f THB journal op IIORTICULTURE AND COTTAOB GARDFNSB, June 29, 1893. ] 
TO OUR READERS. 
Perhaps the most interesting subjects to the majority of our readers at the moment these lines are 
penned are Rain and Roses. 
A break in the drought is welcome to all; concern for the Roses—the condition of the blooms 
and the character of the shows—a matter of anxiety with many. 
We have passed through a period, which may be termed the chief growing season of the year, 
that will long remain in the memory, for the absence of rain has been remarkable and abnormal. 
Also the Rose season will be remembered as, perhaps, the earliest on record, and there are at 
least some rosarians who lost most of their best blooms before the shows at which they hoped to win 
high honours came round. 
The loss of Roses at the time they are most wanted is, we will say, a disappointing fact, but 
the loss of wealth by loss of rain, as represented by the crops (or their absence) in gardens and fields 
is in not a few instances a grave calamity. 
Let us see what the absence of rain means through the period referred to—namely the greater 
part of March till towards the end of June. 
It may be said with an approximation to the actual facts of the case, that every acre plot of 
land over a great extent of country has lost nearly 600 tons of rain, or more than 135,000 gallons of 
water that usually falls from the clouds. Every garden of five acres has lost about 3000 tons, or 675,000 
gallons. Small home farms of twenty acres have lost, broadly speaking, 12,000 tons of rain, or two 
and three-quarter million gallons. Farms of 100 acres have dried up under a deficiency of 60,000 tons, 
or thirteen and a half million gallons ; and parishes of 1000 acres have suffered by the deprivation of 
no less than 600,000 tons, or one hundred and thirty-five million gallons of water which generally falls 
to refresh the earth during the periods indicated. 
This plain narrative is sufficient to show the great difficulties which have beset cultivators, as it 
also demonstrates the extreme value of a good water supply in gardens. 
The drought has also emphasized the soundness of the teaching that has often been advanced by 
our experienced coadjutors—namely, deep culture, enriched soil, summer mulching, or loese surface 
tillage. 
We sympathise with all who have suffered by the drought, congratulate those who have met it so 
bravely, and earnestly hope that as compensation usually follows adverse visitations, so a reward is in 
store for those who have laboured well and are now waiting for their recompense. 
