Januabt 27. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
315 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M W 
Weather near London in 1852. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
Year. 
I) U 
Barometer. Thermo. 
Wind, llainin In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R, & S. 
Age. 
aft. Sun. 
27 Th 
Dromius pusillus; bark. 
Demetrias atricapilla ; bark. 
29.588 — 29 .4B7' 46—29 
s. 
28 
48 a. 7 
38 a. 4 
7 24 
18 
13 
8 
27 
28 F 
29.883 — 29.730 45—21 
N.W. 
— 
47 
40 
8 44 
19 
13 19 
28 
29 S 
Hvphvf^rus ovatus ; ponds. 
30.090 — 29.924 4fl —34 
S.W. 
04 
45 
42 
10 5 
20 
13 30 
29 
30 Sun 
Sexagesima Sunday. 
29 . 979 -a 9 .S 24 53—29 
W. 
11 
44 
44 
11 26 
21 
13 39 
30 
31 M 
Hilary Term ends. 
29.919 — 29.510 52—39 
s. 
14 
42 
45 
morn. 
22 
13 48 
31 
1 Tu 
Podura plumbea. 
29.998 — 29.717 57—39 
S.W. 
04 
40 
47 
Om 47 
13 56 
32 
2 W 
PuRiF. Candl. Day. 
30.003 — 29.850 53—33 
S.W. 
04 
39 
49 
2 10 
24 
14 
4 
33 
Meteorology OF THE Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are44.l°and 31. 7 ° respectively. The greatest heat, 50“^, occurred on the 28th in 1840 ; and the lowest cold, 10°,onthe2nd 
in 1847, During the period 101 days were fine, and on 81 rain fell. 
ROSE-COLOURED TACSONIA. 
{Tacsonia savgiiinea.) 
Foe a very full history of the genus I'acsonia, and the 
culture of some of its species, we must refer our readers to 
pages 5 and 310 of our tifth volume. 
The species before us has heeo until now imperfectly 
known. About fifty years since it was descrilied l)y Sir J. 
E. Smitli, in Rees’s Cyclopaidia, as PassJJora mnguinea, and 
Decandolle, in his “ Produmus,” first called it Tacsonia 
sail guinea, hut entirely from Sir .1. E. Smith’s description, 
and tliere is little doubt but tiiat Tacsonias quadriglandulosa, 
quadridentatu, and pubescens, in the same work, are really the 
sanguinea. It was first flowered in this coimtry during last 
.inly, by Mr. Hugh Low, of tlie Clapton Nursery, and it is 
figured in tlie Botanical Magazine, t. 4074. Mr. Low re¬ 
ceived it from Trinidad, and tlie gentleman who forwarded 
it, H. Rye, Esq., called it Passiflora diversifoUa. It is to be 
regretted tliat sanguinea, not being wholly inappropriate, 
must be retained as tlie specific name, for diversifoUa 
(various-leaved) is descriptive of its very marked peculiarity 
of foliage, wliereas “ blood-coloured ” is equally applicable 
to the flowers of some otlier species. The leaves vary in 
form, not only upon diiferent, hnt upon the same plant, 
some being oblong-egg-shaped, and others heart-shaped, 
and three-lobed; the edges are always more or less wavy, 
and unequally toothed; the under-side strongly net-like, 
owing to the projecting nerves, sometimes downy, hut 
always pale green, whereas tlie upper-side is always dark 
green, and usually smooth; the Icaf-staVis are about half-an- 
inch long, with glands at their base, and sometimes in the 
waves of the leaves. Flower large, with five narrow, taper- 
pointed sepals, terminating in a pliable awl-shaped awn; 
sepals outside, partly green and rose-coloured, but inside 
uniformly rosy. Petals five, and like the sepals, but rosy- 
red on both sides. Crown, or nectary, double, short; the 
inner white, and membranous, fringed with red erect rays ; 
the outer of a circular row of filaments or tlireads, wliite, 
banded and tipped with red. Column three or four times 
longer than the crown, with short threads, bent hack, and 
the whole greenish, spotted with red. Anthers red. Styles 
deep red, with green stigmas. {Botanical Magazine.) J. 
Resuming our biography of the Pear from where we 
left off, at page 276, we will begin by replying to a cor¬ 
respondent’s enquiry {Norton )—“ On what grounds we 
say that the Romans had a very accurate knowledge of 
its cultivation?” We shall not stop to gather together 
the fragments of information sustaining our opinion, 
which we find scattered through the works of Cato, 
Columella, and Varro, but will turn at once to what 
is said by the brothers Gordian and Maximus Quin- 
tilius. They flourished in the second century, and in 
fragments of their writings, in the “ Lihri xx. Geopo- 
uicorum,” we find that they recommend for the Pear 
a cool and damp soil, adding, that if the fruit is gritty, 
the soil should be improved, and well watered; a recom¬ 
mendation also given by Palladius. Diophanes, who 
wrote before Columella, Varro, and Pliny, for they quote 
from his writings, directs that they must he planted in 
a mild situation; that to promote fruitfulness, some of 
the main roots should be split, and the fissure kept open 
by a wooden wedge; and that if languid, they should 
he manured with the refuse of the wine-press. The 
Romans had their Mr. Rivers, or advocate for dwarf 
Pears, for Tarentinns directs them to be grafted on 
the Quince {Malum cydonia). We might enlarge our 
extracts demonstrating tlmt they knew how to pro¬ 
pagate this fruit by cuttings, a lost art, hut recently said 
to he re-discovered; however, we have quoted enough ; 
to justify our statement, and will at once proceed to 
examine what our earliest English herbal-writer. Dr. 
Turner, says about this fruit-tree. 
In the second part of his “ Complete Herbal,” published 
in 1562, he remarks, “We have many kinds of garden 
Pears with us in England, and some kinds better than 
ever I saw in Germany for wholesomeness; and some in 
Germany more pleasant and greater than ever I saw in 
England. I have read in no old writer so many kinds of 
pears as I read of in Pliny, whereof I will show certain 
Latin names, and compare them with our English Pears 
and Dutch Pears as well as I can. Pyra superha, that is 
to say. Proud Pears, are little and soonest ripe; and these 
are called in Cambridge, Midsummer Pears. Falerna 
pyra have their name, saitli Pliny, because they be full 
of juice. These are called, in some places. Watery 
Pears, or Moist Pears. Dolobelliana are the pears that 
No. CCXXVI., VoL. IX. 
