456 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  1898. 
sought  out  his  gardener  and  wanted  to  know  why  he  could  not  have 
such  fine  Carnations  as  lie  had  that  day  seen  at  the  show.^  The  squire 
seemed  clearly  to  think  it  was  entirely  his  gardener  s  fault  that 
they  were  not  forthcoming.  The  gardener,  whom  I  knew  to  be  a 
thoroughly  hard-working  and  good  practical  man,  was  obliged  to 
endure  in  silence,  because  he  had  a  young  and.  numerous  family  to 
consider;  but  the  following  will  show  what  chance  he  had  ot  growin^ 
the  best  types  of  Carnations.  He  managed  a  garden  in  which  the 
labour  during  the  last  ten  years  had  been  reduced  by  two-thirds,  yet 
the  whole  of  the  pleasure  grounds  and  kitchen  garden  were  sti 
expected  to  be  kept  in  presentable  style;  but  here  comes  the  greatest 
poser,  not  one  penny  was  allowed  to  be  spent  in  the  puicha>e  of  new 
varieties  of  plants,  or  cu' tings  of  them.  Small  wonder,  then,  that  the 
squire’s  Carnations  were  behind  the  times. 
In  the  vicinity  of  large  towns  the  rush  after  new  vaiieties  o 
p^'pular  flowers  is  still  more  marked,  for  those  who  spend  so  much  of 
their  time  toiling  in  noisy  workshop-!  or  smoky  factories  find  rest, 
peace,  fascination,  in  making  a  hobby  of  the  cultivation  of  some 
particular  flower  during  their  few  leisuie  hours.  What  could  be 
better  pastime  for  them,  more  health-giving,  enjoyable,  elevating  . 
Some  take  up  the  Dahlia,  and  strive  with  all  their  might  to^  come 
out  winners  at  some  local  show;  others  devote  their  attention  to 
Fuchsias,  Pelargoniums,  Roses,  or  \  iolas ;  and  nearly  all  dabble  in 
Chrysanthemum  growing,  even  if  it  is  only  with  a  feweaily  vaiieties  in 
the  open  air.  Earning,  as  they  do,  good  wages,  the}'  ungrudgingly  spend 
a  Cl 'iisiderable  amount  in  the  purchase  of  things  that  please  them  iii 
the  floral  world.  A  visit  to  the  flower  markets  comes  as  a  natura 
I  an  of  their  weekly  round  of  shopping.  Those  who  live  in  the  centre 
of  Itrge  towns,  where  they  ca  not  enjoy  the  luxury  of  a  gaiden,  ’eep 
tlieir  windows  regularly  supplied  with  pot  plants,  or  their  rooms 
adorned  with  a  few  cut  flowers.  Indeed,  I  think  it  may  truly  be  sai 
that  flowers  enter  to  an  increasing  extent  into  the  lives  of  almost  every 
individual  in  Britain,  and  the  very  poor  will  spend  a  few  pence  upon 
II  r  I  as  fri  (dy  as  they  du  njiuii  lih’s  real  necessities. 
Does  not  this  all  show  that  there  is  still  a  splendid  lutiue  ot 
prosperity  for  commercial  horticulture,  as  it  ]ioints  to  an  ever-increas¬ 
ing  demand  for  the  common,  as  well  as  the  choicer  products  of  the 
gardener's  art  ?  Do  not  these  things  also  show  that  Britain  is 
advancing  in  material  p  rosperity,  in  taste,  in  refinement,  and  in  the 
real  comforts  of  home  life  enjoyed  by  the  greatest  number  of  the 
inhabitants  ? — H.  D. 
WHAT  WILL  THE  SUMMER  BE? 
“  An  Old  Gakdenek  •’  wi^hes  to  know  (['age  444)  whether  I 
can  tell  him  how  many  wet  summers  we  have  had  during  the  past 
twenty  or  more  years?  Taking  the  rainlall  records  most  readily 
accessible — those  of  '  my  own  neighbourhood — tlie  wet  and  dry 
summers  of  the  last  forty-two  years  arrange  themselves  as  follows  : 
18.56,  dry. 
1870,  dry. 
1884,  dry. 
1857,  wet. 
1871,  average. 
Is85,  dry. 
1858,  dry. 
1872,  wet. 
