August 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER 
249 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
M 
I) 
w 
D 
1 
AUGUST 16—22, 1849. 
j Plants dedicated to 
each day. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon R. 
and Sets. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
hef. Sun. 
Hay of 
Year. 
10 
Th. 
Greenfinch’s song ceases. 
1 
Belladonna Idly. 
49 a. 4 
19 a. 7 
2 31 
28 
4 
2 
098 
rV CV f* 
1? 
F. 
Ds. of Kent b. 1780. Barley cut. 
SnapdragonToad-flax 
50 
17 
3 43 
29 
3 
49 
229 
18 
S. 
Devil’s-bit Scabious bowers. 
African Marigold. 
52 
15 
sets 
© 
3 
37 
230 
1!) 
Sun. 
11 S. aft. Trin. Common Tansy flowers. 1 
Rough Cat’s-tail grass 
56 
13 
7 a 52 
1 
3 
23 
231 
20 
M. 
Small Copper butterfly seen. 
Autumn Dandelion. 
55 
11 
8 19 
2 
3 
10 
232 
21 
Tu. 
Sun’s declin. 12° 5' n. 
French Marigold. 
57 
9 
8 43 
3 
2 
55 
233 
22 
W. 
Meadow Cat’s-tail grass. 
58 
7 
9 8 
4 
2 
41 
234 
Tiie 1 fith of this month is St. Rnnlie's day, and only requires notice 
because it was the day generally selected for the celebration of “har¬ 
vest home.” “ Sound as St. Roche” is an old adage, alluding to the 
general belief in Catholic times that he was miraculously cured of 
the plague. 
Phenomena of the Season. —Continuing our observations upon 
the modes adopted by their Creator for the diffusion of seeds, we may 
commence by observing that the all-wise care which this manifests 
for the preservation of the species is further demonstrated in the 
vastness of the number of seeds which most plants produce. Let 
anv one count the number of seeds produced even by the pea, bean, 
radish, or any other cultivated vegetable, and he will be surprised to 
find that, if only ordinarily productive, not one of them yields less 
than from thirty to one huiulred-fold. Yet many plants are still 
more extraordinarily productive. A single stalk of Indian corn (Zen 
■mays) has borne at once 200ft grains ; one elecampane plant ( Corvi- 
sartia Helenium) has yielded 300ft seeds; the common sunflower 
(Hclianthus annum), 4000; the poppy ( Papaver somniferum) 32,000; 
one capsule of tobacco ( Nicotianu tabacum), 1000; and one similar 
seed vessel of vanilla ( V. aromatica), 15,000. The second provision 
we shall notice for the dispersion of seeds to a distance from their 
parent plant is the elastic force with which some are thrown out from 
their seed vessel. This is very conspicuous in the garden balsam 
(hnpatiens noli-me-tangere), and both its names refer to its seed 
vessels being apparently impatient if touched. These seed vessels 
appear entire like a berry, but when ripe, if touched, they split into 
five divisions or valves, curl back violently, and discharge the seed to 
a distance of several yards. The cones of the fir tribe contract during 
hot weather until they split with a loud crack, and throw out the 
seed with considerable force. If many thus explode at once the 
noise is considerable, so much so that Mr. Keith relates of two of his 
pupils that, having noticed it in a specimen of the stone pine (Pinas 
pinca), they thought it was supernaturally influenced until the cause 
of its explosions was explained. A less loud, yet joyous, crackling 
noise may be heard at this time of the year by any one walking among 
bushes of the common furze or whin (Vlex Europoeus) on a hot, 
sunny day. It is caused by the bursting open of its seed pods, and 
their consequent scattering the seed around. If the seed fell perpen¬ 
dicularly where it grew, scarcely one of the seedlings would escape 
suffocation among the thick growth of the mother-bush. The most 
remarkable noise attending this bursting of the ripe seed vessel 
occurs in the sand-box tree (Hum crepitans) : the explosion, it is 
said, equals in sound that made by the discharge of a small pistol. 
The contrivance for discharging the seed of the hart’s-tongue fern 
(Asplenium) is very striking. The seed vessel or capsule is a hollow 
ball, nearly girted round by an elastic ring, which cuts the ball into 
halves, and jerks the seed from them to a distance. It would lie vain 
to argue noth any sceptic who refused to acknowledge in these de¬ 
monstrations not only of their Great Artificer, but that “ in wisdom 
He had made them all.” 
August 
1841. 
1842. 
