The Weather of the Past Ayricultural Year. 349 



experienced. From nearly all parts of the country doleful 

 reports arrived of crops beaten down and acres of land under 

 water, any attempt at harvesting work being in many localities 

 absolutely impossible. In September a welcome change set 

 in. all too late for the <lisappointed holiday maker, but of 

 inestimable benefit to the farmer, who was enabled in many 

 cases to secure his crops in a far better condition than could 

 ever at one time have been expected. A fair amount of dry 

 weather was experienced also in the autumn, so that the 

 aaricultural season of 1912-13 started favourably. With the 

 experiences of the earlier twelvemonths in view it was, 

 however, difficult for the farmer to frame any very sanguine 

 estimates with regard to the future. The opinion may, 

 however, be safely hazarded that whatever the present season 

 may bring forth it is scarcely likely to witness a repetition 

 of so distressful a summer as that of 1912. 



The Winter of 1911-12. 



The winter opened with a long spell of mild winds from 

 Itetween south and west, and extremely changeable weather, 

 December l^eing upon the whole one of the mildest, and 

 certainly one of the wettest, on record. At a number of 

 places in the w^est and south the total i-ainfall amounted 

 to considerably over 10 in., and in some of the hilly 

 districts to more than 20 in., the repeated heavy falls in 

 the earlier halt of the month resulting in seiious floods 

 in the Thames valley, in South Wales, and in the Shannon 

 watershed. The only frost of aiiy importance occurred 

 between the 6th and 8th of the month, when the sheltered 

 thermometer fell slightly between 25" in several isolated 

 places. On the grass the minimum readings were naturally 

 a few degrees lower, the thermometer falling to 17" at 

 Wisley, in Surrey, and to 12" at Llangammarch Wells. 



The fii'st three weeks of January witnessed a further 

 predominance of mild weather, but wintry spells occurred 

 about the 7th or 8th, and again between the 17th and 20th. 

 On the latter occasion the sheltered thermometer fell at least 

 10" below the freezing point in many localities, and between the 

 1.5th and 17th heavy falls of snow occurred in the north, the 

 depth, in level places, amounting here and there to between eight 

 inches and a foot. After the 20th the mild equatorial winds, 

 which had hitherto prevailed with little intermission, were re- 

 placed by cold breezes from the northward and north-eastward. 

 Towards the close of the month a frost, which proved to be the 

 sharpest of the whole winter, set in and continued throughout 

 the early days of February, the temperatures recorded being in 

 some localities the lowest since the severe winter of 1894-95. 



