June 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
115 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
1) 
w 
D 
JUNE 7—13, 1849. 
Plants dedicated to 
each day. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon R. 
and Sets. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
7 
Th 
Corpus Chrlsti. Nightingale’s song ceases. 
Red Centaury. 
4G a. 3 
11 a. 8 
9 
15 
16 
1 
31 
158 
8 
F 
Common Honeysuckle flowers. 
Moneywort. 
46 
12 
9 
59 
17 
1 
20 
159 
9 
S 
Dagger-moth appears. 
Berberry. 
46 
12 
10 
37 
18 
1 
9 
100 
10 
Sun 
1 S. aft. Trin. Silver Y moth appears. 
Bastard Acorns. 
45 
13 
11 
12 
19 
0 
57 
161 
11 
M 
St. Barnabas. Common Mallow flowers. 
Midsummer Daisy. 
45 
14 
11 
41 
20 
0 
45 
102 
12 
Tu 
Trin. Term. e. Redbreast’s 2d brood hatch. 
White Dog Rose. 
45 
14 
morn. 
21 
0 
33 
163 
13 
W 
Small Blue Butterfly appears. 
Garden Ranunculus. 
44 
15 
0 
8 
€ 
0 
21 
104 
Cortus Ciiristi (Body of Christ) is a festival first instituted by 
Pope Urban the Fourth in the year 1264, and still celebrated by Roman 
Catholics. Various reasons have been assigned for its institution, the 
least objectionable of which is, that it is to celebrate the blessings 
conferred upon mankind by the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. 
This festival is always on the Thursday next after Trinity Sunday, 
and was, at one time, a day of some consequence in the conduct of 
our legal affairs: for, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, Trinity Term 
was directed by statute to begin on the day after this feast “for ever.” 
Words endeavouring to render a human law immutable, the vanity 
of which has been shewn by its subsequent alteration. 
St. Barnabas, although not one of the twelve chosen by our 
Lord, is spoken of as one of the Apostles in the Scriptures (Acts xiv. 
14). From the same book of Holy Writ (iv. 36) we learn that he was 
a Levite, native of the Island of Cyprus, and that his name originally 
was Joses. He received the name of Barnabas, “ which is, being in¬ 
terpreted, the son of consolation,” probably because, in the hour of 
the other apostles’ extreme need, “having land, he sold it, and 
brought the money and laid it at their feet.” We know that he 
afterwards accompanied St. Paul as a preacher of the gospel; and 
that when he separated from him he w'ent to evangelize in his native 
island. The time and manner of his death are not certainly known. 
There is an “ Epistle” extant which is generally believed to have been 
written by him. 
Phenomena of the Season. —Proceeding with our notes upon 
the parts of a flow'er, we will commence with its outermost covering 
—the calyx, the cup or outer wrapper. The green rough skin en- 
Insects. —Every one acquainted 
with old gardens must have fre¬ 
quently noticed that one or more of 
the branches of the currant-trees 
tenanting them have suddenly with¬ 
ered and died without any appa¬ 
rent cause. In such’ cases, if the 
wood of the branch be split down 
the centre, the pith will be found all 
consumed, the tube where it had 
been blackened, and nothing remain¬ 
ing but the excrements of a cater- 
illar, which may also be caught at 
is work of destruction if the exami¬ 
nation is made so soon as the branch 
first shews symptoms of withering. 
This caterpillar, fleshy, whitish, with 
four yellowish brown spots near its 
head, is the larva of the Currant 
Sphinx (Trochilium tipuliforme and 
the Sphinx tipuliformis, Sesiu, or 
Mgeria, or Bombecia tipuliformis, 
anil Bembecia tipuliforme of others). The parent moth is beautiful, 
and may be seen at the end of May and early in June during hot 
sunshine, either settled on the leaves of the currant, or flying around 
the flowers of the syringa and lilac. It is about three-quarters of an 
inch across the wings when these are quite opened; the prevailing 
colour is bluish black, with various parts yellow; the antennae black ; 
the breast with a yellow line on each side; the abdomen, or lower 
part of the body, has three yellow rings round it in the females, and 
four in the males ; the fore wings are barred and veined with black ; 
it has a brush of fine scales at the end of its abdomen, which fan it 
can expand as it pleases. The red, white, and black currant, and, 
we think, the gooseberry, are all liable to its attacks. It lays its 
eggs at this time in openings of the bark of a young shoot, and the 
caterpillar immediately it is hatched penetrates to its pith, and eats 
its way down this until it reaches the pith of the main branch. The 
only securitive measures are to kill the moth whenever seen, and to 
split open the withered branches and serve the caterpillars simi¬ 
larly. 
