JCJNE 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
WEEKLY CALENDAR, 
140 
M 
D 
w 
D 
JUNE 28— JULY 4, 1849. 
Plants dedicated to 
each day. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon R. 
and Sets. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
28 
Th. 
Q. Vic. cor., 1838. Wasp Beetle seen. 
Blue Corn-flower. 
47 a. 3 
19 a. 8 
0 
14 
8 
2 
52 
179 
29 
F. 
St. Peter. Water Chickweed flowers. 
Yellow Rattle. 
48 
18 
0 
37 
9 
3 
4 
180 
30 
S. 
Great Horse-fly seen. 
Yellow Cistus. 
48 
18 
1 
2 
10 
3 
16 
181 
1 
Sun. 
4 S. aft. Trinity. Blackberry flowers. 
Agrimony. 
49 
18 
1 
29 
11 
3 
27 
182 
o 
M. 
Visitation B.V. M. Rooks roost ontheirnest 
White Lily. 
50 
18 
1 
58 
12 
3 
39 
183 
3 
Tu. 
Dog Days beg. Hort. Soc. Meet. [trees. 
Wood Mallow. 
50 
17 
2 
33 
13 
3 
50 
184 
4 
W. 
Wood Leopard Moth seen. 
Copper Day Lily. 
51 
17 
3 
13 
14 
4 
1 
185 
St. Peter, the apostle, has his martyrdom commemorated on this j 
day, and it is remarkable that St. Paul suffered on the same day, 
though in a different part of the world. When his Lord and Master 
summoned Peter from his occupation of a fisherman, to be, with his 
brother Andrew, “fishers of men,” he substituted for his original 
name of Simon, that of Cephas, in the Syriac signifying “a rock.” 
This in the Greek is Petra, whence our name of the son of Jona is 
derived, We need not follow this ardent, generous, self-confident 
apostle through all the notices taken of him in the New Testament. 
He was crucified at Rome in the year 65 ; and whilst, as transgressors, 
we may derive hope from the knowledge that Jesus loved Peter, even 
after the latter had denied all knowledge of him, yet let us remember 
that his repentance followed even upon one reproving look; that he 
shewed his repentance by a life devoted to the fulfilment of his Lord’s 
commandments, and that in his death he did not deem himself worthy 
even to die in the same position as that in which Jesus suffered. Peter, 
at his own request, was crucified with his head downwards. 
Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. —-A festival was 
instituted by Pope Urban the 6 th in 1383, to be held annually on this 
day, to commemorate Mary’s visit to her cousin Elisabeth, imme¬ 
diately after the Archangel Gabriel had announced “ the glad tidings” 
of her being selected as the agent for the incarnation of our Reedemer. 
Dog Days begin. —By dog days the Romans intended about forty 
days, during which occurred the heliacal rising of Canicula, the Dog- 
Star. But we calculate these days from the period when the sun 
comes in conjunction with Sirius, the brightest star in the constella¬ 
tion Canis Major (Larger Dog). These days last from July 3rd to 
August 11 th, aad the greatest heat of the year usually occurs during 
their continuance, because at this period we receive the rays of the 
sun most vertically. 
Translation of St. Martin. —Martin, Bishop of Tours, was 
noticed in our observations on Martinmas day (November lith). 
This day is commemorated by the Church of Rome as that on which 
the remains of Bishop Martin were removed, or translated, to a noble 
shrine at Tours. The same tradition is recorded of forty days’ rain 
occurring if it rains on this day, as is recorded relative to the anniver¬ 
sary of St. Swithin. 
Phenomena of the Season. —One of the most striking pheno¬ 
mena of this period is the plague of Aphides. We do not remember 
ever to have seen them in such myriads, and so universal as they are 
in the present year. Every plant seems to have its particular louse, 
or aphis, and whilst we are writing this, we have upon our table 
specimens of the blackish currant louse ( Aphis ribes), of the black 
dolphin or bean louse (A . fabce), of the green louse of the rose (A. 
rosie), of the bluish green louse of the honeysuckle (A. lonicerae), of 
the whitish louse of the filbert (A. corylhe), and of the radish louse 
(A. raphani), the males of which are red and the females green. We 
could have others from the peach, the black currant, the sweet pea, 
and the apple, but our catalogue is sufficiently long, and as we look 
upon the total destruction they have brought upon a honeysuckle, we 
can understand more forcibly the plague of the flies wherewith “ the 
land of Egypt was corrupted,” and how powerless is man when God 
chooses to humble him even by an assailant as contemptible as an 
aphis. Mild winters, and cold moist springs, are favourable to the 
production of aphides, for in such seasons the tissue of the young 
shoots of plants remains long juicy and unripened into woody fibre. 
