THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, January 11, 1859. 223 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
Day 
Day 
AVf.ather near London in 1858. 
of 
M’nth 
of 
Week 
JANUARY 11-17, 1859. 
Barometer. 
Thermom. 
AVind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Sun 
Rise*. 
Sun 
Sets. 
Moon 
R.andS. 
Moon’s 
Age. 
Clock 
afterSun 
Day of 
Year. 
H 
T 
Salvia fulgens. 
30.424—30.028 
50—20 
AV. 
.01 
5 af 8 
11 af 4 
morn. 
7 
8 
8 
a 
12 
AV 
Scilla tenuifolia. 
30.515—30.343 
51—37 
s.w. 
_ 
4 
8 
13 4 
28 af 0 
3 
8 
32 
12 
IS 
Th 
Primula sinensis. 
30.252—30.245 
50—21 
N.AA r . 
— 
4 
8 
14 4 
48 1 
9 
8 
54 
13 
14 
F 
Passiflora ecerulea. 
30.333—30.303 
47—22 
w. 
3 
8 
16 4 
13 3 
10 
9 
17 
14 
15 
s 
Passiflora Colvilli. 
30.308—30.286 
48—34 
AV. 
— 
2 
8 
17 4 
41 4 
u 
9 
38 
15 
16 
Sex 
2 Sunday after Epiphany. 
30.553—30.288 
50—32 
N.AV. 
— 
I 
8 
19 4 
1 6 
12 
9 
59 
16 
17 
M 
Sparaxis tricolor. 
30.651—30.565 
42—24 
N.W. 
0 
8 
20 4 
8 7 
13 
10 
19 
17 
Meteorology op THB AVeek.—A t Chiswick, from observations during the 
last thirty-one years, the average highest and lowest 
temperatures of these (lays are 41.8° and 30.8°. respectively. The greatest heat, 56 
on the 14th, in 1856. During the period 92 days were fine, and on 104 rain fell. 
occurred on 
the 15th, in 1852 ; and the lowest cold, 4°, 
GARDENING OPERATIONS FOR THE WEEK. 
KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Artichokes, Jerusalem. —Dig up, ancl replant in 
deeply-dug and well-manured ground. 
Cauliflowers. —Give the plants, in pits, frames, or 
under handlights, plenty of air. Remove dead leaves, 
and exclude frost. 
Cucumbers. —If a seed-bed is made with the dung pre¬ 
viously well prepared, as advised, it will be ready to 
receive the seed. After having stood a few days, to allow 
the rank steam to pass off, a layer of light, sifted soil may 
then be placed on the surface, to the depth of three or 
four inches. Sow the seeds in shallow pans, or pots, half 
filled with leaf mould. After sowing, lay a piece of glass 
on the top of the pan, or pot, to prevent the mice getting 
at them. 
Horseradish. —Trench out, and replant in ground 
trenched two feet deep, and well manured. 
Mushroom Beds, out of doors, will require a thick 
covering of dry straw, litter, or hay, to protect them from 
wet. If the covering has become damp, remove it, and 
replace it with dry. Save horse-droppings for early beds. 
Onions. —Sow a small patch of the Two-bladed, on a 
warm border, for producing young ones early. They 
should be sown very thickly, and protected with mats, 
or litter, if severe weather should set in. 
Shalots. —Place them on the surface, as theroocs soon 
push into the soil, and get firmly fixed. If planted, and 
surrounded by soil, they are apt to rot. If worms are 
troublesome, a slight sprinkling of slaked lime will banish 
them. 
Sloping Beds. —It is the practice of many market- 
gardeners to sow their early seeds on slopes, by throwing 
the soil—being previously well incorporated with dung—- 
into ridges, to mellow, about five feet apart, and then 
levelled down into slopes, facing the south, with small 
alleys between. They are generally made near the frame 
ground, for the convenience of covering. The system is 
worthy of adopting in most places. 
FRUIT GARDEN. 
If the weather continues mild, the planting of fruit 
trees may still be performed. As light and air are neces¬ 
sary for the healthy growth of vegetables, and as some 
old gardens are often crowded with fruit trees, it is left 
to the discretion of the owner to remove some of the 
trees, for the benefit of the undercrops, or to retain them, 
and be satisfied with inferior crops of vegetables. 
Raspberries. —Prune, stake, and tie. Manure and dig 
between the rows. 
FLOWER GARDEN. 
As a return of severe weather, though long delayed, 
may yet be near, to arrest all progress with the spade, 
it is advisable to proceed as expeditiously as possible with 
all alterations that may be in hand, more particularly if 
they include the removal of trees and shrubs. 
Annuals (Hardy). —If any beds, or patches, of self- 
sown, or autumn sown, are now considered worthy of 
No. 537. Vol. XXI. 
the trouble, a few branches of evergreens, stuck in 
amongst them, will shade them from sunshine after frost, 
and protect them from drying winds. Plants generally 
in the open air, this season, are rather tender, and must 
be watched accordingly. 
Auriculas, being Alpine, and, therefore, of a hardy 
nature, are apt to suffer from drip and confinement in 
frames : they should, therefore, receive all the air possible 
in mild and dry weather. Seed may be sown now, in 
pots, or pans, and covered very slightly with soil, and 
watered with a very fine rose watering-pot, and placed in 
a cold frame. A slight covering of moss will keep the 
surface damp, and secure from the changes of temperature, 
but to be removed gradually as the young plants vegetate. 
Box Edging.- —Take up, and relay, if it is patchy, or 
has grown too high and bulky. 
Bulbs —such as Anemones, Tulips, Hyacinths, Narcissi, 
Ac.—should be planted without delay. 
Pits and Frames. —Continue to expose the plants freely 
to the air whenever the weather will permit, to keep them 
hardy, and to render them less liable to damp off, if frost 
should set in, when it may be necessary to keep them 
covered up for some time. 
Ranunculuses.— Prepare the beds, by trenching up 
the soil to the depth of two feet, filling in with six inches 
of rotten cow dung at the bottom. The lower and most 
hungry portion of the soil should be removed, and its 
place supplied with equal portions of turfy loam and leaf 
mould, which should be well incorporated, and left in a 
rough state, until wanted for planting the roots, about the 
middle of February. 
Unfavourable Weather. — When out-door work 
cannot be performed, stakes may be pointed, labels and 
brooms made, and many other such things prepared, in 
readiness for use when wanted. 
Walks. —Turn, and fresh surface. William Keane. 
CYCLAMEN COUM AND CYCLAMEN YERNUM. 
Is there a man or woman in the three kingdoms, or 
amongst our own readers in any part of the wide world, 
who knows Cyclamen Coum from Cyclamen vernum, or who 
knows which of them is the one, and which the other ? If 
there is such a person living, I should be very much obliged 
for the privilege of communicating privately with him, or 
her. I said, last week, that Cyclamen flowers, chiefly 
of the Persicum race, were becoming fashionable for cut 
flowers for the hair ; and so they are, but it strikes me 
that we might have other races more hardy, and equally 
suitable for the hair—quite as Lardy as the new race of 
Atl'insoni, and with longer footstalks. I also said, long 
ago, when Mr. Atkinson’s seedlings came out, that I 
had been crossing some of the kinds from 1832 to 1836, 
not for garden varieties, however, but for the private 
satisfaction of a private gentleman, who was an enthu¬ 
siastic practical botanist, and who had more practical 
knowledge of all manner of bulbs, from Swedes to 
Cyclamens, than all our British botanists of that period 
put together, save Dr. Herbert, late Dean of Manchester. 
