576 Summary Vieiv of the Progress of Gardening. 



injured the blossoms of fruit trees. May was jj^enial; but in 

 June and July the tempei'ature fell considerably below the 

 average ; and vegetation, so far as regards the growth of fruits, 

 lingered much in these months. The increase of foliage was, 

 however, favoured by the abundance of rain ; as was, also, the 

 growth of kitchen-garden productions. August was still rather 

 wet, but maintained a medium temperature. September was 

 warmer than usual; and, during the first three weeks, a prin- 

 cipal portion of the grain crops was secured, but in the end of 

 the month a large quantity of rain fell. Wet weather was the 

 almost constant characteristic of October, there being only four 

 wholly dry days throughout the month, with an amount of rain 

 equal to double the average. Most soils, both in the garden 

 and in the field, were rendered unfit for working ; and it was 

 not before the end of the first week in November, that such 

 operations as required the stirring of the soil could be ad- 

 vantageously proceeded with. In this autumn there has hitherto 

 been very little frost; for, with a few unimportant exceptions, 

 its only occurrence was on the night of the 21st of October. It 

 was then sufficiently severe to destroy the beauty of the dahlias, 

 and arrest the vegetation of similarly tender exotics. Vines on 

 walls have not ripened their fruit; perhaps in no season has it 

 attained a less degree of maturity. They were excited early 

 enough, and they came into leaf sooner than in many seasons in 

 which they have ripened tolerably well. The defect has doubt- 

 less been occasioned by the falling off in the temperature during 

 the months of June and July ; for, at the end of that period, the 

 fruit was not sufficiently advanced to be perfected by the most 

 favourable state of the weather that ever occurs in this climate 

 after the time above mentioned. The deficiency of heat in the 

 two months alluded to amounted to only 3° or 4° of mean tem- 

 perature; yet the effects have been such, that the circumstance 

 may be usefully borne in mind by those who have artificial heat 

 at command, in order that they may avoid the consequences 

 resulting from a temperature too low, and not progressively 

 increasing." — N. Nov. 15. 



Histori/ and Statistics. — Some notices of gardens in the 

 neighbourhood of Paris, and of a few in England, and some 

 notes on the progress of gardening in the United States, com- 

 prise the principal part of the information belonging to this 

 department of the subject, as far as respects this Magazine ; but 

 in the Garde?ier's Gazette and the Gardener^ s Chronicle will be 

 found a number of notices of gardens, public and private, in 

 different parts of the country. Such notices are not only valu- 

 able as records of the state of gardening at the time, but 

 interesting and instructive as containing hints for imitation, or 

 examples to be avoided, or as affording stimuli to exertion. 



