84 



THE KOTHAMSTED EXPERIMENTS. 



Character- 

 istics of 

 the good 

 seasons. 



Character- 

 istics of 

 the bad 

 seasons. 



with careful periodic observations in the field, can afford a 

 really clear perception of the connection between the ever- 

 fluctuating characters of season, and the equally fluctuating 

 characters of growth and produce. It is, in fact, the dis- 

 tribution of the various elements making up the season, their 

 mutual adaptations, and their adaptation to the stage of 

 growth of the plant, which throughout influence the tendency 

 to produce quantity or quality. 



Still it will be seen that the limited summary of the 

 meteorological conditions of the seasons in question, which 

 can alone be given here, is not without significance. 



First, then, as to 1854, the season of great luxuriance and 

 high total produce. The table shows that there was an ex- 

 cess of temperature in January, February, March, and April, 

 with a deficiency of rain from November (1853) to April in- 

 clusive ; but that during May, June, and July — that is, the 

 months of active above-ground growth— there were lower 

 than the average temperatures, with a considerable excess of 

 rain in May, and then a deficiency — conditions obviously 

 favouring continued vegetation and slow maturation. 



For the crop of 1857, there was less excess of temperature, 

 and less than the average amount of rain, to the end of April ; 

 then from May to August inclusive there was both consider- 

 able excess of temperature and considerable deficiency of 

 rain — that is, there were throughout the period of active 

 above-ground growth conditions favouring seeding tendency 

 and maturation rather than luxuriance. 



Thus, then, the two good seasons were very different in their 

 climatic characteristics, as they were in the character of their 

 produce. 



Compared with these, it may be mentioned that the very 

 bad season of 1879 was characterised by much lower than 

 average temperatures throughout the winter, spring, and 

 summer, with at the same time great excess of rain from 

 January to September inclusive ; the result being amounts 

 of produce greatly below the average, and very low weight 

 per bushel of the grain. The season of 1887, on the other 

 hand, which gave even lower amounts of produce than 1 879, 

 especially with high manuring, and which is adopted as the 

 " worst " season, was in some important respects very different 

 in character. Thus, whilst the crop of 1879 failed from low 

 temperatures, combined with excess of rain throughout, the 

 season of 1887 was characterised by low temperatures, especi- 

 ally in March, April, and May, but associated with a defi- 

 ciency of rain commencing in January. The result was very 

 restricted spring growth. In June and July, however, the 

 temperature was considerably in excess of the average, but 



