1885.] FOREST WORK FOR THE MONTH. 143 



f^oREST Work for the Month. 



ENGLAND. 



THE leafy month of June " begins the summer quarter of our 

 seasons. Let us hope it may this year maintain its 

 character for pleasant and genial weather, which we will greatly 

 enjoy after the chilling airs of the three preceding months. The 

 mean temperature advances about 5° in June, and the rainfall 

 usually averages about the same as in the preceding month. The 

 recorded rainfalls of June 1884 were as follows: — 



At Greenwich, rain fell on 8 days, to a depth of 1"13 inclies. 

 At Edinburgh, „ 7 „ 0-96 „ 



At Glasgow, „ 13 „ 1-10 „ 



At Bristol, „ 9 „ 3-86 „ 



Bristol district receiving, as usual, an extra share of pluvial favours. 



The cold winds of March and April greatly retarded vegetative 

 activity, and delayed the bark harvest until May began. Since 

 then, stripping has been conducted with great vigour in the south 

 of England ; the bark mostly running easy, but the prices offered 

 by bark merchants and tanners become annually " smaller by 

 degrees, and beautifully less." This season the New Forest sales 

 have only averaged about 65s. or 67s. per ton, in place; and this 

 is the price which an amiable and obliging tanner holds up to the 

 anxious disposer of this product of the " harvest of the forest," for 

 a radius of many miles around this centre of these annual sales. 



Orchajrd. — Examine grafts, and slacken the tying where neces- 

 sary. Summer pruning is sometimes necessary amongst apple- 

 trees, but leading shoots should seldom or never be meddled with 

 in summer. 



Fences. — Clean out all weeds from hedge bottoms, and cut 

 away all rank-growing grasses and weeds from young hedges, before 

 their seeds ripen and fall. Hedges in certain prominent and 

 particular positions may now have their first cropping or trimming, 

 to be followed by another about the beginning of August, and the 

 final dressing about the end of September. Insects become very 

 troublesome to grazing stock about this time, causing them to rush 

 about, much to the detriment of weakly-constituted fences. Those 

 around pastures should be regularly examined, and all weak parts 

 strengthened as they are observed. When cattle once make a break 

 in a fence, they soon after find out all other weak parts, and prove 

 their insufficiency. 



