340 



TEE GARDENER'S MONTHL Y 



yNovemhei\ 



perpetual roses' naturally suffer most in this or- 

 deal. 



The rose slug has a number of natural ene- 

 mies, such as ichneumon parasites, lady-bird 

 larvse, cannibal bugs, spiders, and the like, but 

 none of these are, as yet, equal to the task of 

 ■keeping it sufficiently in check. 



The most thoroughly effectual remedy is 

 whale-oil soap, in the proportions of one pound 

 of soap to eight gallons of water. This should 

 be applied at night, the plants being thoroughly 

 drenched. Three applications, at intervals of 

 two or three days will almost, if not quite ex- 

 terminate the pest. Powdered White Helle- 

 bore and the Persian Insect Powder dusted on 

 the plants while the dew is on them are also 

 excellent remedies. 



REMARKABLE DIFFERENCE IN THE CLI- 

 MATE OF PLACES SITUATED UNDER 

 THE SAME LATITUDE. 



BY F. W. POPPEY, ORANGE, N. J. 



The climate of the different parts of the 

 world has often been guessed at, even by men of 

 some scientific knowledge, according to the lati- 

 tude in which the country in question was situ- 

 ated, until Humboldt showed how independently 

 of latitude the isothermal lines run over the 

 globe. And even a knowledge of this is not 

 sufficient to form a correct and reliable idea of 

 the climate of a given locality, especially not 

 with respect to the life of plants growing or 

 possible of being grown there. The elevation 

 above the sea, the exposition, the hygrometrical 

 condition of the atmosphere, the oiigin and pre- 

 valence of winds at various seasons, bave all 

 something to do with the make-up of the sum 

 total of meteorological conditions constituting 

 the climate. The most remarkable and extreme 

 differences in this respect are observed not only 

 between places in Europe and America, but 

 even on one and the same continent. The climate 

 of Norway ,.for instance, is mild, though there are 

 large tracts covered with eternal snow and ice. 

 When in the interior near Dovre,in the neighbor- 

 hood of Schneehutteu, there is a temperature of 

 about 47° below zero ; there is at the sea coast 

 near Hardanger, 60° N. L., hardly 32°, and this is 

 perhaps the most northei-n point on which the 

 grape ripens in the open air, and conseciuently 

 many other less tender fruits, which far surpass 

 in flavor those of the same kind grown in 

 warmer or more southern countries. At Sao- 

 tensdale, under the 59th degree North Latitude, 

 one thousand feet above the sea, the tempera- 



ture rises in Summer, to 102° F. in the shade, 

 and during the Winter of '73-'74, there was 

 very little snow, in some places none. Here 

 the Summers are shorter than in more southern 

 latitudes, but the days are longer, and the sun 

 setting on the 21st of June, at 9.23 p. m., and 

 rising at 2.40 A. M. ; but without the Gulf stream 

 washing the shores, the sun would not have 

 that effect of bringing fruits and plants to per- 

 fection in a latitude where, in America, all 

 vegetation is at an end. Near Christiana, 

 every peasant or farmer has his orchard. Even 

 at Drondhjem, five degrees and a-half still 

 further north, Juglans regia ripens its fruits ; 

 besides pears, cherries, and of course apples, 

 etc., etc. Here they grow wheat, whilst in the 

 same latitude in America, near the Hudson Bay, 

 no human habitation is possible, and in Siberia 

 the ground thaws only to the depth of two feet. 

 Trees in full bloom at Rome, Italy, in Januar}^ 

 do not open their buds at Boston till May, and 

 those at Upsala, in Sweden, bloom together with 

 those at New York, the latitude of Naples. In 

 Scotland, where no fruit tree thrives, the Win- 

 ters are milder, than those in Hungary, and still 

 greater is the difference between the latter 

 country, where melons, grapes, and tobacco, 

 come to high perfection, and the Faroe Islands 

 where neither a beech nor an oak will grow. At 

 Ranenfiord, Norway, they raise rye, whilst under 

 the same latitude in America, ice and snow prevail 

 nearly all through the Summer. Texas is situa- 

 ted in the same latitude as northern Africa, 

 where the inhabitants almost subsist, with their 

 horses and camels, on bananas and dates, eaten 

 in the shades of Palms ; none of such trees will 

 grow in Texas, nor will the Blue Gum, Eucalyp- 

 tus globulus. At San Francisco, exactly in 

 the same latitude with Baltimore, no peach, na 

 grape, nor even a strawberry will ripen. The 

 only trees there possible in gardens and parks 

 would not survive a single season in or around 

 Baltimore, and whilst in the Eastern States, 

 Abies excelsa is planted as a protection against 

 the cold winds, it will not grow near San 

 Francisco, except being protected and sheltered 

 against the wind. In Baltimore, deciduous trees 

 form the main stock of the plantation in parks 

 and gardens, and evergreens are the exception ; 

 in San Francisco evergreens are the only trees 

 possible, to the total exclusion of deciduous ones. 

 In Mexico, all fruits and plants known, will 

 grow on the same line of latitude, but on differ- 

 ent elevations over the sea. 



