8a 
July  iSSfi 
JOUUN'AL  VP  MOkfiOtiLPURP  AR-i)  VoTTAGP  GARDPKPR. 
work,  and  had  we  been  superstitious  our  minds  would  have  been 
filled  with  dire  foreboding.  Queen’s  weather  we  prayed  for,  “Cold 
and  rain,  a  season  like  the  miserable  one  of  1861,”  was  the 
prophets’  cry.  We  are  so  dependent  here  on  sunshine.  Moisture 
is  usually  superabundant  (we  speak  advisedly),  the  droughty 
summers  in  the  Midlands  north  are  rather  the  exception  than  the 
rule.  A  really  wet  season,  that  is  wet  with  cold,  is  disastrous. 
The  summer  is  too  short  as  it  is,  that  we  want  every  bit  of  bright 
weather  that  we  can  get. 
Well,  Juna  has  come  and  gone,  and  like  fickle  April  or  Mrs. 
Gummedge,  has  been  most  “contrairy  and  taking  her  as  a  whole 
she  has  done  us  good,  and  not  ill.  May  went  out  with  balmy 
breezes  and  fair  skies,  and  June  came  in  with  every  promise  of 
blessing.  The  late  showers  of  May  had  caused  the  grass  to  spring 
with  great  rapidity,  work  was  forward,  and  the  farmer  had  his 
hands  more  than  full.  The  farm  notes  from  all  the  country  side 
for  the  first  week  in  J une  note  this  delightful  state  of  things — 
beneficent  showers,  warm  sunshine,  pastures  carrying  any  amount 
of  stock,  and  the  ispsct  of  the  cornfields  changed  in  twenty-four 
hours.  Till  then  it  had  been  feared  that  the  keeping  for  the 
summer  would  be  scarce,  and  the  hay  crops  meagre.  As  stack 
yards  were  empty,  and  hay  and  fodder  nil,  the  prospect  was 
gloomy.  We  do  not  doubt  that  possibly  in  some  of  the  more 
southernly  counties  the  hay  crop  may  yet  be  below  the  average, 
but  taking  the  country  as  a  whole  the  crop  is  excellent ;  and  this 
year  of  J ubilee  there  may  be  hay,  and  to  spare — winter  keep  seems 
assured. 
Whit-Sunday  found  us  sweltering  ;  brilliant  sunshine,  with  little 
or  no  breeze,  the  ground  felt  warm  under  the  tread,  and  the  day 
generally  was  spent  as  a  period  of  rest.  By  Monday  morning  there 
was  an  indefinable  something  in  the  air ;  a  change  seemed  imminent, 
and  come  it  did  ;  and  that  quickly.  We  weie  all  shrugging  our 
shoulders  till  one,  braver  than  the  rest,  suggested  a  fire.  No  sooner 
said  than  done  ;  but  what  about  the  poor  stock  in  the  fields?  “Cold 
as  Christmas  ”  was  our  verdict,  and  Tuesday  worse,  with  leaden  skies 
and  a  sullen  downpour,  that  only  resolved  itself  into  a  drizzle  as  the 
day  spent.  Then  came  cold  drying  winds,  to  be  followed  on'y  by 
blazing  suns  and  the  regulation  thunderstorm.  Why  cannot  we 
have  good  things  in  moderation  ?  From  the  13th  to  19th  stormy 
winds,  and  such  winds  !  making  the  gardens  a  very  wilderness,  and 
dashing  and  thrashing  all  delicate  foliage  till  the  country  appeared 
as  though  it  had  suffered  from  a  blast  of  shrivelling  flame.  The 
rain  was  plentiful,  and  this  and  the  storm  generally  seem  to  have 
been  confined  to  the  more  northerly  provinces. 
This  is  how  one .  north  country  farmer  speaks  of  the  gale  of 
June  16th.  “The  storm  of  wind  on  June  16th  was  such  as  the 
oldest  inhabitant  cannot  remember  in  that  month,  which  tossed  and 
knocked  our  crops  about  most  disastrously.”  This  is  from 
Lancashire.  On  the  same  date — e.e.,  June  16th,  we  read,  “  Wigton- 
shire ;  A  flood,  followed  by  a  hurricane  of  wind  ;  branches  were 
broken  off  trees,  fruit  trees  fairly  blanched  and  spoiled,  vegetables 
almost  blown  out  by  tbe  roots,  Potatoes  blackened  in  the  leaves, 
and  singled  Turnips  fairly  blown  away.  On  the  19ch  yet  another 
flood.”  Trinity  Sunday  opened  very  doubtfully,  and  although  little 
or  no  rain  fell,  there  was  every  appearance  of  it,  to  be  followed 
by  a  close,  dank  Monday,  when  the  earth  steamed.  Then  came 
forth  old  Sol  in  his  glory.  His  Majesty  to  greet  Her  Majesty, 
and  right  royally  did  he  do  it,  closing  in  with  soft  mists  that  made 
the  night  redolent  of  choice  odours.  Wtdnesday  was  almost 
unbearably  hot  ;  but  on  Thursday  we  shut  the  windows  and 
remarked  that  the  house  was  comfortable. 
