134 E. MAWLEY — PHENOLOGICAL PHENOMEXA 



the few heavy thunderstorms of the season, the ingathering of the 

 cereals was in no way impeded by adverse weather-conditions. 



The want of suificient rain proved very tiying, and, of course, 

 especially was this the case on thin and porous soils, so that little 

 growth was made after June. Strawberries, gooseberries, and 

 other small fruits yielded good crops in most parts of the county, 

 and were gathered under the best conditions as regards weather. 



In order to give some idea as to the extent to which the soil 

 must have become diy by the middle of the summer, I may 

 mention that between the middle of July and the middle of 

 August, or for a month, not a drop of rain-water came through the 

 2^ feet of uncropped soil in either of my percolation-gauges. 



From Harpenden Mr. Willis reports that the first wheat-ear was 

 observed out of its sheath on June 14th, the same date as in 1897, 

 but later than in any other of the previous six years. He also 

 states that in the early part of June there was a considerable 

 amount of aphis, especially on roses, plums, pears, and cuiTants. 

 This was also the case at Berkhamsted, where the attacks of 

 aphides on my roses were the most persistent I have ever 

 experienced. Mr. J. Hopkinson also saj's that at St. Albans nearly 

 all his currants were ruined by aphis. The same observer mentions 

 the splendid bloom on the dog-roses in June and July in that 

 neighbourhood, some of the hedges in the bye-roads appearing 

 almost a mass of flowers. 



The first half of the summer was cold, and the whole of it 

 extremely diy, consequently all the plants coming into blossom 

 during tlaat season flowered later than usual, the dog-rose being 

 three days late, the black knapweed twelve days late, the harebell 

 seven days late, and the greater bindweed fourteen days late. 



The Autumn. 



This was the warmest autumn known in Hertfordshire, at all 

 events during the thirteen years over which my records at 

 Berkhamsted extend. In September especially the heat was at 

 times very great. In each of the three months the fall of rain 

 was deficient, but in September no rain at all fell at Berkhamsted 

 during the first 27 days. Taking the season as a whole the sun 

 shone at Berkhamsted for altogether 338 hours, or 3f hours a day, 

 whereas the mean record for the quarter is only about 3 hours 

 a day. 



The extremely hot and dry weather in September, coming as 

 it did after such a dry summer, brought the growth of the farm 

 crops to a standstill. The turnips made little, if any, progress, 

 while the pastures for weeks together presented a bare and burnt- 

 up appearance. Between the beginning of June and the middle 

 of October, or for 4^ months, only a quarter of an inch of rain- 

 water came through my light-soil percolation-gauge, which is 

 equivalent to about a gallon and a quarter of water on each square 

 yard of surface, or 5,656 gallons to an acre — instead of an average 

 percolation of about 120,000 gallons per acre. These facts may 



