May 16.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
91 
M 
w 
D 
D 
16 
Th 
17 
F 
18 
S 
19 
Sun 
20 
M 
21 
Tu 
22 
w 
MAY 16—22, 1850. 
Spotted Flycatcher appears. 
May Fly appears. 
Oxford Term ends. Midge appears. [fledged 
IWhit Sunday. Dunstan. Broods of Starlings 
Wiiit Monday. Sailor Beetle appears. 
Sun’s declin. 2ft° 10' n. House Martin builds. 
Ember Wk. Trin. Term beg. Oxf. Term beg . 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef.Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
T. 6S°—50°. 
S.W. 
Rain. 
9 a. 4 
43 a. 7 
mom. 
5 
3 
54 
136 
T. 62°—49°. 
s.w. 
Rain. 
7 
45 
0 
20 
3 
53 
137 
T. 64°—47°. 
w. 
Rain. 
6 
46 
1 
1 
3 
3 
52 
138 
T. 66°— 50°. 
w. 
Rain. 
5 
48 
1 
32 
8 
3 
49 
139 
T. 56°—50°. 
s.w. 
Rain, 
3 
49 
2 
1 
9 
3 
47 
140 
T. 71°—47°. 
E. 
Rain. 
2 
51 
2 
26 
10 
3 
43 
141 
T. 66°—45°. 
S.W. 
Rain. 
1 
52 
2 
50 
11 
3 
40 
142 
On the 19th of May, in the year 1/94, died Thomas Hamilton, Earl of 
Haddington, who needs no other monument than the noble woods and 
plantations made by him about the family mansion, Tyninghame Castle, 
near Dunbar. He died in his seventy-fourth year; and for nearly half a 
century he wisely made his pleasures profitable by devoting much of his 
leisure to planting and the culture of trees. Nor was he contented with 
the selfish practice of what his own experience had taught him, but he 
communicated it to his countrymen, in a work published at Edinburgh in 
1/60, entitled, “ A Treatise on Forest Trees.” We have not the volume 
in our possession, but we remember referring to it some years since, and 
being pleased with the soundness and practical character of some of its 
contents. The Earl was one of the first members of our peerage who 
distinguished himself by the meritorious attempt to adorn as well as to sub¬ 
sidize his native hills ; ‘and his example—though at first neglected, if not 
ridiculed—was soon followed and excelled. He full}' acted up to his family 
motto—“ I perform, and I persevere ; ” yet the Duke of Atholl soon sur¬ 
passed him in the extent of his plantations. One sentence tells the 
animating consequence : those plantations have raised the Atholl family 
to the position of being one of the wealthiest of our peerage. The extent 
of the* Atholl plantations may be estimated, in some degree, from the 
facts, that nearly ten thousand acres are occupied by larch alone, and that 
in 1820 a frigate was launched at Woolwich, and named The Atholl , from 
the circumstance of being built of larch entirely from the Duke’s planta¬ 
tions. His grace planted two hundred thousand annually; but in the 
course of 1819-20 he planted more than eleven hundred thousand. Let it 
The benefits derivable from planting need no eloquence to enforce. It 
has been well said, “Trees grow while men sleep: ” they are always 
advancing into value ; and we know more than one family who are now 
living upon the annual production from woods their parents planted. 
One warning word, before we close this comment. Let no one think that 
planting is digging a hole, and sticking a tree in it. Every soil is moro 
suitable to some species of trees than to other species ; therefore, select 
that which is appropriate: every tree loves to have a free loose soil in 
which its roots may wander; therefore, trench before you plant: and, 
lastly, every tree is injured by having stagnaut water about its roots ; 
therefore, drain before you plant. 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, during the last twenty- 
three years, the average highest and lowest temperatures of the above 
seven days have been 65.3° and 44°, respectively. The greatest heat 
occurred "on the 17th in 1833, during which day the thermometer rose to 
86°. In the above period 99 of the days were flue, and during 02 days 
rain fell. 
Natural Phenomena Indicative of Weather. —When sheep and 
herds turn their tails to the quarter whence the wind is blowing, and 
cease from pasturing, it is a tolerably sure indication that the approaching 
rain will be heavy and stormy. Sea-gulls flying far inland also indicate 
the coming on of tempestuous weather. Spiders crawling more abun¬ 
dantly and conspicuously than usual upon the indoor-walls of our houses 
not be supposed that Englishmen are behind their northern brethren in foretell the near approach of rain ; but the following anecdote intimates 
• •_ ..1 _ _ :±. . l _1. : 4-n a nnnfnnrr \tro mnef fEaf com p r»f thpir habits art* Pfinallv thp pprtain inrlipfitinn r»f 'frrief 
this praiseworthy pursuit; but, in testimony to the contrary, we must 
confine ourselves to the single instance of the Duke of Devonshire, who, 
in 1820, received a gold medal from the Society of Arts for having planted 
nearly tw T o millions of forest trees. 
that some of their habits are equally the certain indication of frost 
being at hand. Quatremer Disjonval, seeking to beguile the tedium 
of his prison hours at Utrecht, had studied attentively the habits of 
the spider; and eight years of imprisonment had given him leisure to 
be well versed with its ways. 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
May 
1841. 
