April 25.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
43 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
w 
I D 
APRIL 25—MAY 1, 1850. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
25 
Th 
St. Mark. Prs. Alice b. 1843. Ds. Glo. b. 
T. 62 °—44°. 
W. 
Rain. 
46 a. 4 
10 a. 7 
4 46 
13 
2 
7 
115 
26 
|f 
Lesser Whitcthroat heard. [1776. 
T. 60 °— 29 °. 
N.W. 
Rain. 
44 
12 
© 
i 
27 
js 
Cuckoo first heard. 
T. 6l°—40°. 
s. 
Rain. 
42 
13 
8a.23 
15 
28 
28 
Sun 
4 Sun. after Easter. Reed hunting sings. 
T. 59°—32°. 
w. 
Rain. 
40 
15 
9 29 
16 
o 
29 
M 
Young Redbreasts fledged. 
T. 68°—45°. 
s.w. 
Fine. 
38 
17 
10 31 
17 
2 
30 
Tu 
Martin first seen. 
T. 66°—35°. 
E. 
Fine. 
36 
18 
11 26 
18 
2 
55 
1 
W 
St. Phii.ip & St. James. Vine-leaves open. 
T. 56°—40°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
35 
20 
morn. 
>9 
3 
3 
121 
On the 10th of April, 1802, died I)r. Erasmus Darwin, so well asso¬ 
ciated in the minds of all lovers of literature and botany with the title of 
his poem. The Loves of the Plants. Darn-in from boyhood to the grave 
was more prone to the pleasures of the imagination than to those of in¬ 
ductive philosophy; and as this is demonstrated to have been so in his 
mature years by his writings, so does the following narrative shew how 
open to vivid impressions was his mind in youth: — Journeying from 
Newark, his native place, to enter upon his college education at Cam¬ 
bridge, he rested for the night at the house of two old bachelor brothers. 
They were delighted with the vivacity of the young student, and were 
rendered by it so painfully sensible that they were childless and solitary, 
that lie heard one say regretfully to the other, “ Why did not one of us 
marry!” The tone and the circumstances never allowed that sentence to 
fade front Darwin’s memory, and it was the origin of that strong con¬ 
demnation of an unmarried life which for ever afterwards he was so ready 
to utter. Indue course lie graduated in medicine at Cambridge; but 
even there he distinguished himself more by his poetical exercises’than 
by his proficiency in science. It is needless to follow him in liis profes¬ 
sional career, which at first was unsuccessful, and in after years was 
never extensive. In 1778 he obtained a lease of a picturesque spot near 
Lichfield, called “ The Cold Bath,” where he established a botanic gar¬ 
den, and commenced writing on “ The Loves of the Plants.” Eventually 
he retired to the vicinity of Derby, and died there on the date above- 
named. He had often expressed a liope that the termination of life miu-ht 
come to him without pain, for this he ever esteemed a greater evil than 
death. That hope was realized, for complaining of cofd he seated him¬ 
self by the fire, and died in a few minutes, without pain or emotion, in 
the arm-chair in which he had been placed. His “ Loves of the Plants ” 
formed only a part of a poem entitled The Botanic Garden , in which the 
physiology and classification of plants is told in harmonious verse, and 
illustrated with many notes, amusing though not profound. The digres¬ 
sions are many, and the flights of imagination widely discursive. These 
flights are not always characterised by sobriety, but one deserves record 
in which he foretells the invention of steam-vessels and locomotive en¬ 
gines in these two lines— 
Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar 
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car. 
Another work, still more entitling him to obtain the notice of the culti¬ 
vator of the soil, is his Phytologia, or Philosophy of Agriculture and 
Gardening. This was published in the year 1800, and has the merit of 
being the first work devoted to the science of the arts to which it is rela¬ 
tive. This, however, is not its chief merit; for, although many works 
have since appeared having the same science as their theme, yet Darwin’s 
work has not been rendered useless by them. They, for the most part, 
repeat his opinions and his facts, further illustrated and confirmed by the 
discoveries of modern chemists and physiologists. It is a work which 
may be referred to yet for pleasure and instruction. 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, during the last twenty, 
three years, the average highest and lowest temperature of the above 
days has been 6 1.1° and 39 4° respectively. The greatest heat was on 
the 28th in 1840, when the thermometer rose to 81°, and the greatest cold 
was on the 25th in 1827, when it fell to 25°. There were 94 fine days and 
67 on which rain felt during the period. 
Natural Phenomena Indicative of Weather. —When peacocks 
scream more loudly, more frequently, and in a peculiarly elevated note, 
which those accustomed to them readily recognise, rain almost invariably 
is near at hand. If they utter their peculiar cry at night, the next day is 
usually wet. Pigeons returning slowly to their dove-houso before their 
usual time, are said by Dr. Forster to indicate approaching rain. When 
the Guinea fowl (Pintado or Galena) utters its “ come-back” cry more 
than usual, like that of the peacock, it fortells the coming on of wet. 
