T11E COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, A1>bil 12, 185'J. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
15 
Weather near London in 1858. 
of of 
M’ntli Week. 
AFRII. 12—13, 1850. 
Barometer. 
Tkerinom. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.andS. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
befoSun 
Day of 
Year. 
12 
Tu 
Ilabrothamnus elegans. 
29.945—20.935 
51—34 
N. 
_ 
14 af 5 
48 af 6 
20 
3 
9 
0 58 
102 
13 
W 
Ilardenbergia Comptoniana. 
30.050—29.954 
53—28 
E. 
_ 
12 5 
50 6 
38 
3 
* 10 
0 37 
103 
H 
Th 
Princess Beatrice born, 1857. 
< 30.117—30.101 
62—48 
S.E. 
— 
9 5 
52 6 
51 
3 
11 
0 22 
104 
15 
F 
Jacksonia granditiora. 
; 30.019—29.970 
70—38 
8. 
— 
7 5 
53 6 
5 
4 
12 
0 6 
105 
16 
8 
Kenncdya prostrata. 
29.920-29.682 
75—45 
s.w, 
.16 
5 5 
55 6 
18 
4 
13 
Oaf.9 
106 
17 
SVN 
Palm Sunday. 
30.001—29.932 
57—31 
N. 
_ 
3 5 
57 6 
rises 
© 
0 23 
107 
18 
M 
Lasiopetalum macrophyllum. 
30.199—30.066 
0-1—27 
E. 
1 5 
58 6 
8 a. 
9 
15 
0 37 
_ 108 
Meteorology of tiie Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 57.1° and 36.7°. respectively. The greatest heat, 73°, •ccurred on the* 11th, in 1852 ; and the lowest cold, 20°, 
on the 16th, in 1847. During the period 127 days were (ine, aud on 97 rain fell. 
IN-DOOR GARDENING OPERATIONS EOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
Some of the most hardy and woody plants may be 
removed from the greenhouse to a cold pit, where they 
can bo protected from frost, it will make more room for 
the Cinerarias, Pelargoniums, and other such plants. 
Azaleas. —Such as have done blooming to he repotted, 
aud their fresh growth to be gently promoted in a higher 
temperature for a short time. 
Camellias. — Continue to keep a moist atmosphere 
about the plants making wood, with a temperature of 
about 65° by day and 55° by night. Air to be given at 
all opportunities, to produce sturdy, short-jointed wood. 
The plants in flower to be shaded during bright sunshine. 
Cinerarias. —Regular attention to be given to them, 
that they may not suffer by want of water. 
Climbers. —Regulate them as they grow, more par- 
ticidarly those in pots which are intended to cover a 
wire trellis. Kenuedyas, Thunbergias, Nierembergias, 
Tropteolums, and other such plants of a slender and tender 
habit, delight in a soil the greater proportion being com¬ 
posed of leaf mould. 
Chrysanthemums. —Strike cuttings, and pot off rooted 
suckers. 
Heaths.— Any requiring repotting, should receive that 
attention without delay, apportioning the size cf the pot 
to the vigour of their growth ; as the free-growing kinds 
will require more room than the less vigorous ones. 
New Holland Plants. —As many of them are now 
either in flower, or approaching that state, they will, con¬ 
sequently, require a larger quantity of water,— more 
especially large specimens not shifted since last season. 
Continue to pinch off the tops of the leading shoots, to 
produce bushy plants. 
Pelargoniums. —Attention to be given in tying up, 
watering, and fumigating, if the green fly appears. 
STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. 
As the soft-wooded stove plants will now be making 
rapid growth, the free admission of light is necessary to 
prevent them from drawing ; using shade only during 
scorching sunshine. When a plant is shifted, give less 
water to the roots ; as the fresh soil, after the first water¬ 
ing will be moist enough for some time. Some of the free- 
growing kinds of Cattleyas, Calanthes, Phaiuses, Sacco- 
lahiums, Stanhopcas, and Zygopetalums, should bo en¬ 
couraged to make kindly growth by frequent syringings 
about their pots, blocks, or baskets. 
FORCING-HOUSES. 
Cherries. — The principal objects to bo attended to 
are—abundance of air, with due precaution against cold 
draughts, a moist atmosphere, and the free application 
of the syringe. The temperature the same as last week. 
Particular attention in watering to be paid to the trees 
in pots,—as too much is as bad as, if not worse than, too 
litlle. 
Figs.—C ontinue stopping the young shoots at the 
No. 550. Vol. XXII. 
fourth or fifth eye. Keep the syringe in frequent use 
until the fruits begin to change for ripening. Plenty of 
water, and occasionally a little weak tepid liquid manure, 
to he given at the roots, more especially when they are 
confined in pots or tubs. 
Melons. — As soon as a sufficient number of fruit 
blossoms for a crop are expanded, or are likely to expand 
within a day or two of each other, they should be im¬ 
pregnated. As prevention is better than cure, keep the 
plants in a healthy-growing state by frequent syringings 
in fine weather, and closing early; insects will but rarely, 
if ever, attack thriving plants. 
Peaches and Nectarines. —As soon as the stoning of 
the fruit in the early house is completed, give them 
a good watering with clear, weak liquid manure ; keep 
the shoots tied in regularly, and pinch off all laterals. 
If the fruits in the late house are set, partially thin them; 
as more dependence may now he placed on a crop than 
at an earlier period of the season. 
Pine Apples. —Fruiting plants will be greatly bene¬ 
fited by strong solar heat, as, under its influence, eva¬ 
poration will be rapid; therefore, water must be applied 
to both roots and leaves. Succession plants to he shaded 
during sudden bright sunshine or sunbursts; and he 
guided in the application of water by the active or in¬ 
active state of the roots. 
Vines. — Thinning the fruit is an operation of pri¬ 
mary importance. The first thinning to be performed 
when the berries ai’e the size of Peas ; the second when 
they begin to he crowded; and the third after the berries 
are stoned. A piece of strong wire, eight or ten inches 
long, crooked at one end, is useful to draw the bunches 
backward and forward, as the operator may require. 
The Vines in the late house to be tied up as soon as they 
begin to break. Syringe them every fine afternoon, and 
close the house early. Give air early in the morning, 
that the leaves may become gradually dry before the sun 
acts powerfully upon them. AVilliam Keane. 
MAKING DOUBLE FLOWERS. 
The genius of science, the investigator of natural 
truths, the highest skill of practical knowledge and pro¬ 
found empiricism, have applied themselves earnestly, in 
our age, to fathom and propound the mysteries in which 
the manufacture of double flowers is involved ; yet, after 
the most careful perusal of their labours, I cannot make a 
double flower out of a single one. 
But mind me, a double Dahlia, or a double Daisy, or 
Marigold, is, not one of them, a botanically double flower. 
In the eyes of science such flowers are just as much single 
as the Buttercups of the meadows. A really double 
flower, like a Rose, must have all the stamens changed 
into petals ; and all the pistils, also, arc so changed in the 
greatest number of double flowers. 
The science of vegetable development explains the 
inevitable necessity for this change, but not the mode or 
causo of the change itself. Every petal of a wild Dog 
Rose is on a journey, as it were, from the seaside up to the 
