i July 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
269 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
n 
w 
Weather near London in 
1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. &S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
M 
JULY 13 — 19 , 1854. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
18 
Th 
Apion ervi. 
29 . 861 — 29.442 
72—55 
E. 
92 
IV 
11 a 8 
10 41 
18 
5 22 
194 
14 
F 
Apion lathyri. 
29.297—29.17a 
61—49 
S.W. 
64 
10 
10 5 7 
19 
5 29 
195 
15 
S 
St. Swithin. Apion ononis. 
29.576—29.364 
66 — 48 
s.w. 
34 
2 
9 
11 10 
20 
5 35 
196 
16 
Sun 
5 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.606-29.578 
66-51 
S.W. 
2fi 
3 
8 
11 25 
21 
5 41 
107 
17 
M 
Apion craccae. 
29.884—29.825 
69-47 
s.w. 
— 
4 
7 
(IT 
5 47 
198 
18 
To 
Lixus paraplecticus. 
29.902—29.813 
66 -52 
s.w. 
35 
5 
a 
11 5G 
24 
5 52 
1Q9 
19 
W 
llhynchsenus Lathburii. 
29.929—29.904 
71—48 
s.w. 
02 
7 
5 
morn. 
25 
5 56 
200 
Met kobo logy OF THE Ws e k .—A t Chiswick, from observations durin g the lasttwenty-aeven years, the averaee highest and lowest tem- 
peraturesol these days are and 52“ respectively. The greatest heat, 94°, occurred on the 1/ 
18th in 1851. During the period 113 days were fine, and on 76 rain fell. 
th in 1834 j and the lowest cold, 39° 
on the 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
(Continued from page 220.) 
Draba hieta. — Simple-haired Wlhtlow-grass. Ilairy- 
' | alpine Whitlow-grass. 
Description .—It is a perennial. Hoot slender, somewhat 
creeping, subdivided at the crown, bearing several tufts of 
copious, spreading, lanceolate, biuntish, Hat, deep-green 
leaves; tapering at the base; a little wavy, or slightly notched, 
at the margin, fringed with constantly simple bristly hairs, 
such as are scattered, more or less sparingly, over both 
surfaces, where a few forked, stellated, ones are occasionally 
intermixed. Stalk solitary, slightly curved or wavy, two or 
three inches high, round, simply hairy, either quite leafless, 
or bearing, near the bottom, and sometimes under the 
lowermost flower, a solitary leaf, like the root ones, though 
smaller, and by no means dilated, egg-shaped, or strongly 
serrated. Flowers small, densely clustered. Calyx some¬ 
what hairy. Petals reversed egg-shaped, white, with a shal¬ 
low notch, erect, twice as long as the calyx. Pouches in a 
long, unequal, or interrupted, upright cluster, with hairy 
partial stalks, about half their owu length; their form 
elliptic-oblong rather than lanceolate, compressed but not 
flat, tipped with the very short thick style and round-headed 
stignui; their valves usually rough with minute, forked, 
spreading, rigid, white hairs ; but they are sometimes quite 
smooth and naked. 
Time of flowering .—May and June. 
Places where found .—It is rare. On the summit of Ben 
Lawers, in Scotland, and on lime-stone mountains of Leitrim 
and Sligo, in Ireland. 
History .—It has variously been called Drdba rvpestris , 
auslriuca, norvcgica , and stellata, by different botanists. It 
is a very hardy plant, being found in Lapland, and on rocks 
in alpine districts of Denmark, Switzerland, and other cold 
districts of Europe.— (Smith. Withering. Mattyn.) 
It may be accepted as a fact, without any known excep¬ 
tion, t’nat all animal and vegetable matters, whether in 
a fresh or decaying state, are manures, and promote the 
fertility of the soil into which they are turned either by 
the spade or the plough. 
Such manures, of course, vary in their fertilizing 
powers, those being most powerful, and consequently 
requiring to be applied in small quantities, which most 
abound witli ammonia. However, it is not the most 
powerful manure, or, in other words, that which gives 
most food to plants, which is always the most desirable 
to be employed; for they are beneficial in various other 
modes, such as by absorbing and retaining moisture 
from the air, by improving the staple of the soil, and by 
being destructive of insects. It must also bo borne in 
mind, that those manures which are most abounding in 
ammonia are the most transitory in their effects. They 
stimulate a plant in its early growth, and supply food to 
sustain that growth ; but they require caro that they do 
not leave the plant on short commons during the most 
important period of maturing its produce. 
We have been led to make these few remarks as not 
inapplicable to introducing Rape Cake as a manure 
to the gardener’s notice. I't has not received much 
attention from the spadesman, although it has long been 
favourably known to the farmer, especially as a manure 
for Turnips. It is most beneficially applied by mixing 
it witli the seed, in the state of dust, at the rate of eight 
or nine bushels per acre. A bushel of this Rape-cake 
dust weighs about fifty-two pounds. 
The Turnip is well known to be more liable than 
most of our cultivated crops to the attacks of insects— 
attacks upon its roots as well as leaves. The oil and 
other components of Rape-cake are particularly ob¬ 
noxious to insects, and Wireworms will not approach it, 
or, if they do come in contact with it, they evidently 
suffer, and often die from the effects. 
The cause of the Rape-cake being a fertilizer, as well 
as destructive of vermin, is easily explained. It con¬ 
tains, with the exception of so much of its oil as has 
been expressed, all the constituents of the seed of the 
Rape (Brassiea nap us), or of the Colza (Brassica cam- 
pestris), and the cake of the latter, whilst fresh, contains 
nearly five per cent of nitrogen (the basis of ammonia); 
whereas, well-made farm-yard manure contains only- 
four per cent. 
The following analysis was published by Professor 
No. CCCIL, Vol. XI Iv 
