September 19. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
409 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Weather near London in 
1853. 
Moon 
R.& S. 
Day of 
Year. 
M 
w 
SEPTEMBER 19—25, 1854. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Age. 
v IOC R 
af. Sun. 
19 
To 
Chilocorus bipustulatus. 
30.244—30.110 
70—49 
S.W. 
_ 
42 a 5 
5 a 6 
1 52 
27 
6 13 
262 
20 
W 
Ember Week. 
30.057—29.931 
02—41 
S.W. 
— 
44 
3 
3 5 
28 
6 34 
263 
21 
Tn 
St. Matthew. 
29.937^-59.834 
65—44 
W. 
— 
46 
1 
4 19 
29 
6 65 
264 
1 22 
F 
Sun’s declination, 0 ° 21' n. 
29.839—29754 
67—54 
S.W. 
08 
47 
V 
seta. 
@ 
7 16 
265 
23 
S 
Gomphoccrus rufus. 
29.754—29704 
61—41 
W. 
— 
49 
56 
6 a 37 
1 
7 37 
266 
24 
Sun 
15 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.743—29.G87 
60—34 
w. 
14 
51 
54 
6 52 
2 
7 57 
207 
25 
M 
JElia melanocephala. 
29.330—29.083 
64—45 
S.W. 
02 
52 
51 
7 8 
3 
8 18 
268 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-seven years, the average highest and lowest tern- 
peratures of these days are 66.3°, and 45.8°, respectively. The greatest heat, 82°, 
the 23rd, in 1845. During the period 98 flays were fine, and on 91 rain fell. 
occurred on the 25th, in 1832; and 
the lowest cold, 30°, on 
Recently, being at Surbiton, in Surrey, our attention 
was directed to a plant growing in a greenhouse there, 
belonging to Mr. Ilowitt, the florist, and it is no 
exaggeration to say, that it is one of the most beautiful 
of all our modern introductions. We can best convey 
an idea of it by describing it as a plant having the 
leaves of the Chinese Primrose, and the flowers of 
Bartonia aurea. Not having time to examine it parti¬ 
cularly, we left it, without any fear of disappointment, 
to that “chiel,” well skilled in “taking notes,” whose 
name is appended to the following :t— 
“ This plant is quite new, and it is not new—if you 
can make out how that could be. It is a particularly 
good plant for a particular purpose, which is, to be 
grown in pots for the living-rooms, or for the conserva¬ 
tory, or show-house, for late autumn, or, say all through 
August, September, and October, just when pot-flowers 
are scarce. It will probably make a good bed also, and 
flower a month or six weeks, like many of them ; but I 
only saw it in a pot, for which, it seemed to me, to be 
made on purpose, and I vouch for the flowers being 
very handsome indeed that way. It is a Surbiton plant, 
and every thing in Surbiton is good : good water, good air, 
good neighbours, and a good distance from London, 
together with good examples of all the good professions, 
from the clerical to that of the florist. 
“ Mr. Ilowitt is our newest florist; and before he was 
here ten days, a lady called on me to ask if I had seen 
‘ that beautiful yellow plant ’ in the new show-house, or 
if I could tell the name of it? The plant was not for 
sale; but she wished much to possess one for her own 
greenhouse at Esher. I did not see it then; but I said 
1 would, and let her know. It was new to me, and the 
name was rather countrified in the spelling; but, 
between it and the flower, I made it out to bo a Loasad 
plant. I took the names as they were, and compared them 
with all the names of the Loasads in the ‘ Vegetable 
Kingdom,’ but not one of them was at all like my new 
name; but, in ‘A Supplement of Additional Genera,’ 
at the end of that most useful book, I found a Loasad, 
named by Zuccarini, with which I could reconcile my 
novelty, by the usual process of addition and subtrac¬ 
tion of certain letters. The next steps were to write 
three letters about it—to tlie first florist in the country, 
the first nurseryman near London, and the first seeds¬ 
man in London itself. 
“ The London nurseryman bad ‘ heard of the plant, 
but never saw it.’ As a specimen of the way I am 
always met by the trade, I give bis concluding sentence: 
‘ at any time I shall be only too glad to tell you all I 
know.’ I never yet met a single instance in which a 
nurseryman wished to keep anything about plants a 
secret. The florist was equally liberal; and respecting 
the new annual he says, ‘ there is now plenty of it in 
this country, and it has been very freely distributed by 
the seedsmen for two seasons past.’ In one sense, 
therefore, it is not a new plant. But let me finish the 
story, and see what the London seedsman has to say. 
lie gives me the very proof of this by sending a packet 
of the seeds, marked ‘ H. H. A., Yellow, one foot high,’ 
which, being interpreted, means, ‘ Half-hardy Annual, 
with yellow flowers, and grows about a foot high,’ ‘ with 
,1. C.’s respectful services.’ 
“ That was all that was in the letter, and quite 
enough; but, in a large pot, the ‘ H. H. A.’ does not 
grow more than six inches high with Mr. Ilowitt; but 
it is nearly a foot across. If it was not in bloom, you 
might pass it ten times without knowing it from a 
Chinese Primrose; but that is not exactly the style of 
growth, and the leaves are not so much jagged round 
the edges. The flowers come one only on a stalk, and, 
like all Loasads, it is nearly as largo as the flower of 
Eschscholtzia crocea, but does not open so wide. The 
colour is pure yellow all over, of a tint between that of 
crocea and Calceolaria amplexicaulis ; the flowers rise 
just above the leaves, and no more, and there is a large 
tassel of stamens longer than the flowers. The name 
is Eucnida Bartonioides. Anybody who can grow it as 
well as it is grown in Surbiton, may calculate on one of 
the best pot annuals in England for coming in from 
August to October. How it may answer for a bed is 
hard to say; the leaves seem too big and too soft to stand 
much hardship; but, as the plant is so low, I would 
try it in the same bed after Sphenoyyne speciosa, which, 
if sown at the beginning of April, will be done flowering 
by the end of June. In the meantime, the Eucnida 
Bartonioides might be got forward in pots to succeed it. 
But, being such a good pot-plant, that is the way I 
should prefer it. There is no doubt but it will be 
advertised in all the seed-lists next spring, and that will 
be time enough to ask for it, as it is now too late to do 
much good with it this season.—D. Beaton.” 
This Eucnida Bartonioides, of Zuccarini, was shewn 
by Dr. Walpers to belong to the genus Microsperma, 
and, as M. Bartonioides, it is figured in the “Botanical 
Magazine,” t. 4491. It was introduced to Ivew Gardens 
No. CCCXII., Vor.. XII. 
