THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 23, 1859. 299 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D o7 
M’nth 
Day 
Weather 
near London in 1858. 
Moon 
of 
Week. 
AUGUST 23-29, 1859. 
Barometer. 
Thermom. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Rises 
and Sets 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
bef.Sun 
Day of 
Tear. 
23 
Tu 
Koellia spicata. 
30.075—30.018 
75—41 
E. 
_ 
59 af 4 
6 af 7 
18 11 
25 
26 
2 
33 
235 
236 
21 
W 
St. Bartholomew. 
30.133—30.049 
75—53 
N.E. 
— 
V 
4 7 
morn. 
2 
17 
2.5 
Th 
Bceckia tenuifolia. 
30.017—29.974 
72—41 
W. 
2 5 
2 7 
38 
0 
27 
2 
1 
237 
26 
F 
Prince Consort born, 1819. 
30.085—29.993 
69—44 
N. 
— 
4 5 
0 7 
10 
2 
28 
1 
45 
238 
27 
S 
Bourchardia umbellata. 
29.914—29.834 
65—41 
N.IV. 
— 
5 5 
VI 
44 
3 
29 
1 
28 
239 
28 
Sun 
10 Sunday after Trinity. 
29.770—29.747 
67—35 
S. 
_ 
7 5 
55 6 
sets. 
@ 
1 
11 
240 
29 
M 
Polianthes tuberosa. 
29.791—29.692 
67—47 
s.w. 
.16 
9 5 
53 6 
4 a 7 
1 
0 
54 
241 
Meteorology op the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 74.7° and 52.8°, respectively. The greatest heat, 92°, occurred on the 25th, in 1857 ; and the lowest cold, 36°, 
on the 28th, in 1836. During the period 139 days were fine, and on 85 rain fell. f 
IN-DOOR GARDENING OPERATIONS EOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
The plants in these houses should receive particular 
attention that they do not suffer from want of water or 
fresh potting ; the water to he given in the morning or 
forenoon, that the plants and houses may he dry towards 
night, to prevent the ill effects arising from damps. 
Camellias. —Look over them, and dishud where too 
many are set in a cluster. Resurface the soil, and see 
that the drainage is efficient. 
New Holland Plants. —Heaths and other such hard- 
wooded plants that have been placed out of doors will 
now do best in a cold pit or frame, where they can he 
protected from heavy rains. 
Pelargoniums. —When the shoots of the plants that 
have been cut down are about an inch long, the old soil 
must be shaken away, the roots slightly trimmed, and then 
repotted into small pots, &c., as advised early in July. 
Some of the cuttings may now he fit for potting off; 
when potted, to be placed in a pit or frame, kept close, 
and shaded until they have made fresh roots, when they 
should he placed out in an open situation to grow firm 
and stocky, pinching out the leading shoots; and to be 
placed on coal ashes, slates, or boards, to prevent the 
admission of worms. Sow the seed immediately it is 
gathered, and also that of Puchsias, or of any other 
perennial plant, if ripe before the middle of September. 
STOVE AND OECHID-HOUSE. 
The stove plants of strong and early growth may be 
allowed a gradual increase of ventilation and more sun¬ 
light. Plenty of moisture is still essential for the general 
stock. Shading may now he dispensed with, except 
during bright sunbursts. Careful attention to be given 
to the Allamandas, Echites, Euphorbias, Luculias, Stepha- 
notises, Eipladenias, and other such valuable stove plants. 
The surface soil of large specimens to be stirred, and 
weeds and moss removed. 
Gesneea zebeina. — Shift them for winter flowering ; 
they delight in a mixture composed of equal parts of 
fibrous loam, heath soil, and leaf mould. All plants after 
shifting do best when placed in a gentle bottom heat; to 
be syringed occasionally, and shaded during bright sun¬ 
shine. 
Shift on all Oechids that now require it, and are 
making their growth. Top dress others, if they require 
it. All that are growing freely in pots or baskets, or on 
blocks, to be syringed with clear, tepid, soft water in the 
afternoons of fine days, and to be shut up early. 
FOECING-HOUSES. 
Figs. —If any are growing against the back wall of a 
vinery, or other such structure, it may he advisable to 
give them a good soaking of water, and but very little, if 
any, after—as a dry atmosphere is necessary to ripen the 
fruit. 
Melons. —Continue to supply them with bottom heat. 
If they are growing in pits or frames, keep the linings 
No. 569 .—Vol. XXII. No. 21. 
well topped up or renewed, to produce a comfortable heat 
inside; for without it canker is apt to set in and destroy 
the plants. 
Mushrooms. —In making beds for these on shelves, or 
in boxes, as recommended a fortnight ago, or on the 
floor, let the whole mass be made very firm by well¬ 
beating it as it is put on in layers. It is advisable when 
the spawn is put in to cover it with good, strong, fresh 
loam at least from two to three inches thick, and to make 
it as firm as possible. The Mushrooms will come stronger 
and of much better quality than if partly-exhausted soil 
is used. 
Pines. —If the winter fruit have finished blossoming, 
supply them occasionally with clear liquid manure when 
they want water. The growth of the crown to be checked, 
and all useless suckers, gills, &c., to be removed. When 
a house or pit is devoted to late Pines alone, an abundance 
of moisture should be supplied. Give abundance of air 
to the young stock in duugpits, and increase the dryness 
of the atmosphere, to induce maturity of growth and a 
hardy constitution against winter. Shift, it not already 
done, succession plants into larger pots. Amy plants 
recently potted to be shaded during bright sunshine, 
sprinkled overhead every afternoon, and the house closed 
early. The sprinkling will be sufficient without watering 
at the root until the plants begin to grow. 
Vineries. —Continue to secure a dry state of the atmo¬ 
sphere when the ripe fruit is intended to hang for any 
length of time, using a little fire heat when necessary to 
dispel damp. To ripen the fruit in late vineries, it is 
frequently necessary to use fire heat, but more especially 
when the external temperature ranges below 50°. 
William Heane. 
BULBS AND BEDDING PLANTS. 
TBITO-MA UVAEIA. 
Syacinthus Indicvs flowers in August. The flowers 
are “ composed of six white leaves, spread open like those 
of a Daffodil, and of so strong a sweet scent, that a pot 
of them set in a lower room, the doors open, it will be 
smelt all the house over.” What could this be two 
hundred years back P and have we got such a thing in our 
day ? Yes : and I once saw a bed of it in full bloom, and 
only once. It was at Dropmore, in 1831, in Mr. Bailey’s 
time, and it was one month earlier than is set down by 
the best of the very old writers on gardening,—honest 
Samuel Gilbert. “ The great Indian tuberose Hyacinth,” 
of his day, is the Italian Tuberosus, at four shillings per 
| dozen, of our nursery catalogues, and the Polyanthus 
tuberosa of botany. “ It was the best and most desired 
of all its kind,” in 1659, or after being under English cul¬ 
tivation for about twenty years. But there is one point 
i in the cultivation of Tuberosa, from which it is as hard 
1 to drive English and Scotch gardeners as from their 
native puddings; and by adherence to that point they 
! and their fathers have well nigh deprived us of all “ the 
| Lilies of the field.” That point is to water “ every 
I mortal thing ” as soon as it is potted, and to double and 
