July 4.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
205 
Mi VV ' 
D D ; 
1 
JULY 4—10, 1850. 
Weather near London 
in 1849. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
4Tn 
Trans, of St. Martin. Wood Leopard Moth seen. 
T. 67°—43°. 
W. 
Fine. 
51 a. 3 
17 a. 8 
0 34 
24 
3 
57 
185 
5 F 
Cambridge Term ends. Chaffinch’s song ceases. 
T. 76°—45°. 
w. 
Fine. 
52 
17 
1 0 
25 
4 
8 
186 
6 S 
Old Midsummer’s Day. Oxford Term ends. 
T. 79°—48°. 
s.w. 
Fine. 
53 
16 
1 31 
26 
4 
18 
187 
7Sun 
6 Son. aft. Trinity. Th. a liecket. Glow- 
T. 86°—52°. 
s. 
Fine. 
53 
16 
a 7 
27 
4 
28 
188 
8 M 
Lappet Moth appears. [worm shines. 
T. 88°—50°. 
s.w. 
Fine. 
54 
15 
2 53 
28 
4 
38 
189 
9 Tu 
Yellow Underwing Moth seen. 
T. 84°—49°. 
N.W. 
Fine. 
55 
14 
8CtS. 
© 
4 
47 
190 
10 w 
Shore Beetle seen. 
T. 84°—46°. 
N.E. 
Fine. 
56 
14 
8 a. 53 
1 
4 
56 
191 
On the 7tli of July, 1799, died Wilmam Curtis, who as the origin¬ 
ator of The Botanical Magazine will never he forgotten either by the 
botanist or the gardener. He was born in 1746, at Alton, in Hampshire, 
and at the age of fourteen was apprenticed to his grandfather, an apothe¬ 
cary of the same town. It so happened, that his new residence was 
adjoining the Crown Inn, the ostler of which, John Lagg, though of 
slender education, had, by the aid of Gerard’s and Parkinson’s huge folio 
volumes, obtained a knowledge so complete of plants, that not one could 
be brought to him of which he was unable promptly to tell the name. 
The impression made upon the mind of young Curtis, by the fact of this 
deep and useful knowledge being acquired by one so unlearned, was never 
to be obliterated. He devoted himself to the same study ; and pursuing 
it with that energy characterising his efforts in after life, he soon acquired 
a practical knowledge of all the plants natives of the neighbourhood, 
and especially of those possessing medical virtues. There is no doubt 
that John Lagg was a most able guide aud teacher in the acquirement of 
this knowledge ; but whoever will turn to the folios we have named, and 
will reflect, that their unsystematized pages were those only to which he 
could refer for aid, will the more readily perceive what praise was due to 
him for his pursuit of knowledge under such difficulties. They were diffi¬ 
culties which we, who have but to stretch out a hand ami bring before 
our eyes such books as Henfrey’s Rudiments of Botani /, Smith’s Intro¬ 
duction to Botani/, Lindley’s School Botany and Vegetable Kingdom, 
are not well situated to appreciate duly. However, young Curtis forced 
his way through the cumbrous masses to the information he sought for ; 
and when he reached London, in the course of his medical studies, soon 
found the advantage of his hard-earned knowledge of plants. Dr. Fordyce 
gladly employed him as botanical demonstrator, to aid him in his lectures 
on the science, at St. Thomas’s Hospital. This gave him one of the 
essentials to success in life—confidence in his own powers and led him 
by degrees almost insensibly into that path in which he nobly earned 
both fame and independence. He began by giving public lectures on 
botany ; and a few of his pupils still survive, and can remember the pure 
delight attending upon their excursions with their tutor, and the joyous 
good humour with which he commented during dinner upon the speci¬ 
mens they had gathered in their morning ramble. He had the good 
• RANGE OF BAROMETER—RAIN IN INCHES. 
July 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
B. 
29.999 
29.770 
29.975 
29.638 
30.109 
30.154 
30.011 
30.137 
29.702 
4 
129.963 
29.626 
29.836 
29.596 
30.033 
29.990 
29.949 
29.940 
29.(197 
ft 
_ 
0.01 
— 
— 
— 
t 30.0G1 
29-823 
29717 
29.656 
30.196 
29.763 
29.946 
30.186 
29.973 
5 
B. 
129.959 
29-652 
29-643 
29.576 
30.161 
29.608 
29-900 
30.121 
29.772 
R. 
0.69 
r 29 .805 
0.11 
30.161 
0.16 
29.836 
0.06 
29.878 
30.067 
0.24 
29.630 
29.896 
30.085 
30.097 
6 
B. 
L 29.635 
30.103 
29751 
29.809 
29.990 
29-448 
2Q.820 
29.969 
30.078 
R. 
0.03 
f 2Q.885 
30.009 
29.946 
0.06 
29995 
29.960 
0.13 
29 . 8/6 
0.09 
29-855 
29.876 
30.065 
7 
B. 
l 29.639 
29-826 
29 913 
29-929 
29-943 
29.744 
29.737 
29.849 
29.995 
8 
R. 
0.08 
f 2Q.8QS 
0.09 
29.804 
0.14 
29.941 
0.13 
29.931 
0.01 
29.959 
29*850 
0.02 
29.929 
0.03 
30.063 
30.129 
B. 
