115 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mat 31, 1859. 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day Day 
of of 
M’nth Week., 
| 
MAY 31—JUNE fi, 1859. 
Weather near Lond 
Barometer. Thermom. 
ON IN 1858. 
w - , (Rain in 
Wmd - | Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.andS. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
afterSun 
Day of 
Year. 
31 
Tu 
Phyliea plmnosa. 
30.042—29.990 
85—52 
8. 
52 af 3 
3 af 8 
37 m 2 
29 
2 
42 
151 
1 
W 
Gnidia radiata. 
30.040—30.000 
87—47 
N.VV. | — 
51 3 
4 8 
sets 
@ 
2 
33 
152 
2 
Tu 
Ascension. Holy Thursday. 
30.051—29.929 
86—55 
S.E. — 
50 3 
5 8 
13 a 10 
l 
2 
24 
153 
3 
F 
Erythripa cristagalli. 
29.920—29.801 
S7—50 
E. — 
49 3 
G 8 
56 10 
2 
2 
15 
154 
4 
S 
Erica ampnllacea. 
30.106—30.082 
80—47 
s. - 
49 3 
7 8 
27 11 
3 
2 
5 
165 
5 
Sun 1 
Sunday after Ascension. 
29.997—29.913 
74—50 
N.E. X0 
48 3 
8 8 
48 11 
4 
i 
54 
15G 
0 
M 
Pimelea grtieilifiora. 
30.127—30.080 
75—47 
N.E. | .80 
47 3 
9 8 
morn. 
5 
l 
44 
157 
Meteorology of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are GO. 1° and respectively. The greatest heat, 80°, o.ccurreii on tbe 5th, in 1357 ; and the lowest cold, 32°, 
on the 31st, in 1857. During the period 122 days were fine, and on 92 rain fell. 
IN-DOOR GARDENING- OPERATIONS FOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
Azalea Indica. —Encourage free growth, as soon as 
possible after they have done blooming, by placing them 
in heat, supplying an abundance of water, and syringing 
freely. 
Calceolarias. —Water carefully ; ent down when out 
of bloom, and remove them to a cold frame. 
Heaths and New Holland Plants. — Tlio young 
stock will now succeed best in a pit, or frame, placing the 
lights to the north. The glass to he well washed, and 
the pots to be placed on tiles, or ashes, above the ground 
level. 
Pelargoniums. —Give air freely, avoid cold draughts, 
and shade from scorching sun. Shift and stop the suc¬ 
cession stock for late flowering. 
Petunias. —Do not neglect to pot off from the store 
propagating pots some of those, as advised last week, as 
also Scarlet Geraniums, Verbenas, Heliotropes, &c., to 
afford a variety of sorts and colours for the conservatory. 
STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. 
Let rambling shoots of ordinary stove plants have 
frequent stopping. The Aerides, Dendrobiums, Phalae- 
nopses, Saccolabiums, Sarcanthuses, Sobralias, Vandas, 
and others of the eastern genera of Orchids, will now 
require most liberal and frequent waterings and syring- 
ings. Gongoras, Peristerias, Stanhopeas, &c., when full 
of roots in baskets, require a thorough soaking. Now is 
a good time to pot Cymbidiums, Peristerias, &c., starting 
into growth. Aerides, Vandas, and plants of a similar 
habit, do best when shifted after they have done blooming. 
Achihenes. —Continue to shift them, as also Begonias, 
Clerodendrons, Gesneras, &c., as requisite, Remove those 
in bloom to the greenhouse or conservatory. 
Climbers.— Keep them thin and tied in, so as not to 
shade the rest of the plants to an injurious extent. 
Succulents. — Shift Melocacti, &c., and keep them 
growing, and near the glass. 
forcing-houses. 
Cherries. —The trees in large pots or tubs, from which 
the crop has been lately gathered, should have abundance 
of air, and an occasional supply of liquid manure. Give 
them, also, a good washing overhead with the syringe, or 
engine, dashing it on with considerable force. They will 
also require to have their wood matured early. 
Eigs.— Continue the practice of stopping when the 
shoots are four or five eyes long. Give a liberal supply 
of water, and thin out the second crop where too thick. 
Melons.— Keep the shoots thin, and remove all use¬ 
less laterals. When the fruit is swelling, the soil should 
be kept in a properly moist state, and the foliage in a 
healthy condition. The bottom heat should not he allowed 
to sink below 75°. 
Peaches. —Keep up a growing temperature with plenty 
of air and moisture, and frequently syringe the trees, to I 
No. 557.— Vol. XXIT. No. 9. 
keep them clean and healthy. The ripening fruit will 
require plenty of air. 
Pines. —Repot as they may require; for if they are 
allowed to remain in a pot-bound state at this season 
they are very apt to start prematurely into fruit. It is 
also particularly requisite that the balls are thoroughly 
moist at the time of repotting. To give strength to the 
growing stock, it is advisable to admit abundance of air 
in the morning part of the day ; and in the afternoon, to 
encourage a high degree of heat with an abundance of 
atmospheric moisture. The plants growing in open beds 
to be supplied with a steady bottom heat of from 80° to 
85°, and sufficient water to the roots. 
Vines. —Proceed diligently with thinning the berries, 
as they swell rapidly at this season. The late houses in 
which the Vines are in bloom to he kept warmer and 
closer than they have been, until the fruit is set. Stop 
the shoots and laterals, and never allow a mass of useless 
wood to remain on them. 
William Keane. 
NOSEGAY GERANIUMS — SPERGULA 
PILIEERA. 
What a strange coincidence that the mother of all the 
Nosegays should have rested from her labours for the 
space of one hundred and eighty years, till the very 
season when an alpine weed, from the summit of a rock 
in a small island in the Mediterranean, was announced to 
supersede grass on the lawn! No less so, however, than 
that the same firm should have brought both events about, 
without being aware of the fact as far as it related to 
Nosegays. *■ 
The new Imperial Crimson Geranium is as old as the 
Golden Chain; but it was lost for a hundred and some 
odd years, so that the “ oldest inhabitant ” could never 
have seen it. The Golden Chain was all but gone after 
it this time twenty years hack, when I first took to bed¬ 
ding Geraniums. 
When these Geraniums were first introduced from the 
Cape they were not cut back yearly, as we do them now ; 
each kind was allowed to grow as tall as its Dature allowed 
it; and the difference between kind and kind was often 
only that of mere height; as one may see in any early 
edition of Miller’s “Dictionary.” It was in 1842 that I 
first discovered the Golden Chain to have been a sport 
from the first plain-leaved scarlet from tho Cape, “ the 
Cape Scarlet,” of gardeners, and Inquinans of books. 
I knew the original Cape Scarlet, and the first hatch of 
pure seedlings—that is, not crossed from the Golden 
Chain, produced some of the original as nearly as is ever 
possible to have them from seed under high cultivation. 
That opened my eyes ; and I began immediately to look 
out for other early sports of Geraniums which are men¬ 
tioned by Miller, who says of the first Horseshoe kind, 
“These have a purple circle, or mark, like a horseshoe, 
through the leaf, going from one side of the base to the 
other, corresponding with the border of the leaf. The 
flowers are produced in pretty close hunches, standing 
