December 31, 1874. J 



JOURNiL OP HORTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



585 



treea flagging and crops exhausted. July, heat tropical, the 

 •20th being the hottest day known here, reaching 94' (corrected 

 thermometer) in the shade. The heat was followed by the 

 most extraordinary hailstorm ever noted. In twenty-five 

 minutes the ground was covered 3 inches deep with hailstones, 

 averaging three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and at the 

 fronts of buildings it was piled by cartloads. Here succeeded 

 a striking phenomenon. The earth was covered by a dense 

 cloud so thick that the surface could not be seen, whilst the 

 line of sight was brilliantly clear. The upper part of men and 

 things could be seen, the lower parts being wrapped in the 

 earth cloud. It was a weird emotional spectacle, but easily 

 accounted for. The bright sun above was almost overpower- 

 ing, and the evaporation from the earth consequently great, 

 and would have been invisible but for the hail-covered surface. 

 This cooled the lower stratum of air to the condensing point, 

 rendering the uprising moisture visible like one's breath on a 

 winter's day. Such fruit as the frost left was ruined by this 

 terrible storm. Peas and Beans were cut oiit the rows, flowers 

 annihilated, and broad-foliaged plants riddled as with shot. 

 It was a desolate scene ever to be remembered. The storm 

 track was not much more than a mile wide. August brought 

 showers, and the year was genial until November 11th, when 

 Dahlias were killed at last. Snow fell on the 1st of December, 

 and the ground remains covered to this time, the 21th. 



It will be seen that the summer portion of the year has 

 been most trying to the gardener. As an instance of the 

 drought in the growing mouths may be stated the fact that 

 from the end of March to the 22nd of Jaly only 3 24 inches of 

 rain fell here. Is not that unparalleled in Britain ? But what 

 of the crops ? First, the land is light, but there has been no 

 scarcity of vegetables, except a few days following the storm. 

 The character of the land was known. The district liability 

 to drought was remembered. The deliquescent nature of salt 

 was recognised. It was used freely. No ground was half dug. 

 It was either worked deeply or mulched (amongst fruits) with 

 manure, and left nndug. Peas and nearly all vegetables were 

 not only sown on trenched ground, but sown in trenches. 

 Each crop was deluged once a-week, and an hour or so after 

 the wet surface covered with half an inch of dust to arrest 

 evaporation. This, with all the mulching possible, sustained 

 us. It was feeling the nature of the soil, anticipating the 

 liabilities of drought, knowing the means of mitigating its 

 effects, and applying them — it would have been no use with- 

 out the application — this pulled us through. Thus closed the 

 year, the ninth and last, of my present sphere of labour — a 

 period in which even a whisper of complaint has not been 

 uttered, and which, in the words of an esteemed employer, 

 " closes an engagement in all respects so successful and satis- 

 factory." That is the end to work for, to be attained. It can 

 only be accomplished by, as it were, a combination of effort. 

 There must be a consideration of weather characteristics, of 

 site, of soil. There must be reading, writing, noting, thinking, 

 working, and above all, the special and particular requirements 

 of an employer must ever be kept in mind. That is the key- 

 note. Get what pleases him. Never mind what others have 

 or think. The right of an employer and the duties of an 

 employe are interbound. We must acknowledge that right, 

 and admit the duty. It is the only road to confidence and 

 success. It must be remembered that none of the conditions 

 must stand alone. Beading is no use without thinking, think- 

 ing without noting, noting without working, and working itself 

 will never hit the mark unless steadily directed to a given and 

 specially required end. Combine the conditions, and you com- 

 mand success. This is a lesson which many years have taught 

 to be practical, and the passing one proved as trustworthy and 

 recommendable. — .J. Weight. 



able fruit that I am about to write, but merely to narrate what 

 appears to me to be a very remarkable circumstance in connec- 

 tion with it, which is as follows. Some twenty or more yeara 

 since a house here was planted with the variety of Grape known 

 as the West's St. Peters, and sime six or seven years afterwards 

 several of these Vines were g' if ted with the Black Alicante 

 and the Lady Dowue's variei es ; ond some time after this 



THE GOLDEN CHAMPION GRAPE. 



This variety of the Grape Vine caused something like dis- 

 appointment soon after its introduction, but it is nevertheless 

 a very extraordinary fruit ; and its fine appearance, great size 

 of berry, as well as of bunch, and its by no means inferior 

 quality when well grown, will long insure its admittance into 

 most collections. The fruit, however, will not keep well for 

 any coneiderable time after it has become ripe ; consequently 

 it is perhaps unadvisable to associate it with such late-keep- 

 ing varieties as the Alicante and the Lady Downe's, (tc. Its 

 great drawback, however, is its unfortunate propensity to be- 

 come spotted as soon or even before it becomes quite ripe. 

 It is not, however, of the merits, or demerits of this remark- 



Fig. 164. 



E. Trebbiano. 



F. Banch of Golden CbampioD. 



u. 'ibe places wbere the grafts were 

 inserted. 



A. West's St. Peter's. 

 3. Black A-licftnte. 

 c. Mrs. Place's Black Mascat. 

 D. Golden Cbampion rod which was 

 removed. 



one Vine was regrafted with three distinct varieties — viz., 

 Trebbiano, Golden Champion, and Mrs. Pince, each variety 

 forming distinct rods which were annually pruned according 

 to the spurring system, and for several years each rod con- 

 tinued to produce its respective kind of fruit. 



Last January, however, when the Vines were pruned on 

 account of the fruit of the Golden Champion variety not keep- 



