December 27, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



48 5 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



of 



Month 



Day 



of 

 Week. 



DECEMBER 27, 1877— JANUARY 2, 1878. 



Average 



Temperature near 



London. 



Snn 

 Rises. 



Son 

 Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises, 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon'f 

 Age. 



Clock 

 belore 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 

 Year. 









Day. 



Niirht. 



Mean- 



h. m. 



h. m. 



h. m. 



b. m. 



Days. 



m. s. 





27 



Th 



St. John the Evangelist. 



43.0 



29.7 



36.4 



8 8 



3 55 



1 



11 25 



£ 



1 27 



Sfil 



28 



F 



Innocents' Day. 



42.6 



29.5 



S6.0 



8 9 



3 55 



1 25 



11 39 



24 



1 56 



S62 



29 



S 





43 9 



30.0 



38.5 



8 9 



3 66 



2 49 



11 56 



25 



2 26 



3«S 



80 



SUN 



1 Sunday after Christmas. 



44.4 



31.7 



88.1 



8 9 



3 57 



4 13 



0al9 



26 



2 55 



364 



81 



M 



Quarter Sessions begin. 



43.9 



32.4 



38.2 



8 9 



8 58 



5 84 



49 



27 



S 24 



365 



1 



To 



Circumcision. 



41.8 



29.8 



86.2 



8 8 



3 59 



6 49 



1 81 



28 



3 52 



1 



2 



W 





41.9 



28.9 



35.4 



8 8 



4 



7 49 



2 27 



29 



4 20 



2 



From observations taken near London daring forty-three years, 



bhe average day temperature 



of the week is 48.0° ; and its night temperature | 



S2.8-. 









1 



SOME LESSONS OF THE YEAR. 



AKEWELL to the old year, for it is passing 

 away, a few brief hours only remaining to 

 us before the tale of its days will be com- 

 plete and it will be numbered with the past. 

 This is the thonght which comes to rne as 

 I sit down for the last time this year to 

 pSg^^S^ write a few notes for our Journal, and so it 

 seems most fitting that my theme should be 

 a retrospective one ; for undoubtedly now is 

 the time to review the lessons of the past 

 twelve months, and endeavour to turn their teachings 

 to account so far as may be practicable in the coming 

 year. 



January opened mild and wet. A maximum tem- 

 perature full 10° above the average mean of winter 

 was registered, and such dripping weather prevailed that 

 autumn-sown Peas were forced into premature growth by 

 the remarkable mildness of the weather, and became so 

 weakly as to succumb to the almost incessant wet ; Straw- 

 berries too suffered severely, whole beds being killed 

 outright, thus showing that a very wet winter sometimes 

 proves as fatal to vegetation as a very cold one. The mild 

 weather continued till the last week in February, wben 

 we had some snowstorms and a decided change to colder 

 weather, there being 12° of frost on the 28th of that 

 month. March was a cold month with a succession of 

 frosts, inducing us to hope that fruit trees, teeming as 

 they were with flower buds, would be so much retarded as 

 to be safe from spring frosts ; but our hopes were doomed 

 to disappointment, for we had a repetition of those bitter 

 cold north-eastern gales which so frequently occur just as 

 the opening blossom and expanding foliage are most 

 liable to suffer from such adverse influences, the result 

 being that the bulk of the fruit crop was lost, and blistered 

 foliage of Peach and Nectarine trees was so prevalent as 

 to convince the most sceptical that cold, and cold alone, 

 is the cause of blister. The fohage was so badly affected 

 that almost the whole of it fell off prematurely, giving 

 a severe check to the spring growth which all good 

 cultivators of the Peach like to see flourishing in full 

 vigour, knowing as they do that a strong early growth 

 points to full and early maturity in autumn. This failure 

 of the spring growth and the miserable sickly condition 

 of the trees rendered the subsequent vigorous shoots of 

 midsummer all the more remarkable, for in a week or 

 two the trees were fully clad with large green healthy 

 foliage, and the robust growth sprang forth with such 

 rapidity and freedom as to afford a striking illustration 

 of the vigour of healthy Peach trees. Very little of 

 the fruit survived this rude assault of untimely cold ; 

 in fact much of the blossom never came to maturity, the 

 ground being strewed with half-developed buds — a sight 

 most melancholy to behold, a failure most lamentable, 

 for the trees were full of promise, and hopes of a full 

 crop of fine fruit were proportionately high. The failure 

 was not a mere local affair, but was general through- 

 out the country, and I for one frankly confess that my 

 No. 874 —Vol. XXXIII., New Series. 



views of Peach culture have undergone considerable 

 modification. 



Let me be consistent and remind my readers that I 

 have repeatedly appeared in these pages as the warm 

 advocate of Peach culture upon open walls, and I have 

 still no reason to doubt that in most years the trees will 

 yield a good crop of fruit ; yet there will always be the 

 risk of failure from ungenial spring weather, and there- 

 fore in all large gardens, which it may fairly be said are 

 made with a view of securing an unfailing annual supply 

 of fruit in its season, the trees should have the protection, 

 of glass houses of the most simple form and inexpensive 

 materials compatible with efficiency. Before turning 

 from the fruit I must call attention to the important fact 

 that while the Apple crop generally was a failure, yet 

 Cellini Pippin, Wormsley Pippin, Small's Admirable, 

 Margil, and Duchess of Oldenburgh all had good crops, 

 notwithstanding that the trees were fully exposed ; Cox's 

 Orange Pippin and King of Pippins having about half 

 a crop. 



Vegetables have been abundant and good. Potatoes 

 did not altogether escape the ravages of blight, yet the 

 past season has again afforded conclusive proof that early 

 lifting is the only safeguard against disease. The whole 

 of the early sorts were quite sound, and not a tuber of 

 the late kinds lifted before the heavy rains fell in August 

 was affected ; but unfortunately we were overtaken by 

 rain before the lifting was finished, and many of the 

 tubers subsequently taken up were affected, as has always 

 been the case. This, however, valuable as is the expe- 

 rience it affords, is only one of the evils resulting from 

 unfavourable weather. A cold, late, wet spring brought 

 many trials in its train — that terrific gale from the south- 

 west on the 28th of May left the mark of its scathing 

 power till the leaves fell in autumn, the foliage of Larch 

 Firs having a scorched appearance as if it had been sub- 

 jected to the action of fire ; and Beech trees, with very 

 few exceptions, had their leaves so much battered and 

 lacerated as caused the trees to present a disreputable 

 browned ragged appearance. 



I am in no humour to enlarge further upon the per 

 contras of a season that has on the whole proved fairly 

 prosperous. Trials and difficulties are part and parcel of 

 our lives. Met in the right spirit they may generally be 

 overcome and often so turned to account as to lay the 

 foundation of subsequent success and prosperity. The old 

 school maxim, " Perseverance conquers all things," not 

 only holds good but seems to me to become increasingly 

 significant as mature experience enables one to understand 

 cause and effect more clearly, and to see that application 

 and painstaking is after all the secret of success. In 

 view, therefore, of that progressive improvement which 

 should end only with our lives it will be well to turn to 

 account the few hours of the old year which remain to 

 us by a calm and thoughtful review of our individual 

 failures and shortcomings, and thus make ready to enter 

 upon a new year with earnest healthy resolutions to 

 strive for improvement in all we undertake ; for sure I 

 am that such resolutions give such an impetus to our 



No. 1B2C— Vol. LVIII., Old Series. 



