166 Sir llobert Christison on the 



The baneful influence of cold so unusually intense as in 

 December 1879, must have been apparent to most ordinary 

 observers after vegetation had made some progress in the 

 ensuing summer. Any one might notice in this neighbour- 

 hood that on the birch, robinia, and some introduced con- 

 tinental oaks, many two-year old twigs were leafless because 

 dead ; in Roxburghshire six-year old branches of the com- 

 mon oak were similarly destroyed ; in one district several 

 oaks of large size put out no leaves at all except on spray 

 from their trunks ; and a fine holly, 150 years old, was 

 killed outright. 



These unhappy facts, which could easily be multiplied 

 from the observation of many, might have led one to foresee 

 something less than the usual year's growth of wood during 

 the subsequent favourable season. But I confess I was not 

 prepared for the great defalcation shown by the annexed 

 measurements to have been sustained during so fine a 

 summer and autumn as those of 1880. 



The remainder of the winter of 1879-80 was by no 

 means so severe as was threatened by its formidable open- 

 ing in December. There were considerable tracts of open 

 weather ; the temperature was often above the freezing 

 point ; and the thermometer was never much or long under 

 it. Such particularly was the character of the weather in 

 February. There was little frost, none severe, a day 

 temperature rising frequently to 45°, 47°, and once to 50°, 

 with an unusual frequency of bright sunshine. Conse- 

 quently early-budding trees and shrubs began to push out 

 their green points before the close of that month. In 

 March and April, though cool, frost was rare, and only in 

 the morning ; and there was a fair proportion of bright sun. 

 Consequently the buds opened gradually without injury ; 

 and when the month of May set in, with temperate, 

 though never warm, weather, and a generally unclouded sun, 

 tree-foliage in general was matured, or nearly so, at the 

 beginning of June. June, July, August, and September 

 were fine months throughout Scotland generally, and 

 August especially, when the heat was greatest. The only 

 other meteorological circumstance requiring mention is a 

 decided deficiency of rain from early in March till near the 

 close of the first week of September. 



