256 SPKING MEETIN-G. 



of "The Garden," who had seen gardening in all parts of England 

 and Southern Europe, told him, that, if he was going to start 

 gardening again, he should prefer to all other places one of the 

 valleys running down to Ealmouth, which was a very high tribute 

 to the climate of the south coast of Cornwall. As one looked over 

 the field of gardening one saw that there were certain opportunities 

 and also certain drawbacks to the position one occupied in living 

 in this county. The principal drawback to gardening in the 

 West was the wind, practically the only drawback. But they 

 had the opportunity of growing, and did grow in some measure, 

 but not to the extent they should do, a tree which grew faster 

 than other trees in this country, and reached maturity in the life 

 of any man who reached three-score years and ten, and which 

 would practically stand any wind. He referred to the pinus 

 insignis, which would in itself completely alter the climate of a 

 garden if planted judiciously in the early days of making up a 

 garden. He might be preaching to many who were already con- 

 verted, but the more he saw of gardening the more he saTs^ that 

 they did not take advantage of that tree, particularly in stopping 

 their common eneni}^, the wind. In the Eastern Counties the wind, 

 which was far worse thaa in Cornwall, was seriously fought by 

 the aid of the Scotch fir. By the use of the pinis insignis the 

 climate in their Cornish gardens might be made even milder and 

 more favourable to the cultivation of plants than it now was. 

 One point which struck him most was their possibilities in climate. 

 If they examined the climate more closely than they did in the 

 ordinary way of looking at it, and grumbling because there was 

 not enough of this or too much of that, they would find that they 

 had a more even climate than any other part of England. There 

 were fewer extremes, and he had always claimed that if the 

 gardens were properly and judiciously planted with the right 

 plants, in Cornwall the spring would begin in the middle of 

 December. They could have good flowers out of doors, supposing 

 they had not such extreme winters as those of 1894 and 1895, 

 and in gardens with reasonable shelter, from the middle of 

 December until the middle of May, and when they came to the 

 middle of May the garden would take care of itself. He found 

 that point presented to him, that they had the possibility of 

 making a very prolonged spring if they cultivated the right class 



