XVII. 



EEPORT ON PHENOLOGICAL PHENOMENA OBSERVED IN 

 HERTFORDSHIRE DURING THE YEAR 1892. 



By Edwaud Mawley, F.E.Met.Soc, F.R.H.S., 



Phenological Recorder to the Royal Meteorological Society. 



Mead at Watford, IMh April, 1893. 



The localities represented in this Report are the same as in the 

 previous one, viz. : — 



Station. Height above Observer. 



bea- level. 



St. Albans (Malvern House) 300 feet Miss E. F. Smith. 



St. Albans (St. Peter's Street) 380 ,, Hemy Lewis. 



Great Berkhamsted 400 



Harpenden 370 



Hertford 140 



Hitchiu 230 



Mrs. E. Mawley. 

 J. J. WUlis. 

 W. Graveson. 

 J. E. Little, M.A. 



In answer to a recent appeal made to the members of the Society, 

 several residing in other parts of the county have very kiadly 

 come forward and offered their services as observers. To these 

 volunteers my best thanks are due, as well as to those members 

 previously on our staif who have been so good as to supply me 

 with materials for the present report. Additional observers are, 

 however, still required if the different districts in our county are 

 to be adequately represented. The desirability of numerous ob- 

 serving-stations will be seen on reference to Table I, where an 

 unfortunate gap will be noticed in the returns from Hertford in 

 the middle of the flowering season, and another unfortunate gap 

 in the Hitchin returns at the beginning of it. Now both these 

 stations being early ones, the mean records for the county for 

 the plants affected by the missing observations must necessarily 

 come out somewhat later than they otherwise would have done. 

 Had we more stations, a missing observation here and there would 

 of course be less seriously felt. This Table also shows how 

 important it is that oiir present staff of observers should send in 

 each year as complete returns as they possibly can. 



The order in which the plants came into flower at the different 

 stations varies but slightly from that given in the previous 

 Report: — 1, Hertford; 2, Hitchin; 3, Harpenden; 4, St. Albans; 

 and 5, Berkhamsted; the only difference being that in 1892 

 Harpenden was slightly in advance of St. Albans instead of 

 immediately following it. So that as a rule the higher the 

 station above sea-level, the later have again been the dates of 

 flowering recorded. 



The Wintee of 1891-92. 



Throughout the first half of December, 1891, the weather 

 continued very mild, but shortly before Christmas a sharp frost 

 lasting about ten days set in. During this frost very little rain 



