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Guinea, 173: (game) 293: eggs for hatch-
ing, 294

Franciscea hydrangeaformis, 359
French marigold cuttings, 254
Frame for plant protecting, 179
Frost, its penetrating power, 15
Frosted plants, 142

Fruit garden, stocking, 247
Fruit gathering, 15: storing, 16
Fruit-trees, failing, 55: for Australia, 124: soil
for, 152 removing old, 178: arrangement
of, 183: cleaning, 307; newly-planted, 307:
for S.E. wall, 316
Fuchsias, wintering, 5, 12, 24, 35, 68, 123 :
seed and cuttings, 67, 135: seed sowing, 35:
cut down too early, 104: raised from
leaves, 136: for bedding, 159: light-co-
loured, 122, 246: in beds, 254: gracilis and
carolina, 254: culture, 167: generally, 255:
soil, manure, propagating, 256: lists of,
272 bear shade, 284: pruning, 284
Fuchsia corymbiflora, 327, 340: wintering, 55:
grafting, 328

Fuchsia fulgens, 296, 358
Fumigating, 54

Fungi, edible, 247

Furze sowing, 328

GALLUS PENDACTULUS, 50

Garden plan, 68

Gardeners' Magazine of Botany, 207, 261
Gas, heating by, 191

Geese, 239, 294, 351; feeding, 51
Gentiana, sowing Swiss, 103

Geometra cervinaria and clavaria, 37

Geraniums, wintering (scarlet), 4, 23, 24, 55,
68, 77; cuttings crowded, 23; cuttings win-
tering, 24, 36, 68; scarlet, in beds, 35; list
of scented-leaved, 68; moving in-doors, 76;
scarlet, list of, 85, 96; pruning, 92; cut
down, 104; boxes for, 104; late blooming,
127; golden chain, 148; stored, 315; left
in beds, 327; yellow, 328, 330; white, 344;
scarlet, 359

Germination, influence of water on, 58; of
seed, 161

Gesnera, Douglasii and Zebrina, culture, 104,
289; elongata, 290
Gesnerias, wintering, 12
Ghost moth, 181

Gladioli, planting, 7; late flowering, 55; win-
ter treatment, 82; in pots, 92; sowing,
125; in wrong soil, 272

Gladiolus insignis, culture, 180; gandavensis,

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Grape (royal muscadine), 284

Grass, sowing, 107; for hay, 114; under
trees, 24; sowing, 148, 292; garden, 159;
seed for lawn, 160; breaking-up, 292
Green crops, 349

Green-fly, to banish, 215

ers,

Greenhouse, plants returning to, 8; erecting,
23; heating, 23, 82, 123, 160, 216, 247, 340,
355; formed from peach-house, 35; creep-
68;
and cow-house combined, 91; and
stove combined, 94; room adjoining, 104;
plants, seed sowing, 136; leaky, 159, 192;
against dwelling, 179; covering, 222; over
kitchen, 192; heated by kitchen, 203; plan
for, 204; management, 265; facing north,
316; plants, planting out large, 358; plants
for cold, 358

Groundsel, 296

Gryllotalpa vulgaris, 205

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Heliotrope, wintering, 68; in autumn, 74;
cuttings, 216

Hemerocallis japonica, 284
Hens miscarrying, 283
Hepialus humuli, 181
Herb, Robert, 295

Hepatica (double blue), 328
Herbaceous plant culture, 167
Hive, Taylor's amateur, 204
Hoar frost, 158

Hollyhock, cuttings, 67; list of, 213

Honeysuckle, pruning, 136; budding, 247
Hops, 283; propagating, 68

Horn-shavings, 123

Horse-chesnut, to destroy its bitterness, 24
Horse-radish, planting, 33, 112; culture, 236,

242

Horses starting, 249

Hot water pipes, 272; joints of, 272
Hotbeds, making small, 146; preparing dung,
163; building and earthing, 164; of leaves,
103; for cuttings, 247

