May 0.] THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 79 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 * R 
1 
MAY 9—15, 1850. 
. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.&S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
9 Th 
Ascen. Holy Thurs. Burying Beetle seen. 
T. 54°—40°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
20 a. 4 
33 a. 7 
3 40 
27 
3 
47 
129 
10 F 
Daddy Longlegs appears. 
T. 51°— 42°. 
N.W. 
Rain. 
18 
34 
4 6 
28 
3 
49 
130 
11 S 
Reed Bunting appears. 
T. 56°—30°. 
N. 
Fine. 
18 
36 
sets. 
© 
3 
52 
131 
12 Sun 
Sun. aft. Ascension. Lily of Valley flowers. 
T. 62°—41°. 
E. 
Fine. 
15 
37 
8a.11 
1 
3 
53 
132 
13 M 
Old May Day. Swift appears. 
T. 63°—41°. 
S.W. 
Rain. 
13 
39 
9 25 
2 
3 
54 
133 
14 Td 
Dot Moth appears. 
T. 68°—47°. 
w. 
Rain. 
12 
40 
10 33 
3 
3 
55 
134 
15 W 
Hawthorn flowers. 
T. 69 0 —49°. 
N.W. 
Rain. 
10 
42 
11 31 
4 
3 
55 
135 
On the 10th of this month, in the year 1787, died Sir William 
Watson, a physician by profession, a man of deep scientific attainments, 
but chiefly deserving a notice in our columns for the account he has left 
to us of the remains of the gardens belonging to the Tradescants and 
Bishop Compton—subjects to which we shall more fully refer when 
jotting down our biographical notes of those horticultural worthies. Sir 
William Watson is one of the many instances afforded by our national 
annals of an individual winning his way to eminence and wealth, with no 
other earthly aid than his own good attainments and indomitable industry. 
It is a characteristic of our own blessed land, and never to be remembered 
but with an elevation of heart and of spirit, that in no other realm on 
the whole earth’s broad surface is merit, however humbly born, so usually 
rewarded and advanced. So marked is this, that when Lord Chancellor 
Talbot was asked, “ What are the best aids’to success in life?” he replied, 
“ Parts and poverty.” The first of these requisites were Watson’s in no 
small degree of excellence ; and though poverty was not the lot attendant 
upon any portion of his career, yet, when he commenced life, to take a step in 
any profession was to take a step in advance. He was the son of a trades¬ 
man, and the apprentice of an apothecary, but very early distinguished 
himself as a cultivator of botany, and of natural science generally; and 
in 1745 he received the Copley Medal from the Royal Society, for his dis¬ 
coveries in electricity. From that period to the time of liis decease one 
distinction followed close upon another; and though as a physician he 
had an extensive practice, yet as a man of honour and of varied high 
Insects. —Every one is familiar with the Cheese maggot, or Hopper, 
but few of our readers, probably, are familiar with its history. A small, 
black, shining fly, not longer than an eighth of an inch, is very familiar 
to all those who are acquainted with the cheese trade. It is Tyrophaga 
casei and Piophila caseu of naturalists. The female deposits her eggs in 
cheeses approaching to ripeness. The maggot from these eggs is one of 
those which have an extraordinary leaping power. When preparing to 
exercise this power, it erects itself upon its tail, bends itself into a circle, 
stretches out the two hooks appended to its mouth, fixes these into two 
cavities at its other extremity, contracts its body into an oblong loop, and 
then after a pause, during which it seems to concentrate its strength, it 
lets go its hold with a jerk so violent, that the sound of the hooks parting 
from the holes is plainly heard, and the leap is made rapidly, and to a 
great distance. Swammerdam saw one which did not exceed one-fourth of 
an inch in length leap out of a box six inches deep; so that if a man 
six feet high could leap with equal power, he could spring from the ground 
144 feet into the air, or higher than an ordinary church steeple. 
attainments he was still more widely and deeply esteemed. His success 
in the pursuit of several sciences teaches this lesson, which every student 
will benefit by imprinting upon his memory—“ Examine with your own 
eyes—bring every alleged fact to the test of experiment.” It was thus 
that Sir W. Watson pursued his way, cautiously and securely; and no 
reader of his numerous contributions to the Philosophical Transactions 
can fail of being struck with the truthfulness which characterises them; 
for they are almost entirely records of experiments, tried for the purpose 
of elucidating some previously doubtful fact. Such a mode of examining 
nature never fails of its legitimate object—the acquirement of truth ; and 
to no pursuit is it more effectively applicable than to that of gardening. 