1886,  dry. 
1859,  wet. 
1873,  drv. 
1887,  dri . 
1860,  wet.  b. 
1874.  dry. 
1888,  wet. 
1861,  average. 
1875,  wet,  a 
1889,  dry. 
1862,  dry. 
1876,  drv. 
1890,  wet. 
1863,  wet. 
1877,  average. 
1891,  average. 
1864,  dry 
1878,  wet,  a. 
1892,  wet,  a. 
18(!.5,  wet,  a. 
1879.  wet,  b. 
1893,  dry. 
1866,  wet,  a. 
1880,  wet,  a. 
1894,  average. 
1867,  wet. 
1881,  wet,  a. 
1895,  wet. 
1868,  dry. 
1882,  average. 
1896,  dry. 
1869,  dry. 
1883,  dry. 
1897,  dry. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  w'et  and  dry  summers  during  the  period 
referred  to  were  about  equally  divided.  Out  of  the  seventeen  wet 
seasons  there,  however,  occurred  only  two  in  which  the  total  rainfall 
exceeded  the  average  quantity  by  50  jer  cent.,  and  but  seven  others 
when  that  quantity  was  exceeded  by  25  per  cent.  The  latter  are 
indicated  in  the  above  table  by  the  letter  a  and  the  former  by  the 
letter  h.  Moreover,  had  I  time  to  go  into  the  question  more  closely, 
it  would  no  doubt  be  found  that  many  of  the  summers  classed  in  the 
table  as  wet  ones,  were  by  no  means  injuriously  so  to  vegetation. 
For  it  is  continuous  rainy  weather,  rather  than  occasional  heavy  falls 
with  sunny  periods  intervening,  which  produces  that  coldness  of  the 
ground  and  atmosphere  which,  after  all,  makes  wet  weather  at  this 
season  so  unwelcome  in  our  gardens. 
When  recently  mvestigadng  the  question  of  vi rough. s 
periods  occurring  during  that  part  of  the  year  when  most  l'>^8  are 
in  active  growth,  I  was  surprised  to  find  how  much  more  4 
continuous  dry  peiiods  had  been  during  the  pnsent  century  as  co 
pared  with  those  marked  by  continued  rain.  ^ 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  th&se  considerations  may  afiord  some 
consolation  to  your  correspondent,  who  apipears  to  have  such  a  dread 
of  that  comparatively  rare  experience,  a  really  wet  summer. 
So  far  I  feel  on  tolerably  safe  ground,  but  when  he  goes  on  to  asfc 
my  opinion  as  to  what  the  weather  of  the  present  summer  is  fi^elv  tn 
be,  1  must  confess  mysetf  as  much  at  sea  as  any  oth(  r  gardener,  be 
young,  old,  or  of  middle  age.  It  is  quite  true,  as  An  Did 
Gardener  ”  says,  that  wet  and  dry  seasons  balance  each  other  soone 
or  later,  but  they  do  so  in  such  an  erratic  fashion  that  om  neve 
knows  how  long  or  how  short  a  time  they  may  take  to  settle  their 
differences.  So  that  I  am  afraid  but  little  comfor  ,  or  e  J 
as  the  case  may  be,  can  be  derived  from  the  fact  that  dry  or  stormy 
weather  is  at  any  particular  time  due. 
Judo-ing  from  his  remarks  I  should  say  that  your  correspondent 
had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  keeping  his  “  weather  eye  0?®°’  ^  , 
conseauently  is  no  doubt  able  in  most  cases  to  form  a  pre  y  . 
