468 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  8,  1899. 
nXETEOROIiOGZCAI.  OBSERVATZOITS  AT  CHZSWZC3C. 
— Taken  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens— height  above 
sea  level  24  feet. 
Date. 
o 
Temperature  of  the 
Air. 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
Lowest 
Temperature 
on  Grass. 
-O  ^ 
im  ‘-g.S 
May 
and  ^ 
.Tune. 
At  9  A.M. 
Day. 
Night 
Rain. 
At 
1-ft. 
deep. 
At 
2-ft. 
deep. 
At 
4-ft. 
deep. 
Dry 
Bulb. 
Wet 
Bulb. 
Highest 
1 
Low’est. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
ins. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Sunday  . .  28  N. N.  F.. 
.50-5 
45-3 
60-0 
37  T 
_ 
.51-2 
52-8 
51-9 
28-9 
Monday. .21)  |  N.N.E. 
•OS -5 
51-9 
63-9 
35-8 
_ 
.53  T 
52-9 
51-9 
26-5 
Tue.sday  80  |  s.K. 
.57 -9 
51*8 
68  T 
36-6 
_ 
5.5-5 
53-6 
51-9 
29-4 
Wed’sdayOI  S.S.W. 
61 -.5 
.52-6 
71-9 
39-4 
_ 
.56-9 
54-5 
51-9 
32-9 
Thursday  1  S.  E. 
TOT 
.58-0 
76-9 
46-4 
59-2 
55-5 
52  T 
37-8 
Fridav  ..  2  S.S.W. 
74  2 
60-2 
80*5 
51-6 
_ 
61-6 
56-5 
.52-2 
45-0 
Saturday  3  N.N.E. 
61 '5 
53T 
75T 
50-9 
— 
62-3 
57  "7 
52-6 
40-6 
Total 
Me.4NS  ..  1 
61-3 
53-3 
70-9 
43-0 
— 
57-1 
54*8 
52-1 
34-4 
The  weather  during  the  week  has  been  warm  and  dry. 
-  Sussex  Weathek.— The  total  rainfall  at  Stonehurst,  Ardingly. 
for  the  past  month  was  1'64  inch,  being  0‘31  inch  below  the  averaee. 
The  heaviest  fall  was  0-31  inch  on  the  15th.  Rain  fell  on  nine  days.  The 
maximum  temperature  was  75°  on  31st;  the  minimum  34°  on  the  5th 
and  27:h.  Mean  maximum,  53'51°  ;  mean  minimum,  43'02°.  Mean 
temperature,  53'51° — the  average.  An  extremely  variable  month.  About 
the  20th  it  wa?  cold,  wet,  and  stormy,  y Ft om  the  22nd  to  25th  it  was  fine, 
and  the  mean  temperature  was  [54°.  The  following  three  days  gave  a 
mean  temperature  of  46°,  with  a  cold  N.E.  wind.  The  wind  changed  to 
S.W.  on  the  30ih,  and  the  31st  gave  us  the  almost  tropical  mean  tempera¬ 
ture  of  59°.  In  low  lying  places  Potatoes  and  Beans  have  been  blackened. 
On  higher  ground  nothing  'has  suffered,  and  the  fruit  crops— Pearsi 
Apples,  and  small  fruits — will  be  full. — R.  I. 
-  The  IIot^  Weather. — The  weather  over  England  c.^ntinues 
very  warm,  the  highest  temperature  being  still  reported  in  and  around 
London.  On  Monday  morning  the  shade  reading  in  the  metropolis  even 
at  eight  o’clock,  was  as  high  as  69°,  and  by  10  a.m.  the  thermometer  had 
risen  10°  higher.  The  maximum  temperature,  registered  about  midday, 
was  again  83°,  or  precisely  the  same  as  on  Sunday  and  Friday  last,  and 
about  17°  above  the  average  for  the  time  of  year.  In  London  we  have 
already  had  four  days  this  month  with  a  maximum  reading  of  80°  or 
more,  an  unusual  experience  in  the  beginning  of  June.  On  Monday 
afternoon  the  appearance  of  the  '  sky'  was  again  threatening,  but  the 
thundery  aspect  was  not  justified  by  any  atmospherical  changes  in  sur¬ 
rounding  regions — the  barometer  being,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  unusually 
steady.  Though  dull  on  Tuesday  morning  it  was  oppressively'  hot,  and 
the  shade  temperature  again  reached  83®.  Not  only  in  the  metropolis, 
but  over  nearly  the  whole  of  England,  there  have  been  now  twelve  con¬ 
secutive  days  without  rain. ’7;  With  an  abundance  of  hot  sunshine  the 
ground  has  naturally  become  very  dry,  and  in  many  districts  a  few 
copious  showers  would  prove  beneficial  to  the  crops. —  Daily  News.”) 
