170 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ August, 
THE FEUIT CEOPS OF 1874. 
^^JWaRIABLENESS or change is their chief characteristic. Throughout the 
LV-i country we find—here a crop taken, there one left. It seems almost as 
if the very spirit of caprice had regulated the distribution and destruction 
of the Fruit Crops of the season. We seem to know as yet comparatively 
little of the extremely subtle influences on which hang our chances of a crop of fruit 
in the open air. Neither heat nor cold, shelter nor exposure, elevation nor depres¬ 
sion, geological formation nor atmospheric conditions, skill nor the lack of it, 
will explain half the facts in the actual state of the fruit crop, and its extreme 
variation within a circuit of a few miles. Within the most limited area, the 
whole of the differences, from extreme fertility to no fruit at all, may be found ; 
while the same varieties run from abundance to nil^ within eye-shot each other. 
Great, indeed, are the mysteries of fruit-growing in the open air, and with 
many of the more tender varieties it is becoming more of a mere lottery year by 
year. Nor is this greatly to be wondered at, for what two destroyers can be 
more subtle or erratic in their course than the cold trail of spring frosts creeping 
into summer, and the destructive bills of hosts of ravenous law-protected birds. 
These two, between them, have done their work with 'more than their usual 
effectiveness this season, and it would be almost impossible to say which have 
done the most mischief, or which has worked with the greater lawlessness. Both 
alike are sprites of destruction mounted on steeds of caprice, and the results of 
their combined operations are traceable in zig-zag lines throughout almost every 
garden in the country. Of two Apple trees standing side by side, the crop of the 
one is taken and that of the other left, and so of others. Hence the difficulty of 
giving any general report of the fruit crops of the season. Each garden would 
almost need to be visited separately, and a general estimate of the aggregate 
taken. As no one writer can be expected to do this, it is the more needful 
for him to furnish a few notes of the state of things in his own garden and of 
those around him. 
One thing that reveals at once the cause of the destruction of so much fruit, 
and points the way to safety in later-flowering varieties, is the marvellous 
fertility this season of such late-flowering and late-growing fruits as Figs, Vines, 
Mulberries, Medlars, Ac., in the open air. A fact in the opposite direction 
teaches the importance of the same truth. Apricots flower first of all our fruit- 
trees, and in general terms it may be stated that unless where protected, the 
crop is a failure. Under glass copings we have a good half-crop. Peaches and 
Nectarines flower later, and they are a fair crop. Plums on north and east walls 
are likewise a better crop than on south and west walls. Pears are very variable ; 
perhaps a third of a crop, or in some cases a half-crop. Apples are a full crop 
in some gardens, almost an entire failure in others ; about a half-crop here. 
Gooseberries and Currants are a fine full crop here, an entire failure in many 
gardens; Raspberries, a fine show, suffering from late frosts and drought. 
