August 18, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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11th Sunday after Trinity. 
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Royal Horticultural Society—Fruit and Floral Committees at 11am. 
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THE SEASON. 
OT, so far as we remember, since the tropical 
summer of 1868 have gardeners had such 
great obstacles to contend with as during the 
present season. A lingering winter and a 
long, cold spring, followed by a summer that 
will be memorable for the absence of rain, 
have rendered the work of cultivation most 
difficult, and of maintaining the usual sup¬ 
plies of garden produce next to impossible, except in 
low-lying districts and moisture-holding soils, or where 
the water supply has been abundant and the labour 
adequate for its effectual application. 
As a body we believe there is no class of men more 
persevering under difficulties than British gardeners, nor 
more determined to surmount whatever obstacles may 
beset their path ; but no foresight, energy, or labour 
■could prevent their Cabbages “bolting” in many districts 
■during the early part of the season, nor was it possible 
that the Pea supply could be maintained over the usual 
period. Inconvenience has been experienced through 
the limited supply of those two staple crops, and the cry 
for crisp, juicy Turnips has been uttered in vain. 
Generally speaking the owners of gardens take into con¬ 
sideration the circumstances that affect their productive¬ 
ness. It is but just and right that they should do so, 
for they may depend upon it that, however great their 
inconvenience and disappointment in the shortcomings of 
the vegetable supply, those of the men who have striven 
to the utmost to avoid it are still more keenly felt. 
Though we make no pretence of suggesting that every 
gardener in the kingdom has done the best that might 
have been done under the circumstances, we do not 
hesitate to say that all worthy members of the craft—well- 
trained, thoughtful, industrious men—have laboured un¬ 
ceasingly to do credit to themselves and to develope to 
the utmost the resources at their command, and we be¬ 
speak for all such the consideration to which they are 
fairly entitled. Though the returns from many gardens 
have not been equal to those in past years, it should be 
remembered that in instances innumerable those charged 
with their production have worked longer and harder 
than in years of abundance. 
It has been quite beyond the power of man in the high 
and dry districts in the south of England to maintain any¬ 
thing like the usual supplies of vegetables this year. 
They could no more do this than farmers in the same 
localities could insure full crops of succulent herbage for 
their herds and flocks. As an instance of the powerless¬ 
ness of cultivators in a season like the present we find 
that a nurseryman who has about 40 acres of trees, 
shrubs, and flowers estimates his loss through causes 
No. 373.—Yoi. XV., Thikd Series. 
absolutely unpreventable at a thousand pounds. His 
young stocks, that ought to have been saleable in the 
autumn, have stood still, and he has expended more than 
the ordinary amount in labour in keeping them alive, or 
at least those of them that have not succumbed to the 
roasting ordeal to which they have been subjected. If 
that is so—as it undoubtedly is in nurseries—similar 
results, but on a proportionately less yet far too great a 
scale, must of necessity follow in gardens, because the 
same cause has operated in both cases. 
It should be remembered, too, that the inconveniences 
pertaining to a season like the present do not end with 
the comparative failure of summer crops. The infliMnce 
of the weather of the past and present seriously affijcts 
and governs the supplies of the future, and unless the 
rain falls and in something like a deluge, in the south 
of England, and possibly elsewhere, autumn, winter, and 
spring crops must be quite inadequate for consumptive 
purposes, for obviously if plants cannot be raised and 
planted in due time, crops cannot be perfected in their 
season; and by-and-by, when the rain is falling, and it 
may be watercourses overflowing, there will be some diffi¬ 
culty in enabling the inexperienced in cultivation to 
appreciate the fact that the limited supplies then existing 
will be consequent on the drought. Yet such will be the 
truth notwithstanding, and it may be well to record it 
in advance. 
Rain has fallen more or less copiously and refreshingly 
in various parts of the kingdom, but in others gardens 
and fields are “ burnt up ” by want of the showers that 
occasionally promise yet do not come, or come tantalisingly 
in the form of a “few drops ” that scarcely lay the dust. 
In the metropolitan district, and for miles round, lawns 
and pastures are as if seared, and save under exceptional 
conditions scarcely a tinge of green is visible. Cabbages 
and Broccolis are “ blue ” and stunted, also riddled with 
caterpillars and sundry pests that are invariably the most 
prevalent during periods of excessive heat and prolonged 
drought. Peas have long been devoured by a horde of 
thrips that could not be subdued, and the blossoms of 
Scarlet Runners are falling in shoals, leaving no pods 
behind them. Celery is blistered by the maggot that is 
eating the life out of the plants, relays of eggs appearing 
to be deposited in the leaves with extraordinary persist¬ 
ency, while trees in orchards and fruit gardens swarm 
with red spider. Lettuces form flower stems when the 
plants are a few inches high, and the greatest difficulty 
has been experienced ininducing Cabbage and other seeds to 
germinate or the plants to grow afterwards in the dry, 
hot land. Lime trees are leafless, and the foliage of 
Chestnuts shrivelled and brown. Such are the conditions 
now, and that gardens can be well furnished either at 
present or for some time to come is out of question. 
The season will teach lessons that ought not to be 
lost. The owners of property will perceive the necessity 
of making provision for a better water supply or the 
storage of rain. Not half sufficient accommodation is 
made for collecting the water, the best of water, that 
falls from the clouds. We are among those who have 
made the necessary provision in the form of tanks, and 
have averted a water famine. Curiously enough, while 
writing this sentence Mr. Shirley Hibberd’s pamphlet on the 
subject comes to hand, and we learn it is now sold for 6d. 
It is entitled “ Water for Nothing,” and is re-issued by 
W. F. Allen. The author truly says, One inch of rain fall¬ 
ing on an acre of ground is 22,622 gallons, and he further 
remarks, if there are twenty-five houses on that land and 
No. 2029.— Vol. LXXVII., Old Seriss, 
