offered to him; but whether the 
loaf be of tho legal weight is not so obvious. We beg 
to warn our readers on this point, for the present high 
value of bread offers an additional temptation to bakers 
to be fraudulent—a temptation they have no great 
anxiety to resist. This is no uncharitable conclusion, for 
we know that of four four-pound loaves, each from a dif¬ 
ferent baker, not one was deficient in weight less than four 
ounces. There used to be a very summary mode of 
punishing such dishonest purveyors of bread, which, 
though contrary to tho spirit of modern inflictions, yet 
might be wholesomely adopted without the attendant 
cruelty. A piece of wire was drawn through a loaf 
deficient of the assize weight, and the same wire was 
then passed through the baker’s nose, and thus arrayed, 
seated on a hurdle with a label specifying his namo and 
offence, he was dragged through the streets of the town. 
In Russia, without more to do, they used to nail the 
fraudulent baker by the ear to his own door-post. 
In mixing the flour for bread-making, it is of very 
great advantage to have either Bran or Rice boiled in 
the water employed. The increase of weight of bread 
obtained by so doing is very large, as will appear from 
two statements we shall append. It is true that such 
addition gives but little increase of nourishment, but 
No. CCLXXX., Vox.. XL 
