The summers of 1781 and 1783 were unusually hot and dry; to
them therefore I shall turn back in my journals, without recurring
to any more distant period. In the former of these years my peach
and nectarine-trees suffered so much from the heat that the rind on
the bodies was scalded and came off; since which the trees have
been in a decaying state. This may prove a hint to assiduous
gardeners to fence and shelter their wall-trees with mats or boards,
as they may easily do, because such annoyance is seldom of long
continuance. During that summer also, I observed that my apples
were coddled, as it were, on the trees; so that they had no
quickness of flavour, and would not keep in the winter. This
circumstance put me in mind of what I have heard travellers assert,
that they never ate a good apple or apricot in the south of Europe,
where the beats were so great as to render the juices vapid and
insipid.
The great pests of a garden are wasps, which destroy all the finer
fruits just as they are coming into perfection.
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