October 16. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 31 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
OCTOBER 16—22, 1855. 
1 - - 
We.atheb near London in 1853. 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of ! 
Year. 
16 
Tn 
Mottled Umber Moth. 
30.028—29.671 
56—28 
N.E. — 
27 a 6 
5 a 5 
7 29 
5 
14 
17 
289 
17 
W 
Mallow Moth. 
29 . 396 — 29.258 
49—41 
R. 04 
29 
3 
8 30 
6 
14 
29 
290 
18 
Th 
St. Luke. 
29 . 419 — 29.227 
50—31 
N. 03 
30 
0 
i 9 46 
14 
41 
291 
19 
F 
Red-green Carpet Moth. 
29 . 786 - 29.469 
51—40 
W. 1 61 
32 
IV 
'll 13 
8 
14 
62 
292 
20 
S 
Sun’s decimation, 10° 15'a. 
29 . 483 — 29.356 
57-39 
W. i 04 
34 
56 
morn* 
9 
15 
3 
293 
21 
Son 
20 Sunday after Trinity. 
29 . 636 — 29.439 
57—45 
N.W. — 
S5 
54 
0 44 
10 
15 
13 
294 
22 
M 
Marbled Chestnut Moth. 
29 . 550 — 29.303 
60—31 
: W. — 
37 
52 
2 15 
11 
15 
22 
295 
Meteobology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 58.5°, and 42.7°, respectively. The greatest heat, 73°, occurred on the 21st, in 1830; and the lowest cold, 20°, 
on the 21st, in 1842. During the period 107 days were fine, and on 89 rain fell. 
What is to become of the Horttoultur.^l Society of 
London? The glory has departed from Chiswick; the 
exchequer is empty; the expenditure exceeds doubly the 
income; and the debt of ^010,000 is growing gradually 
greater. It is long since we had forebodings of the 
coming crisis, and did not fail to sound the alarm ; hut 
the announcement was pooh-poohed, and flattering 
statements by those who thought it their interest to 
make them, lulled for a time the growing anxiety. But 
the crisis has come, despite these glowing representations, 
and the Society is at a stand still; burdened with debt, 
and crippled on every side, it is now hut a living non¬ 
entity,—a kind of anatomie vivant. We have always 
taken an interest in its welfare, and whenever wo have 
felt it our duty to speak out, we have done so; not in a 
carping spirit, hut with the earnest desire that the dis¬ 
astrous course which was being pursued by those 
to whom the management of the Society was entrusted 
might he arrested, and that a brighter day might dawn 
j upon it. The fate of a noble institution was trembling 
in the balance, and a timely rescue might have saved 
it. We have, on many occasions, raised the note of 
warning, and urged the members to rouse themselves to 
a sense of the impending danger; but a spasmodic 
resjionse of “ all is well,” from an authorised organ, 
I soothed, for a time, the awakening fears of those who 
! could have rendered timely aid. 
The facts are these. The Secretary of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society has at last openly acknowledged 
that it cannot go on. A meeting has been called 
by those in authority, of a few of the practical 
members to talk over matters with the Secretary, 
who is to submit the opinion of the meeting to the 
I Council. The questions which were discussed were the 
present condition and future prospects of the society. 
The present condition is a debt of somewhere between 
L't0,000 and ^612,000; the income of last year was 
about .£1,700, and the expenditure about £4000, by 
which some £2000 was added to the already enor¬ 
mous debt. The assets are valued at some fabulous 
sum, of which we do not exactly know the amount, 
but practical men put them down at less than 
£5000. The future prospects are far from bright; the 
garden clerk and the librarian have been discharged; 
the necessary working staff in the garden has been 
reduced; the Quarterly Journal has lapsed, and there is 
no announcement of shows for the coming year. We do 
not know what passed at the meeting, further than that 
it was the unanimous opinion that no more debt should 
be incurred, let the consequence be what it may; and 
that immediate steps should be taken to dispose of all 
available stock, both at the garden and at Regent Street, 
for the purpose of liquidating, as far as it will go, the 
debt which has been already incurred. This is the 
recommendation the Secretary will have to take up to 
the Council; but what the future course will be remains 
to be seen. 
Next in alphabetical order, among the plants of our 
translation of the Bible occurs what the translators 
termed Camphire. They so rendered it, probably, be¬ 
cause the Hebrew word, Capiier in the original, closely 
resembles the eastern names for Camphor,—for it is Ka- 
foor in Arabic and Persian, Kaafoor in IMalay, Kiifoor 
in Hindostanee, and Kapur in some other languages. 
The word occurs but twice in the Bible, and each time 
by the same mystical poet. He there exclaims, “ My be¬ 
loved is unto me as a cluster of CapJier, in the vineyards 
of En-gedi.” {Canticles i. 14.) The translators had some 
doubt as to the correctness of their interpretation, and 
they, therefore, put Cypress in the margin, as an evi¬ 
dence that this tree might be intended. It was, however, 
a plant more fragrant than the Cypress ; for, in another 
passage (iv. 13), it is classed among the most odoriferous, 
—“ capher and spikenard, spikenard and saffron, hannh 
hosem and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; 
myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.” It was not, 
however, the true Camphor-tree, Laurus camphora, for 
this tree is a native of the tropics, and could not be 
growing in the vineyards of En-gedi. 
En-gedi, otherwise called Hazazon-Tamar (2 Chron. 
XX. 2), that is, the City of Palms, was but a short dis¬ 
tance, about forty miles, from Jerusalem; and we must 
identify, therefore, the Capher of the Bible vvith some 
odoriferous plant, that could be there cultivated. 
Such a plant is the Laicsonia spinosa, which our 
readers may form some idea of, when they know that it 
is the Ligustnm orieniale, or Eastern Evergreen Privet, 
of Parkinson, and others of our ancient herbalists. 
Dr. Royle says that Lawsonia may be found in most 
oriental regions in gardens, or in field culture. Bota¬ 
nists have thought that there was only one species, 
and that when old it was thorny, and had been culled 
Laicsonia spinosa, but that when young it was thorn¬ 
less, and had been then called L. inermis, or un,- 
No. CCOI^YIII. VoL XV. 
