152 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 16,1% 
decayed through wet. Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries an 
abundant crop. Peaches and Apricots none. Pears on standard trees 
are a failure, but on walls a good crop. Apples on large old trees not a 
third of a crop ; young pyramid trees have the ail vantage and have a fair 
crop. We had some severe frosts throughout May and these escaped. 
Cherries a good crop but spoiled by the vfet. Plums on standards no 
crop, and the trees on walls have very few. Medlars and Walnuts a 
good crop. Fig trees not much affected by the drought last summer, 
and this year carry no fruit, with the exception of two large trees in a 
sheltered and shady position ; these have a good crop. 
Coming now to flowers, I am sorry to say that those we have taken 
most pains with, I mean the ordinary bedding Pelargoniums and other 
bedding plants, are most unsatisfactory ; they grow but do not flower, 
and are not healthy looking. Clearly the excessive wet and cold nights 
have been against them, and had I not planted out a lot of annuals my 
cut flower supply would have been short. Stocks, Mignonette, Nemo- 
philas, Dianthuses, Candytuft, Convolvulus, Sweet Peas, and several 
others have kept me going and made the garden gay, and so far have 
put the bedding Pelargoniums in a third-rate place. Among perennials 
Campanulas, Delphiniums, Antirrhinums, Sweet Williams, and many 
other similar things have been a great help. Roses have grown strong, 
but through wind and wet half the flowers did not open.—T. Record. 
The rainfall here in mid-Sussex during the past two months was— 
June 3'91 inches in sixteen days, July 5'03 inches in twenty-two days— 
total 8'94 inches. The average of fourteen stations in various parts of 
the county was 5'23 inches. The heaviest fall in twenty-four hours 
occurred at Hastings on the 19th July, when 2'31 inches was registered. 
The heaviest fall for July at any station was 7'30 inches at Singleton. 
The season all through has been quite as remarkable for the want of sun 
as for the quantity of rain. Crops are very late. Strawberries swelled 
and yielded well, but were soft and flavourless, and much of the crop 
rotted on the plants. The same may be said of other soft fruits. There 
are a few Pears, but Apples are extremely scarce in this part of the 
county. Onions and Runner Beans have suffered most—the former only 
beginning to swell out, the latter falling off. We have lifted- our early 
kidney Potatoes, having pulled the top out as soon as the blight made 
its appearance^ and have them sound and dry ; but we were not so for¬ 
tunate. with Snowflakes, they having been a few days longer in' the 
ground. Since the 5th tnst. we have had fine clear hot days, the ther¬ 
mometer above 80° every day.—R. Inglis, Cuohjielcl. 
WESTMORELAND. 
June here was 1'29 inches, rain falling on nine days. 
The highest and lowest temperatures were 80° and 31°, the former on the 
2Gth, the latter on the 24th. The thermometer of a night registered 
very low for the greater part of the month, quite retarding growth. In 
fruit and vegetables, and tender bedding plants also, suffered very much 
during the month, especially Iresine and Alcernanthera, from the low 
temperature and cold east winds. Our rainfall for July was 6 04 inches, 
rain falling on nineteen days. The highest and lowest temperatures 
were 62 and 32°, the former on the 4th, the latter on the 1st. The 
month throughout, with the exception of a few days at the early part, 
was very wet and showery, with thunder at times. 
Our early Potatoes are lifting well, with no trace of disease at 
present.. Later sorts are also looking well; the haulm, owing to so 
much rain, has made an extraordinary growth, but is very healthy. All 
fruit crops are very late, and some kinds quite a failure. Peas are filling 
very slowly, and French Beans, I am afraid, will be no good, the weather 
quite retarding their growth. All flowering shrubs here have done well 
this season, no doubt owing to the hot dry summer of last year, which 
was the means of ripening the wood thoroughly. I find the Begonias 
most satisfactory as bedding plants in wet weather here.—F. Clarke, 
Lowther Castle Gardens, Penrith. 
WILTSHIRE. 
June and July of the present year will rank among the wettest and 
coldest summer months we have had during the last forty years. The 
only way in which these unfavourable conditions affected the kitchen 
garden crops is in lateness of turning in, the quantity and quality of 
the produce having been everything that could be desired. We have 
had, and still have, an abundance of Peas and Cauliflowers of the best 
description, the former having been sown and planted (out of pots) in 
rows running north and south at from 6 to 8 feet apart, with a good 
11111 lulling of decayed manure on each side, and from two to three rows 
of Cauliflowers between. One good effect of the rainy and sunless 
weather throughout the month of July is that Peas have kept much 
longer in bearing than is the case during an ordinary summer. Sutton’s 
Royal Jubilee is a grand Pea, being a prodigious cropper, the pods con¬ 
taining from nine to twelve large and well flavoured peas, each being 
large and handsome. As an exhibition and all-round good Pea it has no 
rival here. The effect of the cold and rain on outdoor floweringand foliage 
plants in the flower garden is very marked. The only plant which "is 
really flourishing is the Viola. Beds of silver and golden-leaved Pelar¬ 
goniums, intermixed with Blue Perfection and Golden Queen Viola, are 
everything that could be desired. It is truly a wet summer plant. 