Hot water apparatus, 313

Hoya carnosa flagging, 272; unhealthy, 284
Huntleya violacea, 199; meleagris, 199
Hyacinths, in pots, 67; small bulbs of, 68;
mouldy, 91; planting, 17; in moss, 228;
offsets, 259, 272, 283, 315; rotting, 260;
retarding, 316

Hydrangea, 203; forcing, 247; pruning, 247,

328

Hylotoma rosæ, 249

Hylurgus piniperda, 329

Hypoxis stellata, 259

INDIAN CORN not profitable, 67; culture, 135
Indian rubber plant, 359

Ink for zinc labels, 272

Insects, foretelling weather, 149
Isotoma axillaris, 74
Italian Ray Grass, 159

Ivy, on timber, 259; torn down, 283; a
teacher, 119; berries, 204

Ixia seedlings, 82; sowing, 92, 125; viridi-
folia, 328; age of seeds, 148; offsets, 192
Ixoras, culture, history, and list of, 346, 347
JACKDAWS clamoring, 249

Japan lilies, soil for, 12
Jasminum sambae, 350
Jennings' tube cocks, 67

Jerusalem artichokes turning black, 272;
culture, 78

Jessamine, training, 103; budding, 247

Jonquils, planting, 7, 67, 261

Justicia speciosa, 198

KALMIA LATIFOLIA, 82

Kidney beans, storing, 33; runners to winter,

54; sowing, 324; forcing 144, 262, 291

Kitchen garden, 200

Kites as weather guides, 261; soaring high,
273

Kohl rabbi, seed, saving, 160; culture, 316
LABELLING, importance of, 233

Labels, making, 200; for plants, 262; of
zinc, 359

Lancifolium culture, 55
Lantana crocea, wintering, 56
Larks soaring high, 273
Larkspurs, 175

Laurel hedge, moving, 192
Laurentia cervinaria, 37

Lawns dressing, 253; improving coarse, 316
Leaf cutter bee, 217

Leaves, collecting, 6; cleaning, 19, 131; pre-
serving, 104; fall of, 119; on cuttings, 277;
for hotbed, 272; effect of gases on, 271
Leech, weather-wise, 285
Lechenaultia, formosa, 35; cuttings, 136;
culture, 167, 234

Leonotis leonurus culture, 105
Lettuces, mildewed, to cure, 132; (Malta),
12; culture, 225, 293
Light and germination, 206
Light for cuttings, &c., 328
Liliums, list of, 103

Lilium japonicum not flowering, 36; spe-

ciosum sowing, 303

Lilies, time of blooming, 305

Lily of the valley, removing, 136, 328

Lime and salt for potatoes, 192

Lime-tree, its uses, 90

Lime, super-phosphate of, 284, 303

Lined weevil, 161

Lineæ, 354

Loam-making, 204

Lobellia gracilis, erinus and ramosa, 321

Locust tree, 260

Loddiges, notices of the, 207

Lælia superbiens, 323

Lophosphermum cuttings, 82
Love-lies-bleeding culture, 321
Lisianthus Russellianus, 328

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October weather, 1

Enothera, 344

Oleander buds, dropping, 14; cuttings, 55;
culture, 250

Old-fashioned plants, 345

Onions, sowing, 292: tree, 298: potato, 92;
culture, 169, 226: transplanting, 22:
ground for, 315
Orange-trees frozen, 284
Oranges, soil for, 272

Orchidaceæ, culture, 9, 20; house for, 31;
October culture, 20; potting, 20; treat-
ment of fresh imported, 44; logs and soil
for, 45; British, list of and culture, 49;
orchid house, heating, shelves, &c., 64;
cistern in, 77: syringing, 77: shading, 77:
November calendar, 78: pots for, baskets
for, 87, 111: peat for, 99: for pot and
basket culture, 100 for greenhouse, 104:
orchids, blocks, for, 130: moving from,
131

