196 A GARDEN KALENDAR 



relegated to the ocean, we learn from the " Kalendar " that 

 1757 was one of the wettest years in the memory of 

 man, so that nothing in gardens or a clayey soil grew 

 to any size, and nothing came to bear until five or six 

 weeks later than usual. In 1753 the winter was so 

 severe that most things in the gardens were destroyed ; 

 *755 was a terrible winter for earthquakes, inunda- 

 tions, and " vast " rains with thunder ; and in the year 

 following, a violent storm broke down and displaced 

 peas, beans, and flowers, tore the hedges, trees, and 

 shrubs, lashed, banged, and whipped all the green things 

 upon the earth. In after years he writes of furious 

 storms, which battered the vines, of a universal blight, 

 of many people frozen to death in 1762, and of the 

 summer of 1783 as being amazing and portentous, full 

 of horrible phenomena, alarming meteors and tremendous 

 thunderstorms, which affrighted and distressed the diffe- 

 rent countries of this kingdom with a smoky fog, 

 which prevailed for many weeks, unlike anything known 

 within the memory of man. 



Amor omnia vincit, and despite these obstacles, he 

 surrounded himself with things pleasant to the eye and 

 good for food, with those fair flowers which are still to 

 most of us the sweetest and dearest of all. In the middle 

 of February 1762 he writes: "The hepaticas, crocus, and 

 double daisies begin now to make a very agreeable ap- 

 pearance of the first promise of spring," and these were 

 followed, as with us now, by hyacinths, tulips, and daffodils, 

 until it was the "time of roses," and of all the summer 

 flowers. He grew all the vegetables and fruits which 

 are our favourites still ; and though in some cases im- 

 provements have been made, I should doubt whether 

 we have anything more delicious in peaches than the 

 Noblesse on his sunny wall, or anything jn pears more 

 resembling that which the rustic described as " a kind 

 o' pear that eats itsen," than his Beurr^s, Bergamots, 

 Swan-eggs, and Chaumontels. 



