THE COTTAGE QARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 9, 1859. 267 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day 
of 
M’nth 
Day 
of 
Week. 
AUGUST 9—15, 1859. 
Weather 
Barometer. 
NEAR LONI 
Thermom. 
ON IN 18 
Wind. 
58. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
Rises 
and Sets 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef.Sun 
Day of 
Year. 
9 
Tv 
Borbonia cordata. 
30.268—30.075 
79—52 
N.E. 
_ 
37 af 4 
34 af 7 
morn. 
11 
5 
19 
221 
10 
W 
Virgilia sylvatica. 
30.027—29.927 
83—59 
N.E. 
.12 
38 
4 
32 7 
37 0 
12 
.5 
11 
222 
11 
Th 
Erica formqsa. 
29.979—29.945 
85—50 
N.E. 
— 
40 
4 
30 7 
44 1 
13 
5 
2 
223 
12 
F 
Erica gemmifera. 
29.998—29.906 
88—50 
S. 
— 
42 
4 
28 7 
56 2 
14 
4 
52 
224 
13 
S 
Erica Irbyana. 
29.955—29.917 
80—45 
S.W. 
_ 
43 
4 
26 7 
rises 
© 
4 
42 
225 
14 
Sun 
8 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.942—29.858 
70—51 
N.E. 
.79 
45 
4 
24 7 
39 a 7 
1G 
4 
31 
226 
15 
M 
Erica obliqua. 
30.025—29.956 
75—53 
N.E. 
.01 
46 
4 
22 7 
49 7 
17 
4 
20 
227 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 78.5° and 54.1°, respectively. The greatest heat, 96°, occurred on the 12th, in 1840 ; and the lowest cold, 44°, 
on the 14th, in 183G. During the period 148 days were fine, and on 76 rain fell. 
IN-DOOR GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
Bulbs. —The selections for winter and spring flowering 
to be made as soon as possible, choosing the most suitable 
varieties for each season; to be potted at two or three 
intervals for succession. To be potted in light fibrous 
turfy loam of a sandy quality, and placed in a dry situa¬ 
tion ; to be covered with three or four inches of old tan 
or coal ashes. 
Camellias. —The large, old specimens that have set 
their flower-buds to be carefully supplied with water; 
for if they are allowed to get too dry at the roots they 
are apt to drop their buds. Young vigorous plants, on 
the contrary, will require to be watered rather sparingly, 
to prevent them making a second growth. 
Cinerarias. — Shift as they require it, and let no 
neglect as to watering, &c., cause a check to their growth. 
Climbers. —To have a succession late in the season 
when flowers become scarce, it is advisable to cut them 
back for that purpose, more especially the climbers on 
rafters or ornamental trellises. 
New Holland Plants. —If any have been standing 
out of doors for some time, it is advisable to remove the 
best and most tender varieties to the cold pits, or other 
secure situations, to avoid the danger and risk of exposure 
to wet or windy weather. 
Soils. —Now is a favourable time to collect soils of 
different sorts for future use. The advantages of fore¬ 
thought for such matters will become evident when the 
time for use arrives. Leaf mould, decomposed sheep, 
deer, and cowdung, road and river sand, old Cucumber, 
Melon, and other such soils, to be put in separate heaps 
in a shed, or any other dry place, protected from drenching 
rains. Each sort to be numbered, or named, that no 
mistake may occur when wanted. 
STOVE AND ORCniD-HOUSE. 
All plants intended to flower this autumn to be regu¬ 
larly supplied with water and occasionally with liquid 
manure ; but all the other stove plants to be watered 
more sparingly after this time, and the water to be given 
early in the morning. The house to be shut up early in 
the afternoon with a strong sun heat. Slight fires to be 
made in the daytime, if the weather is dull, so that plenty 
of air may be given to the plants. 
EORCIN G-HOUSES. 
Figs. —If the nights are cold, the house or pit should 
be closed early, for the benefit of the second crop of 
fruit. 
Melons. —Withhold water when the fruit is ripening, 
as a sudden supply at that time very frequently causes 
the fruit to crack and become worthless. Keep the shoots 
so thin that every leaf may receive the benefit of the 
light. Do not expose the fruit to the sun’s rays till it is 
fully swelled. Give a supply of manure water to the 
late crops, and thin out useless laterals. It is advisable 
to paint the interior of the frame, or pit, with sulphur; 
No. 567.— Yol. XXII. No. 19. 
this, with slight syringings and shutting up early while 
the sun shines upon it, will keep down insects. 
Mushrooms. —Collect some very short stable-litter and 
horse-droppings, and turn them over frequently with the 
addition of a small portion of turfy loam until they are 
well incorporated. When moderately dry, to be packed 
on shelves or in boxes, and be well-beaten down in layers 
four or five inches thick, till the bed is the required 
thickness—from a foot to eighteen inches; for success 
will depend in a great measure upon the solidity of the 
bed. To be spawned w hen there is a brisk heat. 
Pines. —If a strong body of fresh materials have recently 
been added, the watch-sticks should be frequently exa¬ 
mined, and any approach to a burning heat to be counte¬ 
racted by lifting the pots, &c. Fruit recently started 
and swelling off to have every encouragement for the 
next two months. Shut up early, to secure a strong 
amount of solar heat. Keep all the growing stock warm 
and moist, syringing them lightly twice a-day. 
Vines. —The early-forced houses, where the wood is 
nearly ripe, would be benefited by free exposure to the 
air; but if the lights are required to remain on, cleanli¬ 
ness should be observed, and all laterals kept down. 
When the fruit is swelling or colouring, and when the 
weather is wet or cloudy, a gentle fire, if then applied, 
; will expel damps, and be in other respects very beneficial 
to them. Stop all useless growths in the late houses; 
do not remove the leaves to expose the fruit to the sun, 
unless they are very thick indeed, as they are the prin¬ 
cipal agents by which nutriment is carried to the berries. 
Vines in Pots. —When the leaves begin to fade, to 
be removed to the north side of a wall, and the pots to be 
laid on their sides, to keep the roots dry. A little litter 
thrown over the pots will protect them from sudden 
changes. William Keane, 
FLOWER-BEDS. 
What do you think now of the beautiful Delphinium, 
formosum as a bedder P The whole country sounded with 
its praises last year, and the year before that “ for 
bedding purposes.” But one-half of the praising people 
have a very faint notion of a bedding plant, or what a 
flower-bed really is. Any perennial plant like this Del¬ 
phinium, which does not last in bloom to the end of the 
season,—say the end of September,—is not one whit 
better for the gardener, or for the beds, or for economy 
of time and money, than the Clarlcia pulchella, or any 
other of the six-week annuals. But a good blue ie such 
a rare thing among bedders, that Delphinium formosum, 
and probably two or three more of that breed, will 
always pay to be kept as annuals by the flower gardener ; 
but they cannot be used where the planting of beds is on 
the principle of composition of colouring,—so to speak. 
The balance of power in Europe, or in a parish vestry, is 
a balance which is well understood by all the men in the 
country ; but the balance of the power of colours in a 
flower garden is not understood by one man out of fifty 
thousand. Politics and parish business for the men, 