December calendar, 131: terrestrial,
144 list of winter-blooming, 156: ex-
hibited, 155: amount of heat, air, and
moisture required, 168: list of hardy,
169 orchids giving air to, 224: syringing
and dipping, 199: winter blooming, 200:
culture, moisture, in, 187: leaf cleaning,
235; steaming and shading, 235: creepers

with, 236: orchid-house, moisture of air,
212: orchid-culture, 256, 267, 279, 323, 310,
335 resting, 257: list of cheap, 272:
calendar, March, 290

Orchises, time for moving, 251
Orchis seed, 192

Orobanche, 249: minor and cærulea, 342
Otiorchynchus sulcatus, 125

Our village walks, 22, 33, 52, 66, 79, 90, 102,
119, 133, 145, 158, 176, 189, 201, 214, 226,
243, 258, 269, 281, 295, 312, 354
Oxalis tricolor, 234

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Parsnips, 349; preserving, 46; cankered, 92;
sowing, 292; parasite, 249

Passion flowers, for south wall, 124
Passiflora, culture for dessert, 342; edulis or
incarnata, quadrangularis, 342, 343; cœ-
rulea, 342; training, 356
Pea beetle, 13

Peach, forcing, 73, 297, 319; root pruning,
83: not bearing, 103: blossom screening,
247: house heating, 204: unpruned, 284
Pea-fowl cramped, 340

Pear, root pruning, 27; over vigorous, 82;
pruning, 106, 220, 223, 284; barren, 148; two
good ones, 227: tree training, 260; blos-
som grub, 261; unfruitful, 284, 328
Peas, 350; time of growth, 2; winter sowing,
24; sticking, 104; Grimstone's Egyptian,
122; sowing, tall, 312; sowing, 200, 227, 228,
230, 269, 292, 324; history of green, 193;
list of 194; early 259; varieties, 257;
select lists of, 274; sheltering, 281; Bur-
bidge's Eclipse, 302; culture, 337
Peat for potting, 36

Pelargoniums, in Australia, 124: standard,
182, 301 shifting, 192
Penstemons, 344, 359
Periwinkle, 204

Persian iris, planting, 7: not blooming, 12,
192

Petunia, seedlings, 12: in autumn, 85: heat
for, 267: cuttings, 358

Phaius, watering, 235

Phalaenopsis amabile, culture, 122: watering,

290

Phlox culture, 232, 344

Physic garden, 52, 118, 174, 241, 325, 353
Physurus argentea culture, 257

Picotee, wintering, 21: yellow, list of, 225:
spot on, 257
Pieris Brassicæ, 1

Pig-keeping, 48, 49, 114, 117
Pig-styes, fumigating, 23

Pigs, their sagacity, 174; their diseases, 174;
and the wind, 217: fattening, 299
Pine apple, culture (Hamiltonian), 59, 92,
195: not fruiting, 103: Prince Albert, 156:
sowing, 228: emitting roots, 260: forcing,
263 for market, 272: repotting, 286: soil
for, 286 in vinery, 358

Pink, 354 after frost, 257: planting, 78
Pits, heating, 12, 82, 218: plants near glass
in, 12, 36: of turf, &c., 154
Plant, cause of growing upwards, 218
Planting, rules for, 40, 82, 95
Planting season, 3
Platform planting, 192
Plough Monday, 181
Ploughing, depth of, 123

Plum, root pruning, 83: over luxuriant, 91:
tree pruning, 106, 316: planting, 35: un-
pruned, 284: Chapman's Prince of Wales,
326

Plumbago Larpentæ, 75, 228, 303: wintering,

56

Plunging materials, 135

Pædisca angustiorana, 81, 252
Pæony, tubers dividing, 82
Poinsettia pulcherrima, 186

