MAY. 



143 



Sikkim Rhododendrons, and Azalea Roi Leopold, a good kind. In 

 collections of 12 stove and greenhouse plants, Messrs. Fraser were 

 first with a well bloomed group, the best of which were Azalea 

 sinensis, Medinilla magnifica, and Erica Syndriana. Mr. Cutbush, 

 of Barnet, was second. The same was first for 6 Azaleas, Messrs. Fraser 

 second ; both were poor. Cinerarias from Messrs. Turner, Dobson, and 

 Holland, formed a bank the entire side of a table. Mr. Turner's, all 

 new, were Beauty, Brilliant, Duchess of Sutherland, Lady Seymour, 

 Perfection, and Eclat. Messrs. Dobson's plant of Mrs. Hoyle was very 

 fine ; the others good, namely, Mrs. Colman, Lidyard's Brilliant, 

 Baroness Rothschild, Admiral Dundas, and Picturata. Mr. Turner 

 also received first prizes for 12 Auriculas, 6 Pelargoniums, and French 

 spotted Pelargoniums. Cut Pansies, with Broccoli, Asparagus, and Arti- 

 chokes from France, were remarkably fine both in size and freshness. 

 We are pleased to notice the good these meetings are likely to accom- 

 plish, and to add that three similar meetings, one in August and two 

 in September, are likely to be held. 



CLIMATE IN RESPECT TO FRUIT GROWING. 



The extraordinary vicissitudes of our English climate have never within 

 our memory been so grievously realised as in the present season. After 

 the frosts which occurred at the end of November we have had no 

 winter to speak of; indeed December, January, February, and March 

 were remarkable for unusual mildness, and this too accompanied with a 

 high barometer and the absence of rain in many localities. Our last 

 English winter, in fact, might have answered for the south of Italy, by 

 its immunity from frost, and generally clear bright weather. Very 

 early in February a number of shrubs were fast breaking into leaf, 

 and Apricots opening their blooms ; during March all went on 

 unchecked, so much so, that by the beginning of April, notwithstand- 

 ing the severe frost of March 30 and 31, the woodlands and pasture 

 grounds presented all the appearances usually shown by the first week 

 in May, and every description of garden produce partook also of the 

 general earliness of the season. On the 31st of March we had 10° of 

 frost, which, following after a snow the previous evening, did a vast 

 amount of mischief to such fruit trees in bloom, besides destroying in 

 several places the crop of Apricots, which were then of considerable size. 

 Peaches had partly set, and suffered more or less throughout the country ; 

 and early Pears and Plums also. The weather became warmer, and 

 the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th of April were remarkable for their great heat, 

 the day temperature having been 82° in this neighbourhood on the 7th, 

 and between 70° and 80° the greater part of the former three days, 

 an extraordinary temperature for the first week of April, and exceeding 

 by a few degrees the two or three hot days occurring later in the month 

 of April, 1858. The weather next became sensibly colder, and on 

 the 14th and following days indications of winter made their appear- 

 ance, followed by snow storms, cold north-west winds, and frosty 

 nights. On the morning of the 20th we had 8° of frost, accompanied 



