106 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



Lo April with every chance of success, and on many soils, 

 autumn planting, provided ground game is absent, is an 

 enormous advantage. 



Considering the climatic conditions of the growing 

 season in detail and their effect upon the tree as a whole, 

 the following description of the peculiarities of the British 

 climate may be given. Our springs, in common with the 

 springs of most temperate climates, are proverbial for 

 their fickleness and sudden changes of temperature. 

 Regarding March, April, and May as the spring months, 

 it is not uncommon to find the coldest and warmest days 

 of the whole year within their limits. Sleet, rain, snow- 

 storms, blizzards, piercing winds, sharp night frosts, 

 biting air, dead calms, clouded skies, and hot suns are all 

 features of March, in spite of the fact that cold, dry, 

 blustering winds from the east are usually associated with 

 it in the popular mind. Warm March weather is often 

 responsible for the premature leafing of easily excited 

 trees, as larch, horse chestnut, etc. When this happens 

 damage usually follows from frost or cold later on, night 

 frosts of 10 to 15" F. being not uncommon at any time 

 during the month. So far as vegetation is concerned, a 

 cold March is distinctly beneficial, for the longer the 

 growth of tender trees is delayed, the greater the chance 

 of their escape from injury later on, and it is seldom, if 

 ever, that March cold has been known to do any harm to 

 established trees. To the planter, however, a cold, dry 

 March often means a loss in recently transplanted conifers, 

 especially those of large size, while the risk of moving 

 trees in that month is usually above the average, apart 

 from nurser}^ work, for which dry weather is often 

 preferable to wet. Still, take it all round, the forester 

 (jannot complain greatly about March weather whatever it 

 may be, for it is seldom that his troubles can be directly 

 traced to it. 



