! Ff.bruarv n. THE COTTAGE GAEDENER. 3^5 
i 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
HI w 
D U 
FEBRUARY 3-9 18,53. 
Weather near London in 1852. 
Barometer. Thermo.Iwind. Rain in In. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sim 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bf. Sun. 
Pay ot 
Year. 
3 Tu 
Smynthurus fuscus ; hedges. 
30.U2 
— 30.016 
51—34 
s.w. 
09 
38 a. 7 
51 a. 4 
3 
31 
25 
14 
10 
34 
: 4 F 
Sphodrus collaris ; tree rts. 
30.191 
— 29.810 
55—44 
s-'y- 
13 
36 
53 
4 
49 
20 
14 
16 
35 
r, s 
Silpha opaca ; tree roots. 
29.7.39 
— 29.641 
55—43 
S.W'. 
23 
34 
64 
,5 
57 
27 
14 
21 
36 
() Sun 
vShrove Sunday. 
30.098 
— 29.648 
49-27 
N.W. 
01 
3:1 
56 
c 
53 
28 
14 
25 
37 
7 M 
Omalium planum ; decayed bark. 
30.155 
— 29.994 
50—41 
N.VV. 
02 
31 
58 
7 
34 
29 
14 
28 
38 
' 8 To 
Shrove Tdesday. 
30.178 
— 29.463 
53-36 
S.w. 
38 
29 
V 
sets. 
@ 
14 
31 
39 
1 9\V 
Lent begins. Ash Wednesday. 
29.461 
— 29.111 
45—2.5 
s.w. 
05 
29 
2 
6 a 26 
1 
14 
33 
40 
Mf.tkorolooy ok the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tempera¬ 
tures of these days are 45.3° and 32.5“ respectively. The greatest heat, 57“, occurred on the .3rd in 13.50; and the lowest cold, 5°, on the 8th 
in 1847. During the period 98 days were fine, and on 94 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
POPPYWORTS.—PAPAVERACEiK. 
MECONOPSIS. 
Gf.xertc Character. —Sepah two. Petals four. iSlamens 
numerous. Style sliort. Stiama from four to six-rnyed, 
convex, distinct from the capsule. Capsule one-celled, 
j The increase in the size of Turnqts, after their leaves 
had been wholly removed, is a supposed fact that has 
' been noticed in this work, and has also engaged the 
I marked attention of our contemporaries. Gardeners have 
j long been aware that, in analogous circumstances, either 
1 when leaves were so thick that they could not individu- 
' ally he acted upon by light, or part of them had become 
I so matured that the food elaborated by them bore no 
! proportion to their drain on the general resources to 
^ support a languishing existence, thinning in the one 
j case, and removing in the other, would be attended with 
1 advantage. The only thing that appears out-of-joint 
with previously recognised phytological opinions, is 
the assertion, that the Turnips increase in size and 
weight after all the leaves, and green at the time, too, 
were removed in autumn. Without any pi-actical de¬ 
monstration, we can easily fancy how weight and even 
size might slightly be gained by removing the whole of 
' the foliage from Turnips in such a dull, mild, wet 
opening by from four to six valves at tlie top. Placentae 
narrow, scarcely pi’ojecting. Perennials with yellow juice. 
JIeconopsis cajirrica : Yellow Poiipy; ■Welch Poppy or 
jMeconopsis. 
iJcscription. —It is a perennial. TIerhaye tender, brittle, 
slightly milky - green ; its juice lemon-coloured. Stem a 
foot high, mostly besprinkled with nearly upright hairs, 
leafy, branched. Leaves stalked, leafleted; leaflets nearly 
egg-shaped, acute, cut, lobed, or x^innatifid, smooth, some¬ 
what forming an edging to the leaf-stalk; most milky-green 
underneath. Flower of a full lemon - colour, deliciously 
fragrant like Crussula coccinea and odoratissima, or Mesem- 
bryaiithemum iwctijlorum; smaller than Papaver Rhwas; 
each on a very long, minutely hairy stalk. Petals egg- 
shaped, and scored near their base. Calyx hairy. Capsule 
elliptic-oblong, of four or five cells, with as many ribs, or 
receptacles, wliich elevate the convex, four or five-rayed, 
stigma, and, before tlie capsule bursts by intermediate valves 
at the top, have the appearance of a short style. By this 
character the present species has been separated from 
Papaver. 
Places where found .—IMountains, among wet rocks, in 
Wales, Cumberland, and 'Westmoreland. 
Time of Jioweriny. —.Tune. 
History. —It has been named Meconopsis from meknn, a 
Poppy, and opsis, like. So like, indeed, is it to the Poppy, 
that Sir .1. E. Smith, and other distinguished botanists, 
l)ersisted in retaining it in that genus under the name be¬ 
stowed upon it by Liniireus, Papaver camhrieum. It is 
stated in the last edition of Withering, that this was first 
discovered by Hi’. Thomas .lohnson, the editor of Gerarde’s 
Herbal, but the first descrip)tion we find of it is in Parkin¬ 
son’s Herbal, where he very accurately describes and 
pictures it under the name of Argemone cambro-britannica 
liiiea. It is a plant very desirable to have-in moist shady 
places. It belongs to Polyandria-Monogynia in the Linna°an 
system. {Smith. Lindley. Martyii. Withering, Parkinson.) 
winter as that we have so far passed through; as then 
the absorbing powers would counterpoise the perspiring. 
A step farther just brings us to the point on which w'e j 
are all agreed, namely, that roots, tubers, and bulbs 
must be kept from growing when we wish to preserve ' 
their qualities and powers unexhausted. | 
Having never, as yet, seen our way perfectly witli I 
respect to all the generally-received dogmas in vegetable ' 
physiology, it is no small pleasure to us to see that 
these Turnips of the “ Author of a 'Word in Season,” in 
unison with some statements from the Continent, have 
tended somewhat to shake the foregone conclusions of 
some of our most worthy and learned leaders; but if 
solitary facts were sufficient to form a principle, then we 
might have, ere long, a perfect chaos of theories. For 
example; we generally advise our friends who cultivate 
bulbs, to look after and encourage the green foliage, if 
they wish to have fine bulbs and flowers the following 
season. Yet, some twenty years ago, we assisted in 
No. CCXXVIL, VoL. IX, 