1842. 
1343. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
16 
[29-911 
30.3Q0 
29.497 
30.242 
30.288 
29.695 
29.731 
29.653 
29.422 
29.674 
30.307 
29.386 
29.661 
30.234 
29.360 
29-581 
29.482 
29.353 
R. 
_ 
_ 
0.07 
— 
— 
0.34 
0.09 
— 
0.02 
129.632 
30.278 
29.671 
29.964 
30.138 
29-218 
30.001 
29.404 
29.376 
17 
B. 
I 29 .518 
30.139 
29.476 
29.886 
30.115 
29-184 
22.871 
29.296 
29.286 
R. 
0.01 
_ 
0.20 
0.01 
0.06 
0.01 
— 
— 
0.05 
r 29.553 
30.046 
29.901 
20.Q89 
30.056 
29.139 
29.989 
29.680 
29.856 
18 
B. 
129.531 
29.911 
29.798 
29.927 
29.851 
29-023 
29-785 
29.382 
29.457 
R. 
0.02 
_ 
0.04 
0.02 
0.07 
0.17 
0.02 
0.01 
0.01 
(■ 29.674 
29.807 
29.893 
29.997 
29.814 
29.545 
29.902 
29.706 
30.000 
19 
B. 
L 29 . 28 O 
29.711 
29.886 
29.956 
29-802 
29.481 
29.827 
29.702 
29.935 
R. 
0.15 
0.04 
0.02 
— 
— 
0.12 
— 
0.01 
0.36 
f 29.578 
29.658 
29.830 
29-988 
29.849 
29-558 
30.048 
30.160 
29.821 
20 
B. 
129.253 
29.646 
29.641 
29-982 
29.841 
29.444 
29-841 
29-783 
29.721 
R. 
0.06 
_ 
0.44 
— 
— 
0.26 
— 
0.06 
0.64 
r 29.647 
29.724 
29.649 
29.926 
29.764 
29.949 
30.134 
30.253 
29.836 
21 
B. 
129.526 
29.676 
29.637 
29.858 
29.554 
29.677 
30.114 
30.215 
29.771 
R. 
_ 
0.05 
0.02 
0.26 
— 
— 
0.07 
0.22 
f 29.811 
29-748 
29.687 
30.164 
29.789 
30.203 
30.048 
30.283 
29.866 
22 
B. 
129.607 
29.674 
29.653 
30.146 
29.694 
30.120 
30.004 
30.242 
29.743 
R. 
0.01 
0.09 
0.02 
0.20 
In the December of 1794 the 
French army, on whose success 
his restoration to liberty depended, 
was in Holland ; and victory 
seemed certain, if the frost, then 
of unprecedented severity, con¬ 
tinued. The Dutch envoys had 
failed to negociate a peace, and 
Holland was despairing, when the 
frost suddenly broke up. The 
Dutch were now exulting, and the 
French generals prepared to re¬ 
treat ; but the spider forewarned 
Disjonval that the thaw would be 
of short duration, and he knew 
that his weather monitor never 
deceived. He contrived to com¬ 
municate with the army of his 
countrymen ; and its generals, who 
duly estimated his character, relied 
upon his assurance that within a 
few days the waters would be again 
passable by troops. They delayed 
their retreat: within twelve days 
the frost had returned—the French 
army triumphed, Disjonval was 
liberated, and a spider had brought 
down ruin on the Dutcl* nation, 
The rich, the gaudy, aud the formal Tulip must engross 
our attention to-day. It has been styled “ the king of 
florists’ flowers,” but he is so little to our taste that we 
would readily dethrone him to make way for any one 
out of many others. Its botanical name, Tulipa Gesne- 
riana, retains upon our memory the fact that the Swiss 
botanist, Conrad Gesner, introduced it to general notice 
in Europe. 
Gesner relates that he first saw the tulip at Augsburg, 
in the year 1559, and cultivated by Counsellor Hewart, 
a collector of floral rarities. This was not the flower's 
first introduction to Europe, for the specimen in ques¬ 
tion was from Constantinople, where it had been long 
known. From Germany, this flower reached England 
in 1577, being first cultivated by James Garret; and 
Parkinson, writing in 1029, says, “ they are the pride of 
delight almost infinite,” that he had 1G0 varieties, 
doubted not but that there were ten times as many, and 
that “ no lady of any worth but was a delighter in them.’’ 
Gerarde, some years before, states that Garret, one of his 
“ loving friends, a curious searcher of simples,” endea¬ 
voured to make out the number of the varieties; “ but,” 
adds old Gerarde, “ he had not done this after twenty 
years, for each new year briugeth forth new plants of 
sundry colours not before seen; all which, to describe 
particularly, were to roll Sisyphus’ stone, or to number 
No. LXXXV., Vol. IV. 