Monday,  28th,  down  came  the  raiu  in  sheets,  and  the  air  was 
warm  and  moist  as  a  stove  house  ;  and  pleasant  sunshine  closed 
this  extraordinary  month — well,  we  wanted  a  record  month,  and 
we  have  got  it.  At  one  time  there  appeared  every  prospect  that 
the  great  Royal  Show  at  Manchester  would  be  in  difficulties  owing 
to  the  storm  of  the  16th  January — the  havoc  it  made  among  the 
wooden  shedding  and  the  galvanised  roofs.  But  it  would  take 
more  than  a  storm  at  the  eleventh  hour  to  disconcert  the  executive 
of  the  Royal,  and  the  morning  of  23rd  found  all  spick  and  span. 
The  management  of  -that  show  is  now  brought  to  such  perfection 
that  only  those  who  cavil  for  the  love  of  cavilling  can  find 
anything  to  disagree  about. 
We  have  still  another  record  of  this  month— such  a  sad  one 
^at  we  hesitate  to  add  it  to  our  cheerful  pages,  but  no  account  of 
June,  1897,  would  be  complete  without  a  reference  to  the  disaster 
which  overtook  the  county  of  Essex  on  June  24th,  Midsummer 
Day.  On  that  day  the  heat  was  excessive  in  London  and  Essex, 
and  the  thermometer  registered  90’’  in  the  shade.  Only  once 
has  this  occurred  during  tbe  last  nine  summers.  Then  broke  a 
thunderstorm  unparalleled  in  our  annals.  At  first  we  failed  to 
grasp  the  magnitude  of  the  disaster,  but  figures  are  awkward 
things  to  deal  with,  and  when  we  hear  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London 
has  opened  a  fund  for  tbe  relief  of  the  distress  in  Essex,  we  want 
full  particulars.  Here  they  are.  The  area  affected  is  stated  to  be 
from  seventy  to  100  square  miles,  from  Epping  to  Abridge,  to 
Burnham  and  Clacton.  The  money  value  of  tbe  damage  is  esti¬ 
mated  at  £200,000.  All  this  destruction  was  wrought  in  twenty 
minutes !  Hailstones  of  abnormal  size,  slabs  of  ice  4  or 
5  inches  long,  3  inches  wide  and  2  thick.  Elms,  Oaks,  and  Ash 
trees  uprooted,  those  still  standing  fairly  stripped  of  leaves,  fields 
of  Wheat  where  not  one  ear  has  escaped,  Peas  and  other  crops 
mangled  and  dying — the  market  garden  industry,  with  the  neces¬ 
sary  greenhouses  wrecked,  destruction  everywhere,  and  ruin 
staring  the  poor  occupier  in  the  face.  All  the  work  of  the  winter 
and  spring  undone,  and  in  only  twenty  minutes  !  Mr.  Long  has 
been  down  himself  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster,  and  has  also 
instructed  an  inspector  to  prepare  a  full  report  of  the  damage. 
Whether  Government  will  do  anything  in  the  shape  of  a  relief 
grant  we  do  not  know.  To  the  benevolent  an  appeal  will  not  be 
made  in  vain,  and  if  we  could  find  our  millions  for  our  stricken 
brethren  in  India  surely  we  can  find  our  thousands  for  the  poor 
striving  farmers  of  the  Essex  class. 
WOKK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  weather  is  simply  magnificent,  and  the  Clover  and  hay  are 
being  stacked  in  splendid  condition  ;  many  years  should  we  have  to 
carry  back  our  memories  or  our  diaries  to  find  such  a  fine  crop  of  well- 
harvested  fodder. 
