May 30.] 
] M 
w 
1 D 
D 
30 
Th 
31 
F 
1 
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2 
Skn 
3 
M 
4 
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5 IW 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
119 
MAY 30—JUNE 5, 1850. 
Corpus Christi. Swallow-tailed Butterfly seen. 
Four-spotted Dragon Fly. 
Nicomede. Common Elder flowers. 
1 Sunday after Trin. Virginian Spiderwort 
ion Red Poppy flowers. [flowers. 
» 1/71 • Rye blooms. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
T. 7;°—53°. 
T, 79°—45°. 
T. 78°—48°. 
T. 75°—47°. 
T. 75°—51°. 
T. 81°—57°. 
T. 85°—57°. 
S.W. 
S.W. 
S.W. 
w. 
E. 
W. 
W. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Sun 
Rises. 
52 a. 3 
51 
50 
50 
49 
48 
48 
Sun \ Moon 
Sets. R. & S. 
2 a. 8 
3 
4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
11 34 
morn. 
0 6 
0 34 
0 58 
1 22 
1 45 
Moon’s I Clock j 
Age. ibef.Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
19 
20 
21 
22 
€ 
24 
25 
a 1 C , ll ^r a S terlStlC 0f S ardencrs ; brevity of life, unfor- 
bas b ? e !l adotted f° some of those who have been distinguished 
T ° f tb f\ r a |' t ’ bu f these are exec P tiotul > cases to their usual 
‘™? tb ? f f da { 3 ’ and to these the Reverend Professor Martyn fully 
h d ’ he d i e< | ° n t,la 3ri1 of June > 18*5, in his 90th year. Although 
p'Sf performed during 6l years the duties of professor of botany at 
1, a ?, d al . th “ u ° h h‘ s Language of Botany, his Plant a Contain, 
giensis and other botanical works, are efficient evidence of his knowledge 
in that fair science, yet still more widely and still more usefully were his 
labours diffused in his edition of Miller’s Gardeners' Dietimary. This 
has been justly termed his “ grand labour,” and such a mass of valuable 
information does it contain, that amid our editorial difficulties when our 
eye rests upon its four goodly folios we take courage, for rarely have they 
chorfcmr f US n ha i t We T sh t0 learn reIative t0 the history and botanical 
characters of all plants known to gardeners previously to the nresent 
fmnrn?'l if ^ f he dlrections Lt the culture of those pilots are Imt little 
SXl b j, J - subset l uent practitioners; and the gardener or farmer who 
cultivated his crops according to the lights afforded him by Martyn’s 
of rural Britain be , de , emed a bad cultivator in any district 
ot rural Britain, foi it is a standard practical work, to which recent 
researches have provided ample additions, but which can never be super¬ 
man “V M,rt jP w “ a P^*". and had residecFfor 
at Cbelsea ' It was there, he says, when writing in 1821 to a 
1 Where my faniil y Uved in reputation during the 
greatest part of half a century, and I received the whole of my school 
confirmed with Mm ulT Mr * ?° berr *l at five y ears and a half old, and 
continued with him until seventeen, when I removed to the university— 
having for about ten years walked about six times a-day between Church- 
51 | 
43 , 
35 
26 | 
16 I 
6 I 
50 
150 
151 
152 
153 
154 
155 
156 
May 
1841. 
30 
June 
B r 30.016 
‘129.979 
R. — 
B r 30.042 
* 129.995 
R. — 
B / 30.137 
* 130.122 
R. — 
B / 30.177 
130.167 
R. — 
B f 30.254 
’ 130.157 
R. — 
B / 30.357 
* 130.300 
R. — 
B / 30.210 
130.004 
R. 0.03 
1842. 
30.050 
29.955 
30.155 
30.118 
30.211 
30.125 
30.265 
30.169 
30.296 
30.160 
30.112 
29.965 
29-958 
29.809 
laaeand Pa l adl f'■">?• I knew and was known to almost everybody in 
Chelsea, which has of late years rendered it a melancholy walk to me 
knowing and being known of nobody.” He had now nearly reached the 
advanced age of fourscore years and ten, and his father having lived to he 
seventy their united memories carried their personal acquaintance to 
the great gardeners and botanists of a century gone by. Sloane and Rar 
and Switzer, and Fairchild, had been either their contempora’ries or ac: 
Cjuamtances, and render their reminiscences more than ordinarily of hi~h 
interest; but we must confine ourselves to one. Wilier had dedicated his 
great work to his patron Sir Hans Sloane, and this seems to have recalled 
this g,ant of collectors to Mr. Martyn’s memory. He says, “ I beg leave 
to consider Sir Hans Sloane as one of my patrons. The condescenfion of 
the venerable and amiable old gentlemaA to me when a schoolboTwili 
CTJinA^mnsM" V mC 5 “"d h v flg:U1 ' e is even now Presented to my 
eye in the most lively manner, as he was sitting fixed by age and infirmity 
bF.nWu r ?’n ha i r, j 1 usuadl y earned a present from my father of some 
book that he had published ; and the old gentleman in return always 
L r n e r" ed Tn W,t F l abr0ad P lMe of e ° ld ’ treated me with chocolate, and 
sent me with his librarian to see some of his curiosities. It appears now 
like looking into other t,mes.” We will conclude by observinm lhat the 
pursuit ot science did not render Professor Martyn a less efficient country 
clei gyman. He died at his living of Pertenhall, and it is recorded of him 
, a 5 a Preacher of the Gospel of Christ, which he adorned by his 
hfe and doctrines, he was distinguished by strong sense, accurate know! 
