30 TRANSACTIONS. 
mean minimum 39°5°. The winter quarter, taking in December 
along with January and February, was not characterised by any 
great extremes of temperature. In these months there were 50 
days in which the thermometer fell to the freezing point and 
under, with an aggregate of 228° of frost. This compares favour- 
ably with the previous year, in the same months of which the 
thermometer registered 444° of frost in 72 days. But it indicates 
at the same time a winter of considerable severity, the mean 
temperature of these months being about 376°, as compared with 
an average of 39°. The wintry weather, however, extended as 
usual a long way into March, in which 10 nights of frost were 
recorded, with an aggregate of 28°. There was frost also to some 
extent in April and May. April had 10 nights with 24°, and May 
2 nights with 3°. The temperature of the spring months was 
considerably. below the average, with a prevalence of northerly, 
north-easterly, and north-westerly winds, and unusual dryness, 
which awakened fears of a late and deficient harvest. But the 
marked rise of temperature, which came with the bright and sunny 
weather of June, and was continued in July, along with copious 
rains in the latter month, proved so favourable to the progress of 
vegetation, that the harvest, instead of being later, was rather 
earlier than usual, though deficient in quantity in light soils, from 
the want of sufficient moisture at an earlier period. In June 
there were 14 days on which the maximum temperature exceeded 
70°, and in seven of these it rose above 80°, ranging from 70° to 
87°. In July also there were 14 days with a maximum of over 
70°, the range being from 70° to 80°5°. The mean temperature of 
June was 59°7°, being more than 4° above that of last year, and 
about 3° above the average of the month. The mean temperature 
of July was still higher, being 609°, exceeding that of July, 1886, 
by 2°6°, and the average of former years by 1°3°. The hottest 
days occurred in the latter half of June, but in July the nights 
were warmer. As illustrating the effects of this unusual heat on 
vegetation, it may be mentioned that in Mr Henderson’s garden 
at Newall Terrace ripe cherries were gathered on the 23rd of 
June, ripe strawberries on the 25th, early vegetables, such as peas, 
turnips, carrots, and onions on the 30th, and ripe gooseberries on 
11th July. August and September do not call for any particular 
remark on the point of temperature. Both were about 2° below 
the average, and there was a degree of unsettlement in the weather 
between the middle of August and the middle of September, which 
