THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



127 



is almost as bad as Mr. Fish described recently in 

 the Gardeners' Chronicle. Pears are moderate in 

 quantity, and clean and promising. Peaches with us 

 are a failure, while at Normanhurst and Battle 

 Abbey, neighbouring gardens, they are abundant ; at 

 those two places Peaches are most successfully cul- 

 tivated. Strawberries here are excellent, especially 

 Vicomtesse H. de Thury and Burghley President. 

 Bush fruits are plentiful. We are very free from fly, 

 and were it not for the failure of the Apple crop we 

 should have no cause to complain. JF. 12. Holmes, 

 Ashburnham Place, Battle. 



Apples are under average ; after a great deal 



of blossom on some sorts scarcely a fruit is to be 

 seen ; others, again, such as Keswick Codlin, Lord 

 Snlfield, Adam's Pearmain, Lady Ilenniker, Flower 

 of Kent, and Dr. Hogg, have very fair crops. Pears 

 are a fair average crop, and the fruit is very clean ; 

 trees are blighted. Plums scarce, but we have an 

 average crop of Victoria, Pond's Seedling, Orleans, 

 Heine Claude de Bavay, and Kirke's Blue. Cherries 

 a good crop all round the district. Strawberries 

 are abundant, and very fine, as also are all kinds 

 of small fruits in the district. S. Ford, Leonarddee, 

 Horsham. 



Hants. — The worst season I have ever known. 

 The foliage of Apple trees, and in some cases the 

 young wood, have been quite eaten up by caterpillars. 

 Many Pear trees have shared the same fate, and all 

 have suffered more or less. The singular part of the 

 affair is, that other fruits have escaped with but- 

 little injury, the caterpillars preferring the leaves of 

 the Oak, and scores of the trees in the park are at 

 the present time as leafless as at Christmas. Apri- 

 cots were not injured by the caterpillars, the failure 

 of this crop being, I think, attributable to the 

 drought of last summer, as the buds dropped as soon 

 as the swelling stage was reached. I am confirmed 

 in this opinion by the fact that two or three trees 

 that were convenient to the water, and therefore not 

 good supplies, are fruiting moderately well. Alto- 

 gether this is the worst fruit season that has ever 

 been known in this part of the country. W. Wild- 

 smith, Hcckfield Place Gardens, Winchfield. 



Hampshire. — Strawberries have been a heavy loss 

 to growers in the neighbourhood generally, as many 

 as 20 tons less being sent away from one station in 

 a single day than in some years, owing to continued 

 rains, the fruit rotting on the ground. Apples did 

 not flower so freely as last year. Long-continued 

 cold weather prevented a free set. Some few sorts, 

 such as Mere de MiSnage, King of Pippins, Warner's 

 King, Golden Pippin, and Irish Teach, have heavy 

 crops, others almost nil. Very few varieties of 

 Pears have any — Marie Louise, Jargonelle, Beurre 

 Diel, and Pitmaston Duchess, on walls, are the only 

 ones with a good sprinkling of fruit. Pyramids of 

 Beurre Diel, Doyenne du Cornice, Williams' Bon 

 Chretien, and Louise Bonne of Jersey, have heavy 

 crops. Bush fruits are exceptionally heavy, and of 

 good quality, Gooseberries and Currants in parti- 

 cular. E. Molyneux, Swanmere Pari, Bishop's 

 Waltham. 



Berks. — Apple trees were very much eaten up, 

 and the few old trees that did blossom were eaten up 

 by caterpillars. Young trees carry a good crop. 

 Strawberries destroyed by incessant rains. Currants 

 going mouldy. Gooseberries are the heaviest crop 

 within my recollection. X. Sinclair, Easthampstead 

 Park, Wokingham. 



Peachesshowedabundance of flower, butowing 



to east winds and sunless weather, had no chance to 

 set. Of Apples a great many sortsdid not show any 

 bloom ; this I put down to the dry season of 1887. 

 Blenheim Orange, Lord Suffield, Alfriston, Beauty 

 of Hants, and King Pippin, are about the best we 

 have. We have suffered considerably from the 

 caterpillar both on fruit and forest trees. J. H. Rose, 

 Lockinge Gardens, Wantage. 



