Calendar of Nature. 183 
of spring, blackbirds began to sing on the 6th, and partridges chimed their 
love-notes, and began to pair. The deception was of short continuance : 
hoar frost, followed by slight sprinklings of snow, gave the vale of the 
Carse of Gowrie a mantle, which, though only 3in, deep, lay undissolved 
for 3 weeks. 
Although the mercury in the thermometer never fell below 25°, yet the 
storm continued throughout the whole of December, and the greater part 
of January. The mercury in the barometer ranged unusually high for 
the season, as will be seen from the diagram, and while we heard of the 
Seine and the Thames being frozen over, such was the mild and lingering 
nature of the storm in this quarter, that ice 2 in. thick could not be easily 
obtained for preserving. 
Vegetation for the two past months has been stationary above ground 
wheat sown on the 29th of October gave a braird on the 9th of December, 
a period of 41 days. Mean temperature of that period 40°4°. Wheat sown 
on the 26th of November has not yet appeared, The winter aconite is just 
beginning to break the surface; it was in flower last season by the 23d of 
January. The berries of the A’rbutus Unédo (winter strawberry) only 
begin to colour, and a great part are still green. During these 18 past 
years the berries on the same plants were ripe by the end of January. The 
low temperature in October and November has retarded the ripening 
process. 
The following Table ( fig. 37.) will show, at one view, the mean temperature 
(¢) for every 10 days in 1829, and the dark line (a m ¢) the annual mean tem- 
perature. (Enc, Gard,, 2350.) — A. G. Annat Gardens, Feb, 1. 1830. 
37 