gne.-s*as  to  what  the  weather  is  likely  to  be  for  ” 
advance  ;  or  perhaps  he  may  prefer  consulting  the  official  ^o^a 
for  his  own  district  which  are  published  each  day  m  the 
In  either  case,  it  may  not  appear  any  great  feat  in  the  way 
forecasting  to  be  able  to  indicate  with  more  or  less  certainty  the  atino- 
spheric  conditions  likely  to  prevail  during  the  next  twelve  or  t^wen  y 
four  houn-i.  Yet,  truth  to  tell,  in  the  present  state  of  our 
this  is  the  utmost  that  we  can  expect  in  this  country,  looked,  so 
fickle  is  our  climate  that  a  certain  proportion  of  mi^t  o® 
h  oked  for  even  in  forecasts  covering  such  a  short  [  eriod  ot  tim  ■  a 
a  single  day,  however  carefully  and  skilfully  they  may  have  been 
prepared.  I  mention  this  in  order  that  your  read^s  may  ju  S® 
much  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  those  predictions  they  ^  ™ 
from  time  to  time  which  prof,  ss  to  foretell  with  confidence  the  character 
^I°i!fieirdoA)t  if  ihise  interested  in  horticultural  pursuits  wmuld 
be  much  the  wiser  were  we  meteorologists  able  to  let  them  know 
bofi.rehand  the  general  character  of  any  season,  the  weather  ot 
„,U  tsiimi.ier,-,  f.r  ex.uui  Ic,  he  nu  Muh  a  strangely  um-qiial  mixture 
of  wet  and  cold,  and  dry  and  warm  periods.  Besides  which,  as  regaids 
the  well-being  or  otherwise  of  our  gardens,  so  much  depends  upon  the 
intensity  or  duration  of  any  phenomenon.  For  .instance, 
advantage  is  it  to  know  that  a  certain  summer  will  be  hot  it  m  me 
early  part  of  it  there  should  occur  a  killing  Irost,  or  to  learn  that 
another  summer  will  be  unusually  wet  if  there  be  scarcely  a  drop  ot 
rain  in  June,  the  previous  month  having  also  been  singularly  dry  . 
But  to  sav  nothing  of  the  difficulty  of  forecasting  seasons,  I  of  en  fand 
it  difficult  enough  to  describe  the  weather  ot  a  single  , YpJpIp 
past,  at  all  events  in  such  a  way  as  to  render  the  descrij  tion  intelli  ible 
from  a  gardener’s  point  of  view,  so  frequent  have  been 
have  occurred  during  the  course  of  it.— -E.  M.,  Berkhamsted,  MaySOt  , 
1898. 
PICTORIAL  GARDENING. 
The  [licturesque  is  defined  by  writers  on  aesthetics  as  distinct  from 
the  sublime  and  beautiful  by  the  unconnectedness  of  its  parts  But 
each  separate  or  individual  portion  should  be  characterised  either  by 
beauty  of  form,  of  which  the  attributes  are  symmetry,  proportion,, 
and  harmony.  As  the  term  picturesque  is  applied^  usua  ly  to  land- 
scane  scenes,  colour,  light,  and  shade  must  play  an  ^ 
all  grand  pictures.  The  general  effect  of  such  a  scene,  with  its  hg 
and  shade,  will  be  best  judged  at  a  distance.,  so 
minor  details  does  not  confuse  the  mind.  A  few  days  ago  I  beheld  a 
scene  that  might  well  illustrate  my  remarks  on  the  importance  ot 
li'jht  and  shade.  ,  ,  i.  r _ 
Standing  upon  the  highway  I  looked  across  to  the  wist;  before  me 
was  an  undulating  country  of  several  miles  of  gentR  sloping  green 
meadows  and  wooded  knolls,  in  exact  proportion.  The  background 
was  a  mountain  lange  with  many  peaks,  but  not  abriqit  or 
The  shadows  of  the  mountains,  the  darkness  of  the  trees  that  bad  not 
burst  their  buds,  and  the  clumps  of  Pine  and  Scotch  Fir,  blended  and 
contrasted  with  the  vivid  green  of  those  trees  that  had  assumed  their 
new'  attire,  and  made  a  scene  inspiring  in  its  beauty. 
Then  we  may  lay  it  down  as  a  rule  that  a  perfect  picture  must  b 
characterised  by  contrast  and  opposing  masses.  I  have  in  my  mind  s 
eye  a  beautiful  French  chateau  standing  in  about  100  a^es  ot 
picturesque  grounds.  As  it  was  situated  only  just  across  the  English 
Channel  the  climate  was  not  materially  different  from  our  own,  an 
all  the  trees  and  shrubs  I  shall  name  are  such  a-'  are  haril^y  in  the 
northern  counties  of  England.  Its  walks  might  have  been  the  origin 
of  Hogarth’s  line  of  beauty,  they  were  so  gently  serpentine  and 
without  any  acute  angles.  Its  lawns  were  broad  (as  all  Natur 