-  Fruit  Culture. — How  slow  we  are  to  improve  our  methods 
in  relation  both  to  fruit  culture  and  marketing,  Mr.  G.  Bunyard's  recent 
Society  of  Arts  lecture,  and  the  discussion  which  followed  shows.  For 
many  years  have  we  been  insisting  on  the  same  ideas  and  suggestion.s 
and  with  what  poor  effects.  It  all  comes  of  our  faulty  educational 
methods,  which  are  so  much  devoted  to  purely  academic  instruction 
in  elementary  schools,  rather  than  giving  instruction  in  the  things  of 
common  life  and  common  culture.  Were  our  children  taught  the  things 
in  school  which  relate  to  their  localities  and  local  vocations,  and  less  of 
worthless  matter,  what  good  ere  this  might  have  been  done.  We  are 
indeed  blind  to  allow  this  sort  of  thing  to  go  on,  and  then  find  in  after 
life  what  great  mistakes  have  been  made.  In  a  fruit-growing  county  like 
Kent,  for  instance,  the  fullest  instruction  in  the  elements  of  fruit  culture, 
and  of  the  principles  of  marketing,  especially  as  they’  have  been  expounded 
by  Messrs.  Assbee,  Monro,  and  others,  ought  to  form  a  leading  part  of 
our  school  curriculum.  Then  we  should  see  lads  when  they  left  school 
taking  readily  to  the  vocation  in  which  they  have  been  taught.  Now  they 
leave  scliool  with  totally  diverse  tastes  and  ideas,  they  learn  to  dislike 
rural  life,  they  have  haidly  any  association  with  it,  and  whilst  the 
smartest  go  to  the  towns,  the  duliards  remain  at  home,  constituting  a  race 
that  is  stolid,  and  incapable  in  after  life  of  improvement.  In  no  depart¬ 
ment  of  trade,  in  no  vocation,  docs  it  seem  more  difficult  to  create  active 
progressive  development  than  it  does  in  the  vocation  of  fruit  growing 
for  market. — A.  D 
-  Trees. — The  trees  serve  us,  Mr.  John  Gifford  points  out  in  a 
contemporary,  by  improving  the  soil,  and  by  actually  making  both  soil 
and  land  ^as  well.  They  bring  from  deep  layers  great  quantities  of 
mineral  matter,  and  in  their  leaves  they  deposit  much  of  this  on  the- 
surface,  where  is  collected  a  mulch  of  humus  of  constantly’  increasing 
richness.  The  forests  form  soil  by  sending  out  acid-charged  rootlets, 
which,  with  the  acids  of  the  decaying  humus,  have  a  potent  effect  iit 
disintegrating  the  rocks. 
-  Tar  Water  for  Leaf  Miners.  —  ilr.  Luckhurst  is  not 
happy  with  his  tar  water  formula.  First  it  was  half  a  gallon  of  gas  tar 
boiled  half  an  hour  in  a  gallon  of  water,  then  50  gallons  of  water 
added  =  1  in  100.  This  was  reiterated,  and  now  it  is  half  pound  of  gas 
tar  to  50  gallons  of  water  =  1  in  1000.  That  is  the  correct  thing,  and" 
was  used  in  England  half  a  century’  ago  for  curing  mealy  bug  on  Vines.. 
It  is  wonderful  how  things  travel  from  England  to  New  Zealand  and 
return  again  after  a  lifetime  as  new. —  Observer. 
■ -  “Guernsey  Growers’  Year  Book.” — The  last  issue  of  the 
“Guernsei’  Growers’  Association’s  Year  Book  ”  is  to  hand,  and  contains- 
a  fund  of  information  that  fully  maintains  the  Society’s  right  to  its  motto- 
of  mutual  help.  Many  subjects  are  ably’  dealt  with  by  various  contri¬ 
butors,  and  though  the  articles  have  been  compiled  mair.ly  for  the  benefit 
of  the  market  growers  in  the  Channel  Islands,  there  is  much  information 
that  could  not  fail  to  be  of  service  to  growers  nearer  home.  There  are 
tables  of  freights  and  ready  reckoners  that  are  valuable  as  helping  to- 
savo  time,  as  ivell  as  other  solid  matter.  The  book  comprises  nearly 
200  pages,  and  can  be  had  for  Is.,  plus  about  34.  for  postage,  from  the 
Hon.  Secretary,  Mr.  Andrew  Marshall,  St.  Andrew’s,  Guernsey. 
