XV. 



ON SOME EFFECTS OF THE HAILST0R:\[ OF THE 24th OF 

 JUXE, 1897. IX HERTFORDSHIRE AND BEDFORDSHIRE. 



By James Saunders. 



Bead at Watford, 2Sth March, 1899. 



RLATE II. 



The more striking features of the storm of the 24th of June, 

 1897, have been described by numerous observers. I have not, 

 however, seen any account of the secondary effects on the growing 

 corn which had been damaged by the hailstones. 



It will be easily. understood that the force of the wind bent 

 the stalks of the corn so that the convex side of the curve was 

 presented to the full effect of the pelting hail. As a consecjuence 

 some of the stalks were cut off sharply as thoiigh with a knife, 

 otliers were so injured that the portion above the damage hung 

 down parallel with the lower part of the stalk when it regained 

 its normal position, and in others the damage was more partial, 

 the portions above the injury depending at various angles with 

 the base of the stem. 



The proportion of injured stalks in certain fields varied from 

 a few scattered instances at the edge of the affected area as at 

 Stopsley, to fully one half the crop as at Cockernhoe and Lilley 

 Bottom. 



My first -^isit to the affected area was on July 3rd, nine days 

 after the storm. The most striking feature then noticed was the 

 numerous blanched eai's of wheat, dead and withered, and 

 suspended by the damaged but unbroken fibres at the point of 

 injury. (See Plate II, figs. 1—1.) 



My next visit was a fortnight later, on July 17th. It was then 

 noticed that where the injury to the stalks was so great that the 

 ears were rendered abortive, the next Imver internode perished also, 

 and a disarticulation could easily be effected at the next node 

 below, which is, of course, at the zone of intercalary growth. 

 Taking the injured part between the fingers and gi\'ing it 

 a slight pull, not only did the portion above the injury come away 

 easily, but the whole of the remainder of the internode. 



In' the case of oats but few stalks were broken. The hail was 

 so violent that the corn was stricken out of the panicles, the lower 

 flowerless glumes being left. It was noticed here that in every 

 case where the corn had escaped injury the lower glumes retained 

 their greenness, but that where the oats had been cast out by the 

 liail th'^se glumes had withered. The inference to be drawn from 

 both ca:es is that, the injury being irreparable, the supply of 

 nourishment was stopped because it could not be conveyed to the 

 fruit-bearing part of the plant. In some cases, where the injury 



