April 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
D 
w 
D 
APRIL 12—18, 1849. 
Plants dedicated to 
each day. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon R. 
and Sets. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
12 
Th. 
Song-thrush lays. 
Thick-leaved Saxifrage. 
13 a4 
49 a6 
11 
43 
19 
0 
46 
102 
13 
F. 
Botanical Soc. meeting. Stock-dove lays. 
Green Narcissus. 
10 
51 
morn. 
20 
0 
30 
103 
14 
S. 
Redbreast hatches. 
Borage. 
8 
52 
0 
34 
21 
0 
15 
104 
15 
Sun. 
1 st or Low S. Willow-Warbler heard. 
Green Stitchwort. 
6 
54 
1 
19 
c 
0 
a 1 
105 
16 
M. 
Easter T. beg. Black-cap heard. 
Wild Tulip. 
4 
56 
2 
0 
23 
0 
15 
106 
17 
Tu. 
Linn. & Hor. S. meet. Frog Tadpoles hatch. 
Friar’s Cowl Aram. 
2 
57 
2 
35 
24 
0 
30 
107 
18 
W. 
Ox. & Ca.T.b. Marsh Titmouse note ceases. 
Musk Narcissus. 
IV. 
59 
3 
6 
25 
0 
43 
108 
Low Sunday. —The first Sunday after Easter, in every country 
enlightened by Christianity, has received some particular title, inti¬ 
mating the leading characteristic of a true believer. With us it is 
called Low. in reference to the humbleness of his spirit ; in Roman 
Catholic countries it is more usually termed White, regard being had to 
his inward purity; and in the Greek Church it is named New Sunday, 
in remembrance of his altered nature. Such designations were proba¬ 
bly applied to this Sunday because, now especially, if ever, after the 
abstinence of Lent, and the celebration of Easter, every one may be 
supposed to be more disposed “ to walk worthy of his vocation.” 
Phenomena of the Season. —Some few more of the phenomena 
attendant upon the germination, or sprouting, of seed, remain to be 
noticed. Shortly afier exposure to the requisite amount of heat, air, 
and moisture, the seed absorbs, or sucks in, from the air a consider¬ 
able amount of oxygen gas, which oxygen combines with the carbon, 
or pure charcoal, which is a chief component of the seed, and is 
again given out by the seed in the form of carbonic acid gas. Whilst 
this chemical process, or combination, is going on, much heat is 
caused in the seed ; and though this is scarcely discernible in single 
seeds, yet it is very readily perceptible when many seeds are 
together, as in the sprouting of barley whilst being converted into 
malt—the heat being then sometimes increased to 100 ° in a single 
night. Some seeds require to absorb more oxygen during this pro¬ 
cess than is needed by other seeds. Thus, wheat and barley only take 
rather more than one-thousandth part of their weight; but beans 
and kidney beans require one-hundredth. Some seeds, during this 
process, acquire a sweetish flavour; and there is little doubt that 
the carbon has to be taken from these by the oxygen combining 
with it, as above mentioned, in order to convert their starchy and 
gummy constituents into sugar. We shall conclude our consideration 
of this department of vegetation in our next number. 
We have received, from a very intelligent correspondent at Walsall, 
the following confirmation of the statement we made at p. 155 of vol. 
i., relative to the wars of the centipedes and the earth-worms:— 
“ I was very much pleased with the account of the centipede in a 
recent number of your invaluable publication. I had, a few days 
since, ample proof of the truth of your statements. Being in the 
garden, and seeing a worm come to the surface, writhing, appa¬ 
rently in great pain, I was led to examine it, and found a very small 
centipede clinging to it, apparently intent upon its destruction ; and 
I stood by to witness the seemingly unequal contest. The worm 
must have been at least a hundred-times larger than its foe, and 
seemed to leave untried no means of escaping: it rolled over and over 
with astonishing quickness, endeavouring to dislodge the centipede 
by friction against the earth ; it crawled along, tried to bore its way 
into the soil, threw itself into rapid motion by its contortions, till it 
was apparently exhausted, but all to no purpose; the centipede was 
not to be dislodged; the worm, after lying a short time motionless, 
as if to recover its strength a little, renewed its efforts, but in vain; 
it gradually grew weaker, and in a few minutes was dead; and the 
victor immediately began to feast upon its victim. I was once a 
witness to a simiiar contest between an animal, which was, I think, 
the larva of a kind of beetle, and an enormously-large worm, in 
which the former was victorious.” 