Insects. —Every cultivator of 
wheat knows that this grain is 
liable to be affected with what is 
commonly called theyellows. These 
are small grubs or maggots found 
about the middle of June; and 
they adhere to the anthers, or male 
parts of the wheat blossom, as well 
as to the germen, or embryo grain; 
and they suck from this its milky 
juice, leaving it but little more 
than a shrivelled skin. These 
maggots are yellowish, have no 
legs, and their mouths are not de¬ 
tectable. They are the larva of 
the Wheal Midge, a minute insect, 
closely allied to the gnat, and called 
by some naturalists Cecydomyia 
tritici, and by others Tipula tritici. 
In our drawing this fly is highly 
magnified, for it is only about the 
twelfth of an inch long; and it 
may be seen in myriads during the 
month of June, in some years, 
hovering and flying about our 
wheat crops. It is of a reddish- 
yellow colour; carries its wings, 
which are milky white, horizontally 
when at rest; and when looked at 
from certain angles these wings exhibit the prismatic colours: the eyes 
are black ; the head half-globular; the antenna; many-jointed, and hairy. 
It usually appears about seven or eight in the evening, but in the morning 
none are to be found upon the wing—yet they are resting upon the stalks 
of the wheat; and it these are shaken they are roused, and may be seen 
flymg about near the ground. They deposit their eggs in the blossom 
of the vvheat during the evening. The eggs are inserted by means of a 
long tube, or ovipositor, just within the corolla; and sometimes being 
unable to withdraw its egg-tube, the insect is detained a prisoner, and 
dies. In a field of fifteen acres, Mr. Kirby once found the grub of this 
insect so numerous as to justify the conclusion that they had reduced the 
crop twenty bushels. The Hessian Fly, Cecidoniyin destructor, so 
destructive to the American wheat crops, is one of the same genus. It is 
that with the unfrmgcd wings in our drawing. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
April 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
25 
B. 
/ 29.846 
30.028 
30.070 
30.198 
29-786 
29.901 
29.997 
29.862 
20.745 
l 29.650 
29.946 
29-648 
30.062 
29.632 
29-784 
29.951 
29.827 
29728 
R. 
— 
— 
0.30 
— 
0.18 
1.40 
— 
0.01 
0.03 
26 
B. 
/ 30.100 
30.055 
29.677 
30.030 
29.583 
29.818 
29788 
29.923 
29 . 8:16 
\ 29.980 
30.018 
29.626 
29.967 
29.414 
29.762 
29.781 
29.761 
29.724 
R. 
— 
— 
0.08 
0.03 
0.01 
0.04 
0.11 
_ 
0.01 
27 
B. 
/ 30.103 
29.990 
29.892 
30.284 
29.651 
29.909 
29.728 
29.899 
29-S38 
\30.078 
29.959 
29.674 
30.203 
29.620 
29.885 
29.613 
29.793 
29.650 
It. 
— 
— 
— 
0.02 
0.03 
0.01 
0.10 
0.04 
28 
B. 
/ 30.132 
30.050 
30.779 
30.359 
29.682 
29.986 
29.696 
29.844 
30.000 
20 
R. 
B. 
\ 30.099 
0.07 
| 30.141 
29.941 
30.061 
29.669 
0.04 
29729 
30.300 
30.280 
29.627 
29-982 
29.867 
30.232 
29.579 
0.07 
29.571 
29.694 
0.12 
30.034 
29.681 
0.28 
30.260 
R. 
l 30.0Q8 
0.01 
29-881 
29.677 
30.199 
29.875 
30.193 
29.528 
0.20 
29.939 
30.176 
30 
B. 
/• 30.171 
29.835 
29.929 
30.277 
30.041 
30.2Q8 
29794 
30.1/1 
30.284 
R. 
B. 
130.091 
29.800 
29.784 
30.243 
30.975 
30.283 
29.667 
30.001 
30.208 
May 
1 
/29.998 
30.007 
30.140 
30.169 
0.01 
29.905 
30.285 
0.02 
29.814 
30.13Q 
30.141 
R. 
l 29-794 
29.933 
30.065 
30.366 
29.829 
30.263 
29.669 
3U.O!>7 
30.008 
0.01 
0.03 
“ 
— 
Himalayah Pumpkin.— Our supply of the seed of this 
vegetable is quite exhausted, owing to the unexpected 
number of the applicants. Any one who saved seed from 
that with which we supplied them last year will oblige us 
by sending immediately all that they can spare us. We 
shall retain for a week or two longer the envelopes sent 
us by various correspondents, in the hope that we may 
obtain a fresh supply of the seed. The Himalayah 
pumpkin may he sown in the open ground, on a south 
border, during the middle of May; and if the shelter of 
No. LXXXII., Voi,. TV. 
