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there were 3°4 inches of rain much needed, and on the two last days 
of the month there were frosts, and the glory of the garden was 
at an end for the year. The outcome of the year was this; 
nearly seven months of bright sunshiny weather with very slight 
intervals of rain; a warm but not an oppressive summer, with 
very little dew at night and almost no thunderstorms ; and bright 
blue skies and clear atmosphere throughout. The only summer 
with which we can at all compare it was the summer of the Jubilee 
year, but that was in many respects very different. In that year 
there were three beautiful months of true summer, with very little 
rain; but it did not begin till the middle of June, and was 
preceded by a dull and wet spring ; and that entirely altered the 
conditions, and so produced very different effects in the garden. 
The effects of the long summer in the gardens this year were 
very remarkable ; and in speaking of them | shall confine myself 
as much as possible to my own garden; and so speaking from 
personal observations shall be able to speak with more certainty. 
The results were not altogether good, and it will be better to 
clear away first the bad side of the account. It has been a most 
disastrous year to all newly-planted things, and especially to 
newly-planted trees and shrubs. Many of them promised well 
for a time, but they could not stand the prolonged drought before 
they had got a good grip of the ground to enable them to draw their 
necessary supplies from the soil. For many plants, but especially 
for newly-planted ones, no amount of watering will supply what 
is wanted, and that is a moist atmosphere especially atnight. It 
was also a very disastrous year to plants which had been long 
established, but had been weakened by previous bad seasons, and 
were struggling back into strong life. For you will remember 
that the two previous winters had been very severe ; and when 
you think of the hard frosts of December and January last, it is 
easy to understand that the constitutions of many plants had 
been sorely tried. Still many were not killed, and would have 
been able to make a successful struggle for life if there had been 
