CALENDAR FOR MAY.-WEATHER. 
119 
Flower Garden. —If the weather proves favourable, much may be done 
here this month, though the cultivator must be cautious in turning out tender 
plants, lest all his pains be lost. Dahlias may go out, as also all tender and 
half-hardy annuals. As soon as the tulips begin to open, they should be pro¬ 
tected from rain and sun. Picottees, carnations, &c., in pots, should have the 
sticks placed before the roots get too large. Roses should be frequently 
looked over. Pick oft' the aphis and all crumpled leaves. Continue to repot 
Balsams, Amaranthus, &c. Increase the strength of the soil at each shifting* 
As soon as Cockscombs show flower they should be repotted, but not before. 
This keeps them dwarf. Auriculas as for last month. 
THE WEATHER FOR APRIL. 
The general character of the atmosphere for the month has been that of all 
the months of the year which have yet passed over—tranquillity, though 
April has been less tranquil than any of the preceding months, even those 
which contained the changes from most intense cold to a pleasant degree of 
heat. Near the beginning of the month, and again, more partially and with 
larger intervals, towards the close of it, there were cold days and keen winds 
from the northern half of the horizon, but chiefly from the north-east. These 
winds, though cold and piercing, had but few of the destructive qualities of east 
wind in the spring of ordinary seasons ; or, at all events, vegetation was better 
prepared for their reception, so that the injury they did was smaller and confined 
to peculiar places; and, upon the whole, it was probably counterbalanced by 
good. 
There are several points involved in this of which the common under¬ 
standing, or, to speak more accurately, the common opinion, is exceedingly 
vague. It is usual to speak in general terms of blights as something that 
rides on the east wind, and shrivels and withers all sorts of vegetation; and 
also of other and more specific blights, which accompany this general blight¬ 
ing as its associates, and not its consequents ; and which bring myriads of 
insects to prey upon that which the mere blighting wind has spared. These 
opinions are certainly prejudices ; but they are prejudices upon matters of 
fact; and therefore they can be vanquished only by facts on the other side, 
observed without prejudice, and faithfully given to the public. This has not 
hitherto been done, and the proper data for the doing of it have not been fully 
and impartially examined ; but we think that the present season is a favourable 
one for obtaining some knowledge of the matter. 
The first point for our examination is, whether the east winds which had 
been partially felt during the April of the present year are of the same kind 
and have the same source with those blighting winds which often do such 
serious mischief in the early season. The answer to this points to the 
negative; for the east winds of the present season have been accompanied 
by rain, while the blighting east winds are dry. Hence we are led to conclude, 
that these east winds are home winds, and by no means calculated to do the 
same mischief as those cold and drying winds which come from lower Germany, 
Holland, and the other cold and flat countries on the opposite shores of the 
British sea. 
Another point which requires investigation, and on which it would be worth 
