Novemheu 18. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
115 
m' \v 
D : 1) 
NOVEMBER 18—24, m.-iS. 
Weatiibr near London in 1851. 
Barometer. jThermo. Wind. Rain in In. 
Sun Sun 
Rises. Sets. 
Moon 
R. h S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
aft. Sun. 
Day of 
Year, 
ll 8 Tn 
Widgeon arrives. 
29 . 8/1 —29.839 41—16 
N. 
26 a. 7 5 a. 4 
11 2 
) 
14 33 
323 
19 F 
Helvella mitra seen. 
29.849 — 29.644 37—25 
S.W. 
— 
28 ' 4 
morn. 
8 
14 19 
324 
l‘J0 s 
Waxen Chatterer seen. 
30.062 — 29.861 4.3—24 
N. 
— 
29 2 
0 13 
9 
14 5 
325 
21 Son 
24 Sun. aft. Trinity. Prs. R. born. 
29.930 —2().830 46—34 
W. 
— 
31 1 
1 21 
10 
13 49 
326 
|22 M 
Sun’s declination, 20° 15' s. 
30.149 —29.9981 45—25 
N. 
33 0 
2 29 
11 
13 33 
327 
23 Tu 
30.133—29.855 45—32 
w. 
18 
34 III 
3 35 
12 
13 17 
328 
24 \V 
Gray Wagtail comes. 
29.493 — 29.452 46—23 
N.W. 
— 
36 58 
4 42 
13 
13 59 
329 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-five years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 49.2“ and 36.°2 respectively. The greatest heat, 59“, occurred on the 18th in 1844 j and the lowest cold, 18“, on the IQth 
in 1841. During the period 83 days were fine, and on 92 rain fell. 
LARGE-FLOWERED GRINDELIA. 
(Grindelia yrandijlora.) 
This is a good addition to Grindelia, a well-known Mexi¬ 
can genus of Composite plants (Asteraoeie), with showy 
yellow iiower.s. It was discovered in Texas by Dr. Wriglit, 
whence he sent seeds of it to the Botanic Garden at Kew, 
wliere it was reared, and proved to he no more than a hardy 
biennial in our climate, reacliing from three to five feet 
high, and blooming till very late in the autumn. There is 
another plant in this country, erroneously called Cineraria 
tussihiginoides, with large yellow flowers, the counterpart of 
those of this species. The genus was named by Wildenow, 
after a German botanist called Grindel. The species is 
well represented in the Botanical Magazine, t. 40’-i8, where 
it is named and described by Sir W. Hooker. 
It belongs to Syngenesia Superflua Class and Order of 
the Liniinsan system. Each stem branches into three or 
four; each branch leafy, and bearing at its top an orange- 
coloured flower. Leaves alternate, stalldess, spear-head 
shaped, toothed at the base only ; flowers very large ; ray 
florets strap-shaped, with a tubular base ; disc florets yellow, 
tubular, five-toothed. B. J. 
Propagation and Culture. —This is another addition to the 
long list of Mexican Composites which have appeared from 
time to time under cultivation, but which were no sooner 
on the stage than they disappeared again, for which three 
distinct causes may be assigned. The first is, that these 
yellow' flowers, like a single yellow Chrysanthemum, are 
considered too common-looking since the rage for herba¬ 
ceous plants has subsided. Secondly, that seeds are not 
ripened with us when these bull-eyed plants flower late in 
! the season, as is the case with this Grindelia yrandiflora, 
I which was in bloom at Kew till the frost of November, 1851, 
, put a stop to them; and, thirdly, that their roots ai'e not 
sufficiently hai'dy for our winters. 
There are none of the Grindelias more deserving of 
cultivation than this, because it flowers so late in the season. 
By far the easiest and surest way to increase and keep it 
would be to make cuttings of it every season in July, under 
a hand-glass, out-of-doors; and to give the after-culture 
exactly as for cuttings and young stock of Penstemon yen- 
tianoides. In the spring, planting six or seven plants in a 
patch at the back of the mixed border. Any good garden 
soil will suit it very well, if it is well worked, and is not 
robbed by the roots of stronger plants. 
We are not yet half alive to the benefit that we might derive 
from hardy subjects in this extensive order, by turning them 
into double varieties, of which they are, by nature, more 
capable than any other race. Some one will yet make a 
fortune and a name out of the Michaelmas Daisy, wliich we 
almost despise. The Cineraria itself will not be of more 
varied or gay tints in-doors in the spring than the common 
Asters will be then right out in the open air. This Grindelia 
would be an excellent plant to begin experiments upon. The 
1 fact that we must keep it in stock from cuttings is as likely 
as not to change the nature of it, so far as to cause it to 
throw oft’ a double-flowering seedling some day or other, for 
this very reason, that we always make a better bed for a 
plant that requires so much care than for another, even with 
a better flower that will take care of itself. Another reason is | 
that a plant from a cutting has not so strong a constitution ■ 
for the fir.st year or two as a seedling plant of the same sort ; ; 
and we have great reason to believe, that by reducing the j 
constitutional vigour of a plant, and at the same time giving 1 
it a higher degree of culture, is as likely to cause its flowers 
to turn double. That is, if we can sow seeds from it, if i 
ever so few. No one is now so ignorant as to believe that j 
the art of man can ever turn a plant double otherwise than 
I by seedlings. D. Beaton. 
At page 264 of our last volume, we brought down our 
tracing of Poultry literature to the time of Gervas 
Markham, in 1631, and we may pass from thence over 
the whole of the eighteenth century without finding one 
author whose works deserve quoting upon the subject. 
We have referred to Mortimer’s “ Whole Art of Hus¬ 
bandry,” published in 1708, and to many others, and 
find that whore they are proli.x, they borrow from the 
ancients, and w'here they write from their own experi¬ 
ence they are brief and unsatisfactory. Thus, Mortimer ‘ 
says, “ As for cocks and hens, I shall not enter into a ^ 
description of the several sorts of them, only advising I 
No. CCXVI., VoL. IX. 
