42 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



Now, looking more closely, we find that the earlier bloomers 

 of 1902 in April and the first part of May were on the average 

 four days ahead of their sisters (or perhaps I should rather say 

 children) of 1903 ; indeed, th?t is also the average of all the 

 earlier bloomers of 1902. But the earlier flowers of 1903, while 

 surpassing those of the same species in 1902 by only this same 

 number of days in the earlier part of the season, yet in the latter 

 part, i.e., after the loth of May, blos'^omed on the average be- 

 tween eight and nine days earlier than their representatives of 

 1902. This means that the season of 1903, which began and con- 

 tinued for a time four days behind that of 1902, rapidly gained 

 twelve days on that season in the middle part of May, and held 

 this position well on into the month of June at least. For I find 

 that the average lead ot eight days is pretty con>tant throughout 

 the four periods from the loth of May to the 20th of June, being 

 seven, ten, nine and eight days respectively. 



To anticipate the objection that these observations, while all 

 of the vicinity of Ottawa, were not always of exactly the same 

 locality for the same spe.ies, I selected those of the observations 

 to which this objection could not be taken, and found that the 

 result was substantially the same. The average for the period 

 named is eight days, and for the different parts ot that period 

 seven, nine, eight and eight respectively. This indicates that, 

 for example, when a given plant is blooming in Beechwood, it is 

 likely to be blooming in Billings Bridge too ; and when you find 

 a certain species in bloom in Beechwood swamp, you may confi- 

 dently look for it in bloom in Dovv's or in the Britannia swamp, if 

 it is to be found there at all. While this may be taken as the 

 rule, there will doubtless be found localities where the conditions 

 of soil or location are distinctly peculiar. Chelsea, for^example, 

 is situated on a southern mountain slope some two hundred feet 

 above Ottawa; the spring plants will be earlier there. Blueberry 

 Point, on account of a certain peculiarity of soil and flora, is also 

 possibly an exceptional spot. It is safer to compare such places 

 only with themselves in one's phenological comparisons. When 

 possible, I have always used preferably observations from the 

 same locality, and, in the case of trees, from the same tree. 



Sports, also, must be excepted from such comparisons. Of 



