150 



Itagram^ to Illustrate tlje Cffects of tlje Mei%r 

 upw tlje Jylofacvinj of "^kwb. 



By The Eev. T. A. Peeston, M.A. 



(Read before the Soeiety at Malmesbury, August, 1882.) 



^HE diagrams^ of which that for 1H82 is herewith given, are in- 

 tended to represent graphically the variations of temperature, 

 sunshine and rainfall, and the effects these produce on vegetation. 

 I am not aware of any similar attempt having been made before, for 

 though both in England and on the Continent " phenological obser- 

 vations " have been systematically taken, and averages deduced there- 

 from, yet nowhere have I seen any of them combined with the actual 

 observations on the weather, except in the case of the Cobbam 

 Journals, as worked out by Miss E. A. Ormerod, where, however, 

 no diagram is given, and the later observations have not always been 

 taken with the same care as the earlier ones. 



I may claim, therefore, a superiority for these diagrams in two 

 particulars. (1) Though the records have been kept by myself, 

 and thus a uniformity has been preserved both in the manner of 

 registration and the decision as to when a plant is in flower (a very 

 important consideration, as observers are often very different in their 

 opinions as to when a plant may be considered to be in its flowering 

 stage), yet the number of observers who have helped to perfect the 

 tables has been singularly numerous, and a completeness has been 

 secured which would be perfectly unattainable had only one or 

 two observers been working at them. At the same time no limit 

 has been made to the number of flowers observed, and hence 

 no selection has been made beforehand ; and thus we have drawn 

 up the tables from what we have/ound to be the best for our pur- 

 pose, instead of settling beforehand what we imagined would be the 

 best. This is a very important consideration, and one for which I 



