July 17. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN'S COMPANION. 
277 
ancl removing the scum. At the expiration of an hour, pour 
the boiling liquor through a sieve on tire peel, and when 
nearly cold add the strained orange-juice and a yeast toast. 
Leave it twenty-four hours ; remove the toast, and let it 
stand another twenty-four hours. Tun it with the peels, 
reserving two quarts, in one of which dissolve the cochineal, 
previously well-pounded; in the other quart add the ising 
lass, put it in the barrel when both are cold; well stir both 
together; leave it without bungiug for a fortnight, then add 
the brandy; stir it well, and bung it up closely.—E. T., 
Bath. 
I forward you a receipt for making Orange Wine, which 
I expect “ Fanny” and others will approve of. 
Boil six gallons of spring-water with twelve pounds of 
loaf-sugar for three-quarters-of-an hour, with the whites of 
ten eggs, well beaten ; when cold, put into the liquor six 
spoonfuls of yeast; take the juice of twelve lemons, which, 
being pared, must stand with two pounds of sugar in a 
tankard, and in the morning skim oil' the top and put it in 
the water. Then add the juice and rind of fifty Oranges, 
i but not the white part of the rinds; let them all work toge¬ 
ther for forty-eight hours; then add two quarts of Rhenish 
or White wine, and put it into the cask.—F. It. W. 
A NATURAL FLOWER-GARDEN. 
Thinking it may be interesting to you to hear, as well as it 
was to me to see, I beg to say that I recently saw, planted by 
nature, on the margin of a muddy moat, near the ruins of 
an old episcopal palace here, a beautiful circle, as uniform 
and complete as any gardener could have done it, of the 
large yellow flowers of which I enclose you a specimen. 
The circle was about three feet in diameter, the centre 
being filled for about a foot wide with the luxuriant and 
glossy foliage. I counted upwards of one-liundred-and-tivcnty 
blossoms in the circumference,—a perfect blaze of radiant, 
golden light, which attracted the attention and admiration of 
several other persons as well as myself. 
I am induced to trouble you with a specimen of the 
plant, because, though rather common in the meadows here, 
it bears a variety of names, such as large Buttercup, Water 
Crowfoot, Anemone, Marsh Marygold, Ac., therefore, it 
would be very satisfactory if you could oblige me with the 
scientific and English names of the plant in your valuable 
Cottage Gardener. I also inclose a small, neat-looking 
spike-flower, for the name of which I will at the same time 
venture to trouble you. It grows in moist pasture ground.— 
T. M. W. 
[The yellow flower is Callha piduStris , and the “ neat- 
looking spike-llower ” is Pulyyomnn Bistorta , the Common 
Bistort ]. 
IVY AT BISHOPS’ WALTHAM PALACE. 
In reference to Mr. Beaton’s interesting dissertation on 
Ivy, No. 347, page 120,1 beg to mention the Ivy on the ruins 
! of the Episcopal Palace, Bishops’ Waltham, (which, no 
doubt, you have seen), and I would notice particularly that 
which is growing on the western side of the tower, which, 
still majestic in its decay, is, I believe, rather more than 
forty feet high, and about twenty feet in width, standing on 
the inside of the ancient moat that once surrounded this 
princely pile, and still remains on three sides of its vener- 
; able ruin. 
The tower is three stories high, and the places of the 
ancient windows, that once illumed as many spacious rooms, 
still remain. In the uppermost of these rooms it is said the 
illustrious and far-famed William of Wykeham, then Bishop 
of Winchester, breathed his last, on or about the 27th of 
September, 1404, this having been “ his favourite residence.” 
The ivy, springing from one solitary stem, near the centre 
of the western side of this tower, spreads evenly and beau¬ 
tifully over the whole width, and has nearly reached the 
summit, completely covering the wall, with its close and 
[ small green leaves, as handsomely as even Mr. Beaton him- 
j self could wish, and in the very manner that he so graphically 
describes what it ought to be ; and that without the least 
management or attention, or the pruning hand of man. 
To add to the natural beauty of this scene, there is on the 
lower window place of the tower, a Wild Rose, which every 
summer is resplendent with numerous gay pink and white 
blossoms ; and it has suggested the idea that the Lady of the 
last Bishop who resided there, might, in her haste, when 
driven out of her Palace by Oliver Cromwell’s remorseless 
troops (who demolished the building), have left her favourite 
flower in the window, where it has continued to flourish and 
bloom ever since, out braving the persecution and neglect ol 
more than two centuries ! T. M. W. 
TABLE SHOWING THE MEAN TEMPERATURE j 
DURING JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, 
AND APRIL, 1855. 
—-,- 
Daily 
Daily 
Mean 
Mean 
Locality. 
Jan. 
Feb. 
March 
April 
each 
each 
locality, 
country. 
England. 
Greenwich 
34.5 
20.5 
38.5 
46.5 
37.25 
Nottingham .. 
II a warden 
35.0 
30.5 
28.0 
29.5 
37.0 
39.0 
44.5 
46.5 
36.12 
36.37 
■ 37.15 
Exeter. 
31.0 
40.5 
47.0 
38.87 
Ireland. 
Dublin. 
40.0 
34.5 
42.0 
49.0 
41.37 
1 
Cork . 
42.0 
35.5 
43.0 
50.0 
42.62 
Portarlington 
37.5 
29.0 
40.0 
41.0 
36.87 
h 39.29 
Armagh 
37.0 
31.0 
38.5 
47.0 
38.37 
Sligo . 
30.5 
38.0 
44.5 
37.25 
J 
Scotland. 
Glasgow 
34 5 
29.0 
37.0 
43.0 
35.87 
37.06 
Annat . 
37.0 
32.0 
38.5 
45.5 
38.25 
Mean daily Temperature during the last four months—viz.* 
from the 1st January to the 81st April, was as follows :— 
England, 37.15; Ireland, 39.20; and Scotland, 37.06. 
Daily Mean for the United Kingdom, 37.82.— Allnutt’s 
Irish Land Schedule. 
PRESCOT EXHIBITION OF POULTRY. 
At no previous Show of Poultry held in the extensive j 
county of Lancashire, has the collection been superior to that 
i which took place at Prescot, on Wednesday, the 4th inst. 
The most untiring efforts of the committee had been made 
J to render the arrangements effective, and we are glad to find 
: they had every hope gratified. The exhibition was not re- j 
I markable as to numbers of competing pens, but the quality 
1 of the stock shown was very superior indeed, if, perhaps, we 
make one single exception, for which (from the locality) 
i our readers will be scarcely prepared, viz., the Silver Pen¬ 
cilled llamburghs—The remaining classes for these varieties 
were excellent in point of quality, and were also well filled. 
The day, by prior arrangement, seems to have been 
devoted to the purposes of a general holiday ; all the manu¬ 
factories and most of the principal shops being closed 
from midday, the hour at which flic exhibition was opened 
to the public; indeed, large printed placards bad been 
exposed to view in most of the windows for several days 
previously, acquainting customers of the intention of the 
proprietors to relinquish the cares and toils of business 
* on the afternoon we have just referred to. To render the 
! matter more generally popular and notorious in the sur¬ 
rounding neighbourhood, from midday the bells of the parish 
