June 23. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
213 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
w 
JUNE 23—29, 1853. 
Weather near London in 1852. 
Sun 
Sun 
Moon 
Moon’s 
Clock Day of 
D 
D 
1 i 
Barometer. Thermo. Wind. 
Rain in In. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
af. Sun. Year. 
23 
Th 
Goat Moth ; willows. 
29.849 —29.717 
72-47 
s.w. 
_ 
45 a. 3 
19 a. 8 
10 47 
17 
1 49 1/4 
24 
F 
Midscmmer Day. Nat. Jn. 13ap. 
30.075 — 29 950 
76—44 
w. 
01 
45 
19 
11 18 
18 
1 Jj 1 /6 
2 14 176 
25 
s 
Cinnabar; heaths. 
30.048 — 29.904 
74-57 
S. 
01 
40 
19 
11 40 
19 
26 
Sun 
5 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.814 — 29.708 
71—52 
S.W. 
32 
46 
19 
11 59 
20 
2 27 1/7 
27 
M 
Coronet; trees. 
29.824 — 29760 
71—51 
S.W. 
12 
47 
19 
morn. 
21 
2 39 178 
26 
To 
Q. Victoria’s Coronation 1838. 
29.786 — 29.761 
68—56 
S.W. 
04 
47 
19 
0 14 
€ 
2 52 179 
29 
W 
St. Peter. 
29-787 —29-715 
67—53 
S.W. 
03 
1 48 
18 
0 31 
23 
3 4 180 
Meteorology of the Week.—A t Chiswick, from observations 
88°, occurred on 
the 23rd in 1816 
; and the lowest cold, 35°, on the 
during the last twenty-six years, the average highest and lowest tem¬ 
peratures of these days are 73° and 50.2° respectively. The greatest heat, 
23rd in 1851. During the period 112 days 
fell. 
were line, ana on /u rain 
BRITISH WILD BLOWERS. 
(Continued, from page 133.,) 
Fu maria parviflora : Small-flowered Fumitory. 
Description. —It is an annual. Herb, about six inches 
high, like Fumaria officinalis, but rather smaller in every 
part. Segments of the leaves very narrow, line-like anti 
channelled, not widening in any part, all uniform. Bracles 
longer in proportion to the flower-stalks, rather awl-shaped. 
Flower not more than half the size of F. officinalis , pale red, 
occasionally white; tips of the inner petals purple, in a loose 
cluster. Pod globose with a point, not abrupt, nor notched, 
single-seeded. This is doubtless a very distinct species 
from F. officinalis, and, as Professor Decandolle remarks, 
has no relationship to F. spicata, whose terminal spikes, and 
oval, hat, thick-edged, dotted pod, are abundantly charac¬ 
teristic. 
Places where found. —Corn-fields in the south of England. 
Time of flowering— August to September. 
History. —This was not distinguished as a separate species 
until Lamarck published his “Encyclopedia of Botany” at 
the beginning of the present century. Besides being found in 
England and Southern Europe, it is also a very common 
weed in the East Indies, being called in Hindoostanee, 
Sulphur-Saug, but Dr. Ainslie, in his “Materia Medic a of 
Hindostan,” says, it is also known by the name of Pitpatra. 
The Mahomedans there employ it as a diuretic, as well as a 
deobstruent, and in maniacal cases. 
The old herbalists all speak of the Fumitories as me¬ 
dicines useful if administered with similar objects as by 
the Indian Mahomedans; and both, probably, derived the 
suggestion from their Arabian predecessors and teachers in 
the art of healing. It is deserving of notice, that the 
Fumitories contain a peculiar acid, which has been called 
Fumaric Acid, but which is also known as Lichenic or Par- 
melic Acid, because it is also a constituent of Iceland Moss, 
Lichen islandicus, or Parmelia pulmonaria. (Smith. Donn. 
Withering. Thomson. Duncan.) 
Information received from various districts leads us to 
the conclusion that the fruit crop throughout England 
will he much above an average, with the exception ot 
Plums. Apples, from Kent to the farthest corner ot 
Devonshire, are in profusion, and Pear-trees are no less 
heavily laden. Those grafted on Quince stocks, which 
usually blossom so early as to be cut off by the spring 
frosts, are this year well cropped. This was owing to 
their much later blooming. Cherries are more partial, 
but of the later varieties the crop promises to be abun¬ 
dant ; we say promises, because until the stoning 
period is well over, the produce is not secure. Indeed, 
there are three perils of the Cherry—the setting, the 
stoning, and the colouring—to say nothing of the birds. 
Of Strawberries, generally, there is a vast abundance; 
the chief failures being among those who manure their 
ground too highly. Keen’s Seedlings were ripe in the 
open ground near Winchester on the 20th inst. Cur¬ 
rants and Gooseberries are bearing the largest crops 
that have been known for many years, indeed, so 
abundant are they in places that we have numerous 
queries how best to employ them. The following extract 
from one of Poole’s stories may be suggestive. 
Mr. Poole, meeting the retired landlord ot one of the 
inns he frequented at Cambridge in his days of pupil¬ 
lage, the following conversation occurred :— 
“ You can’t deny it, Burley; your wines, of all kinds, were 
detestable—port, Madeira, claret, champagne—” 
“There now, sir! to prove how much gentlemen may be 
mistaken, 1 assure you, sir, as I’m an honest man, I never 
had but two sorts of wine in my cellar—port and sherry.” 
“ How! when I myself have tried your claret, your—” 
“ Yes, sir— my claret, sir. One is obliged to give gentlemen 
everything they ask for, sir; gentlemen who pay their money, 
sir, have a right to be served with whatever they may please 
to order, sir—especially the young gentlemen from Cambridge, 
sir. I’ll tell you how it was, sir, I would never have any 
wines in my house, sir, but port and sherry, because I know 
them to be wholesome wines, sir; and this I will say, sir, my 
port and sherry were the—very — best I could procure in all 
England.” 
i “ How! the best ?■ ” 
“ Yes, sir— at the price I paid for them. But to explain the 
I thing at once, sir. You must know, sir, that I had'nt been , 
long in business when 1 discovered that gentlemen know very I 
little about wine; but that if they didn’t find some fault or 
other, they would appear to know much less—always excepting 
the young gentlemen from Cambridge, sir; and they are 
excellent judges!" [And here again Burley’s little eyes 
twinkled a humorous commentary on the concluding words l 
of his sentence.] “ Well, sir; with respect to my dinner > 
wines I was always tolerably safe; gentlemen seldom find ; 
No. CCXLYII., Vol. X. 