Our fruit trees on the whole are looking very 



well, what we now want is sunshine and warmth 

 after comfortless and boisterous winds, and a tempera- 

 ture sometimes down to 38° at night ; such continued 

 low temperature, I should say, is without precedent. 



This is all against the fruit crops. Raspberries are 

 very good and abundant. From what I have seen I 

 should say fruit crops in this locality are a good 

 average. T. Jones, Frogmore, Windsor, 



The fruit crops in this neighbourhood vary 



very much. Here very good crops all round, but our 

 best crops are Peaches and Nectarines, Plums, 

 Apples, and Pears. All small fruits are good crops ; 

 Strawberries very fine, but much spoilt with the 

 heavy rains. In some gardens a short distance from 

 here the Apple crop is a complete failure. J. Tegg, 

 Bearwood, Wokingham. 



Wilts. — The prospect of an all-round good year 

 of hard}- fruit was very promising before the respective 

 kinds burst into flower, but the long spell of cold 

 easterly winds and leaden sky, accompanied by frosts 

 at night, which prevailed during the time the trees 

 were in flower, caused a large percentage of the 

 blossoms not to set, not so much by reason of the 

 frosts — as all the choice kinds were covered with 

 canvas blinds at night — as on account of the uni- 

 formly low temperature which we had all the time 

 the flowers were open. However, taking all the 

 crops together, we have not much cause for complaint. 

 The following are bearing good average crops : — 

 Peaches : Barrington, Alexandra. Noblesse, Chan- 

 cellor, Sea Eagle, Dr. Hogg, Bellegarde, Violette 

 Hutive. Nectarines : Pine-apple, Lord Napier, 

 Elruge, and Balgowan. Plums: Green Gage, Early 

 Favourite, very heavy crop; Early Prolific, heavy 

 crop; Victoria, Pond's Seedling, Kirke's, Mitchelson's, 

 Orleans, heavy crop ; Guthrie's Apricot, Reine 

 Claude de Bavay, Coe's Golden Drop, Royal Hative, 

 Mirabelle Jaune, a small round golden Plum ; and 

 Prince Engelbert. Pears : Marie Louise, Passe 

 Colmar, heavy crop; Josephine de Mulines. Williams' 

 Bon Chretien, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Easter Beurre, 

 Althorp Crassane. Jargonelle, Dunmore, Beurre 

 Grise, Uvedale'sSt. Germain, and Catillac. Cherries: 

 May Duke, Black Tartarian, Bigarreau, Cleveland, 

 Imperatrice Eugenie, and Morellos, very heavy crop6 

 of large clean fruits. The Apple crop is poor. 

 H. W. Ward, Longford Castle, Salislmry. 



SOUTH-WESTERN COUNTIES. 



Somerset. — In this district trees much exposed 

 are carrying very poor crops of fruit, this being 

 partly due to cold easterly winds, and partly to a 

 great plague of insect pests. Sheltered trees are 

 much healthier, and the crops are heavy, clean, and, 

 with the exception of Apples, generally well formed. 

 Everything is very late. Bush or small fruits are so 

 heavily laden as to quite break down the branches. 

 The first Strawberries rotted on the ground, but 

 later fruits were of good size and fairly good in 

 quality. What is really wanted is plenty of sun- 

 shine. W. Lhjidden, Marston House. 



Devon'. — Many of the fruit trees on walls, espe- 

 cially Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots, are not so 

 good as usual, owing no doubt to the effects of spring 

 drought. Many were dry at the root during the flower- 

 ing period ; hence the fruit failed to set. Aphis has 

 been very troublesome this season, and this pest got 

 over, mildew set in, Peaches and Nectarines re- 

 quiring dustings of sulphur occasionally. Plums on 

 walls are excellent, so also are Pears and Morello 

 Cherries. Generally the orchards have poor crops 

 of Apples, but here all are pyramids, and we have 

 very good crops. Bush fruits are fine and excellent, 

 Strawberies were very good indeed. Where allowed 

 to grow together in beds the fruit rotted much 

 during the wet weather, not so where kept grown 

 singly. D. C. Powell, Powderham. 



