MAY. 151 



NOTES ON THE MONTH. 

 April, though the latter half of it has furnished us with a 

 number of sunny days, has been on the whole, cold, cheerless, and un- 

 genial. Northerly and easterly winds have prevailed, excepting from 

 the 9th to the I4th, when the wind was westerly, and the tem- 

 perature higher, but accompanied by boisterous winds and slight rain. 

 The remarkable dryness of the present spring, coupled with that of 

 the last summer and autumn, is causing much anxiety ; already are 

 springs very low, and a scarcity of water is anticipated, which in many 

 localities will affect garden, as well as farm produce. The dry parch- 

 ing winds ' f IMarch and April have caused much damage, not only to 

 the productions of the kitchen garden, but nurserymen have in many 

 places been large sufferers from frost and the cutting winds which have 

 succeeded it — Cypresses, Junipers, and a host of young nursery stock, 

 being either killed down or much injured ; nor have fruit tree stocks 

 fared much better, particularly those worked last autumn. Rose 

 stocks, too, are dead by thousands; these are drawbacks which cannot 

 be averted. To the forcing gardener, this season has been one of 

 difficulty, and it has needed good apparatuses to cope against so low a 

 temperature ; and what was worse, the want of sunshine, of which we 

 never remember so little. Early Grapes, we hear, are not generally 

 good in consequence, and the same may be stated of Strawberries, 

 while Pines have been late in showing fruit in most places. And the 

 production of such forced things as French Beans, Cucumbers, &c., 

 has been troublesome, from the dryness of the air, engendered by the 

 strong fires necessarily used for keeping up the temperature. Late 

 crops of Grapes, however, may be all the better, from the dry healthy 

 state in which the borders are now in, owing to the dry weather ; and 

 so far, this has been favourable for them, as it has been to out-door 

 fruits, which, w^ith few exceptions, promise well for an abundant crop. 

 Kitchen garden vegetables will be late, most of the autumn plantings 

 being either dead or much injured ; and therefore some time must 

 elapse before their place can be occupied by spring-raised plants. 



To the plant grower, the difficulty has been nearly the same ; it is 

 well known how impatient many of our choicest greenhouse plants — as 

 Heaths, New Holland plants, &c., are of fire heat, which nevertheless 

 could not be dispensed with, and we fear many fine things will have 

 been in consequence forced into bloom earlier than usual ; and some 

 exhibition plants may be over before the sho\vs come off. The con- 

 trivances, however, for retarding plants, by means of houses with north 

 aspects are now so general, that our fears may not be reahsed. 



The coming exhibitions are now occupying much attention, for never 

 before were such prizes placed before the public ; and we expect the 

 competition, especially at the Crystal Palace fete, will be well con- 

 tested. But exhibitors must not forget their old friends at Chiswick, 

 and the Regent's Park, while admiring the liberality of the authorities 

 at Sydenham. Cr. F. 