Polyanthus, wintering, 7: culture, 268: lists
of, 336

Polydrusus oblongus, 261
Polygaleæ, 353

Pomace, as a manure, 179
Pomegranate culture, 67
Pontia Brassicæ, 1

Pork curing, 116

Porpuses, indicating weather, 93
Portulaca culture, 321

Potato planting, 36, 65, 71, 104, 269, 298, 303,
327 golden rules for, 72: storing, 79:

manuring for, 91: autumn planting, 122:
culture, 135 sets, 136; sprouted, 179, 247:
forcing, 291, 312; planting eyes, 300:
earthing up, 302, 317: cottage culture, 312:
disease, 313 in frames, 337: meaning of
early, 340

Pot plants, liquid manure for, 260
Pot Pourri, to make, 134

Poultry-keeper's calendar, 50, 172, 114, 238,
293, 350

Poultry keeping, 50: setting hens, 50, cocks
and hens, relative number, 50: Dorking
breed, 50, 114: cramming, 50: capons, 51:
indicating rain, 71: Spanish, 115 feeding,
117, 147 bald, 192: enclosure, 228: los-
ing feathers, 246: Cochin-China, size of,
283 with diseased eyes, 284: prices, 315:
rearing, hatching, &c., slipping eggs, 359
Primrose, cuttings of China, 284
Primula Sinensis, sowing, 328
Prince's feather culture, 321
Principles of gardening, 2
Privet, moving large, 36
Propagating plants, 264

Protecting, plants, &c., 141, 154
Protection for kitchen vegetables, 169

Pruning, 96 orchard trees, 106: espaliers
and dwarfs, 274: wall trees, 275: trees,
302 its principles, 209
Pumpkins, 204

QUICK PLANTING, 204
Quincunx order, 327

RABBIT keeping, 315, 353; dung, 339
Radishes in frames, 169; sowing, 225, 258,
337; culture, 236

Rain, average fall of, 13; its constituents, 59
Ranunculus, beds for, 45; sowing 82; various

species, 176; culture, 236, 272; list of, 236
Ranunculaceae, their medical qualities, 174
Rape cake as a manure, 136
Raspberry culture, 160; suckers, 327
Raspberry-stalk beetle, 229
Ravens soaring high, 273
Redbreast, its habits, 158
Refuse, vegetable, 227

Renanthera coccinea culture, 131
Rendle's catalogue, 182

Rhodanthe Manglesii, 308; sowing, 55
Rhododendron, its history, 11; seed of scar-
let, 68; not flowering, 103; moving, 194;
in clay soil, 272

Rhubarb forcing, 102; removing, 104; forcing
in beds, 123; planting, 11; dressing, 132;
roots, &c., exporting, 260; in open ground,

312

Ridging, best mode of, 92, 113
Roofs, angle of, 92

Rooks, 355; their habits, 243

Roots, in cold soil, 25; pruning, 26, 83;
storing, 47; grubbing up, 258; deeply
buried, 153; propagating from, 154; why
grow downwards, 206; increase of, 230;
travel for food, 230; their excretions, 330;
oxygen, beneficial to, 330

Rose, quickly blooming, 12: Manetti, 36:
China wintering, 36: selection of, 68: bud-
ding, 82: classifying, 82: not flowering, 103:
Cloth of gold, 103: pegging down, 104:
stocks worm-eaten, 123: on north aspect,
123 for trellis, 124: pruning transplanted,
stocks, moving, 147: pruning budded, 148:
yellow Banksian, 148, 159: list of new, 157:
groups of, 180: Harrisonii, 180: Banksian,
not blooming, 159, 160; cuttings, 204:
pruning, 204, 209, 338: for arbour, 191:
Queen of the Prairies, 192: from seed, 192:
protecting and pruning, 221, 228; yellow
Persian, 288: for pillar, 260: grub-eaten,
260 list of, 272: converting standard to.
pillar, 299: budded in hedgerow, 303:
budding, 359

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forcing, 158, 177, 214; culture, 280, 324;
cutting, 359

