392 Caleridar of Nature. 



The coldest day in April was the 2d : mean temperature of that day 34°, extreme cold 22°, 

 wind east. The warmest day in that month was the 30th : mean temperature of that day 53°, 

 extreme heat 65°, wind south-east. There were only 4 days of brilliant, and 10 days of partial, 

 sunshine ; 16 days were cloudy. The wind blew from the east and horth-east on 11 days, from 

 the north and north-west on 8 days, and from the west and south-west on 11 days : there were 

 moderate gales of wind from the north-west on the 25ih and 26th. — The coldest day in May was 

 on the 10th : mean temperature of that day 42°, minimum temperature 35° ; wind easterly. The 

 warmest day in that month was the 6th : extreme heat 64° ; wind east. There were 6 days of 

 brilliant, and 9 days of partial, sunshine ; on 16 days the atmosphere was cloudy. The wind blew 

 from the east and north on 18 days, from the west and south-west on 13 days. There were loud 

 gales of wind from the west on the 2d and 3d, and from the east on the 8th and 9th. 



The month of April commenced with keen frost, which lasted four days, 

 and did much hurt to early blossoms, which the unusually high temperature 

 towards the end of March had brought forward. The flowers of gooseberries 

 were fully expanded by the 6th, at which time green gage plums on 

 south walls were in full blossom, 23 days earlier than last year. The 

 larch was in leaf on the 8th. The crown imperial was in flower in the 

 border on the 9th, and the leaves of the hawthorn were expanded on the 

 10th. The (Xxalis Acetosella (wood-sorrel), a plant supposed by some to 

 be the Irish shamrock, opened its little flowers on the 17th. On the even- 

 ing of the 19th, about half-past 10 o'clock, the Aurora Borealis appeared 

 unusually brilliant, and continued with increasing splendour about three 

 hours and a half. This phenomenon is usually the precursor of dropping 

 weather, and was in the present instance followed by frequent and heavy 

 rains, till the 25th. On the 20th, the wild geese, which had taken up their 

 winter quarters in the Carse of Gowrie, began to exercise their wings in 

 short excursions previously to theii* setting out to the north coasts ; swallows 

 were first seen on the 24th. Oats brairded on the 24th, which had been 

 sown on the 7th, a period of 17 days : mean temperature during that period 

 47°. On the 27th the maple and horsechestnut were in leaf. The Craw- 

 ford and Green Chisel pears on standards were in flower by the 24th ; the 

 Galston Muirfowl Egg, and Benvie pears on the 27th ; the genuine Golden 

 Knap on the 28th, and the Longueville on the 30th ; by which time the 

 lime and birch were in full leaf, and wild geese had departed to their sum- 

 mer residence in the north. The mean temperature for April, notwith- 

 standing the four days of severe frost at its commencement, was 46-7o, or 1® 

 higher than on an average of seven years, and 4° higher than last season. 

 Young crows were coming out on the branches by the end of the month. 



At the beginning of May, vegetation was as far advanced as on an average of seasons. The 

 summer snowdrop, which last year came in flower on the 11th, was this year in flower on the 1st 

 of May ; Morello cherries and Virginian strawberries were in flower on the 5th. The cuckoo was 

 heard on the 5th. This bird seems to keep dates, without reference to temperature: it is usual to 

 hear his first call on a rainy day, but this year there was no " gowk's speat " to usher him in : he 

 •was first heard in Lancashire on the 27th of April. (Report, Country Times.) Beech was in full 

 leaf by the 6th. Barley sown at Annat Park on the 27th of April gave a braird on the 6th, a 

 period of 9 days ; mean temperature of that period 52o : under a temperature of 43-3", barley 

 requires 14 days in the ground. (Vol. II. p. 285.) On the 8th a violent east wind was accom- 

 panied with a heavjr fall of rain, amounting in 14 hours to 17 in., and under a temperature of 

 42°. The foliage on the eastern or exposed side of larch plantations was shrivelled by the blast, 

 and still retains a withered appearance. Codlin, Eve, and Orange Pippin apples were in flower by 

 the 11th, but many of the blossoms had been destroyed by the tempest on the 8th. The landrail 

 was heard on the evening of the 12th. Grey Leadington apples were in full flower by the 16th, 

 the narcissus on the 17th, This flower has appeared about 10 days earlier this year than usual, 

 and as much out of its ordinary place in the march of vegetation. Can its progress have been 

 accelerated by the unusual quantity of moisture in the soil ? The lilac came in flower on the 18th. 

 The oak was in leaf on the 20th. The walnut and fig have been retarded to a later period in 

 opening their foliage than is natural to these plants, by reason of the buds on the extremities of 

 the shoots having perished by the frosts in the beginning of April. A profusion of small side buds 

 have in consequence been protruded, and the walnut came in leaf on the 29th, and the figs on 

 south walls on the 3lst. The pupie of the wheat-fly are numerous in all fields where wheat stood 

 last season. Their transformation seems to be hastened by elevated temperature ; some of the 

 pupae were enclosed in a glass phial amongst moistened earth about the middle of March, and the 

 phial placed in a hotbed. The flies appeared in full wing and vigour on the 15th of May ; those 

 in the ground appear animated, and larger than when they dropped from the ear. When exposed 

 tu light, they have a slow undulating motion, as if still half asleep ; the joints or rings become 

 beautifully transparent, and the usual sulphur colour is changed into a light or whitish yellow. It 

 they happen to come into the fly state about the middle of June, their depredations on the unfold- 

 ing ear of wheat will prove seriously injurious to the farmer. The mean temperature for the 

 month of May was 505°, or exactly 1° lower than on an average of the seven past years. — A. G. 

 Mayox, 1830. 



