January 27, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



77 



out the way ho has travelled, but -will materially assist him on 

 his journey onwards. 



The following remarks bearing upon the objects of The 

 Journal op Horticulture are a few of the landmarks just as 

 they were made in each passing month for a local purpose, and 

 are an abbreviated copy of my journal. 



January. — The new year came in dull, calm, and quiet, just 

 as the old year passed away. On the whole, tho temperature 

 has been rather mild for the season, with a greater quantity of 

 rain and more rainy days than generally occur when the weather 

 in this month is considered seasonable. 



February came in mild, and continued so up to the 6th ; 

 then frosty more or less to the 17th ; to the 24th mild with 

 misty rain ; afterwards slight frosts and fine weather for com- 

 mencing gardening operations. The land is healthier now than 

 it has been for some time. A very Bmall amount of rain has 

 fallen during the month. 



March. — The first five days were cold and wintry, and rain 

 and snow have fallen to a considerable extent throughout, with 

 cold winds prevailing, and little or no sunshine iu most places. 

 The grass land is tolerably healthy, and with a moderately fine 

 time in April grass will not be late; but the arable land is 

 sodden, and, except on light lands nothing can be done towards 

 sowing or planting with any advantage. The rain has been in an 

 excess here of 90 per cent. 



ApBrL. — The month of April, considered in its seasonable 

 character, may be said to have been favourable. Although the 

 temperature has not been so high as in previous years, yet the 

 nights have been warm ; and the latter half of the month being 

 free from frost with a fair amount of sunshine, great progress 

 has been made in agriculture and gardening, and a rapid advance 

 made in vegetation, so that the trees and hedges are clothed as 

 if by magic, and all nature looks in a highly prosperous and 

 smiling condition. 



May. — The natural scenery of May is perhaps gayer and more 

 lovely than that of any other month during the year. The botanist 

 or the mere lover of flowers or natural scenery can make it the 

 text-month of the year. Not a day dawns but it brings forth 

 changes delightful to the lover of a ramble through the woods 

 and lanes of the neighbourhood. Not a step can he take but 

 new music bursts forth upon his ear, so that a companion is 

 often distasteful. 



Owing chiefly to the maturing character of the weather during 

 October of last year, every spray of that summer's growth was 

 filled with blossom-buds, so that the arboriculturists of other 

 lands, that have been attracted through the International Exhi- 

 bition to this country for the first time, must have received a 

 favourable impression from the masses of bloom so universal 

 during the mouth of May. Owing to the vast amount of blossom 

 on the early fruits, and the favourable weather openiug them 

 almost simultaneously, the demand on the trees was too great 

 for the supply, and blighted trees and a light crop of fruit will 

 be the result. In other respects it has been a growing time; 

 and the heavy torrents of rain that fell on the 29th and 30th, 

 to more than 2£ inches in depth, have done much cleansing 

 service, particularly in the orchards and other fruit-growing 

 districts. The average temperature has been a little below the 

 average, the year 1861 excepted, which was a very cold season. 

 There have been no hot days and no frosts at night. 



June. — When spring has yielded to summer and the flowers 

 are more numerous, the leaves thicker, and the grass and foliage 

 of a deeper green, this is a most delightful month for a morning 

 or evening ramble. It is on such evenings as closed the month, 

 with the sun going down in all his gorgeousness and tinting 

 the trees with gold, that the lights and shadeB of our neighbour- 

 ing vales can be seen and felt in all their calm, silent, beauty and 

 splendour. There have been but few such evenings during the 

 month, and as a consequence they have been the more appreciated. 

 There has been an absence of hot sunshine usually enjoyed and 

 expected at this season of the year, and a preponderance of cold 

 blighting winds, which have kept a large portion of vegetation 

 at almost a standstill, and introduced the .Potato-disease earlier 

 than usual ; but the fine weather that set-in in the latter part, 

 of the month has stayed its progress, it is to be hoped effectually, 

 for some weeks to come. The last fortnight was good hay- 

 making weather, and doubtless taken advantage of. On soils 

 with a good porous subsoil the crop has been heavy, but on 

 cold undrained lands it is light and poor. The Turaip-fly has 

 been hitherto very destructive with all the Cabbage tribe. It 

 is to be hoped July will prove more favourable in the Swede- 



growing districts. This has been the coldest June for several 

 years— even colder than the June of 1860, when more than 

 7 inches of rain fell. 



July. — Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors called July Mad monath 

 (Mead month), from the meads being then in their bloom, but 

 the month of July, 1S62, has been an exception to the general 

 rule. Wild flowers have been very scarce, and the few that 

 have bt'en seen have not come in due season, and the green-lane 

 rambler feels disappointed a3 he wends his way in search of his 

 favourites ; but doubtless the coldness of the season has been 

 the chief cause. The month of July is generally considered to 

 be the warmest month of the year ; hut we hope it will be an ex- 

 ception in this respect also, for it has hardly reached the average 

 temperature of May, and the temperature of May in the years 

 1858 and 1859 was considerably higher. 



August. — Lammas-day. The 1st of the month is also called 

 the Gule of August. This day, called by our Anglo-Saxon 

 ancestors Mlaf Mcesse (Loaf Mass), was the feast of thanks- 

 giving for the firstfruits of the corn ; but owing to the coldness, 

 of the season there was but very little ripe corn on the 1st of the 

 month. The weather proved more favourable than in the pre- 

 vious month, and, with the exception of being a little later than 

 is usually the case, the harvest so far has been tolerably satis- 

 factory. In this neighbourhood generally the garden fruits have 

 been deficient and have disappeared as if by magic. Very little- 

 to be seen in the market any part of this month. 



Sepiembee. — The weather has been very favourable for the 

 ripening and the carrying-in of the late harvest, the average 

 temperature having been higher both night and day than in 

 recent years, though it has been no higher during the hottest 

 part of the day. The range of the thermometer has been but 

 very little, and the same temperature continuing almost from 

 morning till night caused many people to think the weather was 

 much warmer than it really was. The flower gardens are gayer 

 now than they have been at any time during the summer. 

 Although the Potato disease has not been so destructive as was 

 expected earlier in the Bummer, the crop generally is small, yet 

 the price rules low. 



October, is more fertile in fruits than in flowers, and the 

 wild nosegay gathered now is a small one, but the rambler is 

 fully compensated in the beautiful tints the foliage is receiving 

 during the early and middle portion of the month, but towards 

 the close the Horse Chestnut, the Lime, and the Poplar were 

 partially denuded of their autumnal beauties, and after a few 

 more frosts equal to the one on the 30th, the landscape will 

 be a barren one. Tho swallows and martens have left this year- 

 earlier than usual, owing, no doubt, to the extreme wetness and 

 coldness of the season. 



In an agricultural point of view, October has been unfavour- 

 able. The Swede and the Mangold have not made much progress 

 in size, and are generally small. The land has been too wet in 

 most places for Potato-lifting and Wheat-planting to be carried 

 on advantageously ; yet where the Wheat was planted early 

 and now up, it is generally looking healthy. 



November, characteristically a dull, dreary, melancholy, foggy 

 period, came in and went out quite true to its character. It 

 is the connecting link between autumn and whiter in a me- 

 teorological point of view, which is generally severed suddenly 

 and unexpectedly, as was the case on the 23rd, with 16° of frost 

 and freezing all day in the shade. After this we may well say 

 with the immortal Hood, " Where is the pride of summer ?"' 

 Such an early and impetuous rush into winter, clipping autumn 

 of its beauties, leaves him who " finds tongue3 in trees " dull and 

 monotonous walks for a very long period, still during the month 

 the weather has been more favourable than it frequently is 

 in November. There have been no storms or hurricanes, and 

 although there has been more than the average amount of 

 frost, we have had a fair compensating amount of sunshine and 

 very little tain. 



December, in contrast with the month of November has 

 been a month of most extraordinary mildness — so much so, that 

 its average has been considerably above that of the last thirty-five 

 orforty years. What would make it appear more 30 is, that the 

 range of the thermometer has been very small, there having been 

 no warm sunny days or sharp frosts at night. In many places 

 the grass has become quite fresh and green. That the weather 

 has been pleasant is very generally admitted, but to be pleasant 

 and beneficial are quite different matters. Undoubtedly the 

 weather has been unseasonable, and either directly or indirectly 

 tlie consequences will be felt in both animal and vegetable life ; 