d f ° f nature, and comprehensive scriptural knowledge. Prac¬ 
tical benevolence and chanty were conspicuous traits in his character and 
the exercise of them was confined neither to place nor party ” 
Meteorology of the Week.-Ai Chiswick, during the above seven 
RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES , yS ’ the avera S e highest and 
- — _ _ _ * lowest temperatures of the last 
23 years has been 70° and 46.5° 
respectively. On 60 days during 
the period rain fell, and 96 days 
were fine. The lowest tempera- 
ture occurred on the 3rd of June, 
1837, when it fell to 35°. 
Natural Phenomena Indi¬ 
cative of Weather.— Dr. Fors¬ 
ter very correctly observes, that 
though the obscured and enlarged 
appearance of the Stars denotes 
the approach of rain, because such 
appearance shews that the atmo¬ 
sphere is surcharged with watery 
vapour, as was long previously 
observed, and even by Virgil; yet 
it is nevertheless true, that previ¬ 
ously to a change to rain, and 
while the barometer is sinking, 
some of the most clear skies are 
seen. On such occasions the starry 
firmament is unusually clear and 
sparkling, and the Milky Way sur¬ 
passingly light. This, tis Sir’Isaac 
Newton observed, is immediately 
before the change ; rain-clouds 
soon form, and rain rapidly follows 
this excessive transparency. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
30.084 
29-958 
0.03 
29.854 
29-813 
0.06 
29.700 
29-504 
0.03 
29.305 
29.224 
0.08 
29.575 
29.467 
29.639 
2Q.223 
0.02 
29.785 
29.780 
0.09 
30.023 
30.002 
30.035 
30.001 
29.993 
29.949 
29.9/1 
29.953 
30.123 
30.057 
30.147 
30.057 
29.976 
29.822 
0.06 
30.045 
29.751 
30.181 
30.166 
30.133 
30.042 
29.951 
29.761 
29.620 
29.367 
0.06 
29.607 
29.516 
0.05 
29.597 
29.543 
0.08 
1846. 
30.300 
30.154 
30.178 
30.130 
30.187 
30.153 
30.210 
30.188 
30.216 
30.177 
30.178 
30.165 
30.143 
30.115 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
30.410 
30.351 
0.02 
30.4/1 
30.439 
30.475 
30.449 
30.459 
30.399 
30.349 
30.238 
30.244 
30.222 
30.240 
30.158 
0.01 
30.117 
30.056 
30.049 
29.823 
0.14 
29-854 
29.659 
0.08 
29.417 
29.309 
0.07 
29.354 
29.270 
0.03 
29.658 
29.465 
0.07 
29768 
29.697 
30.183 
30.076 
29.999 
29.970 
30.088 
30.040 
30.162 
30.076 
30.222 
30.117 
30.101 
29.939 
29-987 
29-795 
0.20 
The Pansy or IIeart’s-ease, such as we see its varieties 
uow in our gardens, is a creation of modern floricultural 
art. These varieties are all sprung from the trivial wild 
tiower that hears the same name, and is found so gene- i 
rally in our fields. We have seen these introduced into 
the garden, and in its richer soil and warmer temperature 
attain a size gigantic, if comparison be made with its 
stature when in a state of nature. The seed saved from 
this cultivated plant produced seedlings differing still 
further, and more improved, from the wild original; and 
we have little doubt, if the experiment had not been in- ! 
terrupted, that by degrees, after two or three more gene- ' 
rations of seedlings, the progeny would have been idem j 
No. LXXXVJT, Vol. IV. 
tical with the garden Pansy in its most improved form. 
We mention this in opposition to an opinion we have 
heard maintained that this flower is a hybrid. 
I 11 The Gardener’s Labyrinth, published in 1586, under 
the authorship of H. Dethycke, it is simply mentioned as 
the Heart’s-ease, which seems its oldest English name; 
hut Gerarde, writing more fully ten years later, says it 
was also known as Pansies, Live-in-idleness, Cull-me- 
to-you, and Three-faces-in-a-hood. Let us indulge a 
a vagrant mood, and discourse more fully upon all these 
titles of affection,—all testifying, that even in earliest 
times it was a popular flower. 
Pansies is a corruption of the French word Pensees— 