-  Holland  in  Ireland. — We  are  informed  that  early  last 
week  the  usually  tranquil  village  of  Rush,  Co.  Dublin,  was  roused  from, 
its  normal  condition  by  all  the  bustle  and  excitement  incidental  to  a  Vice- 
Regal  visit.  Messrs.  Hogg  &  Robcrts  in.  Dublin,  were  honoured  by  a 
command  to  receive  her  Excellency  the  Lady  Lieutenant  (Countess- 
Cadogan),  who,  attended  by  Mr.  Algernon  Peel,  Private  Secretary,  made 
on  extended  inspection  of  the  firm’s  bulb  farm.  The  Narcissi  and 
early  Tulips  were  of  course  ove*-,  but  the  May  flowering  species  and 
Darwin  Tulips,  Anemones,  and  Ranunculus  were  at  their  best,  and  the- 
weallh  of  bloom  made  a  magnificent  display.  Her  Excellency  was- 
pleased  to  express  her  satisfaction  with  the  visit,  and  was  specially  struck 
with  the  large  and  varied  collection  of  late  Tulips,  which  were  in 
splendid  health.  The  firm  received  instructions  to  send  a  large  collection- 
of  Daffodils  and  Tulips  to  Culford  Hall  Gardens,  Bury  St.  Edmonds,  in 
the  autumn.  Messrs.  Hogg  &  Robertson’s  displays  of  Daffodils  and 
Tulips  in  London  and  elsewhere  have  been  much  admired  this  season. 
-  Barnsley  and  District  Experimental  School  of- 
Gardening. — The  first  lecture  under  the  auspices  of  the  above  school 
took  place  at  the  Queen’s  Hotel,  Barnsley,  on  the  evening  of  the  30th  ult. 
Mr.  Wm.  Hoey’  presided,  and  pointed  out  the  importance  of  adopting 
up  to-date  methods,  also  the  advantages  the  school  would  afford  to 
gardeners  generally.  The  object  of  the  school  is  to  test,  increase,  and 
improve  the  productiveness  ot  garden  land,  and  decrease  the  cost  of 
production  of  crops  by  means  of  scientific  research,  and  to  teach,  by 
means  of  plain  practical  object  lessons,  the  art  of  budding,  grafting,, 
and  hybridising,  and  generally  to  encourage  the  advancement  of  the 
higher  branches  of  horticulture.  The  lecturer,  Mr.  Thos.  Redington, 
F.R.H.S.,’jHorticultural.  Instructor  to  the  Yorkshire  College,  took  for 
his  subject,  “The  Present  Day  Need  for  Practical  and  Scientific  Gar¬ 
dening.”  He  began  by  shewing  the  present  condition  of  this  country^ 
commercially,  as  compared  w  ith  some  forty  years  ago,  and  pointed  out 
that,  whereas  foreign  produce  of  a  horticultural  kind  was  then  practically 
unknown,  we  were  now  spending  ’upwards  of  twenty  millions  sterling  a 
year  upon  such  imports.  This  state  of  things  had  been  brought  about 
mainly  through  indiffertnee  and  prejudice — prejudice  against  improved 
methods  of  procedure  in  the  cultivation  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  He 
illustrated  this  by  instances  drawn  from  his  own  experiences,  and  con¬ 
cluded  by  urging  that  no  improvement  could  be  looked  for  until  they 
made  up  their  minds  to  pay  more  attention  to  the  facts  of  advanced 
practical  and  scientific  knowledge,  and  to  apply  the  same  to  their 
everyday  life.  The  lecture  was  well  attended,  and  listened  to  with 
interest.  On  the  motion  of  Mr.  A.  Chappell,  seconded  by  Mr.  Winter, 
a  vote  of  thanks  was  given  to  the  lecturer.  This  school)  is  under  the 
management  of  a  Committee  representing  the  California  Gardeners’" 
Society,  the  Barnsley  Paxton  Society,  and  the  Longcar  and  Dodworth 
Road  Shaw  Trust  Gardeners'  Committees.  Mr.  W.  Hoey  is  Chairman, 
and  Mr.  C.  Hy.  Parker,  Shaw  Lane,  is  acting  as  Secretary,  pro  tern.— 
(“  Barnsley  Chronicle.”) 
