20 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHL Y 



[January, 



CLIMATIC DIFFERENCES. 



BY WILLIAM KISBET, PROVIDENCE, R I. 



Ill the Gardener's Monthly for November 

 I read with much pleasure a very interesting ac- 

 count of the ''Remarkable Difference of the 

 Climate of Places Situated Under the Same 

 Latitude," by F. TV. Poppey. As a Scotch 

 gardener, however, who has had good opportu- 

 nity to know something of the climate and pro- 

 ductions of his native country, having lived in 

 the lowlands and highlands thereof, as well as 

 in the "Hebrid Isle, placed far amid the melan- 

 choly main." I hope I ma}- be pardoned for 

 taking some exception to the assertion that no 

 fruit tree thrives in that country. Had Mr. 

 Poppey said that there are portions of it where 

 no fruit tree thrives, he would have been correct. 

 For, truly there are localities 



"Shaggy with heath; yet lonely, bare, 

 Nor tree, nor bush, nor brake is there." 



Yet in many of the Scottish Islands, and on the 

 mainland in general, and especially towards the 

 east coast, certain kinds of fruit trees thrive 

 very well. Xot to speak of some other places, 

 and the orchards and gardens of the wealthy. 

 Any one who has^een the Clydesdale Orchards, 

 and those of the Carse of Gowrie, knows that it 

 is so. I am not at all alluding to "wall trees," 

 for trained against garden walls, all sorts of ap- 

 ples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots 

 and figs do well, and in some instances the 

 Black Hamburg grape. I have helped to pick 

 many hundred bushels of apples for the English 

 market, where they sold just as readily as those 

 from the Channel Islands, and parts of Eng- 

 land. I happen to remember one Eed Cathead 

 apple tree, from which, in one season, we took 

 sixteen bushels. Excellent pears and plums are 

 also produced ; indeed, I have eaten some of the 

 same varieties of fruit on the continent of 

 Europe, in England. Ireland and Scotland, and 

 it seemed to me those grown in Scotland were just 

 as good as any of them. In Scotland I have seen 

 healthy apple, and especialh' pear trees, bearing 

 fruit which had been planted many hundred years 

 ago by those good gardeners, the monks of old. 

 In the south-west of Scotland, about latitude 55°. 

 I have seen very old and larse trees of Spanish 

 Chestnut. Walnut. Juglans regia, and Spanish 

 Filbert, all producing fine crops of good fruit. 

 One of these chestnut trees I know was at least 

 twelve feet in circumference about two feet from 

 the sround. I call the filberts trees, thev reallv 



were trees, large enough for a man to climb up- 



amongst their branches. 



Many good varieties of apples and pears have 

 originated in Scotland, excellent for that, and* 

 some of them . too, for other countries. I happen 

 to think of the Leadiiigton, Oslin, Hawthornden, 

 Thorle and Tower of Glamnis amongst apples ; 

 and Auchan, Drummond, Golden Knapp and 

 Crawford amongst pears. There is one tree — 

 but, I had almost forgotten that in these days of 

 evolution it has taken a backward course, revo- 

 luted to a bush ! contrary to the authority of all 

 good gardeners and garden authors of ye olden 

 time, such as good old Abercrombie and others,, 

 in whose times it was a tree I I mean a goose- 

 beri'}^ tree I Well this tree, or bush if it mustr 

 be called in order to keep up with the times,, 

 thrives throughout Scotland as well, if not 

 better, than in any other land on the globe. It 

 may be called the grape of the country, equal to^ 

 and surpassing in flavor many grapes ; excellent 

 for tarts, jelly, jams, and even wine. Nature^ 

 ever kind and compensating, although she has- 

 denied the vine to Northern lands, has given 

 them the gooseberry, the currant, raspberry and 

 strawberry — bounteous gifts, no mean eqivalents. 



Perhaps in no country of equal dimensions is 

 there a greater diversity of soil, scenery and 

 climate than exists in Scotland. The climate is 

 very much affected by the position and proximity 

 of mountains, the islands off the coast, the 

 ocean and the gulf stream. The winter climate 

 of the west coast, and the adjoining islands of 

 the Hebrides, the shores of which are laved by 

 the warm waters of the gulf stream, is very 

 mild and very moist ; in some places ice and 

 snow, to any extent, are rare. In many places in 

 these regions, even north of latitude 58°, the 

 same parallel of latitude as Northern Labrador, 

 Fuschias, Myrtles, (Myrtus communis,) Hydran- 

 geas and sweet scented Verbenas, (Alo5'sia citri- 

 odora.) and many other tender things stand the 

 winter without an}- protection, and thrive welL 

 I have seen the Myrtle in flower at Christmas, 

 and the Arbutus, ( Arbutus L'nedo,) loaded with its 

 exquisitely beautiful and tempting berries at 

 the same time. 



I have good remembrance of one Hydrangea, 

 then some thirty years old, which had five hun- 

 dred and twenty-five flowers on it at one time. 

 This Hydrangea was protected in winter by a 

 cordon of Silver spruce boughs stuck in the- 

 ground. 



The climate of the Eastern coast is in general 