There was a time when writers on horticulture told their readers, and 
their readers believed, that if they sowed powdered ram’s horns asparagus 
would spring up ! Since then three centuries have elapsed; and such 
follies are not taught nor believed now, because those centuries have been 
the birth-time of continually varied and additional experiments on the 
growth of plants. 
Meteorology op the Week. —At Chiswick, during the last twenty- 
three years, the average highest and lowest temperatures of the above 
seven days have been respectively 63°5 and 41°. The highest temperature 
during the period was 81°, on the 12th in 1833 ; and the lowest 26°, on 
the 15th in 1838. The number of fine days during the same time was 
106, and on 55 days rain occurred. 
Natural Phenomena Indi¬ 
cative of Weather. —If the 
raven , early in the morning, soars 
high in the air, circling round and 
round, uttering a hoarse, deep 
croak, it foretells fine weather. 
Rooks whirling round high in the 
air, ascending or descending in 
sudden and rapid spirals, indicate 
the approach of storms. 
Behold the rooks, how odd their 
flight! 
They imitate the gliding kite, 
And seem precipitate to fall. 
As if they felt the piercing ball. 
****** 
’Twill surely rain ; we see, with 
sorrow, 
No working in our grounds to¬ 
morrow. 
So the gathering together and re¬ 
turning home of rooks at unusual 
hours generally intimates the ap¬ 
proach of rain. On the contrary, 
if they are noisy about trees, flying 
clamorously about, frequently leav¬ 
ing and returning to their nests, 
the return of fine weather is at 
hand. 
1, maggot preparing ta leap ; 2, larva, natural size; 3 and 4, fly, natural 
size and magnified. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
| May 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1816. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
B. 
r 30.097 
30.084 
29.861 
29.962 
29.490 
29.974 
29.830 
30.222 
29.992 
130.008 
29.892 
29.604 
29.933 
29-483 
29.863 
29.757 
30.153 
29.970 
R. 
— 
0.10 
0.02 
— 
— 
0.03 
0.04 
_ 
0.06 
10 
B. 
r 30.158 
30.172 
30.136 
29.942 
29.597 
29.962 
29.813 
30.304 
29.914 
130.117 
30*008 
29.9S3 
29.910 
29.457 
29.787 
29726 
30.2(10 
29.855 
K. 
— 
— 
— 
0.07 
0.04 
■ — 
0.04 
— 
0.01 
B. 
r 30.054 
29.966 
30.184 
30.060 
29.849 
30.093 
29.681 
30.220 
30.101 
l 30.003 
29.842 
30.165 
29.931 
29.805 
30.058 
29.591 
30.278 
29.837 
R. 
0.01 
0.26 
— 
— 
0.08 1 
— 
— 
_ 
_ 
12 
B. 
(■30.247 
29-984 
30.159 
30.262 
29.859 
29.994 
29.759 
30.240 
30.205 
R. 
\30.128 
29.920 
0.02 
29.879 
0.02 
30.183 
29.737 
0.09 
29.836 
29.714 
0.01 
30.170 
30.172 
13 
B. 
r 30.330 
30.078 
29.904 
30.335 
30.171 
29.734 
29.834 
30.175 
30.035 
R. 
\ 30.314 
30.073 
29.858 
30.309 
29.943 
0.03 
29.713 
0.22 
29.821 
0.02 
30.137 
29.728 
0.02 
14 
B. 
r 30.384 
30.230 
29.795 
30.322 
30.302 
29.995 
29.892 
30.126 
29.623 
R. 
1 30.262 
30.138 
29.552 
0.18 
30.272 
30.247 
29.880 
29.845 
0.08 
30.091 
29.525 
0.04 
15 
B. 
r 30.194 
30.387 
29-509 
30.365 
30.2/8 
29.968 
30.123 
29.996 
29.571 
R. 
l 30.043 
30.341 
29.497 
0.14 
30.285 
30.274 
29.859 
29.869 
0.19 
29-781 
2Q.538 
0.37 
Many of our readers are old enough to remember the 
ridicule with which the proposition to use bone-dust as 
a manure was received by the cultivators of the soil; and 
they must have heard, as we often have heard, the con¬ 
temptuous query, “ What! old knife-handles good for 
manure?” That ignorant prejudice has passed away; 
but another equally erroneous may arise in the mind of 
some of our readers, when they find that woollen bags 
as a manure are the subject of our present observations. 
We are led to make these by two letters from very dif¬ 
ferent parts of England; one asking, “ Why the Kentish 
hop-growers turn woollen rags into the soil of their bop- 
No. LXXXIV., Vol. IV. 
