.Tilly 19. 1888 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
41 
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1 
THE SEASON SO FAR. j 
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3 -+-- d 
I T is late, very late, and at the moment of writing the prospect 
is by no means exhilarating. A protracted winter retarded the 
blossoming of fruit trees, and as a consequence a golden harvest 
was expected in the autumn. But the blossom did not entirely 
escape injury by frost, and the fruit that set did not swell kindly. 
Much has vanished ; and though some trees are laden here and 
there, many are barren, or nearly so, though why this should be so 
is perhaps in some cases a little mysterious. Some of the heaviest 
laden Apple trees we have seen are at Chiswick—trees grafted on 
Paradise stocks about ten years ago, and now forming a plmtation, 
with just room enough for passing between the rows.* Cox’s 
Orange Pippin, Duchess of Oldenburg, Stirling Castle, Small’s 
Admirable, Braddick’s Nonpareil, Lane’s Prince Albert, and a few 
others are wreathed with fruit ; but that usually free-bearing 
Apple, Cellini, has failed with a curious exception. There is a 
row of it, embracing several trees, but on the majority of them 
scarcely an Apple is to be seen, though two trees in this row are 
almost overweighted. How is this ? Can Mr. Barron tell us ? 
If he cannot no one can, and the circumstance must be regarded as 
xi pomological puzzle. 
The season, so far, has been remarkable for cell and cater¬ 
pillars. Theso latter have hung in festoons on thousands of trees 
in the vicinity of the metropolis, ruining the hoped-for crops of 
fruit, for either the blossoms or the leaves, or both, were devoured. 
The Small Ermine and Winter Moths are increasing near towns. 
Why is this ? Is it not .to a large extent due to the absence of 
birds from the localities where their natural enemies—men, boys, 
and cats—are the most numerous? The greater the number of 
these in a given area, the less in number the birds must of necessity 
be, and, correlatively, the greater the increase of insects of various 
kinds. The world we live in is a delightful world without a doubt, 
full of wonders and of beauty ; but all the same it is a savage 
world, the strong devouring the weak continually. If the birds are 
destroyed or driven away insects increase, and as these multiply 
vegetation suffers. If by artificial means, and the assumed neces¬ 
sities of life, the balance of Nature is destroyed, man must pay the 
penalty, because it is by his action that the deed is done. The 
impelling forces may be too powerful to resist in certain localities, 
as where town growth is as persistent as tree growth ; but in rural 
•districts is the economy of bird life sufficiently appreciitcd? As 
birds decrease caterpillars must increase, and there have been far 
too many of these ; not near towns only, but in “ Nature’s soli¬ 
tudes ” during the present year. Caterpillars have their parasites 
no doubt, but these appear inadequate for keeping the destructive 
horde of blossom and leaf-eaters within reasonable limits. The 
whole subject appears to be worth thinking about, and having 
introduced it we pass from the caterpillars to the cold. 
At a flower show in Kent last week three of the judges were 
■working in overcoats, and the fourth was shivering because he had 
■been so thoughtless as to go out without one. It was the 11th of 
July, and he ought to have known better. But perhaps the judges 
were tender, some may imagine. Those who have the pleasure of 
being acquainted with Mr. John Fraser of Lea Bridge, Mr. John 
Laing of Forest Hill, and Mr. Ward of Leytonstone, will not 
regard them as tender exotics, but rather as being as hardy as 
Highlanders. Well, those were the judges working in overcoats 
No. 421 .—Vol. XVII., Third Series. 
r. . a HJ.. •. 
on July 11th, 1888. The date is worth recording, as the day will 
not be forgotten in various districts of the country. As to the 
venturesome fourth man who left his outer garment at home, he 
suffered enough without being made to endure more by “ naming” 
him, as they say in Parliament, when a member does something 
amiss. 
Cold, however, as the day was in Kent it was colder elsewhere. 
Snow in the north, in places to the depth of 6 inches ; snow in the 
midlands, hail in Surrey, and the thermometer registering within 
4° of freezing at Heckfield in Hampshire. That is the record. A 
daily paper gives a concise digest of the “ summer” weather : — 
“ The unseasonable weather recently experienced over England 
must surely have reached its culminating point. At eight o’clock 
in the morning of the day named the thermometer stood no higher 
than 44°, or considerably lower than any July reading on record 
for that particular hour of the day. Later in the day in London it 
rose to a maximum of 54°, a very respectable reading for a 
February afternoon, but a miserable level for July. The vicissi¬ 
tudes to which our climate occasionally exposes us have seldom 
been more strikingly exemplified than in the tremendous contrast 
which has existed between our recent weather and that of last 
summer. Comparing the meteorological records for the two 
seasons we find in the first place that the mean temperature of the 
past five weeks over England has been from 5° to 7" lower this 
year than it was during a similar period in 1887. Last year there 
were in London eighteen day3 in the course of the five weeks with 
a maximum temperatuie exceeding 75°, ten days with a maximum 
of over 80°, and two with a reading of over 85°. This year we 
have had during the same period only two days with a tempera¬ 
ture above 75 D , only one with a reading exceeding 80°, and none 
reaching 85°. The records of bright sunshine tell a still more re¬ 
markable tale, the aggregate amount of this very desirable element 
recorded during the present summer being less than half the 
amount registered la-t year. In our midland and southern dis¬ 
tricts, including London, the sunshine experienced during the past 
five weeks has not amounted to more than one-quarter of the 
possible quantity. Last year in the metropolis we had 53 per cent, 
of the possible amount, while in the midland counties they had 
53 per cent., and in the eastern districts as much as 61 per cent. 
In the matter of rainfall the contrast between the two seasons has, 
of course, been exceedingly marked. During the early part of last 
summer a severe drought prevailed over the kingdom, and in the 
five-week period under review the total amount of rain experienced 
in London and over the home counties generally was less than a 
quarter of an inch. This year we have had in the same localities 
from 4 to 5 inches. Last season rain fell in London on three only 
out of the thirty-five dajs ; this year it has fallen on as many as 
twenty-four.” 
That is a serious statement. It puts the weather prophets out 
of court, at least those of them who predicted a hot dry summer, 
one of the tropical “ cycle ” which had set in. The effects of the 
cold and wet are apparent. Rosarians are disappointed. Straw¬ 
berry growers have entertained great loss. Hop growers are 
despondent. Farmers are grieving over the loss of hay and 
trembling in fear of a bad harvest. Gardeners are inconvenienced 
by the failure or lateness of fruit and the weeds that almost 
overwhelm them. Gardens and fields are green, too green, and 
even the root crops want heat for inciting free growth and early 
maturity, and if the rains do not cease soon the old enemy, the 
Potato disease, may again assert itself. As a rule late crops mean 
loss. There may be exceptions, but early harvests prove the rule, 
for they are almost invariably good while late ones are the reverse. 
It is much the same with garden crops, their value being usually 
in proportion to their earliness, though there are exceptions—• 
in, for instance, late Grapes and Broccoli. But these are 
special. Cultivators cannot in a season like this have the crops 
ready for use at the usual time ; but those who habitually start 
No. 2077.— Vol. LXXIX., Old Series. 