Never  did  fine  weather  make  an  appearance  at  a  more  acceptable 
time ;  it  has  been  simply  splendid  for  killing  weeds  amongst  the  Turnips, 
and  the  heat  has  been  also  beneficial  to  tbe  young  plants,  for  young 
Turnips  love  warmth.  Great  complaints  are  rife  of  the  damage 
done  by  roots  to  the  plants  after  singling,  in  some  cases  one-half  having 
been  uprooted  by  the  birds  in  search  of  wireworms.  If  the  rook  never 
pulled  up  a  plant  unless  it  were  infested  with  wireworm,  little  blame 
would  attach  to  him ;  but,  unfortunately,  the  younger  birds  are  not 
sufficiently  discriminating,  that  is,  are  not  educated  highly  enough  to 
make  no  error  in  selecting  only  the  infested  plants. 
Grain  crops  look  well,  and  we  can  detect  in  the  earlier  fields  signs  of 
changing  colour.  With  a  continuance  of  bright  sunshine,  harvest  should 
commence  very  early'  In  August.  That  the  grain  is  swelling  fast  is 
shown  by  the  attention  paid  to  it  by  tbe  sparrows. 
Maybe  some  farmers  are  wishing  for  rain,  but  except  on  very  weak 
dry  lands  they  would  be  better  without  it.  Thera  is  an  abundance 
of  keep  for  the  stock,  and  as  roast  meat  is  better  than  boiled  for  nearly 
all  animals,  rain  might  do  much  harm  to  their  well-being,  without 
materially  increasing  the  bulk  of  their  fodder  supply. 
Flock  masters  are  about  weaning  the  lambs.  The  best  plan  is  to 
take  the  ewes  away,  leaving  the  lambs  in  their  old  pasture.  The  ewes 
should  be  put  on  short  commons  for  a  few  days,  and  water  must  be 
carefully  avoided.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  place  the  ewes  in  a  foldyard  or 
similar  place  for  twenty-four  hours  after  the  lambs  have  been  weaned. 
We  were  a  few  days  ago  very  much  interested  in  the  very  great 
contrast  presented  by  two  crops  of  Wheat  in  adjoihing  fields,  one  being 
apparently  three  times  as  heavy  as  the  other  just  over  the  hedge.  The 
land  is  naturally  of  a  light  nature.  Ou  inquiring  the  reason  from  the 
owner,  we  were  informed  that  the  field  producing  the  poor  crop  had 
been  heavily  clayed  at  the  rate  of  140  tons  per  acre  four  or  five  years 
ago,  and  that  it  had  never  had  a  good  crop  on  it  since,  but  was  hoping 
for  better  results  in  the  future. 
MBTBOROLOGIOAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Oamdbn  Squabh.  London. 
Lat.  61°  63' 40"  N. ;  Long.  0°  8/  0"  W.:  Altitude  111  feet. 
Datb. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
'a 
*3 
P4 
1897. 
July. 
I  Barometer 
1  at  32°,  and 
1  Sea  Level. 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun. 
Ou 
Grass. 
Inohs. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inohs 
Sunday  .....  11 
30-384 
68-3 
57-6 
N.K. 
65-0 
75  0 
51-4 
118-1 
44-0 
Monday  ....  12 
30-310 
64-2 
67-1 
N.E. 
64-9 
72-0 
51-2 
121-0 
457 
... 
Tuesday....  13 
30-124 
71-1 
61-6 
N.E. 
64-9 
77-8 
63-4 
123-3 
47-8 
Wednesday  14 
23  977 
71-4 
62-2 
N.E. 
65-6 
80-0 
53-9 
125-1 
47-4 
Thursday  ..  15 
«9-966 
67-9 
68-6 
N.E. 
6H-0 
Hl-1 
51-2 
126-2 
44-8 
Friday  ....  16 
30-108 
66-0 
57-9 
N. 
67-0 
79-7 
64-8 
180-9 
48-6 
Saturday  ..  17 
30-108 
72-1 
63-9 
N. 
67-9 
80-8 
59-0 
121-8 
53-7 
— 
30-138 
68-4 
69-6 
65-9 
78-1 
63-6 
122-3 
47  4 
— 
llth.— Bright  sunshine  all  day. 
12th.— Overcast  early,  and  generally  cloudy  till  0.30  P.M. ;  sunny  afternoon. 
13th. — Bright  sunshine  throughout. 
14th.— Bright  sunshine  all  day. 
15th. — Brilliant  all  day. 
Ihth. — Bright  sunshine  throughout. 
17th.— Sunny  early ;  generally  overcast  after  11  A.M. 
A  warm  rainless  week,  following  one  which  was  practically  rainless,— 
G,  i.  Stmons. 
