JULY 85 



they scarcely sent up a single fresh shoot, when in 

 other years the shoots of the year would have reached 

 ten feet or more. 1 



The larger trees, such as oaks, elms, ashes, etc., 

 are in wonderful luxuriance, and the drought seems 

 to have no effect upon them; but I fancy this is 

 owing not so much to their liking the long bright 

 sunshine, as to their having laid up last year a large 

 supply of strength, which has enabled them to enjoy 

 the sunshine without injury. The catalpa has flowered 

 much before its usual time, for I have known years 

 in which there was not even a leaf on the catalpa in 

 the first week of July. It comes from North America, 

 and I believe the name is the native Indian name of 

 the tree ; and the koelreuteria, which comes from China 

 and Japan, is equally hardy, and in July is covered 

 with the curious bunches of flowers. 



On the whole, after reckoning up all the losses and 

 disappointments, I do not think that the gardener 

 has much cause to complain of a long drought. There 

 will be losses, of course, and so, perhaps, many gaps 

 in the garden, but these we must expect every year 

 from many causes, and the drought may teach us 

 some good lessons. It teaches us very forcibly how 



1 It is now found that the requisites for the successful growth of 

 bamboos are abundance of manure and abundance of moisture. 