Tiie following, from the head gardener of an esta¬ 
blishment in Kent, is only one of very many letters 
now before us, all urging the same topic as deserv¬ 
ing our especial advocacy :— 
“ I can bear testimony to the value of The Cottage 
Gardener as an agent of improvement amongst the 
working classes, and I think you would greatly 
closing the flower-bud of a poppy, which splits into half-egg-shaped 
pieces when the flower blooms, is an example of the calyx. It is not 
absolutely necessary for a flower to have a calyx, many being without 
one, and we will take as a familiar example'the tulip. This has no 
wrapper over its beautifully coloured petals, but some botanists con¬ 
sider these petals are the calyx, and that the tulip has no petals. One 
of the most marked of calyxes is the cup of the acorn, though other bo¬ 
tanists will not admit that it is one. Another calvx, which most of our 
readers, probably, have considered as really petals or flower leaves, is 
the beautiful crimson or pink, according to the variety, outer cov’er- 
ing of the flower of the fuchsia. In no case can we consider the 
calyx as of no other use than to cover and protect the inner parts of 
the flower; for it resembles in structure the leaves, and, like these, 
takes carbonic acid gas from the air and returns to it oxvgene. It is 
Hue that sometimes, as in the poppy, it falls when the flower' bursts 
it and opens, but that is no proof that it did not help to nourish the 
petals and other parts during their early growth. In most plants 
the calyx continues until the seed is ripe, and in some, as the Winter 
cherry (Physatis alkekengi), it not only remains leafy but increases in 
size. From these, and from other circumstances, we have no doubt 
that the calyx is of use for preparing sap to nourish either the flower 
or the fruit during some stage of its growth, or to aid in strengthen¬ 
ing the stalk in proportion to the weight of the fruit it has to sustain. 
In some cases it has another use, forit remains bearing a silky parasol¬ 
like crown, helping to disperse far and wide the seed to which it is 
attached. Familiar instances of this are furnished by the dandelion 
and the thistle. 
forward the end in view if yon would give the aid 
of your pen to the advocacy of Horticultural Shows 
for Cottagers. No one can over-estimate the value of 
such societies, so greatly do they improve both the 
moral and social condition of the working classes. 
It is astonishing to see what a revolution is caused 
in any village when once it has its annual shows, 
and it is also surprising to see the excellent crops of 
June 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
7 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Shower}'. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Highest 
57°-46° 
64°—50° 
& lowest 
78 °—51° 
71°—50° 
67°—57° 
90°—56° 
70°—49° 
73°— 47 ° 
temp. 
Fine. 
8 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
68°—41° 
Showers. 
Stormy. 
Showerv. 
65°—43° 
56°—46° 
81°—47° 
65°—50° 
80°—49° 
79°— 50° 
63°—39° 
9 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Showerv. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
57°—39° 
76°—49° 
63°—49° 
80°—51° 
72°—40° 
77°—51° 
64°—48° 
67°—53° 
10 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Stormy. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Showerv. 
71 °—41° 
81°—51° 
64°—47° 
77°—41° 
76 °—46° 
77°—56° 
60°—42° 
fiq° sa° 
11 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
7 l°— 5 'o° 
Stormy. 
fis 0 —rs° 
54°—45° 
89°—54° 
64°—48° 
83°—42° 
78°—50° 
81°—53° 
67 °—41° 
12 
Showerv. 
Fine. 
Showerv. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
53°—37° 
90 °—51° 
67°—48° 
82 °—56° 
85°—54° 
85°—50° 
74°—52° 
13 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Showerv. 
65°—42° 
65°—37° 
90°—55° 
56°—49° 
85°—52° 
84°—57° 
86°—52° 
64°—54° 
No. XXXVI., Vol. II. 