Sea-weed, as a manure, 147

Seeds, temperature for germinating, 2; their
speed of growth, 2; heat they endure, 3;
packing, 58; papers, 163; raising shrubs
from, 166; germinating in light, 206;
bearing decreased tubers, 231; buying, 237
Selandria Ethiops, 71

Semasia Woberana, 285

Senecio, or American groundsel, 344
Shalot culture, 338

Shanking of grapes, 82

Shelters for orchards, 107

Shreds, preparing, 95

Shrubs, for a damp place, 12: moving large,

14; newly planted, 140

Shrubbery, dressing and pruning, 165
Sisyrinchium Bermudianum,naturalized,23,54
Sitona tibialis and lineata, 161

Slater (The), 303

Slimy grub, 71
Slipper-worts, 42

Sloping banks, 213

Slug mixture, 315; to destroy, 348
Snap-dragon, or antirrhinum, 344
Sobralia macrantha culture, 335

Soils, their texture, 3; their temperature, 14;
improving sandy, 36; improving light, 82;
improvement of texture, 171; peat and sand
to improve, 171

Soiling, 348, 349

Solanum jasminoides on wall, 260

Soot as a pea protector, 216; water, to make,

244, 315

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ful, 160; Hautbois culture, 160; British
Queen culture, 23; forcing, 38
Stove plant seed, 136

Suckers, to prevent, 62
Succulent weevil, 125
Succulents, their culture, 167
Sulphuric acid on dung, 221
Sulphur fumigation, 360
Swallows, latest appearance, 136
Swede storing, 47
Swedes for seed, 104
Sweeping of flues, 82
Sweet Alyssum, 345

Sweet pea sowing, 288, 321
Sword grass moth, 25
Switzer, Stephen, 182
Synchronisms of nature, 26, 37
Syringe budding, 247
Syringing, 266

TACSONIA PINNATISTIPULA, 359
Tagetes tenuifolia, 74; fragrans, 74
Tan for heating, 302

Tanner's bark as a manure, 82, 160
Taps, water tight, 67
Tares, after barley, 136

Tea of herbs, 270

Tenthredro Cerasi, 71

Thalictrum flavum, 175

Thermometer registering, 179
Thomas (St.), 192

Thunbergias, in window, 24
Thrips, to destroy, 284

Tigridia pavonia culture, 135

Tillandsia splendens, 156; stricta culture, 160
Tinea Novembris, 57

Tinea mellonella, 193
Tobacco fumigation, 301
Tomatos, 359

Tortrix Angustiorana, 81

Training, horizontal and fan, 219
Tree seeds for exportation, 124

Trees, order of leafing, 37; newly planted, 140
Trenching, 113

Trigridias, ripening their bulbs, 38
Tritoma culture, 68

Tropaeolum azureum culture, 36

Tropaeolum tricolorum treatment, 104; tu-
berosum, 328

Tropaeolum lobbianum, 260
Truffles, 230

Tulips, planting, 7, 21, 78; list of early, 17;
arrangement of, 36; protecting, 290; beds
to ornament, 244

Turf, under trees, 24; laying, 108

Turkeys, 239, 349; feeding, 51; fatting, 115
Turnip saw fly, 149

Turnips, 349; sprouts, 112
Tutsan, 295

Tying-up plants, 260
Typographer bark beetle, 329

VANDA TERES, culture; tricolour, culture, 155
Verbenas, wintering, 24; in their bed, 55;
cuttings, 32, 216, 254; bedding out, 75;

temperature for, 267; pulchella, 344; cut-
tings, 358

Vegetable marrow, 359

Vegetable refuse, 192

Veronicas, New Zealand, 342
Violaceœ, 325

Violets, culture, 109; Russiap, 110; double,
Tree and Neapolitan, 110, 303, 340
Virgin's bower, 196

