July 10, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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10 
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Oxford Rose Show. 
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Sun 
6tii Sunday after Trinity. 
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Wolverhampton Show. 
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Bedford Show. 
HOT WEATHEE. 
XTEEN years have elapsed since there was such 
a prolonged absence of rain and a continuance 
of bright sunny days as have lately been ex¬ 
perienced in most districts. This is highly 
exhausting to vegetation, and unfortunately in 
many localities water is becoming scarce, for 
ordinary streams are drying up and rivers 
are lower than they have been for years. In 
travelling through the eastern and midland 
counties the grass is burnt off the railway embankments, in 
some places for miles together—a sufficient indication of 
extreme drought. In fields Barley is spindling and turning 
yellow. Potatoes are flagging, and what few Turnips that 
appeared are vanishing. In gardens the crops are languish¬ 
ing, except those well established in deep rich ground; 
Lettuces are bolting, winter crops cannot be got out. Celery 
is being devoured by the maggot. Carrots are “ grubbing,” 
Kidney Bean flowers falling. Peas mildewing, Eoses scorch¬ 
ing, while red spider is increasing both under glass and in 
the open air. 
This is rather a dismal picture, but it is not overdrawn in 
the field of observation to which it refers. In some districts 
the drought may be less marked, and it is hoped this may be 
so, for where it prevails it is hard work for gardeners, many 
of whom are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain 
supplies of vegetables and to keep newly planted flowers 
moving, except backwards ; and it is perhaps harder still for 
growers of fruit for market, since Strawberries are being sold 
for l\d. per pound. It is a case of selling or spoiling, 
for the fruit will neither keep on the plants nor off them, 
and growers have to dispose of them as they can, and on 
the principle of half a loaf being better than no bread. 
The question arises as to what is best to be done in 
gardens under these circumstances. Where there is plenty 
of water and plenty of men to use it the evils of a burning 
season may be mitigated ; but in too many places there is a 
scarcity of either one or the other, or both. Then mulching 
the ground with whatever may be obtainable and shading 
glass structures are sheet anchors of the cultivator. Cocoa- 
nut fibre refuse, tan, manure, leaf soil, sawdust, short grass, 
vegetable refuse. Ferns, or Bracken are all useful for covering 
the soil, and especially if a good watering can be given 
previously, and after the watering a sprinkling of salt. This 
is good for almost everything in dry weather used at the rate 
of one or two ounces per square yard where the soil is wet. 
Those who have been in the habit of salting Asparagus beds 
regularly and no other portion of the garden will find the soil 
moister and cooler where the salt has been used than any¬ 
where else. Salt is not used half freely enough on light 
soils in dry districts inland. A garden in which it had been 
systematically used was in the hot summer of 1868 like an 
Oasis in the desert, the crops being fresh and green when 
those in gardens contiguous were withering ; grass land on 
which it was similarly used was with “ verdure clad ” the 
same year, while on surrounding farms where it was not 
used scarcely a green blade was to be seen. 
No. 211.—VoL. IX, Third Series. 
Shading is objected to by many cultivators. No doubt 
the practice of covering the glass or frames with mats and 
canvas to “ save watering ” has been unreasonably indulged 
in, but when water is scarce, as it is now in so many places, 
notwithstanding the passing thunder showers, saving it is a 
virtue and shading a less evil than scorching. Melons and 
Cucumbers have been saved, as well as water, by judiciously 
shading ; and sprinkling the glass of vineries with limewash 
applied with the syringe has prevented much scorching of the 
foliage and improved the colour of black Grapes. There is 
little doubt that intense sun, besides having an exhausting 
effect on Vines (where correspondingly large quantities of 
water cannot be given to the borders), is prejudicial to the 
colouring of Grapes, and the dark-skinned kinds are never so 
well finished as when ripened in partial shade. 
Shading is only an evil when indulged in excessively, and 
if any textile fabric is used it is far better if it does not rest 
on the glass. A current of air between the glass and the 
blinds is the best preventive of plants becoming drawn when 
subjected to shade. 
In hot weather the beneficial and invigorating action of 
dew should never be forgotten, and all plants and crops that 
are grown in frames with moveable lights, such as Melons, 
Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and various plants in preparation for 
greenhouses, should be exposed on all favourable occasions by 
drawing off the lights at night and replacing them very early 
in the morning ; and where lights cannot be removed a low 
night temperature should be induced to give a good night’s 
rest to vegetation that has been over excited and exhausted 
during the day. With moderate moisture in a house, free 
ventilation, and a low night temperature, dew may be pro¬ 
duced without mildew, and this cannot fail to be of the 
greatest benefit in hot weather. 
Particular attention must be given the ventilation of glass 
structures during sultry days. If houses and frames are 
closed at night, which they seldom should be, air should be 
admitted as soon as the sun shines on them, whether that be 
at seven or four o’clock in the morning. If once the heat 
gets the master by the maximum being reached before the 
lights are opened it remains the master all day, and the 
houses are uncomfortable both to the occupants and their 
attendants, but by a different method of procedure—opening 
the lights in advance of the rising temperature—a house never 
becomes oppressive ; indeed, a vinery may be kept cooler 
than the external temperature during an intensely hot day. 
It is a question if more evil is done by any other mistake 
than late morning ventilation, and if the cause of every 
unsatisfactory effect could be traced to its source, this, in at 
least half the instances, would be found in morning, and 
especially Sunday morning, indulgences—too late ventila¬ 
tion. It is far better to never close the structures at all than 
to leave them closed under a powerful sun in the mornings 
of hot days. Cucumbers may endure this stewing, but even 
they, if the lights were suddenly thrown open to their full 
extent to reduce the heat, would be ruined in less than a 
week. 
Much water is frittered away in hot weather. The roots 
of plants in pots must of course be kept moist, and those 
which are never allowed to get dry will need the least water 
and remain the most healthy. Soil in pots is easily enough 
kept moist; but let it once get thoroughly dry, and it becomes 
a serious matter to restore it to a he dthy condition, with the 
thermometer registering nearly 90° in the shade and the 
plants exposed to the sun. Pots as far as possible should be 
plunged even if only by sinking the smaller into larger. It 
is wonderful the saving of water and time that is effected by 
that simple method, and how beneficial it is to plants in a 
tropical season. 
Outdoor water is wasted by distributing a given quantity 
over a space often five times or even ten times greater than 
it is possible to apply it beneficially. Moistening the soil to 
the depth of half an inch a little more or less, and leaving it 
dry below, is worse than nothing. It is simply sprinkled on 
No. 18C7.—VoL. LXXI., Old Series. 
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