EFFECTS OF DROUGHT.
Warmth and drought, that have hurried forward the harvest, now beginning, and improved the quality of the grain, have had some evil influences. Young partridges have been dying in considerable numbers in drier districts and more than the normal number have been killed by birds of prey, who for some reason are always more destructive in very dry weather. In one garden even tame doves that roosted in a Scotch fir beside their former cage have been taken by owls. The reactions of various plants to the drought are 'often surprising. On one common much the worst sufferers are the thorn trees. In my garden the first plant to wilt utterly was the white violet. Both Deutzia and Syringa have needed much water, but the Buddleias hive .grown with more than normal vigour. So have a sweet-brier hedge and most of the bedding roses.
W. BEACH THOMAS.
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