R. 
t 29742 
0.01 
29.61 1 
0.43 
29-876 
0.24 
29-856 
29.940 
0.01 
29764 
0-08 
29-856 
0.08 
29-983 
0.22 
f 29.019 
29712 
29.977 
29.906 
30.001 
29.669 
30.115 
29- 989 
30.276 
9 
B. 
R. 
\ 29.939 
29.686 
29 954 
0.02 
29-850 
29-9/8 
0.15 
29.611 
0.16 
30.016 
0.02 
29.742 
0.36 
f 2Q.Q26 
29.894 
29.954 
29.967 
29.814 
29.987 
30.131 
30.283 
30.373 
10 
B. 
\ 29.492 
29.864 
29.935 
29-880 
29.721 
29.734 
30.120 
30.003 
30.335 
R. 
0.36 
— 
0.02 
0.39 
_ 
_ 
sense to discern, that though science is lovely and loveable for its own 
sake, yet that science unapplied to the arts of life is but a fruitless 
flower. Therefore, whilst he wrote on botany he also published such 
works as “ Practical Observations on the British Grasses,” “ Directions 
for the Culture of the Crambc Maritime., or Sea-kale,” combining also 
with his botanical researches the study of entomology; and thus was 
enabled to supply valuable information, not only relative to the habits of 
plants, but also respecting the insects preying upon them. It is amusing 
to know, that where now stands that mass of densely populated houses 
known as the Grange Road, Bermondsey, was situated Mr. Curtis’s first 
Botanical Garden; and from the plants'he there assembled he began to 
publish that scries of portraits of British plants known as the Flora Lon - 
dineusis. The Grange Road Garden becoming too small to contain his 
rapidly accumulating species, he moved to another, now equally unsuited 
for the purpose—namely, Lambeth Marsh, near the Magdalene Hospital; 
and it was not until the increased population of the neighbourhood ren¬ 
dered the air there too smoke-impregnated for his plants’ welfare that he 
moved to his last resting-place, Brompton, in Middlesex. In a pecuniary 
sense the Flora was a failure, for its sale never exceeded 300 copies ; nor 
is this a subject for surprise, because it was expensive, and suited exclu¬ 
sively to that very limited class, the botanists. For each botanist that 
can be named, every one can enumerate a thousand lovers of flowers ; and 
to embrace a circulation among these he commenced publishing in 1787 
his Botanical Magazine, the first of this class of our periodical literature, 
and consequently the most long-lived; for it still continues its monthly 
appearance, and has extended to between seventy and eighty volumes. 
Upon the death of Mr. Curtis the editorship was given to Dr. Sims, who 
was more than slightly assisted, we believe, in the performance of his 
editorial duties by the late Mr. Bellenden Ker. In 1827, his share in 
the magazine was purchased, and the management confided to Sir James 
Hooker, assisted by Mr. W. Curtis, then of Glazen Wood, Essex, and a 
relative of the original editor. It is now under the sole control of Sir 
James, aided only by Mr. Smith of the Kew Gardens, who furnishes the 
directions necessary for the culture of the plants delineated. We will 
conclude this necessarily imperfect notice by saying of Mr. Curtis, in the 
words of one of his friends, “ Somewhat of elegance and neatness pervaded 
whatever he took in hand. The 
form of his mind was pourtrayed 
in his garden, his library, his aviary; 
and even a dry catalogue of plants 
became from his pen an amusing 
and instructive little volume. His 
delicacy never forsook him, nor 
would he willingly adopt the coarse 
names given to plants by some of 
the older botanists, though accepted 
by Linnaeus himself. fn short, 
this amiable member of the Society 
of Friends was an honest, laborious, 
worthy man, — gentle, humane, 
kind to everybody, a pleasant com¬ 
panion, a good master, and a steady 
friend.” 
Meteorology of the Week. 
—At Chiswick, observations du¬ 
ring the last twenty-three years 
show that the average highest and 
lowest temperatures of these days 
are 75.5° and 52.3° respectively. 
The greatest heat observed, 95°, 
was on the 5th in 1846. During 
the period there were 102 fine 
days, and 59 on which rain fell. 
Whenever wo meet witli new and pleasant acquaint¬ 
ances, the desire to know their parentage and previous 
history comes upon us spontaneously; and this form of 
inquisitiveness extends to flowers; for we never yet saw 
a beautiful one without wishing to know where it came 
from, and when it was found. Nor are we singular in 
this thirst for the biography of plants, as is testified by 
the cluster of inquisitive admirers who gather round the 
collections of Cape Pelargoniums, neglectful for the time 
of their more brilliant and more robust offspring, the 
Pelargoniums of the Florist. Thus, at the Chiswick 
Gardens on the 8th of last month, we had some difficulty 
in obtaining an uninterrupted view of the Cape Pelar¬ 
goniums then gathered together. Among them were 
P. datum , white and purple; P. glaucum, white and 
red; P. quinquevulnerum, purplish; P. roseitm , pink; 
and P. tricolor , white and purple; species all cultivated 
in our greenhouses before the commencement of the pre¬ 
sent century, and from which and others we shall men¬ 
tion presently, bearing flowers equally insignificant, 
No. XC1I., Vol. IV. 
