The Meteorology of Whitehaven. 349 



evaporation exceeds the average by -850. We have been favoured with 

 one of the earliest and shortest harvests on record. Reaping commenced 

 in this neighbourhood about the 2d, and by the close of the month, the 

 crops were safely under cover. Even in the backward mountain districts, 

 most farmers had secured their grain before the middle of September. 

 The wheat crop is abundant, and of excellent quality ; but oats and bar- 

 ley are both deficient. On the Ist, the metropolis was visited by one 

 of the most tremendous and destructive storms of thunder and lightning 

 on record in this country. {For particulars^ see illustrated London 

 News.) 



September. — Mean temperature 3*°57 above the average ; evaporation 

 •47 under the average. In consequence of the deficiency in the oat crop, 

 oatmeal is now selling at 28. 8d. per stone, the price of the best flour. 

 Apples and pears are both deficient in quantity, probably owing to the 

 precocious appearance of the blossom, which was partially blighted by a 

 few sharp frosty nights in March. Many fruit trees blossomed a second 

 time in this month, and there are some instances of their bearing a se- 

 cond crop of fruit. Swallows disappeared much earlier than usual, which 

 is extraordinary, considering the mildness of the season. I did not ob- 

 serve any in this neighbourhood after the 18th. The magnificent meteor 

 seen at London and Cambridge on the evening of the 25th, was also 

 witnessed in the east of this county. 



October. — Mean temperature 1*°30 above the average; the evapora- 

 tion is 0'41 inch, and the complement of the dew-point is 0*°46 under 

 the average. The quantity of rain is the greatest which has fallen in 

 any one month, except July last, since January 1834. 



November. — Mean temperature l'°405 above the average. On the 

 28th, we had a slight fall of snow which yielded -034 of water. Dur- 

 ing a heavy gale on the 20th, the barometer fell 0*97 in seventeen 

 hours, and rose '48 in the succeeding seven honrs, making a fluctuation 

 of 1'45 in twenty-four consecutive hours. On the 30th, a swallow was 

 seen on the wing at Parton. It has been observed daily by the inhabi- 

 tants, for some time past, so that it has probably taken up its abode in 

 that vicinity for the winter. On the 5th, saw a small brown butterfly 

 in Lamplugh. 



December. — Frost set in on the night of the 27th of November, and 

 it continued with slight intermissions till near the close of the year. 

 The mean temperature of December is 6°'05 under the average, and it 

 is the only month in 1846 which has not exceeded its mean heat. It is 

 the coldest December I have recorded, except in 1844, which had a 

 mean temperature only 0*81 above the freezing point of water, being 

 2*°70 under the past month. The evaporation during the severe frost 

 from the 10th to the 16th, is remarkably great; the average loss from 

 the solid mass of ice in the gauge, is '075 inch per diem, or more than 

 double the average daily quantity for the whole month. A brisk breeze 

 prevailed during the period. 



I do not remember any winter in which I have seen such multitudes 



of meteors and falling stars, as in the present. From the l7th of Oc- 



^tober to the 17th December, they appeared in great numbers almost 



every clear night. Some were as large as the planet Jupiter, and such 



was their brightness, that for a second or so. they illnminatcd the wliolo 



