August 4, 1888.] 



THE GABDENEBS' CHBONICLE. 



123 



riddled the leaves of vegetables, and stripped trees 

 of fruit and foliage to such an extent that they will 

 not fully recover this season. Since then we have 

 had frequent severe frosts, which have hurt and 

 retarded growth to a considerable extent. •/. Smart, 

 Barhills, Lockerbie. 



East Lothian.— The blossom on the fruit trees 

 beinj a full fortnight late this year, made us think 

 it wotld be safe from late frosts ; but the cold north 

 and east winds all through June, with 6° of frost 

 once or twice, was more than they tould stand. A 

 great quantity of Apples and Pears fell off quite 

 black after they were a good size. The leaves of our 

 Apple trees are also very much hurt with the grub. 

 Strawberries and small fruits are plentiful, if we 

 only had good weather to ripen them ; but July 

 came in with the thermometer at freezing point, 

 and, with the exception of one or two days last week, 

 quite as unseasonable as June was. I question very 

 much if some of the Apples and Pears, except on 

 walls, will come to maturity unless we get a very fine 

 autumn. L. Dow, Xewbyth Gardens, Prcstonkirk. 



Forfar. — Apples are good on young trees — very 

 few on old. Pears much better than last year, and all 

 small fruits most abundant. Strawberries are late, 

 but it has rained continuously since Sunday morn- 

 ing, and that will carry them over the swelling 

 process. It has been a dry cold season, and although 

 there has often been brilliant sunshine during the 

 day, sharp frosts have followed at night, 34° being 

 registered on June 30, and the temperature was 

 often as low during the month. Since then it has 

 risen considerably. J. Mitchell, Panmure Gardens, 

 Carnoustie. 



Kinross. — We have not had so late a season since 

 1879. Strawberries showed well, but are not setting. 

 We have a full crop of Currants. Gooseberries are 

 under average, but of fine size. Apples and Plums 

 are very scarce. Everything is so late that I cannot 

 honestly form any opinion as to the quality. J. 

 Fortune, Blair Ad-am. 



Mid Lothian. — The spring was cold and wet, and 

 retarded the flowering period considerably, but since 

 the end of March we have had no frost to injure any 

 fruit blossom. The wood and buds were thoroughly 

 ripened the previous autumn. The blossom opened 

 in great vigour and profusion on most trees, and 

 generally set well, except when cold and damp pre- 

 vailed during the day. This to a great extent was 

 the cause of the failure of Apples to set early in May, 

 the varieties then in full flower, including such pro- 

 lific sorts as Keswick Codlin, Duchess of Olden- 

 burg, Warner's King, Manx Codlin, Cellini, Dutch 

 Mignonne, &c, being almost fruitless, while those in 

 full flower in the previous week set in great abund- 

 ance, including many varieties that are by no means 

 regular bearers in this district. The finest crops are 

 borne by Ecklinville, Gravenstein, Tower of Glamis, 

 Kerry Pippin, King of the Pippins, Oslin, Cambus- 

 nethan, Margil, Irish Peach, Yellow Ingestre, Golden 

 Spire, Scarlet Nonpareil, Court of Wick, Golden 

 Pippin, Sturmer Pippin, Early Strawberry, Melrose, 

 Round Winter Nonsuch, Ringer, Loddington, Pott's 

 Seedling, East Lothian Seedling, Beauty of Moray, 

 Dutch Codlin, Frogmore Prolific, Cox's Pomona, 

 and many other less known varieties. The follow- 

 ing useful varieties are bearing good average crops : 

 — Blenheim Pippin, Hawthornden, Stirling Castle, 

 Golden Knob, Wellington, Lord Suffield, Cox's Orange 

 Pippin, Worcester Pearmain, Alfriston, Thorle Pip- 

 pin, Duke of Devonshire, New Hawthornden, Rib- 

 ston Pippin, Improved Keswick Codlin, Dr. Harvey, 

 Lane's Prince Albert, Yorkshire Greening, Lord 

 Derby, Beauty of Kent, Shepherd's Fame, Maltster, 

 Domino, Lord Grosvenor, Mere de Menage, York- 

 shire Beauty, Early Harvest, Braddick's Nonpareil, 

 Grenadier, Devonshire Quarrenden, Galloway Pip- 

 pin, and others of more or less merit. All are grown 

 in the open as bushes and standards ; and, gene- 

 rally speaking, the finest crops are on standards. 