Apples set badly and late, and some sorts 



better than others, notably Quarrenden, Cellini, 

 Emperor Alexander, Dumelow's Seedling, and a few 

 others which have good crops. Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines are poor hereabout, and are going out of cul- 

 tivation out-of-doors ; leaves were very much 

 blistered, and the fruits became spotted and fell 

 prematurely. Pear trees are healthy and fair crops 

 on the usually free-setting kinds ; many trees no 

 fruit whatever on. I never saw Strawberries so fine 

 as this year, or the crop heavier. Very few spoilt 



with rain. Gooseberries and Currants are also fine, 

 and good crops. G. Baker, Mcmbland, Plympton. 



Cornwall. — Owing to spring frosts and a disastrous 

 hailstorm on June 13, the fruit crops in this 

 neighbourhood are anything but good. With the 

 exception of small fruits and Cherries, it is much 

 under the average. Apples and Pears were so 

 abundant last season that the trees were too much 

 reduced to show bloom. The Pears and Plums that 

 did blossom well were sadly cut with frost. The 

 week's summer weather we enjoyed at the end of 

 May was at the exact time to set the Nuts, conse- 

 quently we have a fair crop, and the Beech boughs 

 are bending beneath their weight C. Lee, Boconnoc, 

 Lostwithiel. 



WALES. 



DExniiiHsiiiRE. — The growth of all trees has been 

 sparingly made ; doubtless we shall have a stronger 

 autumn growth on account of the late heavy rains. 

 Most fruit trees bloomed profusely. Apples, Apri- 

 cots, Cherries, and Quinces set well. Pears, Peaches, 

 Nectarines, Plums, and Damsons set very indiffer- 

 ently, consequently thin crops. Gooseberries and 

 Currants are heavily laden. Raspberries prolific, but 

 small, and weak stem. Strawberries generally set 

 weakly, and flowered thinly — Vicomtesse H.deThury, 

 Sir Harry, Black Prince, King of Earlies, Elton Pine, 

 good crops ; about ten other varieties are worthless, 

 including President. The persistent dry cold of the 

 winter and spring, succeeding a dry summer, acted 

 detrimentally on many of the fruit trees. P. Middle- 

 ton, Wi/nnstay Gardens, Bttahon. 



Pembrokeshire. — Apples bloomed well, but late 

 this season, and the weather being dry and fine at 

 the time, there was a remarkably good set. Pears 

 also bloomed very well, every tree being profusely 

 covered with strong healthy bloom. The early 

 blooming varieties set the best, as they had dry 

 weather. Marie Louise and a few other varieties 

 which flower at the same time are almost a failure, 

 the weather being wet and stormy during the time 

 that they were in flower. G. Griffin, Slcbeck Park, 

 Haverfordwest. 



IRELAND. 

 Kilkenny. — The fruit crop on the whole is a good 

 average. During the flowering period there was an 

 abundance of blossom on nearly all sorts of trees, 

 but amongst Apples, Pears, and Plums only the free 

 bearing varieties are carrying a heavy crop. Small 

 fruits in general are abundant. W. Gray, Woodstock, 

 Inistioge. 



CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



Scilly. — So small a quantity of fruit is grown at 

 Scilly that reports are not of much value. The 

 Apple crop promised well with an abundance of 

 bloom, but cold winds prevented their setting. Plums 

 also promised well, but they suffered even worse than 

 the Apple crop. Hawthornden and Worcester Pear- 

 main are the best set Apples. G. D. Vallance, Trcsco 

 Abbey. 



Jersey. — Stone fruits, especially Peaches and 

 Nectarines, suffering very severely, owing to the 

 continuous late frosts. Plums are a partial crop, 

 trees in exposed situations having shed all their 

 blossoms. Morello Cherries stoned well, but the 

 continuous heavy showers of rain cause them to shed 

 their fruit, the ordinary means of protection being 

 insufficient to meet the contingencies. Apples and 

 Pears are below the average. Small fruits are a 

 good average crop. Strawberries and Gooseberries 

 being abundant. Raspberries and Blackberries pro- 

 mise well. W. B. Saunders, St. Saviours. 



The Oxforo Carnation and Picotee 

 Union. — It is found that the flowers are so late in 

 the Northern and Midland Counties this season, that 

 Mr. Dodwell has postponed the annual exhibition in 

 his garden in the Stanley Road, Oxford, from 

 August 7 until August 14. " The usual luncheon will 

 follow the exhibition ; and the business meeting will 

 take place in the evening. 