This green juicy state is that most productive of food for the aphis ; 
and it is a wise provision that animals are always prolific in propor¬ 
tion to the abundance of their food. The female aphis during sum¬ 
mer can give birth to twenty-five a day ; and, upon data admitting of 
no dispute, it is shewn that during her life she may see around her 
descendants amounting to the enormous number of nearly sis mil¬ 
lions ! No wonder, then, that during our present season of tardy 
vegetation aphides have been so injuriously abundant. 
1841. 
1842. 
. 1843, 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
1847- 
1848. 
28 
Rain. 
Stormy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Highest 
& lowest 
62 °—50° 
80°—51° 
63°—40° 
740—470 
69 °—43° 
740— 58 o 
76°—54° 
69°—50° 
temp. 
29 
Showerv. 
Fine. 
Cloudv. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
69°—48° 
82°—52° 
65°—48° 
83°—54° 
72 °—51° 
750—570 
75°—55° 
710—430 
30 
Fine. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showerv. 
6/°—52° 
71°—50° 
67°—49° 
79°—50° 
70°—53° 
75°—48° 
72°—54° 
670—378 
i 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Stormv. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
63°—59° 
70 °—50° 
69 °—52° 
79°—54° 
71 °—52° 
70°—58° 
72°—53° 
65°—40° 
2 
Cloudy. 
Showery. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Showery. 
Cloudv. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudv. 
69 °— 60 ° 
6 g°—46° 
73°—58° 
62°—53° 
65°—56° 
75°—59° 
64°—51° 
6»°—50° 
3 
Fine. 
■ Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Stormy. 
Cloudv. 
Cloudy. 
Rain. 
79°—55° 
75°—55° 
76°—59° 
72=—57° 
84°—52° 
80°—46° 
73°—53° 
67 °— 52 ° 
4 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine, 
Cloudy. 
69°—53° 
76°—5g° 
78°—53° 
68 °—55° 
75°—50° 
92 °— 66 ° 
83°—43° 
730—430 
Insects. —In light soils, especially, 
the onion is liable to suffer from the 
grub or larva of the Onion Fly (An- 
l homy in ceparum, or Scatophaga ce- 
parum of some writers). The gardener 
who sees his young onions, when about 
the thickness’ of a straw, turning yel¬ 
low, and the leaves sunk down upon 
the ground, may at once know that 
they are the victims of this insect. 
Even when of larger growth the onion 
is still liable to suffer from its attacks, 
and even up to the time of the bulb’s 
full growth. If the outer coats of a 
young onion thus destroyed are stripped 
off, the grub is at once detected; but 
if the onion is older the grubs are often 
numerous. In both cases they will be 
found feeding on the very heart of the 
onion. The grub varies from about a 
quarter to half an inch long, is fleshy, 
shining, whitish, cylindrical, tapering from the head to the tail, and 
divided into twelve segments. The pores through which it breathes 
are yellow, and in the first segment. In about three weeks from the 
time of being hatched it changes into a chesnut-coloured, oval 
puparium, or case, within which is the real pupa. From this, in 
about a fortnight, the perfect fly comes forth, of the size of the cross 
lines, and appearing as magnified in our drawing. This is the 
female, and is entirely of a pale ashy colour, covered with black 
bristles. The male has a black line down the middle of the abdomen. 
The an ten use and legs are black ; the wings are transparent, almost 
colourless, but irridescent pink and green. The female inserts her 
eggs within the leaf sheaths of the onion, close to the ground. She 
continues to lay her eggs from May to September, producing several 
broods during that period. The latest brood remains in the pupa 
state through the winter, so that all old decaying store onions should 
be burnt as spring advances. The best preventive of this grub is to 
sprinkle gas-lime between the rows of seedling onions—its fumes 
being offensive to the fly. It may be well, also, to try spreading 
powdered charcoal among them in a similar way, for the fly is said to 
deposit her eggs in this powder as readily as in'the onion plants. 
! 
The cold wet spring and ungenial summer of last 
year, followed by the mild winter, and a spring this 
year like that of the preceding, have fostered those 
plagues of the gardener, the aphis, the slug, and the 
mildew, until their ravages have been more general 
and more destructive than we ever remember them 
in former years. The heat and dryness of the month 
now closing has done much towards the restraint 
and destruction of the two insect plagues, but the 
Mildew still continues, and in some places, and 
under some circumstances, even in an exasperated 
form. To this we will, therefore, call to-day the 
No. XXXIX., Vol. II. 
