343 



The hedge plants behave this year in a way to suggest that the ash may, 

 under certain circumstances, leaf first. My next query would be why this 

 remarkable difference between trees and plants cropped to bush size and protected 

 in hedges ? If it is the warmth afforded by the protection of the hedge that forces 

 on the ash, why does it not force on the oak ? 



I have noticed that many oaks leaf first at the top, whilst ash trees are apt 

 to be latest there, and ash suckers leaf earlier than trees. 



If the relative dates of leafing are reversed in the two trees in different 

 seasons, we can only suppose that one tree breaks into leaf after a long-continued 

 moderate temperature, but is not rapidly affected by a higher temperature, whilst 

 the other does not move at the temperature suitable to the former, but advances 

 rapidly at a slightly higher temperature. Should this be so, which is the tree that 

 moves at the lower temperature ? Has anything accurate been recorded on the 

 subject ? 



April 20th.— Ash in flower. 



April 29th. — Ash in leaf in hedges (not hedgerow trees, but ashes cropped 

 with the hedge). 



May 6th. — Oak leaves may be found on trees. 



May 6th. — Ash buds (on trees) barely swelling. 



May 17th.— Oaks well in leaf. 



May 17th. — Most ash trees quite bare ; shoots perhaps two inches long. 



May 17th. — Uaks in hedges leafless, though buds well grown. 



May 22nd.— Oaks in hedges still to be found without decided leaves ; and 



May 22ud. — Ash trees without leaves. 



The President, Mr. H. Southall, said he had received two answers to 

 inquiries he had made respecting this subject. Mr. Gulson, a very good observer, 

 in writing to the Coventry Herald, June 7th, says : — " The newspapers contain the 

 usual observations that the oak is in leaf before the ash, and predict the wet or 

 dry season which they suppose is to follow. As I have never observed any season 

 in which the oak was not in leaf before the ash, I am unable to say what force 

 there is in such predictions." 



Now follows a letter from Mr. Westley Richards, dated June 7th, 1889 : — 

 " Dear Sir,— Mr. Symons informs me that you have been keeping records 

 about the oak and the ash. This year, in my county (Rutland) the oak was 

 decidedly out much before the ash, and we had 575 inches of rain, and it is one of 

 the best grass years I ever remember. This does not agree with the proverb I 

 enclose : — 



When buds the oak before the ash. 

 You'll only have a summer splash. 



I do not remember to have had 5 "75 of rain in May before. 



Yours faithfully, 



Westley Richards." 



