682 



Time of Blossoming of Fruit Trees. [dec, 



in full flower on ii th May, and its petals were fallen or withered 

 16th May, making fifteen days. The Cheshire damson was a few 

 days later. 



Mr. C. S. Martin, the manager of the Toddington Orchard 

 Company, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, very kindly sent me 

 an interesting table showing the influence of the time of 

 blossoming on a number of crops of plums. 



Dates of First Flowers on Grand Duke Plums at 

 Toddington, Gloucestershire. 



Year. 



Date. 



Plum Crop Result. 



1891 



... 



Heavy crop. 



1892 



2nd April 



Fair. 



1893 



13th March 



Fair. 



1894 



1 8th March ; full bloom, 2nd April ... 



Light. 



1895 



20th April 



Heavy. 



1896 



nth March 



Light. 



1897 





Light. 



1898 



nth March 



Heavy crop, but light in 

 other districts. 



1899 





Light. 



1900 





Very heavy. 



1901 





Very heavy. 



1902 



About 20th March 



None on low ground. 



1903 



17th February ... 



Almost total failure. 



1904 



9th April (Dukes and Diamonds com- 



Heavy crop. 



menced to flower at same time) 



1905 



14th March 



None on low ground. 



1906 



5th March ; all plums in full flower 



None on low ground. 



. 1 1 th April 



1907 



28th March ; by April 1st Grand 



Heavy crop. 





Dukes and Diamonds well in bloom 



1908 



16th March; full bloom, April 15th. 



Prospects of a good plum 





Diamonds' first flowers, 1st April; 



crop. 





full bloom, 27th April 



Pears. — From my notes this year it appears that in most 

 varieties the leaf unfurls and the flower bud opens about the 

 same time ; in some kinds, as Doyenne du Cornice, the leaves 

 are almost all unfurled before the flowers begin to open, whilst 

 in Williams' Bon Chretien the flower opens before the leaf, the 

 leaf only commencing to unfurl when the tree is in full flower. 

 The order and duration of flowering were as follows : — 

 2nd March, Beurre Clairgeau (18 days from commencement of 

 flowering to petals fallen) ; 3rd May, Beurre Diel (17 days) ; 

 4th May, Duchesse d'Angouleme (17 days), and Jargonelle 

 (15 days) ; 5th May, Marguerite Marrillat (14 days), and 



