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BEDDING PLANTS, AND PRESERVATIVE MEASURES. 



BY SniRLEY HIBP.ERD. 



THrs has been a somewhat curious season, 

 both as regards the registrations of the 

 thermometer and the barometer, and the 

 growth of certain crops. Remembering 

 June, when the heat was so intense, that 

 more than one death from heat was recor- 

 ded in the papers, we might consider this to 

 have been a hot summer, but it certainly 

 has not been a hot summer, if we take 

 averages, and make comparisons. January, 

 April, and June, were warmer than last 

 year, but July and August were considerably 

 colder, and towards the end of August, 

 after the heavy rain (in London), on Satur- 

 day the 21st, a sharp north-easter set in 

 with brilliant days and nights, almost 

 frosty. On the Monday morning the robins 

 woke me at four, and I took a cup of coffee 

 to my potting bench, to increase the enjoy- 

 ment of tying up a lot of pompones, but in 

 spite of the coffee, my fingers and toes were 

 so cold, that I was obliged to put the job 

 aside, and go to chopping up some turf and 

 peat, for a bed of American cranberries, 

 a spare lot of which, full of fruit, nearly 

 ripe, I got into a new quarter before break- 

 fast. That nip set me thinking about the 

 weather, past and present ; the wretched 

 appearance of marrows and ridge cucum- 

 bers, which with me have done worse than 

 for seven years past, impressed me still 

 further, and turning to a thermometer I 

 had laid on the grass, I found it at 33 degs. 

 exactly — only one degree removed from 

 freezing. On the 29th of July, we had a 

 similar low temperature of 33 degs. and the 

 radiating bulb actually showed 30 degs., 2 

 below freezing. January, April, and June 

 of this year, were higher than in 1857, the 

 latter as much as 2J degs., but compared 

 with the records of the past thirty years, 

 June, 1858, was 4 J degs. above the average. 

 But this comparision does not show the 

 case fairly, because as the nights in June 

 were very cold, the days must have been 

 additionally hot to make up the high mean 

 of nearly (!5 degs., which was the average 

 in that month. In fact, if we take the 

 maximum only, we shall find the average 

 for .lime, to be, 71.77, but June 1858 had 

 a maximum of 81.P0 — more than 10 degs. 

 above the average. This shows that the 

 past June was hotter during the days than 

 at any other time during the present 

 century — the result of an unusual amount 

 of sun heat. On the 16th the thermometer 

 in the shade reached 97 degs., and, in the sun, 

 was equal to that which our troops have had to 

 experience daily on the burning plains of 

 India. Though the mean of that week 



was 70 degs. above the average, the nights 

 were very cold. In addition to this wide 

 range of the temperature between the 

 extremes, we have had very little rain — much 

 less than our accustomed average. Two 

 large tanks which receive the drainage of 

 my garden, were emptied in June, to keep 

 the roses from suffering, and since then 

 they have not had, at any time, two 

 inches of water in them, and some trenches 

 close by, cut to keep the ground in a 

 soddened state, where the cranberries 

 stood, have been so dry, that I have been 

 enabled to dig out the adjoining ditch 

 for a supply of loam ; and compelled to 

 move the cranberries to a spot where I 

 can more easily command water for them. 



Strange to say, most crops are fine this 

 season — plenty of wheat, potatoes very 

 fine, and flowers abundant. In the open 

 ground, marrows and cucumbers have been 

 very poor, not in my garden only, but 

 everywhere; but the long droughts and 

 the cold nights explain the circumstance 

 sufficiently to give no occasion for indul- 

 gence of fear that any positive disease 

 has taken possession of them. 



It is when we consider the temperature 

 of the earth, that we discover the secret of 

 the general excellency of the crop, and 

 especially of the brilliancy of the bedding- 

 plants. The ground has been warmer than 

 usual, and during great part of June and 

 July, the ground heat was almost equal 

 to that of a moderate hot-bed, so that it 

 was the easiest thing in the world to strike 

 cuttings of all kinds, by giving simply 

 shade and moisture in the open borders. 

 The extremes of the temperatures show 

 that bedding-plants are capable of bearing 

 a wide range of temperature; so long as 

 their roots are kept warm, a touch of frost 

 even does them little harm, if they posesss 

 sufficient stamina to throw up fresh trusses, 

 in place of any that get nipped ; and I 

 know not what others may have experienced, 

 but I am certain that a bed of Tom Thumbs 

 in my garden, had at least, one-third of 

 their trusses killed by frost a fortnight 

 since, and yet none but those who see them 

 daily as I do, would know that they were 

 any the worse for it. 



This brings us to the philosophy of all 

 make-shifts in the management of bedding 

 stuff in the winter. There is always heat 

 to be got from the earth, when the sun 

 affords us none, and tender plants wintered 

 in cold pits, live or die pretty much in 

 accordance with their degree of relationship 

 to the natural heat of the ground. Last 



