than ufual, as I learn'd from a great Dealer in thofe Things.

Colliflowers of the right fort were fold in the Gardens for five Shillings each, but some of the green kind for twelve Pence, about the middle of the Month. Mr. Jewel, of the Neat-houses, fent the fine fort to Market firft, about the 14th, and then Kidney-Beans, rais'd in hot Beds, were about three or four Shillings per hundred. He told me he was the firft Gardiner in England that rais'd the young Sallad Herbs for the Winter Markets, and Kidney-Beans in hot Beds.

Green-Goosberries firft came to the Markets about the beginning at two Shillings per Quart, and now at the End are fold for three half Pence per Quart.

Forward Pease were fold this Month for half a Guinea per Pottle-basket, and Beans at four Shillings about the end of the Month.

I choose to mention the Prices of these Curiofities, that we may the better judge of their Scarcity, and compare them with Fruits of the fame kind another Season.

We may this and the next Month set the young Shoots of Vines; after foaping the Ends which are to be interr'd, and keeping them well water'd, they will presently take Root.

Remarks on the Weather and Produce in June.

FRO

ROM the beginning of this Month to the 16th Day, the Weather was cold and very rainy, the Wind all that Time at Weft, and fometimes blowing hard; but fome Thunder

Showers

Showers falling, the Wind chang'd as ufual, and we have had hot Weather to the end.

I cannot help remarking in this Place an Obfervation of the curious Mr. Barham, F. R. S. which he made three or four Years ago in his Voyage from Jamaica to England, in part of May and June, and has fince been obfery'd by others in the fame Paffage about the fame Seafon; which, I believe, may ferve to account for the cold Air and the Wet, which commonly happens more or lefs about this Time of the Tear, when the Wind is at Weft efpecially. Mr. Barham inform'd me, that in the Western Ocean he met feveral large Iflands of Ice coming from the North, and making their Way towards the Line; from which arose so great an Exhalation and Fog, that the Ship was often in Danger of falling foul of them: Some others tell me, fome Inlands of this kind have been lately feen, which measur'd about fixty Miles in length, which must confequently emit a prodigious Quantity of Vapour, enough to produce fuch Clouds as might very reasonably afford us the great Quantity of Rain we have had fallen at the Time of their Paffage; fo that we may expect yearly about the fame Time cold Rains, or Hail-Storms, in greater or lefs Abundance, as these Inlands of Ice are more or lefs in Quantity, or fome Days fooner or later as they happen to be in their Paffage to the Southward.

From these Storms we are apt to receive great Damage in our Fields, Orchards and Gardens; they lay the Corn, bruife the Fruit fometimes, fo as to deftroy it quite, or give room for noi fom Infects to annoy it; and I have known many fine Plants and Flowers entirely ruin'd by

Ff3

them:

them: But if in lieu of these Storms, the Weather is fettled Rain for eight or ten Days, the Farmer is in danger of lofing his Hay, or having its Colour chang'd, which lowers its Value in the Markets; and the Cold, which attends fuch Rains, retards the ripening of Fruits, and renders them infipid even when they come to be ripe.

The dark Weather of this Seafon was fo injurious to the Gardens, that our first Cabbages were not in the Markets till the beginning of the Month, and then held at one Shilling, or ten Pence a piece for a Week, or more; about which Time a greater Quantity being brought to London, their Price fell to one fourth Part, and towards the End to an indifferent MarketPrice: In the mean while, Colliflowers had much the fame Turn, and became of very little Value in the end of the Month, through their extravagant Numbers. About the middle of the Month, moft of the Crops of Peafe and Beans about London were ripe, and came daily in fuch Quantities to the Markets, that their Price was reduc'd to about one Shilling per Bufhel, unless fuch only as were of the finest forts, brought from particular Gardens.

About the fifteenth, I faw feveral fmall Melons, and fome mafculine Abricots, with fome Codlins as large as Walnuts: The mean while, Cherries of moft kinds were in the Markets at moderate Prices, and Cucumbers at the latter End kept their Price at one Shilling per Dozen, if they were good Fruit. About the 20th, the red and white Currans began to ripen, and towards the End were very plentifully brought to Town; as alfo Rasberries, and the green and red kinds

of

ふ

of Goosberries full ripe, in great Abundance; and we had yet fome of the Wood Strawberries.

There were to the laft Goosberrics of the common kinds for Tarts, which did not seem to promise ripening in less than fifteen Days good Weather.

All this Month we had Turneps, Carrots, and Onions, which were well appled, fit for boiling, at a middle Price, and Artichokes were extreamly cheap.

We may be fatisfied from fuch Remarks what we may expect in the feveral Seafons of the Year, even when they have been curb'd by Weather as bad as we have had fince the Spring began, we may judge how much the Price of any Commodity is rais'd or fallen in the Markets by its Scarcity, or over Abundance, and from thence learn how to proportion our feveral Crops, that every one of them may be able to pay the Expence of raifing and bringing to Market, which fome of them do not, as the State of Gardening now is: Therefore I think it will be no bad Advice to the Gardiners and Husbandmen, to perfuade them to general Meetings now and then, to confult about the State of their Crops, and thereby prevent the too great Glut of any one Thing, and contrive to have their Crops follow one another, and not as they do at prefent come in all together, to their own Prejudice and the Discontent of the Buyers, who certainly would rather chufe a long Continuance of useful Fruits or Herbs, than to be furfeited with them at once, or to enjoy them only a few Days, and want them all the Year befides, But fome few are indeed wife enough to con

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fider

fider this with fuch true Judgment, that they gain at least four Times as much by their latter Crops, as they would have got if they had push'd their Fortunes in the first Season.

Remarks on the Weather and Produce in July.

THE

THE Weather at the beginning was uncer tain, but the Winds for the mast part blowing from the Weft and South Weft, the Air was cool and fharp for the Season; which brings to my Mind once more the Obfervation I made in the preceding Month, of the Paffage of Mountains, or rather Iflands of Ice from the North towards the Line, which, I fuppofe, had no fmall Influence over the Weather with us. The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth Days, the Wind was more Weft than South, the Weather stormy and rainy, with cold Hail, which injured the Fruit and laid the Corn, but chiefly damag'd the Hops. From the twelfth to the twentieth we had cold Winds, which gradually were more South every Day, and declin'd in Cold to the twenty fifth,

About the twenty feventh we had warm Weather, which lafted to the End of the Month, a few fhort Hurricanes now and then from the South Weft, but ended North East.

The Garden Fruits of the preceding Month continued, and we had Strawberries till the end, which, perhaps, might proceed from the rainy Seafon. The Katherine and many other kinds of Pears came into the Markets about the be

ginning