GARDENERS AND FROST.
The less romantic countryman has always believed in the value of a late spring. The later it is the more likely is he to avoid what has been called the worst attribute of British and, indeed, of mid-European weather : the May frost. But neither the practical cultivator nor the anonymous makers of the weather maxims (in which the March calendar is peculiarly rich) contemplated a zero frost as one of the likely delayers' of spring at such a date as this. We have had an experience that we may never have again. It has been and is undeniably interesting though frightening to watch the effects of this abnormal violence on our gardens. On the first of the warmer more springlike mornings I talked over a hedge of lavender with an ardent cottage gardener. He confessed to the ruin of his winter lettuces and the pinching of his spring cabbage ; but rejoiced nevertheless. " It's done a powerful lot of good to the ground," he said. There spoke the deep optimism of your true countryman. He is generally most cheerful when appearances are bad, if sometimes most full of growls when you might expect cheerfulness.
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