Abril 1. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
W APRIL 1—7, 1852. 
Weather near London in 1851. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day 0 
Year 
Barometer. Thermo.: Wind. Rain in In. 
i 
Th Ash flowers. 
30.108 — 30.101' 55—38 N.E. 
_ 
36 a. 5 
32 a. 6 
4m 34 
12 
3 
51 
92 
2 
F Cambridge Term ends. 
30.085 — 30.021 52—42 S.W. 
03 
34 
33 
5 5 
13 
3 
33 
93 
3 
S Oxford Term ends. 
30.122 — 30.021 57—38 N.W. 
08 
32 
35 
; 5 31 
14 
3 
15 
94 
4 
Sun Palm Sunday. 
30.100 — 30.025 53—20 N. 
— 
30 
36 
1 rises, 
© 
2 
5 7 
95 
5 
M Wych Elm flowers. 
30.028—29.974 51—26 ; N.E. 
01 
28 
38 
8 a 2 
]{j 
2 
39 
96 
6 
Tu Old Lady Day. 
30.066 — 29.991 47—21 N.E. 
— 
25 
40 
1 9 28 
17 
2 
22 
97 
7 
W Black thorn flowers. 
30.055 — 30.002 49—37 N.E. 
— 
23 
41 
10 50 
18 
2 
4 
98 
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 56° and 36.4° respectively. The greatest heat, 78°, occurred on the 3rd in 1848 ; and the lowest cold, i6° on the 1st 
in 1838. During the period 100 days were fine, and on 75 rain fell. 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
CROWFOOTS—RANUNCULACE2E. 
RANUNCULUS. 
( Continued from ‘page J77, Vol. vii.) 
Ranunculus aquatilis : White Floating Crowfoot; Water j 
Crowfoot. 
Description. —It is a water perennial. Hoot fibrous. Stems 
several, long in proportion to the depth of the water, 
branched, clothed with alternate leaves, having broad mem- 
branous stipules at the bottom of each leaf-stalk. Leaves 
long-stalked, smooth, dark green; upper leaves floating on 
the surface, variously three or five-lobed and notched, with 
leaf-stalk nearly in the centre; lower leaves under water, 
generally three-branclied, and divided into numerous hair- 
like segments. Sometimes all the leaves are of this form, | 
none of them rising to the surface. This usually occurs in 
, rapid streams, and the leaves and their stalks then become 
much lengthened. Flowers on stalks arising from the same 
sheath with the leaves, and opposite to them. Petals white, 
with a yellow spot at the bottom. Nectary a short open 
tube. 
Variety 2. Large flowered. None of the leaves hair¬ 
like ; llowers very large. 
Variety 3. Circle leaved. (Circinatus.) All the leaves 
hair-like, and of such equal-lengthed segments, that 
these form a roundish outline. 
Variety 4. Spreading-leaved (Diffusus) or Fine Water 
Crowfoot. All the leaves hair-like, segments spread¬ 
ing, their outline irregular. 
Variety 5. Stream-dwelling. (Fluviatilis.) All the 
leaves hair-like, their segments very long, parallel, 
and floating in the direction of the current. Ex¬ 
hausted by the excessive production of leaves this 
variety rarely flowers. This is the R. pantothrix of 
some botanists. 
Places where found. —Very common in ditches and ponds. 
Variety 5 in rapid streams. 
Time of flowering. —May to July. 
History. —This is not only not injurious, but is nutritious j 
to some animals. Thus Dr. Pulteney has recorded, that in | 
the neighbourhood of Eingwood, on the banks of the Avon, 
some of the cottagers in his time supported their cows and 
even horses almost entirely by this plant. A quantity of it 
was collected every morning and brought in a boat to the 
edge of the stream, from which the cows eat it with so 
much greediness, that each cow was allowed no more than 
from ^5 to 30 lbs. daily. One man kept five cows and one 
horse so much upon this plant, with the scanty pasturage of 
a heath, that they consumed only ha'if-a-ton of hay in the 
year, the hay being given only when the water was frozen. 
Hogs, he states, also thrive so well upon this plant that 
they require no other food until put up to fatten. 
Ranunculus parvxflorus : Small - flowered Crowfoot; 
Hairy Crowfoot. 
Description. —It is a trailing annual. Root fibrous. Herb 
pale green, covered with soft hairs. Stems many, prostrate, 
cylindrical, hollow, branched, leafy, about nine inches long. 
Root-leaves long-stalked, kidney-shaped, acutely notched; 
the upper ones three-lobed; uppermost of all in deep spear¬ 
head entire segments; all the leaves feel very soft. Flowers 
opposite to the leaves, solitary, stalked, small, yellow, with 
narrow reversed-egg petals, one or more of which are often 
wanting, or imperfect. Calyx a little bent back. Seeds 
lentil-shaped, with a broad, flattened, curved point; them 
sides covered with small, hooked prickles. 
Places where found. —Corn fields and meadows on a 
gravelly soil. Not common. 
Time of flowering. —May and June. 
History. —Although, following the opinion of other bo¬ 
tanists, we state this to be a plant not common in Britain, 
yet we believe it to be of much more frequent occurrence 
than is usually supposed. Being an annual, its flowers of 
brief duration, and its herbage trailing and inconspicuous, 
it often escapes notice. Hill, in his British Herbal , gives a 
drawing of it under the title of Low Crowfoot with prickly 
seeds. (Smith; Withering; Martyn.) 
One of the most gratifying and animating of spectacles 
is a man religiously and patiently winning his way from 
obscurity and poverty to independence and distinction, 
with no other aids than his own acquirements, his own 
exertions, and the blessing of God, on whom he relies. 
Such a man is exhibited to us in the Forsyth MSS. in 
the person of Alexander Anderson ; and though he 
has long been known to fame as an excellent botanist, 
yet, until these manuscripts came into our hands, little 
was known of his history. It shall be our most pleasant 
task, in this and some following notices, to trace his 
upward progress. 
No.. CLXXXIII., Vol. VIII 
