and of Rural Improvement generally, during 1839. 707 



Show, weighed upwards of half a stone ; a Swedish turnip nearly 

 as much, and a drumhead cabbage three stone and a half. (See 

 Farmer's Magazine, Nov. 1839, p. 375.) In general, where the 

 turnips have been sown on raised drills, they have attained a large 

 size ; but where they have been sown on a flat surface, whether in 

 rows or broadcast, the constant saturation of the soil with water 

 has prevented the roots from swelling. Potatoes on ordinary 

 soils are not only much later than usual, but there is an excess of 

 haulm and foliage, which, not having the influence of sufficient 

 light and heat, has failed in producing a proportionate quantity of 

 tuber. In dry soils, however, the crop is considered to be above 

 an average. The crop of peas and beans has been abundant, 

 both in the garden and the field ; but the crops of many seeds 

 which require to be ripened, such as the bread corns, clovers, 

 annual flowers, &c, are deficient in quality, and, in consequence, 

 several kinds of garden seeds will probably be scarce and dear 

 in the ensuing season. 



Trees and Shrubs have perhaps benefited more from the moist- 

 ness of the season than any other description of plants ; because 

 they have not only made longer and stronger shoots than usual, 

 but the mildness of the autumn, and the prolongation of that 

 season into winter, has allowed these shoots time to ripen. In 

 the case of young trees in nurseries or newly made plantations, 

 the annual growth depends jointly on the soil and the weather, 

 especially on the moisture; but in full-grown trees the annual 

 shoots of one year, as compared with another, and consequently 

 the annual increase of wood, depends almost entirely on the 

 quantity of rain which falls during the summer. This has been 

 proved by Mr. Gorrie, in an article which appeared in our pre- 

 ceding volume (p. 132.). In the year 1819, 16 in. of rain fell 

 from April to October, inclusive; and the thickness of the an- 

 nual layer of wood on a larch, for that year, was 5 in. In 1 826, 

 the quantity of rain which fell during the same period was only 

 7 in. ; and the thickness of the layer of wood for that year was 

 but 2 in. In general, we think it may be inferred from this 

 and similar experiments, that, other circumstances being the 

 same, the annual increase of a tree will be as the quantity of rain 

 that falls during the summer months ; and that timber trees, 

 instead of being injured by such an excess of rain as proves 

 hurtful to fruit trees, flowers, culinary vegetables, and agricul- 

 tural crops, are benefited by it. 



History, Description, and Critical Remarks. — We know of 

 no mode better adapted for improving the taste, either of the 

 young gardener, or of his employer, than that of comparing 

 one garden with another, and searching for reasons for the differ- 

 ences between them. It is a great mistake to suppose that taste 

 is solely a matter of the fancy, whim, or caprice of the indi- 



