JOURNAL 
OF THE 
Royal Horticultural Society. 
Yol. XXII. 1899. 
Part IV. 
FIFTH GREAT ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF BRITISH- 
GROWN FRUIT. 
Held at the Crystal Palace, September 29, 30, and 
October 1, 1898. 
Never probably in the memory of any living gardener has a 
year opened with such lavish promises of fruit, and closed with 
such disappointing performance. Every fruit crop, without 
exception, in the spring blossomed abundantly—perhaps over- 
abundantly ; and every fruit crop, with possibly the exception of 
Strawberries, Raspberries, and Currants, was first cut severely by 
the frost and cold drying winds of March and April, and subse¬ 
quently dried up and parched by the quite phenomenal drought 
of July, August, and September. The consequence was a very 
small crop in everything—small in quantity and small in size of 
