THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 18, 1859. 
31 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day 
of 
Day 
of 
Weather near London in 1858. 
Moon 
OCTOBER 18—24, 1859. 
Sun 
Sun 
Rises 
Moon’s 
Clock 
Day of 
M’nth Week. 
Barometer. 
Thermom. 
Wind. 
JLviliil ill 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
and Sets 
Age. 
afterSun 
Year. 
18 
Tu 
Nerine Sarniensis. 
29.795—29.712 
54—46 
N.E. 
.10 
30 af 6 
59 af 4 
29 9 
22 
14 43 
291 
19 
W 
Othonna virginea. 
29.616—29.552 
56—51 
N.E. 
.14 
32 6 
57 4 
54 10 
€ 
14 54 
292 
20 
Th 
Oxalis ambigua. 
29.694—29.629 
59-37 
N.E. 
.00 
34 6 
56 4 
morn. 
24 
15 4 
293 
21 
F 
Sun’s declin. 10° 37's. 
29.891—29.820 
60—42 
E. 
.00 
35 6 
54 4 
23 0 
25 
15 14 
294 
22 
S 
Oxalis Bowiei. 
30.268—29.974 
61—35 
N.E. 
.00 
37 6 
52 4 
49 1 
20 
15 24 
295 
23 
Sun 
18 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.245—29.967 
61—42 
E. 
.00 
39 6 
50 4 
15 3 
27 
lo 32 
296 
24 
M 
Oxalis hirta. 
30.047—30.003 
58—40 
E. 
.00 
41 6 
48 4 
40 4 
28 
15 40 
297 
Meteorology op the Week. —At Chiswick, from observations during the 
last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these davs are 58.4° and 41.1°, 
respectively. The greatest heat, 73°, occurred on the 21st, m lboU ; and tne lowest coin, 
on the 21st, 
in 1842. During the period 115 days were fine, and on 109 ram fell. 
— 
— 
— —— 
——— 
-— —— 
IN-DOOR GARDENING- OPERATIONS FOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSEEVATOET. 
The decline of temperature and less watering must go 
on progressively, more especially in dull weather, with 
free ventilation at all favourable opportunities. If the 
weather be cold, use a little fire-heat occasionally during 
the day, especially where there are many plants in bloom, 
that ventilation may be given to expel damp and stagnant 
air. 
Cinerarias. —Plants that have filled their small pots 
with roots to be shifted, according to their size and 
strength, into larger pots. The compost to be one part 
turfy loam, one part peat or leaf mould, and one part 
rotten horsedung. They delight on a cool bottom, and 
will thrive tolerably well in a cold pit, protected from 
frost during the winter. They should be placed on a dry 
bottom of coal ashes, and kept as near to the glass as 
possible. 
Heaths. —They may, if there is no room for them in 
the greenhouse, be kept in a cold pit, or frame, during 
the winter. Water to be given carefully on the forenoon 
of a fine day. Frost to be excluded by mats, or other 
covering; but they can be grown sufficiently hardy by 
free exposure to bear a few degrees of frost without 
injury if they are shaded from the sun’s rays until 
gradually thawed. 
Mignonette. —Sow, to come into bloom about the end 
of February. The soil to be rich, light, and the pots to 
have a good supply of crocks at the bottom, as the suc¬ 
cess of growing this favourite plant through the winter 
will depend in a great measure upon the drainage and 
keeping the plants dry and untouched by frosts. Those 
who have a hotbed frame will find it useful to start the 
seeds by moderate heat. Others who have no such con¬ 
venience may place their pots in a cold frame in a shel¬ 
tered situation, and upon a floor of rough stones over¬ 
laid with ashes. 
Pelargoniums. —The more dormant they can be kept 
during the winter the better. Therefore, only a very 
moderate supply of water should be given to keep them 
from flagging, and a liberal supply of air at all favourable 
opportunities. 
