THE WEATHER FOR DECEMBER. 
23 
we are quite certain that Sir William Hooker, instead of going about to reduce 
the emoluments and degrade the character of gardeners, will do what is in his 
power—and it is not little—to alleviate them by more fair and honourable 
means. 
[As the readers of the Florist are numerous, and distributed over all parts 
of the country, and as many of them are dealers in flowers, or purchasers of 
them, especially the choicer sorts, its cover is one of the most eligible vehicles 
for all kinds of Advertisements relating to Floriculture, including those gen¬ 
tlemen for first-class gardeners, and gardeners for situations. Lists and 
catalogues, of the size of the Journal, stitched in on fair terms.] 
THE WEATHER FOR DECEMBER. 
Like all the rest of the year, December has been peculiar ; and from its 
character it is difficult to infer what the remainder of the winter shall be, and 
still more so to come to any certain conclusion with regard to the ensuing 
spring. Down to the middle of the month there was not a great deal of frost, 
nor was it of any long continuance, though quite enough to destroy the later 
blooms of the Dahlias and Chrysanthemums, especially in low and damp situ¬ 
ations. This last destruction was a subject of regret, because the Chrysan¬ 
themums were in finer bloom than they have been for several years. 
The native and other hardy plants, which are too strong for being hurt by 
such slight frosts, never showed better at the same season. Early in the 
month we observed, in sheltered situations, Dandelions, and some others, 
w r ith the flowers in bloom, which are not very often seen after the middle of 
November, and sometimes not so late ; and this was not a premature bloom, or 
untimely coming on of the vegetation of the ensuing season, but a lingering 
remains of that of the season which is past. The flowering shrubs, and the 
blossoming trees, have also been let down by the gradual withdrawing of the 
summer heat, and not by any violent change arising from the shifting of a 
great atmospheric current. Those circumstances, notwithstanding the 
autumnal rains, have been favourable to the ripening of the wood, and the 
bringing forward of the flower buds ; and though the temperature in the early 
part of the month was mild, the evaporation from the humid earth prevented 
anything like the starting of a new growth, which is the grand autumnal evil, 
as the new growth which it shows is only a robbing of the following year. 
About the middle of the month frost set in, and it may proceed to a severe 
winter; but hitherto the progress has been slow. 
