436 APPENDIX. 



exceeds the highest aggregate sunshine recorded in 

 any English station by from 168 to 336 hours (ex- 

 clusively high maximum in 1894) a year ; May and 

 August seeming to be the best favoured months.* 

 But, to quote from the just mentioned work of Ansted 

 and Latham : 



" There is, doubtless, in all the islands, and espe- 

 cially in Guernsey, an absence of sun heat and of the 

 direct action of the sun's rays in summer, which must 

 have its effect, and a remarkable prevalence of cold, dry, 

 east wind in late spring, retarding vegetation " (p. 407). 

 Everyone who has spent, be it only two or three 

 weeks in late spring in Jersey, must know by ex- 

 perience how true this remark is. Moreover, there are 

 the well-known Guernsey fogs, and " owing also to 

 rain and damp the trees suffer from mildew and 

 blight, as well as from various aphides." The same 

 authors remark that the nectarine does not succeed 

 in Jersey in the open air " owing to the absence of 

 autumn heat " ; that " the wet autumns and cold 

 summers do not agree with the apricot ; " and so on. 



If Jersey potatoes are, on the average, three weeks 

 in advance of those grown in Cornwall, the fact is fully 

 explained by the continual improvements made in 

 Jersey in view of obtaining, be it ever so small, quan- 

 tities of potatoes a few days in advance, either by 

 special care taken to plant them out as soon as pos- 

 sible, protecting them from the cold winds, or by 

 choosing tiny pieces of land naturally protected or 

 better exposed. The difference in price between the 

 earliest and *the later potatoes being immense, the 

 greatest efforts are made to obtain an early crop. 



The decline of prices per ton is best seen from the 

 following prices in 1910 : 



* Ten Years of Sunshine in the British Isles, 1881-1890. 