Verbenas. —To be placed on swing or other shelves 
as near to the glass as possible. They require plenty of 
air, the extirpation of green fly, and a moderate supply 
of water to preserve them in a healthy condition. 
STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. 
Ferns. —Sow the seeds, or spores, when ripe. A con¬ 
venient sized pot to be filled with sandy peat, finishing 
with a few rough lumpy pieces to form an uneven sur¬ 
face. The seeds to be shaken over the tops and sides of 
these pieces of soil, by which there is more probability of 
some of them vegetating than if they had been sown on 
a level surface where the whole of the seed would be 
subjected to the same kind of treatment, which might 
with .ordinary care be either too wet or too dry. The 
pot to be set in a saucer that contains a little water, 
No. 577.— Vol. XXIII. No. 3. 
which will feed the whole mass with sufficient moisture 
without a drop being required on the surface of the pot. 
The seedlings succeed best in a cool part of the stove 
where evaporation can be most effectually prevented; 
but they do not like to be continually kept close under a 
bell-glass. 
EORCING-HOUSES. 
Cucumbers. —Top dress the plants in pots or boxes 
with leaf mould, supplying those that are rooting freely 
with an abundance of atmospheric moisture, and free 
circulation of air, stopping at every second joint, and 
setting the fruit as the blossom expands. 
Strawberries. —It is usual, when the stock of plants 
in pots is large, to lay them on their sides on the south 
side of a wall or fence, packed in dry coal ashes, and 
topped with boards, or any other such covering, to pro¬ 
tect them from heavy falls of rain until they are wanted 
for forcing. "William Reane. 
WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE SEASHORE. 
In anticipation of that season of the year when certain 
favoured spots on the pleasant sea-coasts are crowded with those 
whose means, leisure, and inclination enable them to indulge in 
so welcome a respite from the ordinary occupations of lile, it has 
been thought desirable to throw together a few plain, simple, and 
practical hints, which may enable such as are wise enough to 
seek information even in their enjoyments, and derive profit 
from their pleasure, to explore the world of wonders to be found 
in the sea and on the shore. Indeed, it would be hardly worth 
while to envy the conformation of any man’s heart or brain who 
could take an hour’s walk on the sandy beach with his feelings 
untouched, and his thoughts unoccupied, by the infinity of 
marvels lying at his feet—who would be content, in fact, to inhale 
the fresh sea-breeze with only the same passive satisfaction as the 
spaniel trotting at his side. 
Still, to such as are unacquainted with the peculiarities and 
attributes of the objects around them, a guide is necessary to 
assist them in the search and discovery of numberless strange 
and beautiful specimens of Nature’s handiwork, which appear 
to the casual and unobservant lounger utterly insignificant and 
uninteresting, to be trodden on and passed by; or, at most, if a 
particularly singular object catch the eye, to be picked up, re¬ 
marked as being “pretty,” or “funny,” and carelessly tossed 
away again without further thought or attention. 
The pleasure which will certainly be derived, the astonishment 
which will as certainly be created in our proposed investigation 
of sea-side curiosities, will certainly repay us for any trifling in¬ 
convenience we may suffer from an occasional fall on slippery 
places, or an impromptu foot-bath without the preparatory re¬ 
moval of shoes or socks. 
Who that gazes upon the far-stretching sea but wonders what 
may be hidden in those unfathomable depths ? From the glimpses 
we catch through the clear green waters of the many-coloured 
plants waving their delicate branches and gay flowers to and fro, 
we may speculate safely on the richness and fertility of the gar¬ 
dens far, far down, compared to the plants of which these ex¬ 
ternal specimens may be but as weeds (sea weeds, for the most 
part, indeed, they are popularly called). Who knows but that 
in those unimaginable depths there may be gardens rivalling in 
brilliancy and beauty those of the fabled Hesperides, or im¬ 
measurable tracts covered with a gigantic ocean forest, tenanted, 