Lobelia pumila magnifica, and Ageratum Tom Thumb, a very dwarf 
growing compact variety, are, since a favourable change in the weather 
has taken place, now masses of deep blue and mauve. Beds of Verbenas, 
Calceolaria amplexicaulis, and tuberous-rooted Begonias are also very 
effective. Roses, both on standards and on their own roots pegged down 
in beds, have suffered considerably in consequence of so much cold and 
rain, but the present con lition of the trees augurs well for a gootl; 
autumn display.—H. W. Ward, Longford Castle Gardens, Salisbury. 
WORCESTERSHIRE. 
June and July of the present year will be long remembered, not only 
for the heavy rainfall, but also for many days in succession without the 
least sunshine, and the extremely cold nights, forming a striking con¬ 
trast to the same months last year. The rainfall for June as registered 
in these gardens was P84, rain falling on thirteen days ; weitest day, 
27th, 050. For July it was much heavier, rain fell on no less than 
twenty-two days ; wettest day 23rd, when 0'76 fell. Total for the 
month, 5'22. 
The heavy rainfall, together with dull cold weather, has caused many 
disappointments, especially so with the Strawberry crops, which suffered 
greatly from damp anl the attacks of s'ugs. On some lands Broccoli' 
and Brussels Sprouts have grown to an enormous size, and should a severe 
winter follow, I am afraid we shall hear many accounts of these winter 
vegetables being cut down. The losses will be greatest where planting 
has been done on rich and newly dug ground, showing once more the 
great evil of this. Where the iron bar had to be used the growth made 
was slower and naturally more consolidated, and will be much better' 
able to stand severe weather later on. 
In general the weather has been greatly against most outdoor 
flowering plants, but it sometimes haopens that a wet season up to a cer¬ 
tain point suits some flower gardens better than a dry one. Such I find. 
the case here, and though many of the Pelargoniums are dashed with the 
rains, a few bright warm days would dispel this appearance, and the 
garden would look much better than last season. The following have 
grown and stood proof against the rain : Ageratums, Pansies, Lobelia, 
R. Fish Pelargoniums, Iresin°, Ac. Of annuals, perhaps the best are: 
Mignonette, Zinnias, Candytuft, Helichrysums, Ac. Petunias and 
Nasturtiums, though planted extensively, have failed, producing 
nothing but growth, especially the former. 
The herbaceous borders have been remarkably gay, Phloxes producing 
an abundance of bloom ever since June, and will continue for some time. 
The Lychnis have proved valuable and very showy, especially L. Vis- 
caria and L. chalcedonica ; the latter at the present time is quite con¬ 
spicuous with its scarlet flowers. Helenium pumilum is one mass of 
rich yellow flowers, growing beside the above Lychnis. All the Spiraeas- 
have done well, this season just suiting them, while such graceful plants- 
as Montbretia Pottsi and Sparaxis pulcherrima are producing finer 
spikes than I ever remember seeing before. Campanula Hosti has been- 
very good indeed this season. In fact, in seasons like the present, or at 
any time, I consider more pleasure can be derived from a good collection, 
of herbaceous plants than can be found in any ordinary terrace gardens.. 
—R. Parker, Impney Gardens, Droitwich. 
YORKSHIRE. 
In Sheffield the weather throughout June and July has been almost 
uninterruptedly dull, cold, and wet, wind continuously in the north¬ 
west. Very few days occurred on which rain did not fall, and very few 
upon which we had sunshine. 
All garden crops are exceedingly late, more so than in any previous 
season within my memory. We are only now (August 11th) com¬ 
mencing to gather midseason Peas sown in March. None, excepting 
the earliest varieties of Potatoes in warm positions, are yet ready for 
digging. Strawberries just in, midseason, differing much as to sorts. 
James Veitch, a heavy crop of large fruit, but more than half decayed ;. 
Black Prince, good crop, fairly sound ; Vicomtesse, President, and Sir- 
Joseph Paxton mostly barren. Gooseberries, Currants, and Raspberries, 
heavy crops, now ripening. Jargonelle Pears, very heavy crops ; other 
varieties a fair average. Apples a small crop ; Plums likewise. Kitchen 
garden crops promising to be fairly good, but extremely late. No- 
Potato disease yet apparent. 
Bedding plants have made little growth and less flowers. Hardy 
and half-hardy annuals have grown fairly well, but are only just now 
opening their first flowers. Perennials have grown strongly, but have- 
only made a poor display, their flowers being spoilt by continued rains. 
Carnations are not yet in flower, will not be so before the end of this 
month. Chrysanthemums generally look well and very promising. 
The season on the whole has been the most difficult and unproductive- 
one to gardeners. — W. K. Woodcock, Oahbrooh Gardens, Sheffield. 
The contrast between the two months of June and July of last year 
and the same months of the present year are strikingly brought out 
by a few figures, furnished by a correspondent in a daily con¬ 
temporary. 
In the two months of June and July of last year there were recorded 
at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 507 hours of bright sunshine ; in 
the same months of this year only 227 hours, the average being 3461 
hours. Last year out of 61 days there were 43 on which more than six 
hours of sunshine were registered; this year there were only 15 such, 
days. > The days without sunshine were correspondingly 3 and 12. 
Last year only 48 per cent, of the sky was on the average covered 
by cloud, this year the average was 82 per cent. We have to go 
back to 1879 and 1860 to find years correspondingly cloudy, the per¬ 
centage of cloud being in both years 81, and both being years re¬ 
membered by agriculturists. Then as regards rain. In the months of 
June and July of last year the rainfall in all amounted only 
to 2'52 inches; in the present year this was 1010 inches;, 
the average being 437 inches. In no year since the establish-- 
