FOR MID-HEETFOKDSnrRE. 79 



all round, the season was considered to have been a bountiful one. 

 In fact we should have to go back more than 10 years to hnd one 

 equal to it in productiveness. 



1885, a Season of Early Records. — January exhibited the usual 

 characteristics of the month, the first three weeks being frosty, and 

 the closing week milder ; and the mean temperature being exceed- 

 ingly low, vegetation was kept healthily back. February was wet 

 and changeable. The approach of spring was very gradual, owing 

 to the fine days of March being robbed of their stimulating effect 

 upon vegetation by the low night temperatures. April was mostly 

 fair, cold, and thy. This weather being followed by a cold wet 

 May, vegetation as a whole has seldom been more backward at the 

 beginning of June, many wild flowers being from 10 to 14 days 

 later in blooming than in 1884, and the migratory birds were 

 much later in arriving than usual. Thus, owing to the changeable 

 comUtions, the early promise was not altogether realised, and the 

 corn crops, while they were about an average in quantity, were 

 low in quality. 



1888, a Season of Late Records. — Januaiy was unusually dry, 

 while February gave a continuance of severe weather, with 

 fi-c(]ucnt snow storms, the drifts in some places being several feet 

 in depth. In March vegetation was reported to be particularly 

 backward, and the sowing of all spring seeds was much delayed by 

 the wetness of the surface-soil, especially on heavy land. April 

 was a month of unsettled and inclement weather, with bleak 

 and withering easterly winds, which were exceedingly trying 

 both to animal and vegetable life. May was fairly genial, but 

 yielded a small rainfall ; the comparative absence of soil-moisture 

 was, therefore, a great drawback to vegetation, especially to 

 shallow-rooting plants. June was exceedingly deficient in bright 

 sunshine and forcing heat, with a variable but low temperature ; 

 the total rainfall was excessive, owing to a severe thunder-storm 

 on the 26th, when Z\ inches of rain were recorded at the 

 Rothamstcd Experimental Station. The season as a whole may be 

 pronounced as gloomy as it was chilly, and it would have been 

 surprising if oiu' phenological phenomena had been otherwise than 

 very late. 



1890, a Season of Early Records. — January was characterised for 

 its mildness and uniformly high temperature, causing many out- 

 door flowers to produce bloom in great profusion, especially the 

 primrose. Daffodils and strawberries were also reported to be in 

 flower in adjoining districts. The hazel-nut bloom was quite a 

 fortnight before its average time. The usual character ascribed to 

 the sex;ond month of the year is " February fill-dyke," but that of 

 1890 was certainly an exception to the rule, the weather being 

 particularly dry, and vegetation was about three weeks in advance 

 of the usual date. March was unsettled, showery, and cold, yet a 

 spell of fine, warm, spring-like weather prevailed towards the end 

 of the month. So genial were some portions of March that a large 

 white cabbage-butterfly was seen on the wing, and many of our 