Vinery, fruit for back wall, 160; grapes for,
160; flowers in, 260

Vines, exposing to cold, 24; in greenhouse,
68, 322; forcing, 72, 195, 286, 319; its his-
tory, 79; sweet water in pots, 82; out-
doors, 126; border making, 126; manures
for, 127; for south wall, 136; over-
luxuriant, 136; pillar, to build, 179; graft-
ing, 179; planted too deep, 179; in pots,
231, 247; in Andalusia, 251; on back
wall of vinery, 271; scale, 273; and
greenhouse plants, 284; disbudding,
287; covering, roots, 298; for greenhouse,

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Wall-flower cuttings, 121

Wall-trees mulching, 148; planting, 148;

unfruitful, 12; protecting, 216
Walks, 253

Walnut planting, 259

Wasps, catching, 23

Water, the best for plants, 58; to cure hard,
92; necessary for germination, 38; its value,
145; stagnant, 359

Water-cress in gardens, 117, 241

Wax melting, 134; flowers, 156
Wax moth, 193

Weather indications: falling stars, thrushes,
moles, 329

Weigela rosea transplanting, 148; pruning,
328; culture, 68

Weekly Calendar, 1, 12, 25, 37, 57, 71, 81, 93,
105, 125, 137, 149, 161, 181, 193, 205, 217,
229, 249, 261, 273, 285, 305, 317, 329, 341.
White garden butterfly, I
Willows moving, 148

Wintering border flowers, 4; plants in pots,
12; plants in frames, 35; cuttings, 16, 35;
China rose and cistuses, 36; geranium cut-
tings, 24, 36

Wind indicating weather, 93
Wireworm, 93; trapping, 336

Wistaria sinensis alba, 34; removing, 103
Woodcocks, their arrival, 122

Woodlice, trapping, 67, 303

Worms under turf, to destroy, 179
XYLEUTES COSSUS, 137

YAMS, 358

Yew, its use, 176

ZAUCHSNERIA CALIFORNICA, 74
Zieria macrophylla, 103
Zinnia culture, 136

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N.B. In the above table of the weather near London in 1848, the highest and lowest state of the (B)arometer and (T)hermometer is shewn for each day, and the (R)ain which fell in decimals of inches.

ST. FAITH, a virgin martyr, and native of Pais de Gavre, in France, suffered whilst Dacian presided over that country, about the year 290. She appears to have been a favourite saint in England during the prevalence here of the Roman Catholic religion; many churches being dedicated to her memory.

ST. DENYS, or Dionysius the Areopagite, was converted at Athens by the preaching of St. Paul (Acts xvii. 34). It is said that he became first Bishop of Athens, and that he suffered martyrdom there; but little of his history that can be relied upon is known. St. Denys has been chosen by the French as their tutelar saint.

METEOROLOGY OF THE WEEK.-This is one of the periods of the year most uncertain in its weather in this our uncertain climate. From a register kept at the Chiswick Gardens, and from which we chiefly take our meteorological tables, it appears that during 22 years, and of the 154 days occurring between the 4th and 10th of October, both included, in those years, 71 days have been more or less rainy, and 83 have been fair. The greatest amount of rain that fell on any one day during those 71 was about three-fourths of an inch; the average highest temperature during these seven days in those 22 years is 61.7; and the average lowest temperature 43.5. The thermometer during these days never rose above 64.2, nor fell below 41.1°. The highest temperature of which we have any record as occurring on any of these days was on the 6th, in the year 1834, when the thermometer reached 77° in the shade. The only instance we know of snow falling during these days was in 1829, when during the night of the 7th it occurred in many parts of England; but, when our climate was very different, we find in the Chroniclers that a frost lasted in the year 760 from the 1st of October to the 26th of February. In order to keep the warmth in the soil about the roots of vines intended for early forcing, it is a good plan to keep the border covered with litter, and a tarpaulin at night, uncovering it during fine warm days.

