Junk 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
125 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
1 
1 M 
l D 
w 
D 
JUNE 14—20, 1849. 
Plants dedicated to 
each day. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon R. 
and Sets. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
id 
Th 
Young Swallows fledged. 
Sweet Basil. 
44 a 3 
16 a 8 
0 
32 
23 
0 
8 
105 
115 
F 
Young Redstarts fledged. 
Sensitive Plant. 
44 
10 
0 
59 
24 
0 
4 
100 
to 
S 
Ivy casts its leaves. 
Moss Pcose. 
44 
17 
1 
20 
25 
0 
17 
107 
17 
Sun 
2 Sttn. aft. Trinity. St. Alban. 
Monkey b'lower. 
44 
17 
] 
50 
20 
0 
30 
168 
18 
M 
Tadpoles fore-feet seen. 
Horn Poppy. 
44 
17 
2 
30 
27 
0 
43 
169 
19 
Tu 
Meadow Brown Butterfly seen. 
Sweet Rocket. 
44 
18 
o 
O 
10 
28 
0 
50 
170 
20 
W 
Q. Vic. Access. Young Greenfinches fledged 
Doubtful Poppy. 
44 
18 
4 
1 
© 
1 
9 
171 
St. Alban, notwithstanding the mist raised around his memory 
by the miracles assigned to him and to his relics by Roman Catholic 
writers, certainly existed, and was one of the earliest martyrs in the 
Christian cause who suffered in England. It is usual to consider 
him as actually the first of such sufferers, and, consequently, he has 
been styled “the Proto-martyr,” and “ the St. Stephen of England.” 
lie was born at Verulam, near the place where St. Albans, in Hert¬ 
fordshire, now stands ; served in the army of Diocletian, returned to 
his native place, was converted to Christianity, and was there be¬ 
headed, during the great Dioclcsian persecution, about the end of 
the third century. More than four centuries after St. Alban’s death, 
Offa, king of the Mercians, erected and dedicated a monastery to his 
memory on the spot where he was believed to have endured mar¬ 
tyrdom. 
Phenomena of the Season. —Before proceeding to remark 
further upon the parts composing the floral beauties so characteristic 
of the season, we would observe that the 15tli of June is St. Vitus’s 
day in our old calendars ; and that an opinion closely resembling 
that entertained relative to St. Swithin’s was held concerning the 
anniversary of St. Vitus, An old distich says that, if it rains on this 
day, rain will occur every day during the thirty days following. In 
our last Number we considered the calyx, or outermost covering 
of a flower, and next in order to this is the corolla. By this name 
botanists know the usually beautifully-coloured leaf or leaves form¬ 
ing, in general, the most showy and ornamental portion of the 
blossom. It is either in one piece called the petal, or, if in more 
than one, the petals. The delicacy of structure, the brightness of 
the colours, and the exquisite fragrance, which are its common cha¬ 
racteristics, fully entitle it to the name of “the joy of plants.” It 
has been the opinion of some, from whom it appears presumptuous 
to differ, that, because the structure of petals differs from that of 
leaves, therefore they are of no use but to protect the inner parts 
more essential for the production of seed. From this opinion we 
cannot but differ, for the petals have a vascular system, will not 
open unless oxygen be present in the air they grow in, and the forma¬ 
tion of the stamens, &c. fails if they arc taken away before the 
latter are fully grown. To these facts, all tending to shew the services 
performed by the petals, maybe added the fact that they sometimes 
become leaves, and that leaves often approximate in colour and form 
to petals. Moreover, we know that they form peculiar secretions, 
almost universally pleasing, ami often highly beneficial to man. The 
blue of the violet gives the chemist a test useful for the detection of 
alkalies and acids ; the rose, petals give one of the most fragrant of 
oils; those of safflower yield the most delicate of colours; those of 
the chamomile one of the most grateful of bitters; and those of the 
marigold find their way into the kitchen. All these varieties of 
secretions intimate that flowers act a more important part in the 
economy of vegetables than to be merely the coverings of the sta¬ 
mens and pistils, or even to gratify the senses of man, or to attract 
the attention of insects to the office of dispersing the pollen. Would 
the most gorgeous and most fragrant part of plants be so gifted for 
mere secondary purposes? Is such the subordinate and only purpose 
of a flower like that of Itafflesia Arnoldi, three feet in diameter ; or of 
the still larger and more splendid Victoria regia, with its hundred 
petals of rosy hue > We think not; anil we incline to the opinion 
that, whenever present, they act an important part in the early 
nourishment of the stamens and pistils. 
