February 14,1889. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
121 
fjlHERE is one advantage in having so variable a climate as ours, 
JL that we are never subject to a monotonous routine in our garden 
•operations. In countries where the changes take place at certain 
times, and an unbroken course of weather, bad or good, follows for 
weeks, the routine of work does not vary from year to year. But 
with us it is very different. We may lay down certain rules for 
work, we may say that on such a day certain things ought to be 
■done, but a sudden change of weather comes and upsets all our 
■calculations. And this is not one of the lesser causes which tend to 
make our English and Scotch gardeners the best in the world ; 
they have to “ keep their eyes open,” to have their resources all 
ready for use, and when the fitting time arrives, to seize it ; a 
•Relay of a day in seed sowing or bulb planting may leave the 
•gardener “ stranded ” for weeks, while his more active wideawake 
neighbour has pushed on ahead. I see the same continually in 
farming operations around me ; and how much i3 often.lost by 
that want of vigilance which is fatal to both the agriculturist 
and the gardener. 
I do not think that I ever remember a season so generally 
unfavourable to gardening as that of 1888. Sometimes we have 
seasons which are bad for one thing or another in our gardens— 
.•a year when vegetables are scarce but fruit is plentiful ; another 
when fruit is a blank but flowers and vegetables flourish—but the 
reason of 1888 was bad all round ; at least it was so with us (and we 
do not live in the worst favoured part of England) in Kent. And yet, 
with all that disappointment, bitter disappointment awaited us at 
every turn. Never did I know such a wretched year for Potatoes ; I 
have not tasted a good one yet, and I hear the same story from 
all parts of the country, for, go where I will, I find the same 
■complaints. Beginning at the very beginning, Auriculas were full 
three weeks behind, and so the National Show held at the Drill 
Hall was shorn of a great deal of its attraction; and I have not 
heard of anyone who had a satisfactory bloom, for not only were 
they late, but being so “ long on the way ” they were inferior in 
quality. Spring flowers in the garden were, on the whole, satis¬ 
factory ; those, that is, which had remained in the ground all the 
winter. Thus, for example, I had a splendid bloom of Chionodoxa 
Luciliae, and other bulbs did fairly well. Not so, however, Lilies, 
which I think had suffered, many of them at least, for the drought 
•of the previous year and the long cold weather of May and June. 
Had there been a moist spring they might have recovered somewhat, 
but the long dry time they experienced in the early part of the 
year hindered their recuperation. It was very observable in the 
•diminished growth of some of the commoner kinds. L. testaceum 
■and L. davuricum were not half their usual height, while candidum 
was very poor, and, strange to say, the common Orange Lily dis¬ 
appeared altogether. In many herbaceous plants there was the 
•same want of vigour. Delphiniums did not attain anything like 
their usual height, and Inulas, Aquilegias, and many other hardy 
plants showed the same want of vigour. Of Roses enough has 
already been said, and the universal condemnation of the season 
showed that all parts of the kingdom had in like manner suffered' 
It was remarkable, however, for the total absence of aphides. 
There were grubs in abundance in the early part of the season, 
but nowhere did I hear of green fly. These insect visitations are 
more and more puzzling, and why they should have been absent in 
No. 451.—Vol. XVIII., Third Sf.ries. 
the seison of 1838 I cannot quite understand ; but there, science 
i3 at fault about these matters. 
Again, the season was disastrous for Dahlias ; the absence of sun¬ 
shine prevented the proper expansion of the blooms, and want of 
size and finish was the universal complaint, while the cruel frost of 
October 3rd not only prevented all hope of a late bloom, but turned 
them and the single varieties quite black. Gladioli, too, were not 
up to the mai’k. They were late in coming into flower, and their 
slow progress hindered the proper development of the flowers, and 
many of them never flowered at all ; they showed the spike, but it 
never coloured. There were, of course, those varieties which are 
always late, and we shall have to wait and see what effect this 
will have on them next season. There is the question whether these 
insufficiently matured corms, for such I should think they must be, 
will produce good spikes of bloom. That same frost crippled them, 
as it did also the autumnal blooming of Roses. I have never had 
so few Teas as this past season. In some parts of the country it 
was different, I believe, but here a good autumnal Tea was a 
rara avis, and annuals were, in the same way, indifferent. It was 
a bad season for Asters, Salpiglossis, and many other half-hardy 
plants which delight in sunshine ; so that, taking it altogether, 
there was but little comparative pleasure in the flower garden. 
Passing from flowers to fruit we have a somewhat similar story 
to tell. As far as my own garden was concerned—and we are not 
placed in the most unfavourable situation—bush fruits were with us 
abundantly, Currants especially so. I never remember to have seen 
a morebountiful crop of Red Currants, and not only so, but they were 
excellent in size and flavour. Raspberries and Strawberries both 
suffered from the extreme wet of July. There was an excellent 
crop of the latter, but many of them rotted on the plants, and the 
others were to a great extent deficient in flavour. King of the 
Earlies, however, well established its character and is deserving of its 
name, while Noble is, no doubt, a great gain. What curious notched 
foliage it has. I believe that I was particularly fortunate in Pears. 
I have but few large trees ; but of these I had a good crop, perhaps 
not quite satisfactory in point of flavour. My chief blemish 
was Doyenne du Comice on the wall, from which I have always had 
a fair crop, but this year fully one-half of the fruit was so cracked 
and disfigured as to be utterly useless ; but I am now (Feb 8th) 
eating excellently flavoured fruit of Josephine de Malines, and as 
I began with Jargonelle in September I do not think I have much 
to complain of. As to Apples, I have not so good an account to 
give. My little cordons which I have as a border behaved ad¬ 
mirably. From only half a dozen trees I had more than a bushel 
and half of fine large fruit ; and as we are few in number, and they 
were good keeping sorts, we are still using them ; but dessert 
Apples were just the opposite. Even Irish Peach, which is the 
king of early Apples, had not its usual colour or flavour, while 
Cox’s Orange Pippin, neither in number, size or flavour was satis¬ 
factory, and shrivelled very much when gathered, although the 
fruit was left longer than usual on the trees. Braddick’s Non¬ 
pareil, which generally supplies me with a few late Apples, and 
Lord Burghley, were in the same way disappointing. I have an 
opportunity of trying Waltham Abbey Seedling this year, and was 
told it was as good, if not better, than Wellington. I am bound to 
say that it is not, and I do not think that there is any culinary Apple 
that equals that fine fruit. Even to Melons in frames the season 
was unfavourable, the absence of sun depriving them of flavour. 
In turning lastly to vegetables, I have again lo report disap¬ 
pointment, the greatest failure being the Potato and its congener 
the Tomato. I should think that, notwithstanding all the fus3 
about “resting spores,” it has to be confessed sorrowfully that 
we know little about the disease, except in one thing that it is 
dependent on if not produced by excessive moisture. Nothing 
could be more luxuriant than the Potato patches in July, but those 
who knew anything about it foretold disaster after that wet month, 
and it came in August—all was a blackened mass, and the crop 
No. 2107.—Yoi.. LXXX., Old Series. 