Having thus observed upon the days more particularly under our consideration, we will refer briefly to the meteorology of the month. In October, it has been truly said by an accurate observer, Mr. Webster, great and important changes take place in the whole atmosphere, from the equator to the poles, for it is the shifting of the seasons throughout every region of the globe. Winter and darkness begin to shroud the arctic circle, whilst light and warmth return to cheer the southern pole; what is withdrawn from one hemisphere is immediately transferred in an equal degree to the other hemisphere. The rains no sooner cease in one tropic than they begin in the other; as soon as snow falls in October on the mountains of Greece, and the autumnal rains begin at Algiers, Madeira, &c., the dry seasons set in at the Cape of Good Hope, Swan River, Valparaiso, &c. In England there is no doubt that the weather which occurs during this month

has a powerful influence over those which closely succeed to it. Thus it is an observation, founded on long experience, that "if the latter end of October and the beginning of November be for the most part warm and rainy, then January and February probably will be frosty and cold, except after a very dry summer. But if in October and November there be snow and frost, then January and February are likely to be open and mild." If the summer and autumn have been hot and dry, and the heat and the dryness extend far into September, as they have in the present year, then probably the early part of the winter will be mild, but the close of the winter and the beginning of the spring following will be cold.

In the latitude of London the night temperature of October most usually ranges between 35° and 54°, and the day temperature between 50° and 65°. The mean height of the barometer is 29.7 inches, and its range or variation about one inch and a half. The average depth of rain during the month is 2 inches, and the average evaporation from the earth's surface one inch and six-tenths. Yet, let no one suppose that this depth of rain is the same throughout England. The variableness of the rain in different places of our country is one of the most remarkable of the phenomena attendant upon our climate. Thus, at Gosport, the average fall of rain in October is 3.25 inches; at Exeter, 3.1; at Aberdeen, 2.0; at Bath, 2.9;, at Carlisle, 3.0; and on the western coast it is far greater. Thus, in the October of 1841 there fell at Liverpool more than 8 inches of rain, whilst at Thetford, in Norfolk, there fell but 3 inches.

NATURAL PHENOMENA INDICATIVE OF WEATHER.-Under this head we shall give Mr. Forster's observations, amplified with those made by many other naturalists, being fully convinced that the combined testimony of these never deceive in foretelling an approaching change of weather. "If, after continued fine weather in summer, we perceive the sky streaked with clouds, called Mares Tails, and it gradually gets more obscured; if the swallows skim low over the surface of the meadows; if the cattle snuff the air with distended nostrils; and if spiders come out in unusual numbers, we should say rain was coming;" and we never knew such aggregates of indications prove deceptive.

Ants. When there is a general bustle and activity observed in anthills, and the ants appear all in motion carrying their eggs, apparently for better shelter, it generally intimates approaching rain. This observation was made by many of the ancients, as Aratus, Varro, Pliny, and Virgil. The last-named (Georg. I., 379) says, the shower never comes unforeseen, but that before it arrives, among other intimations, may be seen

Ants, as from secret cells their eggs they bear,
Each following each, the tract continuous wear.

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two black spots on the middle. The under side of the under wings is light yellow. Breadth, when expanded, two inches. The caterpillar is blueish-green, thinly haired, and sprinkled with black dots, having a yellow stripe on the back, and the same on the sides. These caterpillars are found, throughout the summer and autumn, on all the sorts of cabbage, on horse-radish, radishes, mustard, and similar plants, as well as on water-cresses. The pupa are yellowish green, with black dots, with a point on the head, and five on the back. The best way to destroy them is picking off and killing the caterpillars, as well as the pupæ, as far as it is possible; the latter are found attached to adjacent trees, hedges, and walls. But care must be taken not to destroy those pupae which have a brown appearance; because they are full of the larvae of ichneumons, and other allied parasites, which are the great scourge of these caterpillars. A lady, and an entomologist, gentle as the Lepidoptera she studies, saw, a few weeks since, about thirty grubs of the Ichneumon fly (Micrograster glomeratus) actually eat their way out through the back of one of these caterpillars. So little did the cater

