Karch 24, 1892.] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
211 
r. , —- 
SPRING TRIALS AND 
SUMMER PROSPECTS. 
-+•- 
A fter a “second winter” of somewhat prolonged duration, 
with frost on twenty consecutive nights from the third week 
in April to the middle of March, and winds unusually piercing, the 
change which occurred about a week ago was as welcome as it was 
urgently needed by all who are engaged in gardening. With the 
ground sealed by frost for weeks, the stoppage of work was 
inevitable, and not gardeners alone felt the inconvenience of the 
position. Planting was seriously retarded, and orders for fruit and 
other trees could not be executed the seed trade was checked 
and became sluggish at the time it should have been brisk ; plans 
were laid that could not be executed, and work of various kinds 
had to remain undone long after the period of its hoped-for com¬ 
pletion. At length the longed-for genial weather came, but the 
warm spring-like days and mild nights did not very long continue. 
Changes sudden and extreme are expected incidents to us, but take 
by surprise some of the visitors to our shores, and the thoughts of 
many were perhaps expressed by one who sarcastically averred that 
he had seen no weather in England, but only samples. It has been 
said where the sun always shines, as in southern countries, the 
people are habitually indolent, and therefore the alternations of 
sun and showers, of icy winds and balmy days, may keep men on 
the alert in preparing for sudden and adverse changes on the one 
hand, and promptly making the best of opportunities as they occur 
on the other. Is that one of the reasons why the best British 
gardeners have attained world-wide renown as expert cultivators ? 
It is certain that the highest excellence in produce could not be 
forthcoming at the right time in the absence of alertness of mind, 
much forethought, and quick resolve when favourable conditions 
arrive, possibly not long to remain. 
Now that spring has come, it is to be hoped to stay, every 
endeavour should be made to advance the work which the pro¬ 
longed winterly weather has delayed, for to be behind time in 
April often results in work and weeds being masters all the 
season. At no time can a little extra help be more profitably 
allowed in gardens than at this period of the year, and it is 
undoubtedly needed in many. It is also of more importance than 
many persons appreciate that garden requisites, such as seeds, be 
ready to hand for use when they can be used to the greatest 
advantage as regards both time and weather. Few, if any, greater 
mistakes are made than deferring to order what is known to be 
requisite till the day it is wanted. Many favourable opportunities 
have been lost and the object in view frustrated by this policy 
of delay. Nothing is gained by it in initial outlay, while 
risk is incurred of distinct loss in results. It is prudent to 
make a careful forecast of gardening requirements now, and 
then seek how best they can be met by consulting the pages 
in which most that is good is set forth for meeting the wants of 
the times. 
As has been said, the planting of fruit and other trees has of 
necessity been in abeyance through the prolonged severity 
of the weather, and it may be thought by many persons who 
were intending to plant when the frost and snow came that 
it is too late now to do so. If it was not too late then it is 
not too late now, and it may be stated that trees planted now 
carefully and well will be likely with reasonable cultural atten¬ 
tion to make better progress than those that were placed in their 
No. 613.— VOL. XXIV., Third Skrie.s. 
positions just before the cold period commenced ; or, in other 
words, they were better undisturbed in the nursery than those that 
were removed to undergo the chilling ordeal to which they have 
been subjected. 
Autumn is admittedly the best time to plant while there is still 
some warmth in the soil; midwinter the worst time, when the 
ground is the coldest ; the present, or spring time, being preferable 
because there is a sensible increase of earth warmth, and no long 
time will elapse before it is sufficient to summon the roots into 
action. Moreover, no one need be deterred from planting if the 
buds of trees are distinctly swelling, and even if those near the tips 
of the branches are casting their scales, always provided the roots 
are fresh and abundant, the soil is in a friable state, and a little of 
a light and friable character is placed under and over the fibres. 
Dried roots, such as of trees long exposed to the air as in markets, 
also with jagged, broken or torn roots placed in the ground in their 
mutilated state, cannot be expected to make satisfactory growth ; 
but with the roots damp through good packing by experienced 
men, or, if by accident a little dry, freshened by immersion in 
water for some hours, all bruised or broken parts removed by a 
clean undercut from the tree outwards—young Apple trees, for 
instance—will, if properly planted after the sap has commenced 
moving, grow better than when it is “ still ” as in winter. There 
are dormant buds towards the base of the branches, and to these 
they should, as a rule, be shortened, especially if bright sun or 
drying winds prevail, to lessen the surface of evaporation. As has 
been previously stated in this Journal, and as all experienced 
growers know is true, deciduous plants, such as Fuchsias which 
have been rested, break better when shaken out and repotted 
when the buds are swelling than when they are in a quiescent 
state, and it is the same with hardy deciduous trees and shrubs. 
If we had intended to plant a given number of trees but were 
prevented by the frost, we should plant them now in the con¬ 
dition and manner indicated, in confidence that they would bo 
well established during the season and ready to make full free 
growth another year. 
From “ spring trials,” and suggestions for consequent action, 
we pass to “ summer prospects.” Though we never know what 
kind of weather may be in store, and how late in spring or early 
summer we may have a “ sample ” of the inclement kind lately 
experienced, fruit growers still derive a modicum of satisfaction in 
the lateness of the buds of their fruit trees at this season of the 
year. We can only hope this may be a favourable portend, but in 
some way Apple blossom has a habit of making up for lost time, 
and a few days sooner or later is a matter of small consequence in 
comparison with the nature of the weather when the flowers 
expand. Sometimes the earliest blossoming Apple trees set their fruit 
better than do those a few days or a week later, the difference 
resulting to some extent from the character of the blossoms, but 
more on that of the weather, which may be dry and genial during 
the first week and quite the reverse the second week in May. We 
have passed through too many blossoming periods to prophesy what 
the crops will be, and can only hope for the best—a bountiful 
harvest of fruit. 
The season promises to be an active one in matters horticul¬ 
tural. Apart from the Exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural, Royal 
Botanic and National Floial Societies in London, the series at Earl’s 
Court will be widely representative and attractive ; then comes the 
great Fruit Show on the Thames Embankment, for which prepara¬ 
tions are being made. In the provinces an increase of energy is 
apparent in fostering a taste for gardening by lectures and shows, 
while we have reason to believe high sanction will before very 
long be given to the provision of school and general experimental 
gardens in rural districts. The horticultural spirit is abroad, 
and never before was so much interest manifested in the ancient 
and beneficent art of gardening as at the present time in this 
country. 
No. 2269.— VoL. LXXXVL, Old Series. 
