HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 101 



Fruits and Flowers. 



The Committee are pleased to see this important branch of 

 husbandry receiving that attention it so richly deserves. It is 

 quite recently that any extraordinary exertion has been made 

 to introduce any other than the more common fruits in this vi- 

 cinity, and, at this time, most of the choice varieties, with the 

 exception of apples, are confined to the garden of the amateur, 

 and, of course, not to be obtained by the mass of the people. 



The past has, in many respects, been a season of very singu- 

 lar aspect. Opening, as it did, a fortnight earlier than usual, 

 many predicted an early frost ; but, after a sunmier of intense 

 heat, we arrived at the 3d October without a frost to injure any 

 plant, and now hear of fruit of many kinds blossoming and put- 

 ting forth their foliage anew. However pleasing this may ap- 

 pear to the eye of the young and inexperienced, the practical 

 gardener will view it as an effort of nature to produce beyond its 

 powers. 



In the flower department, the most careless observer cannot 

 fail to see an increase in the varieties. Almost every house has 

 its flower garden, and every window a favorite plant ; and this 

 it is, which gives to our shire town that pleasant aspect so 

 often brought to our minds in the periodicals of the day. 



Of the small fruits, there was the usual supply of currants 

 and gooseberries, although this latter fruit, so highly esteemed in 

 England, is but little cultivated in this section of our country ; 

 this may in part be attributed to its liability to blight and mil- 

 dew. The strawberry was very generally injured by the win- 

 ter's ice. Some of the Committee attribute the loss of plants to 

 a small black beetle, very shy and quiclc in its movements. 

 These insects devoured the leaves of the plant in early spring. 

 This was more particularly observed when the plants received 

 protection during the winter with manure. 



Plums set for a great crop ; but the usual indefatigable ene- 

 my, the curculio, having taken its share, the residue very gen- 

 erally decayed on the tree. The season has been very favorable 

 for the vine, having been both warm and moist, in the early 

 stages of the vine's growth. The Committee would recommend 