 Pears are, taken as a whole, the finest crop we have 

 had for many years. The best varieties on walls 

 are : — Marie Louise, Beurre d'Areiuberg, Beurre Diel, 

 Easter BeurrS, Hacon's Incomparable, Louise Bonne 



of Jersey, Glou Mor^eau, Passe Colmar, Thompson's, 

 Williams' Bon Chretien, Winter Nelis, Doyenne du 

 Cornice, Beurre Bosc, Beurre d'Amanlis, and Red 

 Doyenne. The following are bearing fine crops on 

 standard trees: — Beurre d'Amanlis, Hacon's Incom- 

 parable, Catillac, Napoleon, Louise Bonne of Jersey, 

 Williams'^Bon Chretien, Colmar d'Ete, Hessle, Marie 

 Louise, Flemish Beauty, Jargonelle, Doyenne d'Ete, 

 Croft Castle, Swan's Egg, Josephine de Malines, Easter 

 Beurre, and many others of more or less repute ; 

 there being but few fruitless varieties this season that 

 are worth growing for any purpose. The same re- 

 marks apply to Plums and Cherries. They are a fine 

 all-round crop. The best standard Plums are Vic- 

 toria, Pond's Seedling, Jefferson, Sultan, Rivers' 

 Early Prolific, and Mitchelson's ; the best on walls 

 are Transparent Gage, Kirke's, Coe's Golden Drop, 

 Jefferson, Reine Claude de Bavay, and Victoria. 

 Damsons are also a full average crop, the common, 

 Prune and Farleigh varieties all bearing equally 

 well. The best crops of Cherries are on May Duke, 

 Black Tartarian, Frogmore, Early Bigarreau, Gover- 

 nor Wood, Elton, Bigarreau Napoleon, and Morello, 

 all on walls ; and on bushes and standards, May 

 Duke, Archduke, Black Tartarian, Nouvelle Royale, 

 Belle d'Orleans, Empress Eugenie, and Morello, are 

 bearing fine crops. The frost in March thinned the 

 Apricot blossom, but there is still an average crop on 

 the trees, and the fruit is remarkably clean and fine. 

 Peaches and Nectarines, on walls, have not been so 

 fine for at least a decade, and with a fine autumn 

 they will supply a large quantity of useful fruit. 

 Most varieties are bearing heavily, and scarcely any 

 old or new variety is without a crop. Strawberries 

 suffered from the cold and dry hard wind in June, 

 but the rain has greatly improved them lately, and 

 they are now fully an average crop, especially our best 

 varieties on this light soil, Garibaldi, as Vicomtesse 

 Hericart de Thury is called in this district, and 

 James Veitch. Among the newer varieties, Water- 

 loo promises to be a good late fruit. All kinds of 

 Currants are bearing abundantly, and so are Goose- 

 berries and Raspberries, and have suffered very little 

 from insects this season. At present the fruit 

 season is nearly a fortnight late, but all the different 

 kinds of fruit — Apples, Pears, Plums, Cherries, 

 Peaches, Nectarines, &c. — are large and fine, clear in 

 the skin, and from the beginning remarkably high- 

 coloured. With a moderately good autumn to bring 

 them to perfection, the crop promises to be the best 

 we have had for many years. M. Dunn, Dalkeith. 



ENGLAND.— NORTHERN COUNTIES. 



Northumberland. — Apricots usually do well here, 

 seldom fail to bring a crop, and are this year splen- 

 did. In spring they were protected with double 

 fishing-net. Plums are generally scarce, but some 

 young Victoria trees on a wall are splendid. Mo- 

 rello Cherries are an average crop, but May Duke, 

 which does well here generally, has a light crop. 

 Peaches are a fine crop. Apples are scarce, not- 

 withstanding that the trees bloomed very well. Of 

 Pears few kinds have a medium crop, but mostly the 

 trees have only a sprinkling of fruits. Strawberries 

 are verv late ; Viscomtesse II. de Thury is certainly 

 the greatest cropper, and one of the best varieties to 

 depend on here. G. Harris, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick. 



Up to the middle of July the prospects of a 



good crop of fruit looked very gloomy indeed. 

 Apples, Pears, and Plums are a thin crop ; some of 

 the varieties of Strawberries are seriously infested 

 with mildew. Our best Apples are from trees 

 grafted on the Paradise stock, which suits our heavy 

 soil. D. Inglis, Howick Hall, Lesbury. 



Durham. — The crops of fruit were never later in 

 our county. Strawberries are quite three weeks later 

 than usu: I, and only a poor crop ; the foliage has much 

 overgrown the fruit, and the daily rains are doing 

 much mischief to them. Morello Cherries are fine 

 on pyramids, far outstripping those on walls in 

 quantity and quality. Apples are thin and back- 

 ward, and the same may be said of Pears. Small 

 fruits are good. J. Hunter, Lambton Gardens, Fence 

 Houses. 



