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occurred with the large grasses, the bamboos, of which I grow 
several species. They made no growth at all during the hot weather, 
but as soon as the drought was over they sent up vigorous shoots, 
but too late to reach their full growth. I should not have been 
surprised if some of them had flowered, but I am glad to say they 
did not ; for when a bamboo flowers, it dies. 
So much then for the bad side of the record ; now for the other 
side. Surely it was a summer of prolonged delight, it was some- 
thing to record and remember that for six months we could be in 
our gardens under a cloudless sky almost every day and all day 
long, That is the general aspect of the summer ; but there are 
many particulars well worth noting ; and first we note the flowers. 
Flowers of all sorts, with some few exceptions, have been most 
abundant. The one great exception was with the lilies, which in my 
garden were dwarf and stunted, and very poor in flower. But after 
making that exception and a very few others, think only what 
the roses were ; they were in masses, and though the hot sun faded 
them sooner than usual, they seemed to come again and again. 
Not only was this the case with the hybrid perpetuals, but with the 
summer roses as well, and even with the spring roses, forthe Banksia 
roses, both white and yellow, were in good flower in October, so 
that I am sure I could pick roses from March till the frosts came 
at the end of October. But there were many flowers which I saw 
this year almost for the first time. I may mention these few, the 
Eulalia, zebrina which I never saw in flower before out of Devon- 
shire ; the Osmanthus ilicifolius, the Asparagus verticellatus and 
acutifolius, the grand Hibiscus grandiflorus from the Southern 
United States which in former years did not produce even its 
buds till October and never came to perfection, but this year 
produced both flowers and seeds; and the Japanese Bignonia or 
Tecoma grandiflora, which I never saw in flower out of doors till 
this year, though it has often formed buds. 
' From these few flowers I pass to the fruits, meaning by fruits 
all seed vessels. To me the most interesting was the Japanese 
B 
