Tue WEATHER OF 1905. 101 
a proportionate increase of the sunshine and warmth which are so 
important at that season of the year; while August also, although 
marked by greater rainfall than the preceding months, was also 
comparatively dry and warm; and September, so important as 
a harvest month, was dry and cool. The following note will 
bring out the dryness of these months:—In May there was a 
period of 16 days, from the 7th to the 23rd, during which only 
0.01 in. of rain fell. In June there were 11 days from the 6th 
to the 16th, which were rainless, and again from the 21st to the 
30th, and this was continued into July for ten days, so that from 
the 21st June to the 10th July there was a rainless period of no 
less than 20 days. Once more in September there was no rain 
from the 15th to the 27th, a period of 12 days. In respect of 
rainfall, 1905 was the antithesis of 1903, for, while the latter was 
the wettest of all the years over which my observations have 
extended, with a record of 50.45 in., 1905 was absolutely the 
driest. The only approach to its record of 30.57 in. was in 1902 
and 1887, which registered 30.90 and 30.99 in. The result of 
this unusual dryness was that in many parts of the country there 
was a scarcity in the water supply for domestic and industrial 
purposes, which caused no small amount of inconvenience. But 
this was more felt in the eastern side of the country, where the 
normal rainfall is considerably less than in our own south-western 
district. And perhaps it will not be considered out of place that 
I should take notice of its effect upon the river Nith and upon 
the salmon fishing carried on during the netting season. So low 
was the river during the greater part of that season, and so rarely 
was it flooded, that the conditions were very unfavourable for the 
ascent of the fish to the upper reaches; and the fishing was in 
consequence exceedingly unproductive, so unproductive, as Mr 
Turner informed me, as to be insufficient to pay the expense of 
working it. Both these facts tend to show that while a dry season 
may have its pleasures and advantages it has also its drawbacks 
and disadvantages. To this account of the state of the river 
during the past year I may add that there was one occasion on 
which the tide rose to so great a height as to overtop the caul 
or weir, and to cause the most extensive flooding of the Sands. 
This was not due in any degree to the river, for there had been 
but little rainfall immediately before, but solely to an extra- 
ordinarily high tide on the second day after the full moon in 
