CALENDAR FOR MAY. 
Ill 
count of the high interest it excites, and the extensive know¬ 
ledge it imparts ; and the present month Is particularly adapted 
for the commencement of the study of that system from the 
number of species of several of the most extensive of the na¬ 
tural orders of our indigenous Flora which may be found in 
flower. Thus in Ranunculacece fourteen species are to be sought 
for; some of them very local; in Cruciferce> twenty-one species; 
in Caryophyllece , thirteen species; and in Leguminacece , seven¬ 
teen species : whilst in orders the bulk of whose species flower 
later in the season, we have in Composite, five; in Scrophu - 
larinece , six ; among Carex , at least, twenty-six species may be 
found; and of Graminece about a dozen. Decidedly the most 
interesting order of British plants is Orchidacece , and about nine 
species flower during this month. Altogether about 250 plants 
are to be added to the list this month, and if only four or six 
species of the larger natural orders are arranged and studied, 
the amount of really valuable knowledge attained will soon far 
exceed all that can be gained from the Linnaean system, without 
detracting in the least from the undoubted benefits conferred 
on science by the immortal Swede. Nor is this all that will 
reward the study of our native plants; for there are, no doubt, 
many nooks and corners of the British Isles that will yet yield 
absolutely new species to the close observer. Few would have 3 
expected a decidedly new plant in such a locality as Primrose 
Hill, and yet an undoubted new grass was found abundantly in 
that neighbourhood last year. The parish of Tottenham also 
has furnished one or two new, or very rare plants, during the 
same time. Nor is this all : Mr. Borrer, Mr. Babbington, the 
Rev. Messrs. Bloomfield and Coltman, and others, have added 
new species to the catalogue very recently, and yet, no doubt, 
much remains to be added by further investigation. 
In the flower-garden the preparation for bedding out the 
summer stock should be looked to, commencing with the 
hardiest, and keeping the tender things back until near the 
middle of the month. Few gardeners think of turning out 
Verbenas, Pelargoniums, &c., until near that time, many of 
them having a lively recollection of a frost, on or about the 
10th of May some ten or more years ago, which did immense 
damage to the flower-garden. Continue to propagate bedding 
plants; few have much to spare in that way this season. 
Among greenhouse plants preparations should be made for 