June 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
14 
Fine, 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Highest 
& lowest 
72° — °53 
88 °—53° 
fi9°—57° 
75°—49° 
O 
<yz 
1 
CO 
82°—50° 
67°—47° 
73°—50° 
15 
Cloudy. 
69 °—36° 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
80° — 48° 
71°—48° 
78°—43° 
84°—60° 
87 °—56° 
62°—44° 
80 °—56° 
16 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
72 °—41° 
76 ° — 48° 
71 °—46° 
78 °—40° 
75°—50° 
87 °—50° 
60°—45° 
82°—54° 
17 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Stormy. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
70 °—41° 
73°—51° 
75°—50° 
77°-52° 
80°—59° 
88 °—53° 
70 °—51° 
72 °—54° 
18 
Stormy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Stormy. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
80°—54° 
71° — 49° 
65°— 50° 
77°—54° 
70°—44° 
88 °— 54° 
64°—48° 
68 ° — 52° 
19 
Cloudy. 
Stormy. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
69 °—45° 
71°—49° 
63°—59° 
66 °—46° 
78 °—48° 
93°—58° 
72°—47° 
65°—51° 
20 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Stormv. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudv. 
66 °—54° 
72 °—52° 
63°—39° 
74° — 53° 
74°—49° 
87 °— 62 ° 
67°—52° 
66 °—47° 
Insects. —Tliestemsof our 
asparagus are robbed of their 
bark, and the future produce 
of the plants proportionately 
weakened, by a small, brightly- 
marked beetle, of which we 
give a drawing, shewing it of its natural size and magnified. The 
Asparagus Beetle ( Crioceris aspuragi, and Lema and Chrysomela 
asparagi of some) is rather more titan a quarter of an inch long; 
prevailing colour blue-black, upper surface of thorax red, antennte 
black, wing-cases edged with orange and varied with cream-coloured 
and blue-black marks. This beetle is found upon the stems of aspa¬ 
ragus during the present month and until September. The eggs, 
which arc oval and slate-coloured, are fixed by one of their ends to 
the young spray of the asparagus. The grubs are soon hatched from 
these, aud are fleshy, greyish-green, gradually thickening towards the 
tail, marked with black spots, and having black legs. As soon as full- 
grown, after shedding their skins several times, they burv themselves 
in the earth of the asparagus-bed, forming a parchment-like cocoon, 
in which they remain, for the most part, throughout the winter, and 
the heetle comes forth from the cocoon in June. We say “for the 
most part,” because we incline to Mr. Westwood’s opinion, that some 
of the beetles live through the winter. One was found in our garden 
during the May just past, long before any asparagus-shoots appeared. 
Dusting the grubs with white hellebore powder destroys them ; but it 
should be applied very early in the morning, whilst they are moistened 
with dew. 
Much ingenuity lias been devoted and mispent in 
the classification of the diseases to which organized 
bodies, animal and vegetable, are liable. It is mis¬ 
pent, because, unlike classification in some sciences, 
the arrangement of diseases in groups, according to 
our present amount of knowledge, neither aids the 
memory nor concentrates information. Those who 
will bestow attention upon vegetable diseases—a 
subject every way worthy of that attention—will be 
benefactors to the cultivators of plants, as well as to 
physiologists, just in proportion as they accurately 
observe the circumstances preceding, and the pheno¬ 
mena attendant upon, the progress of those diseases. 
What we want at present—what we are miserably 
No. XXXVII., Von. II. 