Insects. —In this month, and again 
in June and August, the Brimstone 
Moth (Runcia cratcegata ) is often very 
abundant about our Whitethorn and 
Blackthorn hedges. It is about one inch 
and a quarter across its fore-wings when 
expanded, and their colour is a bright 
brimstone, marked at the base and on 
the front edge with rusty-coloured blotches ; from the second and 
fourth of these a scolloped band passes across each wing; the hind 
n mgs have slight dusky lines upon them. The caterpillars are vari¬ 
able in colour, being sometimes fawn, at others grey, variegated with 
Apkii,. 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. j 
12 
Cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
Frosty. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Rain, 
Highest 
& lowest 
04 
O 
1 
to 
46°—36° 
OO 
o 
1 
to 
CO 
Q 
62°—45° 
54°—34° 
65°—45° 
64°—42° 
60°—43° j 
i tCLHJ) • 
13 
Showery. 
Showery. 
Snow. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
56°—42° 
47°—36° 
48°—24° 
59°—47° 
54°—41° 
6 l°—34° 
51°—33° 
57°—35° 
14 
Showery. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
47°—32° 
52°—39° 
54°—42° 
60 °—41° 
55°—39° 
6l°—42° 
48°—34° 
550 — 29 ° 
15 
Showerv. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Snow. 
Cloudy. 
58°—26° 
51°—36° 
58°—47° 
66°—48° 
49° — 40° 
57°—49° 
48° —23° 
55°—42° 
16 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Frosty. 
Rain. 
57° — 31° 
51°—31° 
63°—42° 
70 °—36° 
54° — 39° 
62°—44° 
49°—20° 
58°—46° 
17 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
60°—39° 
51°—41° 
65°—33° 
71°—36° 
62 °—38° 
57°—44° 
54°—22° 
6l°—32° 
IS 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
61°—41° 
47°—40° 
67°—35° 
61°—30° 
58°—37° 
53°—43° 
52°—34° 
570 — 35 ° 
white, whilst some are found brownish, with deeper marks of the 
same colour; the head and some of the legs of the caterpillar are 
always orange. It feeds chiefly on the whitethorn and sloe, but we 
have found it also on the damson and bullace. 
Our readers will have discovered before this that 
whilst we are no respecters of old opinions, merely 
because they are old, yet that we are equally far 
from scoffing at ancient lore, merely because it is un¬ 
illumined by modern science. When, therefore, we 
give the following quotation from a letter now before 
us, our readers will not be surprised if we do not dis¬ 
miss the subject without further notice. The passage 
we refer to is this : “ In your various numbers I ob¬ 
serve the days and dates laid down for routine work 
without the slightest reference to the state or age of 
the moon. Are we really to understand that either 
her waxing or waning has no effect upon vegeta¬ 
tion ? A friend of mine would fain persuade me 
that it is useless to be sowing or planting this 
week ;* and, when speaking last week of your num¬ 
ber for this month, remarked ‘ it is time enough to 
get it for ten days to come, this being ‘ resting 
time’ till the moon changes.’ ’’ 
Now, in answer to our correspondent’s broad ques¬ 
tion—“ Has the moon’s waxing or waning no effect 
upon vegetation?”—we as broadly reply that we 
think it has. This opinion is founded upon the 
authority not only of all the oldest writers who have 
treated upon the subject, but upon that of some of 
the best of all practical observers—our foresters and 
* The letter is dated March 17th, and the moon was then on the 
decrease. 
i 
I 
i 
| 
No. XXVIII., Vol. II. 
