THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, December G, 1859. 137 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day 
Day 
Weather near London in 1858. 
Moon 
of 
M’nth 
of 
Week. 
DECEMBER 6—12, 1859. 
Barometer. 
Thermom. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rises. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Rises 
and Sets 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
afterSun 
Day of 
Year. 
6 
Tu 
Tulips. 
30.235—29.960 
39—25 
N.W. 
.01 
52 af 7 
50 af 3 
30 m 3 
12 
8 
53 
340 
7 
W 
Hyacinths. 
30.161—30.105 
37—34 
S.E. 
— 
53 
7 
50 
3 
49 
4 
13 
8 
27 
341 
8 
Th 
Camellias. 
30.205—30.187 
38—35 
N.E. 
•01 
55 
7 
49 
3 
10 
6 
14 
8 
1 
342 
9 
F 
Chrysanthemums. 
30.267—30.238 
38—34 
E. 
.01 
56 
i 
49 
3 
30 
7 
15 
7 
35 
343 
10 
S 
Correa speciosa. 
30.266—30.239 
35—33 
E. 
_ 
57 
7 
49 
3 
rises 
© 
7 
8 
344 
11 
Sun 
3 Sunday in Advent. 
30.260—30.240 
35—34 
E. 
— 
58 
7 
49 
3 
59 a 4 
17 
6 
40 
345 
12 
M 
Coronilla glauea. 
30.115—29.889 
38—30 
S. 
.10 
59 
7 
49 
3 
24 
6 
18 
6 
12 
346 
Meteorology op the Week.— At Chiswick, from observations during the last thirty-two years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these days are 46.5° and 34.6°, respectively. The greatest heat, 60°, occurred on the 7th, in 1856 ; and the lowest cold, 14°, 
on the 6th, in 1844. During the period 124 days were fine, and on 100 rain fell. 
IN-DOOR GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR 
THE WEEK. 
GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 
Every dead, decaying, and mouldy leaf, and flowerstalk 
to be removed as soon as it is seen. Mildew to be 
banished by an application of flowers of sulphur, and 
afterwards to be prevented from making its appearance 
by a free ventilation on clear, mild mornings, using a 
little fire heat at the same time. Great caution is now 
necessary in giving water to the plants, more especially 
to such as have not well matured their growth, and are 
in a rather soft state. It is, also, advisable to look over 
them every morning, that the flagging of a leaf may be 
noticed, and the necessary supply of water be given. 
All pots to be turned around occasionally to keep the 
plants uniform. 
Calceolarias. —Remove all decayed leaves, and be 
careful to give no more water than is really required. 
Keep down green fly. 
Cinerarias. —No more fire heat to be given than is 
necessary to keep out frost. The plants intended for 
large specimens to receive their final shift; air to be 
given on all occasions in favourable weather. Every one 
that is getting pot-bound to be shifted. Green fly to be 
kept down by fumigating. The most forward to have 
the lightest place in the house, close to the glass, with 
sufficient space for the air to circulate freely around the 
foliage of each. 
Pelargoniums. —To be kept rather cool and dry, fire 
heat to be avoided, except when necessary to prevent the 
temperature falling below 40°, or to dispel damp. Every 
plant intended for early bloom to be arranged in the 
best form. The system of arranging a piece of twisted 
bass under the rim of the pot, to which loops are fastened 
to secure the shoots and the better formation of the plant, 
obviates the too-extensive use of sticks, a superfluity of 
which is at all times objectionable. 
STOVE AND ORCHID-HOUSE. 
Continue to act as advised lately, care and caution in 
the application of water are more especially required, as 
there is not a single feature in the cultivation of plants 
during the winter, in which the amateur is more likely to 
err, and by reason of which a greater amount of injury 
is sustained, than in the application of water either in its 
fluid or vaporous state. If applied to the soil in super¬ 
abundance, the roots being inactive are certain to sustain 
some degree of injury ; and if it is applied in excess to 
the atmosphere in the form of vapour, the exhalations 
from the leaves of the plants will be checked in con¬ 
sequence of the density of the medium that surrounds 
them when they will be sure to suffer. 
FORCING-HOUSES. 
Cucumbers. —Sow some good variety for planting out 
next month. A one-light frame on a well-worked bed of 
dung and leaves is most suitable for the purpose, as pro¬ 
ducing an atmosphere moist and congenial for their 
healthy vegetation and growth. 
No. 584.—Yol. XXIII. No. 10. 
Peaches. —Syringe the trees that are just started and 
swelling the buds, and keep every plant clean and neat. 
Pines.— When the application of fire heat is necessary 
during severe weather, it is advisable to pay particular 
attention to those that have done blooming and swelling 
off in various stages, that they may not receive a check 
from being over-dry at the roots. 
Vines. —Leaves, or dung, or both mixed together, when 
used to produce fermentation, and a sweet vaporous at¬ 
mosphere to “break” the early Vines, should be turned 
and watered at least once a-week. Keep the wood 
generally moist, and proceed in forcing with caution as 
before advised. As the most essential point in early 
forcing is to secure a healthy and vigorous root action, it 
is advisable, if the Vines are planted inside, to excite the 
roots by an occasional application of water at a tempera¬ 
ture from 85° to 90°. If the Vines are planted outside, a 
steady heat of about 60° should be maintained by the 
fermenting matter placed on the border to be frequently 
turned over, and protected with dry litter from the frost 
or other unfavourable weather. Houses intended to 
commence forcing the early part of next month, to 
have some fermenting materials placed on the borders 
to excite the roots a little before the Vines are started, 
which will be of some assistance to make the buds push 
strongly and without much loss of time. To induce the 
buds to break regularly throughout the whole length of 
the Vine, it is frequently necessary to bend the rod so as 
to incline the most forward buds to the lowest level, and 
to elevate the most backward. William Keane. 
LAWS OF CROSS-BREEDING — DOUBLE 
PRIMROSE AND POLYANTHUS. 
They were much more numerous in kinds, or varieties, 
in Gilbert’s father-in-law’s time, two hundred years back, 
than they are at the present day ; and much finer kinds 
were then common than are to be met with in all our 
fioristries of the present age. How is that to be accounted 
for ? That I cannot tell; but of the fact itself I am as 
certain from Gilbert’s “ Vade Mecum ” as I am of my own 
existence. 
One cause, and the greatest cause, may be the fact 
that the cultivated varieties of Primrose and Polyanthus 
do not yield to the natural laws of cross-breeding, the 
pollen having little or no influence in the production of 
new forms or colours ; and all that has been said of the 
influence of currents of air, and the industry of insects 
and busy bees, in respect to this family, is sheer folly in 
the face of well-conducted experiments. The law of 
natural liberty for allowing to increase and multiply by 
variations is quite contrary to the law of cross-breeding ; 
and that may have been wisely ordained, seeing that the 
laws of crossing in the animal and vegetable kingdoms are 
as opposite as the poles, and as far asunder. 
Breeding in-and-in is the only and certain means of 
improving the individuality of florist’s races of flowers. 
New pollen from a different race or species may originate 
a new strain ; but it never fails to contravene the progress 
