EFFECTS OF A HAILSTORM TO GROWING TIMBER CROPS. 467 



XXXVII. Report on the Effects oj a Hailstorm to Growing 

 Timber Crops. By Hugh C. Sampson, B.Sc. 



On June 12, 1900, at Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, a very violent 

 thunderstorm, accompanied by hail, occurred, and did a consider- 

 able amount of damage both to property and to vegetation 

 generally. This happened at about three o'clock in the after- 

 noon, when we could see and almost feel the approaching storm. 

 The sky became so overcast that it was impossible to read in the 

 house. Tne rumbling of the thunder gradually became louder, 

 and the flashes of lightning more vivid. The threatening clouds 

 came from the S.E., and seemed to be beating up against wind. 

 All Nature was hushed, and the cattle had taken shelter beneath 

 the trees. 



The storm burst with a deafening peal of thunder directly 

 overhead, and this was almost immediately followed by the hail. 

 In a few moments the air was full of twigs and leaves which had 

 been cut off the trees. Many of the hailstones which worked 

 this havoc were 1| inches in their longest diameter, while on an 

 average they measured fully 1 inch. I have been told on good 

 authority that some measured If inches in diameter. The struc- 

 ture of these hailstones was curious. They were all more or less 

 flat in shape, the shorter diameter being about half the length of 

 the longer. One surface was concave and the other was convex. 

 Most of them had an onion-like structure, being composed of 

 successive layers of clear and of opaque ice. 



The course over which the storm passed, as is usual in thunder- 

 storms, was quite local ; it embraced a width of 2 miles and a 

 length of about 10 miles. To give some idea of the force of 

 the storm, I may say that over 1000 square feet of plate-glass 

 (21-ounce), representing a quarter of the whole glass area in the 

 greenhouses here, were bi'oken. The opposite side of the valley, 

 however, seemed to catch the force of the storm even more fully. 

 At one place, roofing-glass nearly h inch thick was broken • and 

 I noticed a field of early potatoes, which were nearly ready for 

 raising, completely stripped of all their leaves, and with only a few 

 bare haulms left standing. The main roads, which are but slightly 

 sheltered by trees, were strewn so thickly with twigs and leaves 

 that these latter had to be swept up into heaps about 4 feet in 

 height, and lying at intervals of about 75 yards. Many twigs 



VOL. XVI. PART III. 2 I 



