OBSKRVED nf HERTFOEDSHrRE Ilf 1894. 197 



border xmdor a high wall. These, although a foot high, were 

 scarcely touched. 



At Harpeuden these fi'osts are described by Mr. "Willis as having 

 done an immense amount of damage to fruit-trees, and to some 

 vegetables. The apple-blossom, of which there was in this neigh- 

 bourhood an abundance, was almost entirely destroyed, with the 

 consequence that this fruit was exceedingly scarce. Goose- 

 berries could be gathered from under the bushes by quarts, many 

 trees being almost bared of their fruit. Strawberry-bloom suffered 

 greatly in exposed situations. Potatoes were cut down in many 

 places, and so greatly were the plants injured that they never 

 recovered, and yielded minute tubers only. 



At Hitchin the May frosts appear to have been severely felt, 

 for Mr. Little states that in that neighbourhood potatoes, beans, 

 and all tender plants such as geraniums, placed out too early, 

 were destroyed. Many native trees and other plants such as the 

 oak, ash, beech, elm, maple, elder, ivy, thistles, plantains, and 

 bladder campion (Silene injlata) were frost-bitten. In the gardens, 

 gooseberries, currants, and strawberries were much injured. 



Mr. Fordham mentions that at Ashwell, geraniums, dahlias, etc., 

 were cut down by the frosts of the 21st and 22nd of May. 



According to the returns sent in coltsfoot came into flower one 

 day earlier than its mean date, the wood-anemone four days later, 

 blackthorn ten days earlier, garlic hedge-mustard eight days earlier, 

 and the horse-chestnut and hawthorn respectively twenty-one days 

 and nineteen days in advance of their usual time, whereas the 

 white ox-eye, which flowered in many places after the May frosts, 

 was only four days early. 



The swallow made its first appearance four days late, but the 

 cuckoo was first heard two days earlier than the average, while 

 the nightingale was one day early. 



The wasp was first seen sixteen days earlier than usual, the 

 small white butterfly six days earlier, and the orange-tip butterfly 

 nearly a fortnight in advance of the mean date. 



The Summer. 



There was a little warm weather at the end of June and at the 

 beginning and end of July, but with these exceptions the tempera- 

 ture remained cold for the season. The summer rainfall was in 

 excess of the average, and there was a marked deficiency of sun- 

 shine, especially during August. 



The crop of hay was an unusually heavy one, and was in most 

 districts harvested in capital condition. The cereal crops were also 

 good, but their ingathering took place under trying conditions, 

 much of the com having been laid by heavy thunderstorms, wliilc 

 rain fell almost every day until nearly the end of August. The 

 yield of wheat, barley, and oats was above the average, but the 

 heaviest crop of the year was that of oats. 



By the middle of June the potatoes in my garden at Berkhamsted, 

 which had had their tops destroyed by the May frosts, appeared to 