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IN our last number we brought down our consideration of the principles of gardening to the point where it is necessary to consider the circumstances essential for the germination of a seed. Now a certain degree of warmth is essential, for no cultivated plant, has seeds that will germinate below or at the freezing point of water. A temperature above 32° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, therefore, is requisite; and the plants of which the seeds will germinate nearest to that low degree of temperature, in this country, are the winter weeds. For example, we have found the seeds of the Poa annua, the commonest grass of our gravel walks, germinate at 35°, and the seeds of groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) would probably require no higher temperature. But, on the other hand, the temperature must not be excessively high. Even no tropical seed, probably, will germinate at a temperature much above 120 F., and we know from the experiments of MM. Edwards and Colin, that neither wheat, oats, nor barley, will vegetate in a temperature of 113°.

Every seed differing in its degree of excitability, consequently has a temperature without which it will not vegetate, and from which cause arise the consequences that different plants require to be sown at different seasons, and that they germinate with various degrees of rapidity.

For example, two varieties of early pea, sown on a south border on the same day, and treated strictly alike throughout their growth, were about a fortnight differing in all their stages of vegetation.

Sown. In bloom. Gathered from

Cormack's Prince Albert Jan. 4. April 1. May 14.
Warwick
Jan. 4. April 13. May 28.
In another set of experiments, of the following va-
rieties all sown on the 28th of March,

Prince Albert bore peas fit for table June 19-3 ft. high, fine early sort.
Bishop's Early dwarf, do. June 26-9 ins., inferior in every way.
Early Racehorse, do. June 29-3 ft., nothing meritorious.
Shilling's Grotto, do. June 29-3 ft., most excellent.

Dwarf Green Marrow, do. July 10-3 ft., large pea, fine quality, full

crop.

Blue Prussian, do. July 10-2 ft., good.

Matchless Marrow, do. July 17-3 ft., immense pods, large pea, good quality, full crop.

Lynn's Wrinkled Marrow, do. Aug. 1-4 ft., good late sort.
American Marrow, do. July 17-2 ft., fine pea, full crop.

Blue Scymitar, do. July 25-3 ft., good bearer.

Bedman's Blue Imperial, do. July 30-good pea, full crop.

Flack's Victoria, do. July 17-2 ft., large pea, full crop.
Victoria Marrow, do. July 25-6 ft., large pods.

Auvergne, do. July 17-4 ft., fair crop.

Groom's Superb Blue, do, July 17-2 ft., thickly set with pods, full

of fine peas.-Gardener's Chronicle.

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In one instance M. Adanson certainly must have experimented with old seed, for we have found good new parsley seed, sown on fresh fertile soil in May, had germinated in two days, and its leaves were above the surface within a week from the day of sowing. Then again in the case of rose seed,-at all events, in the case of that of the dog rose,-if the hips be allowed to endure the frosts of winter before they are gathered, the seed will germinate in much less time than is named by M. Adanson. This lesson was probably taught the gardener by nature, for the hips of roses never shed their seed in this country until they have been frosted. The gardener should always bear in mind that it would be a very erroneous conclusion, because a seed does not germinate at the accustomed time, that therefore its vegetating powers are departed, No two seeds taken from the same seed-vessel germinate precisely at the same time; but, on the contrary, one will often do so promptly, while its companion seed will remain dormant until another year. M. De Candolle relates an instance where fresh tobacco seedlings continued to appear annually for ten years on the same plot, though no seed was sown after the first sowing; and the same phenomenon usually occurs for two or three years when the seed of either the peony or hawthorn are Why one seed is more easily excited than another is as yet unexplained, but the wisdom of this one of many provisions for avoiding the accidental extinction of a species in any given locality is readily discerned. An ungenial spring may destroy the plants arising from those seeds which first germinated,

Sown.

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