Yorkshire. — The fruit crop in this district is 

 much under average, but clean and good. Peaches 

 and Nectarines, very heavy crop ; trees free from 

 red-spider, which is not often the case in this 

 district. Apples and Pears are partial ; some trees 

 of the following kinds are carrying heavy crops: — 

 Apples— Keswick Codlin, Lord Suffield, Alfriston, 

 Northern Greening, Dumelow's Seedling, Tower of 

 Glamis, Dutch Mignonne, Red Astrachan, Ecklin- 

 ville Seedling or Pippin, Cellini, Mere de Menage, 

 Stackpool's, a kitchen Apple worthy of more exten- 

 sive cultivation, will keep two years and retain a 

 brisk flavour; Duke of Devonshire, Devonshire 

 Quarrenden, Blenheim Pippin, Annie Elizabeth. 

 Pears, — Williams' Bon Chretien, Beurre Diel, Sou- 

 venir du Congres, Pitmaston Duchesse, Glou Mor- 

 ceau, Uvedale's St. Germain, Josephine de Malines, 

 Beurre d'Amanlis, Styrian, and White Doyenne. 

 W. Chuck, Brodsworlh Hall, Doncaster. 



As a whole, the fruit crop is bad in the north 



of Yorkshire. Apricots are good in many places, 

 but in others there is a doubt whether they can 

 ever ripen this season, as everything is quite three 

 weeks behind the usual time. Apricots should be 

 ripe early in August, or they never ripen at all in 

 this neighbourhood, the nights get so long and cold. 

 Apples are bad generally ; although the bloom was 

 extra good, the setting was bad ; probably the cold, 

 dull weather prevented the pollen from ripening. 

 The same thing happened to Strawberries ; whole 

 bunches of bloom are quite blind. Plums are a 

 partial crop ; in some places trees are carrying a 

 good crop, while others are without any. Pears 

 are rather better than Apples in promise, epecially 

 the early varieties, but many of those suffered 

 terribly by a hailstorm on June 7 ; the fruit was so 

 battered that it cannot grow out of it ; at the same 

 time Gooseberries were knocked off in considerable 

 quantities; in some cases the crop was spoiled. 

 Peaches on a warm wall are good, and generally do 

 well if the season is at all favourable. William Culver- 

 well, Thorpe Perrow, Bedafe. 



Lancashire. — Fruit crops in this district are very 

 poor — the worst for many years ; and owing to the 

 cold and ungenial weather, the trees have not made 

 good growth, fly and maggot being unusually 

 numerous. Strawberries, which have hitherto 

 always cropped well, are nearly a failure. The best 

 this season are Viscomtesse H. de Thury and James 

 Veitch. None ripe yet. Huntroyd Park, Burnley. 



All fruits except the Strawberry are in good 



form, but late. Some Apple-trees in this garden are 

 heavily cropped whilst others have scarcely any 

 fruit. Pears are a more even crop, and odd trees 

 that were heavily laden last year are also so this 

 season; but from what I can learn, the crop 

 generally of this fruit and of Apples is very thin. 

 We had plenty of blossom on most of the trees, and 

 all went well until the fruit was actually setting ; 

 then came the caterpillars to devour flowers, leaves, 

 and setting fruit. The birds, which were so atten- 

 tive to fruit-tree buds not many weeks earlier, 

 sought not a maggot as far as I could see, excepting 

 the wagtail and a starling or two that build in the 

 disused flue and garden wall. Morello Cherries are 

 a heavy crop, so are bush fruits — where the birds did 

 not interfere with the buds — except Black Currants, 

 which are a failure. Strawberries, perhaps, were 

 never worse. Numerous young or yearling plants, 

 like older ones, were without a flower. Loxford 

 Hall Seedling is better than any other variety. W. 

 P. Roberts, Cuerdon Hall, Preston. 



EASTERN COUNTIES. 



Lincolnshire. — Two circumstances unfavourably 

 affected the fruit trees prior to and at the period of 

 blooming — prolonged drought and protracted cold. 

 The blossom generally was weak and colourless, and 

 retarded action and debility gave insects the oppor- 

 tunity of working mischief, and their attacks were 

 made in multitude, Apple trees suffering seriously, 

 and the crop is a complete failure. Although many 

 Pear trees are unfruitful, there are some exceptions, 

 but the general result is unsatisfactory. Cherries 