1843. 
1844. 
1845. 
1846. 
T 
CO j 
1848. 
lfl 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Stormy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Showery. 
Highest 
& lowest 
74°— 58° 
89°—57° 
74°—55° 
^4 
O 
1 
C* 
M 
O 
01° — 48° 
72°_49 0 
68°—Gl° 
O 
lit 
1 
O 
O 
temp. 
17 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
75°—56° 
80°—58° 
80°—55° 
69°—47° 
6f)°—43° 
7«°—53° 
71°—G«° 
<)5°—41° 
18 
Fine. 
Stormv. 
Fine, 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
76°—5C° 
9 2°—52° 
84°—59° 
69°—43° 
71°—52° 
72°—54° 
85°—62° 
75°—54° 
19 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
Showery. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
77°—47° 
73°—51° 
84°—fil° 
72°— 6o° 
57°—49° 
70°—52° 
09°—55° 
fi9° — 42° 
20 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
Fine. 
80°—51° 
73°—57° 
7 2 o-47° 
78°—51° 
G6 1 —45° 
64°— 59° 
72°—49° 
71°—45° 
21 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showerv. 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Rain. 
72°—48° 
77°-5 5° 
71°—49° 
65°—52° 
G8°—39° 
7<)°—54° 
82°—54° 
69°—51° 
22 
Rain. 
Fine. 
Rfiin. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Fine. 
Showerv. 
Showery. 
68°—54° 
83°—58° 
02°—45° 
C7°—42° 
72°—49° 
67°—48° 
58—43° 
65°—44° 
Insects. —We do not before remem¬ 
ber to have seen the Froth insect, Cuc¬ 
koo spit, Froth-hopper, or Frog-hopper, 
(for by all these names it is popularly 
known,) so abundant as it was in the 
April and May of the present year. 
All its popular names refer either to 
the saliva-like froth in which it buries 
itself; to its jumping powers when full 
grown, for it is closely allied to the 
grasshopper; or to its appearance at 
the same time as the cuckoo. It is 
the Tettigoniu, spiimaria of some ento¬ 
mologists, and the Cercopis, Cicada, 
or Aphrophora spumaria of others. 
Its larva enveloped in its froth is 
especially prevalent upon the young 
shoots of the white-thorn or quick ; 
but it also infests the stems of pinks, 
carnations, lilacs, and many other 
plants. If the froth be removed, one 
and sometimes two small, pale green, aphis-like insects are detected. 
These are the larva or young of the Froth-fly, and appear like the figure 
marked c in the annexed woodcut; b representing the froth it emits. 
By means of its sharp rostrum or beak it extracts the sap of the plant, 
and voids it as an excrement in the frothy form which is its character¬ 
istic. About the end of July it sheds its skin, leaving it in the froth, 
and comes forth the perfect insect, as represented by the figure marked 
a ; which magnified, and in another attitude, is represented in our se¬ 
cond woodcut. About the beginning of the present month the males 
and females may be found in pairs numerously on the plants they fre¬ 
quent. They are of a dirty white colour, thickly dotted and clothed 
with short hairs ; head broad and bluntly triangular, with black lines 
down its centre and sides ; eyes, one on each side, near the base of 
the head ; rostrum long, bent underneath its body when not in use ; 
antenna; ending in a fine bristle; thorax and shield (scutcllum), 
adjoining the back of the head, brownish. The wing cases are 
brown, mottled with ochre, with four whitish patches on the margin ; 
the under wings are transparent and irridescent. The legs, six in 
number, short, but two hind-legs longest, and formed for leaping. 
So effectual arc they for the purpose that, as Mr. Kirby states, after 
shewing their mode of leaping, they will spring five or six feet at a 
time, being more than 250 times their own length, or “ as if a man 
of ordinary height should be able to vault through the air to the dis¬ 
tance of a quarter of a mile.” It is not ascertained where the eggs 
of this insect are deposited, but probably on the stems of the plants 
on the shoots of which the larva feed. It appears, however, that 
they can travel after hatching, for seedlings and plants raised from 
root-cuttings are often affected. We know of no better plan for 
destroying the insect than draw ing the affected shoots between the 
fingers, and then dipping these into a bowl of water after each grasp. 
In the case of carnation stems and other flowers, requiring more 
tender treatment, all the froth may be taken from the insect by 
means of a piece of sponge, and itself then removed by a camel’s- 
liair brush. 
No. XLVI., Vol. II. 
