THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 18, 1857. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
15 
1 
Weather near London in 
1856. 
1) 
M 
D 
W 
OCTOBER 13—19, 1857. 
Barometer. 
Thermo. 
•- 
Wind. 
llain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R. & S. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
af. Sun. 
Day of 
Year. 
I 13 
Tu 
China Pinks. 
30.193—30.108 
67—44 
S. 
— 
23 a. 6 
10 a. 5 
1 0 
25 
13 44 
286 
I 14 
W 
Sweet Sultan. 
29.945—29.694 
60—48 
S.E. 
20 
24 
8 
2 19 
26 
13 58 
287 
15 
Th 
Polyanthus. 
29.654—29.389 
61-47 
S. 
21 
26 
6 
3 35 
27 
14 11 
28S 
1 16 
F 
Auricula. 
30.262—30.985 
59—43 
N.W. 
06 
28 
4 
4 47 
28 
14 24 
289 
1 17 
S 
Heartsease. [Sr. Luke. 
30.318—30.308 
59—46 
S.W. 
— 
29 
1 
sets. 
14 36 
290 
18 
Son 
19 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.310—30.270 
63—32 
S.W. 
31 
IV 
4a.48 
1 
14 47 
291 
19 
M 
Oriental Persicaria. 
30.286—30.237 
60—42 
E. 
_ 
33 
57 
5 3 
2 
14 58 
292 
Meteorology of the Week. —AtChiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average Inchest andlowest 
temperatures of these days are 58.8°, and 40.9 , respectively. The greatest heat, 7 6 , occurred on the 14th 
on the 15th, in 1830. During the period 101 days were fine, and on 95 rain fell. 
in 1855 
and the lowest cold, 24°, 
NOTES ON NEW OR RARE PLANTS. 
Ataccia cristata (the crested Ataccia). Nat. ord., 
! Taccacece .—A native of the Malay Islands. Root con¬ 
sisting of numerous gross fibres, proceeding from a 
short conical caudex. Leaves several, on slightly taper¬ 
ing, smooth, dark brown petioles, oblong, acuminate, 
smooth; margins entire; veins strongly developed be¬ 
neath, brownish green. Flowers on long, stout, up¬ 
right, angled, dark brown scapes. Involucre of four 
: leaves; the two outer spreading, opposite, sessile, acu¬ 
minate, streaked; the two inner large, erect, side by ; 
side, broadly ovate, acute, reticulated, greenish, edged i 
l with purple. Peduncles numerous, purplish, about an ! 
’ inch and a half long, each bearing a single flower, and 
forming a drooping one-branched umbel. They are 
accompanied by several filiform appendages (sterile 
j pedicels), which form the principal beauty of the flowers ! 
i by their gracefully drooping character. Tube inversely 
conical, with a contracted base ; limb divided into six 
: segments of an ovato-rotundate form. 
This old plant possesses no little beauty and much 
of singularity. When in flower it arrests the attention 
of the most casual observer of plants, and claims his 
admiration. It is not, however, on account of bright or 
| striking colours that the plant is so interesting and 
attractive (on the contrary, the colours are rather flat), 
but because of the peculiar structure of the flowers and 
the graceful appendages alluded to above. It flowers 
freely in March and April, often later, and lasts a con¬ 
siderable time. The culture is simple, a compost chiefly 
of very fibrous peat, with a little loam and sand, plentiful 
drainage, and a moist, strong heat, forming the principal 
requirements. It is particularly worthy of notice for a 
choice collection of curious tropical plants. 
Primula mollis (the soft Primula). Nat. ord., 
i Primulacece. —A native of the mountains of Bhotan, 
and introduced into this country in 1854 by Mr. Nuttall, 
of Liverpool. Root perennial, stemless. Petioles long, 
round, very hairy. Leaves cordate, obtuse; margins 
lobed, crenate, and slightly sinuate, covered thickly 
I with soft hairs; veins reticulated. Scape much longer 
| than the foliage, bearing three or four whorls of flowers. 
Involucre two linear sub-spathulate leaves. Pedicels 
three or five in a whorl, longer than the involucre, 
j Calyx inversely conical, tapering at the base, divided 
l into five acute, spreading teeth ; green, and covered 
thickly with long soft hairs. Corolla funnel-shaped; 
i limb broader than the leugtli of the tube; segments 
( five, and ovate in form; bright rose, shading into a 
blood red ring round the mouth of the tube. 
This useful half-hardy herbaceous plant can be, by 
slight forcing in the earlier months and retarding in the 
later months, had in bloom from February till the end 
of May, and often far into June. It should be grown in 
a well-drained compost of light loam two parts, and the 
i other part good leaf mould and sand. It can be 
propagated by seeds, cuttings, and division. The best 
I plants are produced from cuttings or division in the 
No. CCCCLXXII. Vol. XIX. 
shortest time. Much caution must be used in the 
watering of cuttings and divisions till they are thoroughly 
rooted in the new soil, as they are very liable to damp. 
Galphimia splendens (the shining Galphimia). 
Nat. ord., Malpighiacece .—A native of Mexico. Stem 
many-branched, smooth, and brown. Leaves opposite, 
on short round petioles, elliptical, smooth, dark green; 
margins entire. Inflorescence a lax raceme. Calyx 
divided into five acute, lanceolate, suddenly reflexed, 
green segments. Corolla five spreading ovate petals, 
with very long claws, yellow. 
A fine free-flowering stove plant. It blooms profusely 
four or five months in the year, dating the commence¬ 
ment from the beginning of July. Being rather lax j 
in habit it is unsuited for exhibition purposes, but as a j 
decorative stove plant is very useful. Good loam and 
peat in nearly equal parts, with a mixture of sand, is a 
compost in which it thrives admirably. The flowers 
terminate the branches and laterals of the current 
year’s growth. After blooming, therefore, the flowering 
branches should be cut hard in to an eye or two. Strikes 
freely from cuttings in the usual mode of rooting stove- 
plant cuttings, and the first year after rooting should be 
devoted to the forming of the basis of the plant by 
judicious shifting and careful stopping.—S. G. W., Kew. 
VEGETABLE. FORCING. 
Mushrooms. —The culture of Mushrooms is so very 
simple that there exists no particular obstacle to the 
enjoyment of them through the winter by the mere 
cottager; but this subject has been too much mystified, 
or rendered complicated, to prove of such popular 
character. A few barrows of horse droppings, a shelter 
from frost and from rains, and a couple of cakes 
of spawn are all that are necessary to form a 
bed sufficient to supply any moderate family from 
November to March with something like three dishes 
per week, which is as much as would in general 
be requisite. The durability of the Mushroom bed 
depends on the deptli and quality of the material; 
there is no escaping this fact. The deeper the bed, and 
the fresher the dung can be got together, the finer and 
longer lasting the Mushrooms will be. But then deep 
beds are apt to become hot, and much heat is averse to 
the spreading of the spawn, and, indeed, at all times 
injurious to Mushrooms. How, then, shall this high 
fermentation be avoided ? for that is one of the chief 
problems to solve. I find no plan equal to that of 
building the bed by instalments. A layer of four 
inches I consider the maximum amount that should be 
permitted at once. In this practice it is simply 
necessary to commence earlier than by the old mode. 
Thus, suppose I want a bed to produce from the end of 
October to the end of February, I will show how I 
proceed, and the following will be a mere recital of 
what occurred with me last winter, when I had a bed 
which produced in constant succession for at least four 
