THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 25, 1851). 
•17 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day Day 
of ; of 
M’nth Week. 
OCTOBER 25-31, 1859. 
Weather near London in 1858. 
Barometer. Thermom. Wind, defies 1 
Sun 
Rises. 
Moon 
Sun Rises Moon’s 
Sets, and Sets Age. 
Clock. 
afterSun 
Day of 
Year. 
25 
Tu 
Oxalis maerostylis. 
30.205-30.197 59—36 
N.E. 
43 af G 
46 af 4 0 6 29 
15 47 
298 
20 
w 
Oxalis pectinata. 
30.268—30.221 j GO—35 
N.E. 
44 G 
44 4 : sets 1 © 
15 54 
299 
27 
Th 
Oxalis purpurea. 
30.245—30.122 58—37 
N.W. 
46 0 
42 4 46 a 4 1 
15 59 
300 
28 
F 
St. Simon and St. Jude. 
30.05G—29.951 54—34 
S.W. 
.24 
48 G 
40 4 21 5 2 
16 4 
301 
29 
S 
Passiflora ccorulea, &c. 
30.258—29.951 ' 50—20 
N.W. 
- 
50 G 
38 4 i 9 6 1 3 
16 9 
302 
30 
Sun 
19 Sunday aftf.r Trinity. 
30.536—30.341 53—27 
N.E. 
- 
51 G 
36 4 7 7 4 
10 12 
303 
3! 
M 
Roella spieata. 
30.529—30.430 44—24 
N.E. 
_ 
53 6 
35 4 | 16 8 5 
1 . i 
16 15 
304 
Mkteoroi.ogy of the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 54.0° and 37.7°, respectively. The greatest heat, 67°, occurred on the 31st, in 1854 ; and the lowest cold, 23° 
on the 2Gth, in 1850. During the period 107 days were fine, and on 117 rain fell. 
IN-DOOR GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
As fresh air is indispensable for the health of plants, 
and as fogs occur about this time, it is essential to apply 
a little tire-heat during the day, to expel damps, and to 
cause a desirable activity in the circulation of the air. 
Attend to cleanliness, picking off dead leaves, and the 
destruction of insects. 
Bulbs. —Pot Hyacinths, Narcissi, Tulips, &c., to 
flower late in the spring; also the Ixin? and Gladioli, 
and various other Iridea?; and also Oxalis, Lachenalia, 
&c. They delight in light open soil composed of peat, 
loam, and sand, and rotten leaf mould as an addition to, 
or substitute for, the peat. 
Cinerarias.— Give the final shift to the plants in¬ 
tended to flower as specimens in early spring. 
Chrysanthemums to be treated with manure water 
occasionally. All suckers and spindly shoots to be re¬ 
moved, and. the flowers to be thinned. 
Pelargoniums. —A little fire-heat by day, with plenty 
of air, will be of service to drive off the damp and stag¬ 
nant atmosphere caused by the late heavy rains. Water¬ 
ing, if necessary, to be given in the morning; the principal 
shoots to be tied into a regular form, and the weakly and 
useless ones removed; to be placed near the glass, to 
encourage a sturdy, short-jointed growth. Two ounces 
of the Gishurst compound, dissolved in one gallon of soft 
water, will speedily banish the green fly. 
FORCING-HOUSES. 
Cucumbers. —Keep them tied in as they grow; stop 
the side-shoots at the second joint; allow the leader to 
grow to the required length before stopping it; and pinch 
off the young fruit if you think they are not sufficiently 
strong to carry a crop. 
Peaches.— Prune and dress the trees as soon as they 
lose their leaves. If the lights are still off any of the 
early houses the sooner they are put on the better. An 
abundance of air to be given. 
Pines. —The temperature of the fruit-swelling plants 
to range from 60° to 65° at night, with an increase during 
the day in accordance with the state of the weather, 
whether bright and sunny, or rainy, foggy, or frosty ; 
and the succession plants a few degrees less. Humidity 
to be considerably reduced, as it tends at this season to 
produce weak and immature growth. The bark-beds of 
strong succession plants that are required to start into 
fruit early, to be renewed by having a small quantity 
added to the surface of the bed. Pits heated by dung 
will require covering with mats at night: when covered 
let every other light be slightly raised, to allow the steam 
to pass off. When the covering is off it will escape 
through, the laps of the glass. Take advantage of all op¬ 
portunities for giving a little air. If it can be done every 
day, so much the better for the health of the plants. 
v ines. —The Vines in late houses that will not require 
to be pruned for some time should have the tops or other 
portions of the immature wood cut off, to give strength 
and plumpness to the back eyes. Whoever has availed 
himself of the instructions given on the 4th inst. to cover 
his Vine borders with Fern, or any other such like 
material, will congratulate himself for having done so; 
for, after the quantity of rain that has fallen during the 
last three weeks, the borders without covering, and if 
imperfectly drained also, will be in a very unhealthy 
state. If the houses are dry, kept free from drip, and 
the scissors employed amongst decaying berries, the fruit 
that now remains will be in a good condition for holding 
out for a long time. William Keane. 
WINTERING BEDDING PLANTS. 
The gi’eat body of the people want to keep over the 
winter only such plants as Scarlet Geraniums, Fuchsias, 
and perhaps a few Calceolarias ; but the great need is 
for the safe keeping of Scarlet Geraniums only, and there 
are fifty ways of doing it, every one of which is the best 
for some one, though it might be all but the worst plan 
for those at the other end of the list. 
The Cape Scarlet (Inquinans) was much later of intro¬ 
duction than the Horseshoe-leaf kind; and on its first 
coming it was found to be twice as tender as the “ Old 
Scarlet,” or Horseshoe-leaf, and so it is to this day, if we 
could come at that old Scarlet for comparison, but we 
cannot, for it was lost years ago. All that we have of it 
now is the sported seedling which is mentioned in 
Miller’s “ Dictionary ” as one of four different kinds 
which existed in his time from seedlings of the old stock 
plant, and that one is a variegated plant with a crimson 
stellate, or star-like, flower; and even in its variegated 
form it is twice as hardy, and can bear twice the hard¬ 
ships and hard frosts Tom Thumb can, the best known of 
the breed of Inquinans. 
It would be an unprofitable speculation to try to find 
out if there is a man or woman alive now who had ever 
seen the original Horseshoe-leaf—the Zonale of Linnaeus. 
By the way, too much learning drives some people mad, 
and too much dog Latin seems the next degree in driving 
people daft; for some of our nurserymen make a new sec¬ 
tion of Geraniums in their catalogues, called the Zonale 
section; and if that be not daft and dog Latin com¬ 
pounded, there is no strength in botany. When a 
botanist finds occasion to express a meaning that was 
never known, or intended by the Romans, he has to 
make a new Latin word the nearest he can think 
of to the true word. The Romans had no Horseshoe 
Geraniums, nor a word to express such a mark nearer 
to it than zona, a ring or zone ; and zonale is a dog Latin 
word which was made by some botanist to cover our ring 
or mark in the Horseshoe-leaf, and means exactly the 
same thing as the Latin zona and our English “ horse¬ 
shoe,” mark, or ring, or zone in the leaves. A section of 
Zonales was not wanted, therefore, as long as we had the 
better -word “horseshoe ” for the same meaning. 
Not only are Zonales the oldest of all the sections of 
the family and race, but working from the original 
Zonale gives us a hardier breed to keep over the winter. 
No. 578. -Vol. XXIII. No. 4. 
