248 THE FLORIST. 



THE STAR NURSERY, SLOUGH. 



Whilst in the neighbourhood, we took the opportunity of pay- 

 ing a hurried visit to this establishment. Mr. Bragg occupies so 

 conspicuous a place as a successful exhibitor of Pansies, Pinks, 

 Picotees, Carnations, Dahlias, &c, that it only requires a mention of 

 his name to assure our readers that the whole of the stock under 

 cultivation was worthy of his fame ; and we are glad at this time of 

 inquiry to inform our readers that he is the nurseryman who has the 

 sending out of all Mr. Foster's seedling Pelargoniums, and who 

 alone will supply Gypsy Bride, Constance, and the other varieties 

 let out by that gentleman this year. This Nursery forms an addi- 

 tional temptation to the amateur for a visit to Slough. It is almost 

 adjoining the railway station. 



THE WEATHER. 



There is an old saying, with reference to the well-known uncertain- 

 ties of our English climate, which I used to think a calumny, and 

 even bordering on the ridiculous, but which I have now found to 

 my cost is not always to be depended on, at least in the north of 

 England. It is this, that July is the only month in the year in 

 w r hich we are secure from frost. Many years ago, " Francis Moore, 

 physician," got great credit for a singular hit in the almanac that 

 goes under that name, something like Mr. Murphy's in 1838, 

 whereby he and the weather between them deprived June of its 

 summer character ; the almanac predicting (by a misprint, as it is 

 said), snow in that month, and the phenomenon actually occurring. 

 But in July, I believe, we have hitherto neither expected nor ex- 

 perienced any thing more wintry than hail. So it was, however, 

 that last week, which saw that month expire and August begin, 

 contained three frosts here in the north-east of Lincolnshire ; the 

 first of the three, on the last day of July, being so hard that a neigh- 

 bour told me there was ice as thick as a half-crown piece. I did 

 not myself see it, nor was I aware there had been frost, until its 

 effects were visible, and it was too late to prevent them, although 

 on the preceding evenings I suspected there would, or rather might 

 be, frost, from the exceeding clearness of the sky, with cold north 

 and east wind. I used to employ a registering thermometer out of 

 doors, but my premises are so exposed to the night-visits of pilfering 

 neighbours, that I always lost them, and therefore discontinued the 

 practice. 



It would be interesting if any of your correspondents in various 

 parts of England, who have noticed the state of the weather lately, 

 would communicate the extremes of temperature reached by day 

 and by night during the week I speak of. The weather is very un- 

 settled now, for the last few days it having been altogether as hot 



