20 EEV. C. W. HAEVEr GAXE OF OCTOBER, 1881, 



during the night, and probably the barometer was about its lowest 

 "when read at 10 a.m. on the 14th at Royston ; nor was the re- 

 covery less rapid, the rise being about half an inch in nine hours, 

 i.e. between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. ; whilst at Watford at 9 a.m. on 

 the 15th the mercury stood higher than it had been at 9 a.m. 

 on the 13th, having meanwhile experienced a fall and a recovery 

 of nearly an inch. 



I will now proceed to the consideration of the amount of damage 

 done by the storm in our own county, as far as it has come under 

 my notice. Of course I do not pretend to exhaust an almost end- 

 less list of casualties ; it would be impossible, even if desirable, 

 to notice every tree laid low and every rick unthatched, to say 

 nothing of the thousand and one tiles, and slates, and chimney- 

 pots with which the thoroughfares of our towns and villages were 

 strewn. In noticing then the principal damage done, I will follow 

 the order already in use in our rainfall reports, where the county 

 is divided into 17 river districts, of which a map will be found in 

 Yol. I, Part 3, of the present series of our ' Transactions.' 



District I. Tring. — Damage was principally confined to the 

 uprooting of trees. In Tring Park alone 80 or 90 trees were torn 

 up, in some instances several tons of earth adhering to the roots. 



District II. Watford. — No serious damage was done in the 

 town, but trees in the neighbourhood suffered immensely. I am 

 indebted to Dr. Brett for the following statistics. Between High 

 Wycombe and Watford 100 trees were uprooted along the roadside. 

 At Langleybury 56 trees were blowoi down: 18 ash, 14 oak, 9 

 beech, 7 elm, 4 fir, and 4 cherry. At Munden Park between 30 

 and 40 trees, principally elms and abeles, fell. Some of the largest 

 were measured, the length and girth being, among the elms, two 

 80 ft. by 12 ft., two 70 ft. by 11 ft., two 70 ft. by 9 ft.; an 

 abele measured 90 ft. by 10 ft., and an oak 70 ft. by 13 ft. A 

 Quercus pahistris 52 ft. by 4 ft. 7 in. was successfully raised again. 

 At The Grove 79 trees were uprooted, 28 different varieties, beech 

 suffering most. At Durrant's Farm 6 trees were uprooted and 

 many injured. At Cassiobridge Farm, on 100 acres, 20 trees were 

 blown down, many being large. At Dalton House 14 fallen trees 

 might be seen at one view ; at the Silk Mills 7, one elm being 

 1 1 ft. 7 J in. in girth. At Cassiobuiy the prostrate trunks of beech 

 and elm were to be met with in all directions ; one monster elm at 

 the entrance to the park, about 80 ft. high, w^hich was blown 

 down, is said to contain 5 loads of timber. At Bed Heath 51 trees, 

 of which 26 are beech, 12 ash, and 7 elm, were uprooted ; 57 trees 

 being gi-eatly injured. At Aldenham Abbey about 30 trees 

 were blown down, some being large. Two bridges, one at Munden, 

 one at Watford, were broken by trees falling on them. In one 

 instance the wind played a curious freak, snapping an immense 

 forked branch from a tree, it bore it along some distance, fixing 

 the prong firmly on to the trunk of a neighboui'ing tree. At the 

 Rookery a woman and a child had a narrow escape while passing 

 under a splendid elm which was suddenly and cleanly uprooted. 



