December 2. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 155 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
DECEMBEH 2-8, 18.52. 
We.athee near Eondon in 1851. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon^s 
Age. 
Clock 
aft. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
lUi D 
Barometer. Thermo. 
Wind. Rain in In. 
1 2Tu 
Pipistrelle Bat last seen. 
1 
30.267—30.237 41—27 
N.W. 
48 a. 7 
52 a. 3 
9 13 
21 
10 
13 
337 
i 3 F 
Pin-tailed Duck comes. 
30.285 — 30.187 39—24 
S.W. 
— 
49 
51 
10 80 
22 
9 
49 
338 
; 4 S 
Furze flowers. 
30.245 — 30.234 43—35 
S.W. 
— 
51 
51 
11 49 
9 
24 
339 
5 Son 
2 Sunday in Advent. 
30.211 —30.229, 47—39 
S W. 
02 
52 
50 
morn. 
24 
8 
69 
340 
1 6M 
Black-throated Diver comes* 
30.221 —30,204 49—44 
S.W. 
63 
50 
1 9 
25 
8 
34 
341 
1 7Tu 
Polyanthus flowers again. 
30.202 — 30 . 069 . 61—40 
s. 
— 
54 
50 
2 32 
26 
8 
8 
342 
1 8\V 
Skylarks flock. 
30.214 — 29.919 54—25 
w. 
55 
49 
3 53 
27 
7 
41 
343 
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 47.1° and 36° respectively. The greatest heat, 57°, occurred on the 2nd in 1835 j and the lowest cold, 14°, on the 6th I 
in 1844. During the period 85 days were fine, and on 90 VRio foli* I 
TANSEY-LEAVED MACH.ERANTH. 
(Machceranlhera tanacetifoUa.) 
This is a genus of Composite plants, anil belonging to 
the Syngenesia SupeiTlua of Linmcus. Little is known of it 
in our gardens. It belongs to the section of the true 
Asters, and was named by Nees Von Esenberg, from ma- 
clinira, a sabre, and anthem, the male organs or anthers. 
The present species was discovered by Dr. Wright, in New 
Mexico, and from seeds sent by him to the Kew Gardens, it 
has been ascertained to be a handsome dwai’f biennial, with 
We have now arrived at the most modern section of 
our Poultry literature; and we regret that we cannot 
say that it has kept pace with the improvement which is 
so decisive in the objects on which it descants. 
If any one wishes for a delightful book about fowls, 
let him buy Ornamental and Domestic Poultry, by the 
Rev. E. S. Dixon. It is not only readable, but most 
amusing; full of information relative to tbe history, 
jiast and present, of all kinds of poultry, whether useful 
or only ornamental ; sparkling with bright sketches, 
and even the fragments of practical detail are all touched 
off artistically. Take this as a specimen :— 
“ Shortly before the time of hatching arrives, the chickens 
may be heard to chirp and tap against the walls of their 
shell. Soon a slight fracture is perceived towards the upper 
flowers as large as those of a single China Aster, and much 
like one; the centre of the flower is yellow, and the ray 
outside a purplish-blue, but in the bud, the tips of the 
ray resemble some red thistle just bursting. The leaves 
look as much like those of the Chamomile as the Tansey. 
It is a half-trailing, slightly shrubby plant, and will bear ex¬ 
posure in our open borders in summer. Leaves alternate, 
stalkless, slightly downy, cut into numerous, spreading, 
narrow, toothed segments ; these segments become finer on 
the upper leaves. Flowers solitary, and terminating the 
branches with hemispheiical scaly involucre. Florets in 
the centre, tube-like, and five-toothed. It is figured in the 
Botanical Magazine, t. 4024. B. J. 
Propagation and Culture. —It has been stated by Mr. 
Smith, the curator of the Botanic Garden, Kew, that this 
novelty is difficult to propagate by cuttings, and that seeds 
are very sparingly produced. Tlierefore, the only chance 
we have of succeeding with it, is to begin very early in the 
spring, and to give a slight heat to the plant, and as soon as 
an inch or tw’o of young growth is made, to make cuttings 
of the shoots directly. There is hardly a plant in this, the 
very largest order in the vegetable kingdom, that can escape 
such timely mode of propagation, although there are many 
of them that defy the art of man to root from cuttings, 
from the moment the first genn of a flower-bud is formed 
in the system. 
As soon as the young plants are hardened-off; they will 
grow in any light, rich soil out-of-doors, but in case the 
seeds should not ripen, a couple of plants should be re¬ 
served in pots, and the flowers pinched-off in the bud as 
fast as they appear. These two plants will furnish a stock 
of cuttings the following season. Neither the old Cineraria 
cruenta, nor the first China Aster, promised so good a chance 
for garden varieties as this plant. If I were a young 
gardener, I would not rest until I drove this plant to the 
verge of a florist’s flower. Its very aspect seems to tell as 
much at first sight. The habit and the leaves seem to 
speak of carpeting a bed, and the undecided tints of colour 
speak at once of a wilding got by a chance sport of nature 
in tbe wilds of Mexico. Humboldt, however, saw it cul¬ 
tivated there in gardens, although Dr. Wright found it in a 
state of nature. D. Beaton. 
end, caused by force from within. The fracture is continued 
around the top of the egg, which then opens hke a lid, and ' 
the little bird struggles into daylight. The tapping which is | 
heard, and which opens the prison doors, is caused by the 
bill of the included chick : the mother has nothing to do 
with its liberation, beyond casting the empty shells out of 
the nest. At the tip of the bill of every new-hatched chick, 
on the upper sui’face, a whitish scale will be observed, about 
the size of a pin’s head, but much harder than the bill 
itself. Had the beak been tipped with iron to force the shell ; 
open, it would not have been a stronger proof of creative ! 
design than is this minute speck, which acts as so necessary ^ 
an instrument. In a few days after birth, when it is no ; 
longer wanted, it has disappeared; not by falling off, I | 
believe, which would be a waste of valuable material, but ' 
by being absorbed and becoming serviceable in strengthening [ 
the bony structure, minute as the portion of earthy sub- I 
stance is. And yet some people direct, that as soon as the ' 
chick is hatched, this scale should be forced off with the ■ 
linger nail, because it is injurious ! i 
No. CCXVIII,, VoL. IX. 
