1879.] NOTES FROM THE PAPERS. 551 



perhaps not so heinous an offence ; but what is any one to think of the same 

 paper abstracting matter in the same way from the pages of its humble con- 

 temporary ' The Villa Gardener ' ? Is it not too bad ? It is the old story of 

 the big dog robbing the little one. In the same number of the ' Record ' is an 

 unacknowledged article on " Epidendrums," which appeared in the ' V. G.' of 

 August last. There are also articles on one or two other subjects we should 

 like to know the parentage of. [We do not care much about being quoted 

 without acknowledging the source, but we are sorry to think that any garden- 

 ing journal is capable of so doing. — Ed.] 



The prophets are again speculating on the chances of a severe winter. If, as 

 they assert, bad winters follow cold and wet summers, then the ensuing winter 

 ought to be a severe one. It has not set in yet, however, with us. October 

 was exceptionally fine ; and November, up to near the middle of month, has 

 been as pleasant almost as the month of June. Contradictory accounts come 

 from other countries. Among the vineyards of Austria heavy snow fell early 

 in October and destroyed the hopes of the growers. In far-away Iceland, on 

 the other hand, within the Arctic Circle, the inhabitants have been basking 

 under an almost Italian sun till late in the season, and some had nothing to 

 complain of all the summer but the heat and the drought. 



According to all accounts, many kinds of flower-seeds are likely to be both 

 scarce and dear next season. Mignonette seed is all but a complete failure ; 

 and those who require it by the ton, we hear, have a difficulty in getting any- 

 thing like their usual quantity, and holders are reserving their stock. The 

 failure of the potato crop has been complete in this country ; but the fear of a 

 potato famine is groundless, as the Continental growers are contributing abun- 

 dant supplies. Potatoes are dear, however, and likely to be. The variety 

 ailed Magnum Bonum seems to have resisted the disease better than any other 

 — to be almost disease-proof, indeed, if we are to believe what has been written 

 about it in most of the gardening and agricultural papers. Dealers are buying 

 up stock of it for seed, and no doubt it will have a good run. 



We have rarely seen anything that has pleased us so much as those lines in 

 ' Good Words ' on " The Cloudberry." The style is something between Tom 

 Hood, in his more serious moods, and Wordsworth : — 



" Nay, touch it not ; 'tis the Cloudberry bloom, 



My friend, you and I have found, 

 On this far height, 'mid the soft June winds, 



Pale-white on the mossy ground. 

 Ah ! rarely 'tis seen by the eye of man ; 



By us let it not be soiled ; 

 The sprites linger long on the mists of the morn 



To watch it ope on the wild. 



High 'neath the clouds thou bloomest alone, 



Lost flower of the moorland free ; 

 Thy homage the circling peewits cry, 



And the hum of the mountain bee. 



Bloom fairer than thee I ne'er have seen 



On dale or on hill I've climbed, 

 And ne'er have I known a darker birth 



By the power of heaven sublimed ! " 



