February 20. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 387 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
D 
W 
FEBRUARY 20—26, J855. 
Weather near London in 
1853. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
at. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
20 
To 
Shrove Tuesday. 
30.2Qi—29.908 
52—28 
w. 
02 
7 
21 
10 30 
4 
14 
2 
51 
21 
w 
Lent begins. Ash Wednesday. 
30.263 — 29 722 
49—25 
N.E. 
— 
5 
23 
11 62 
5 
13 
56 
52 
22 
Th 
Sun’s declinat., 10° 1 T s. 
30.247—29.947 
47—33 
s.w. 
06 
3 
25 
morn. 
6 
13 
48 
53 
23 
F 
Small Brindle; oaks. 
30.612—30.307 
49—24 
N. 
— 
1 
26 
1 11 
3 
13 
40 
54 
2 4 
S 
St. Matthias. 
30.502—30.291 
47—35 
S.W. 
— 
VI 
28 
2 26 
8 
13 
32 
65 
2 5 
Sun 
l Sunday in Lent. 
30.470—30.395 
51—25 
N.W. 
— 
57 
30 
3 36 
9 
13 
22 
56 
26 
M 
Rosy Day-Moth; hedges. 
30.543—30.475 
50—23 
N. 
— 
55 
32 
4 36 
10 
13 
12 
57 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 46.°8, and 33.2°, respectively. The greatest heat, 59°, occurred on the 24th, in 1846; and the lowest cold, 16° 
on the 20th, in 1852. During the period 96 days were fine, and on 100 rain fell. 
The next plant occurring alphabetically in our transla¬ 
tion of the Scriptures is the Bramble, and we will 
preface our notes upon this, by observing that no plants 
are more difficult to discriminate satisfactorily than 
those which are comprised in the sacred writings under 
the general terms of “ Brambles,” “ Thorns,” and 
“ Briers.” As an illustration, it is only necessary to 
observe that the translators of our version of the Bible 
have made use of the word Bramble three times, and in 
each time the original certainly referred to three different 
plants—we allude to the passages in Judges ix. 14, 15, 
where the original is Axad ; Isaiah xxxiv. 13, where 
the original is Kemosh ; and Luke vi. 44, where the 
original is Batos. Nor is this the only demonstration 
of the uncertainty under which the translators laboured ; 
for the name Atad, rendered by them Bramble in the 
passage in Judges, is rendered by them Thorn, in 
Psalm lviii. 9. 
We shall have occasion to notice all the other passages 
under the various renderings, but at present we will 
confine ourselves to the plant intended by the original 
word Atad , which, as wc have observed, occurs twice in 
the Old Testament. 
In the 9th chapter of Judges, and in the first fable of 
which we have a record, the name Atad occurs primarily. 
The Sheohemites had rebelled against Jerubbaal, had 
murdered all his family but the youngest son, Jotham, 
and had raised to the throne Abimelech, the child of 
Jerubbaal’s “ maidservant.” Jotham, before he fled 
from his countrymen, addressed to them the caustic 
fable to which we have referred. He represented them 
under the figure of trees, who “ went forth to anoint 
a king over them,” and who, after having applied in 
vain to the most esteemed of trees—the Olive, the Fig, 
and the Vine—were at last content to put up with the 
Atad as their monarch. “ Then said all the trees unto 
Atad, Come thou and reign over us. And Atad said 
unto the trees, If, in truth, ye anoint me king over you, 
then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if 
not, let fire come out of Atad and devour the Cedars of 
Lebanon” ( Judges ix. 14, 15). 
By Atad, there is no doubt that Jotham intended to 
represent Abimelech, the usurper, for in the 19th and 
20th verses, Jotham proceeds to say—“ If ye have dealt 
truly and sincerely with Jerubbaal, and with his house 
this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him 
rejoice in you; but if not, let fire come out from Abi¬ 
melech and devour the men of Shechem.” 
To render the comparison of Abimelech appropriate, 
the Atad must be a common, lowly plant, to bow down 
to which, and to “ trust in its shadow,” must have been 
as difficult to the Cedars, as Jotham wished the Shec- 
hemites to feel that it was debasing for them to put 
confidence in and submit to Abimelech. The com¬ 
parison also requires that the plant be thorny, and 
that it was used for fuel, for Atad is regarded by all 
Hebraists to signify a thorny plant, and not only does 
the words quoted above, “ let fire come out of Atad,” 
refer to its use for fuol, but in the 9th verse of the 58th 
Psalm, “ before your pots can feel Atad," is no other 
than a figurative mode of saying, “before your pots 
can feel the heat of the fuel.” 
The plant which best agrees with these characteristics, 
and is common throughout Judea, and its neighbouring 
regions, is the Paliurus aculeatus, or Christ’s Thorn. 
It is a bush, very thorny, and about the size of the 
Black-thorn or Sloe-bush. Peter Bellonius, says Ge- 
rarde, “ who travelled over the Holy Land, saith that 
this shrubby Thorn Paliurus groweth throughout the 
whole country in such abundance that it is their 
common fuel to burn; yea, so common with them 
there as our Gorse, Brakes, and Broom are here with 
us.” Don states that it is the common Thorn of the 
hedges of Asia, forming a fence of a most impassable 
kind. The seeds are sold in the herb-shops of Constanti¬ 
nople, and the native hakims, or doctors, prescribe them 
in many complaints, under the name of Xalle. They 
are used also as a dye. 
In strong confirmation of the opinion that the Atad 
of the Bible is the Paliurus of modern Botanists, we 
have to observe, that this Paliurus was known to 
Dioscorides, and other aucient authors, as the Rhamnus, 
and this Rhamnus was called by the Carthagenians, 
a nation near to the Holy Land, Atadmi which is the 
plural of Atad. 
The Anniversary Meeting of The Entomological Society 
was held on the 22d of January, when Mr. Newman, 
whose period of office had expired, was replaced as 
President by Mr. Curtis; and Mr. Edwin Shepherd was 
elected as joint Secretary with Mr. Douglas, in lieu of 
the late Mr. Wing. 
Mr. Newman delivered the annual address on the 
state of the Sooiety, its progress and success; the 
Treasurer’s accounts shewing a more prosperous con" 
No. CCCXXXIV. Vol. XIII. 
