JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 6, 1863. 



PEAES THIS WINTEE. 



In the laBt Number of your Journal, I see a notice from 

 " E. B.," of some kinds of Pears having kept unusually well this 

 season. Mine have, upon the whole, kept very badly ; but 

 there has been very great uncertainty in their keeping. Two 

 months ago all my Winter Nelises grown on pyramids were quite 

 ripe, many with spots of decay upon them, and going much 

 faster than we could consume them, while Pears of the same 

 sort, gathered from an east wall, were perfectly green and hard, 

 and are now just in perfection, and showing no tendency to decay. 



My Duchesse d'Angoulemes were also, one quantity of them, 

 fully ripe two months ago ; while another quantity gathered from 

 another tree (both pyramids) were quite hard, and have only 

 been finished about a fortnight ago. 



Several other varieties, Beurre Diel, Beurre d'Aremberg, 

 Beurre Duhaume, Passe Colmar, &c, have prematurely and 

 suddenly gone bad at the heart, and become thoroughly decayed. 

 With a few exceptions, Pears have, moreover, with me been 

 decidedly wanting in flavour this season. In my crop of Glou 

 Morceau, I have noticed that all those which are deformed and 

 drawn out of shape by canker are far the best, while all the 

 fruits which are clear and perfect are very deficient in Bweetness 

 and flavour. I have this sort both on an east and west wall, 

 but decidedly inferior this season, and many of the largest and 

 finest fruit are going at the heart before they are properly ripe 

 — C. P., Herts. 



NEW BOOK. 

 Tie Weather Boole : a Manual of Practical Meteorology. By 



Rear- Admiral Fitz Roy. London : Longman & Co. 

 ( Concluded from page 789.) 



At Chapter XIII. of this valuable work we come to the prac- 

 tical utilisation of meteorology. " Having statistical facts, and 

 understanding their relation to our atmosphere at any given 

 time or succession of times, we know what is occurring around 

 us within a certain area of several hundred miles in diameter 

 in the air and clouds that may be above or passing near us ; 

 and, not only so, wa can tell, with even more than probability, 

 what will be the atmospheric conditions within and at any part 

 of such an area during the next two or three days." The 

 author then gives a brief outline of the practical system at the 

 Board of Trade, with reference to meteorologic telegraphy. 



" In treating so complicated and extensive a subject as that 

 of our atmosphere and its movements, it is extremely difficult 

 to combine mathematical exactness with the results of experience 

 obtained by practical ocular observation and much, reflection ; 

 but to some extent this has been effected recently, the Board 

 of Trade having arranged telegraphic and frequent communi- 

 cation between widely-separated stations and a central office in 

 London, by which a means of feeling — indeed one may say 

 mentally seeing — successive simultaneous states of the atmosphere 

 over the greater extent of our islands was established, and an 

 insight into its dynamical laws has been obtained, to which each 

 passing month has added elucidation and value. 



" The first cautionary or storm- warning signals were made in 

 February, 1861 ; since which time Bimilar notices have been 

 given as occasion needed. 



" In August, 1861, the first published forecasts of weather 

 were tried ; and after another half-year had elapsed for gaining 

 experience by varied tentative arrangements, the present system 

 was established. Twenty-two reports are now received each 

 morning, except Sundays, and ten each afternoon, besides five 

 from the continent. Double forecasts, two days in advance, are 

 published, with the full tables on which they chiefly depend, 

 and are sent to eight daily papers, to one weekly, to Lloyd's, to 

 the Admiralty, and to the Horse Guards, besides the Board of 

 Trade. 



" The forecasts add almost nothing to the pecuniary expense 

 of the system, while their usefulness, practically, is said to be 

 more and more recognised. Warnings of storms arise out of 

 them, and, scarcely enough considered, the satisfaction of know- 

 ing that no very bad weather is imminent may be great to a 

 person about to cross the sea. Thus their negative evidence 

 may be actually little less valuable than the positive. 



" Prophecies or predictions they are not : the term forecast is 

 strictly applicable to such an opinion as is the result of a scien- 

 tific combination and calculation, liable to be occasionally, 

 though rarely, marred by an unexpected ' downrush' of southerly 



wind, or by a rapid electrical action not yet sufficiently indicated 

 to our extremely limited sight and feeling. We shall know 

 more and more by degrees." 



As a proof of the usefulness of these warnings or " forecasts," 

 it is mentioned that, " At a meeting of the shareholders of the 

 Great Western Docks at Stonehouse, Plymouth, it was stated 

 officially that 'the deficiency in revenue is to be attributed 

 chiefly to the absence of vessels requiring the use of the graving 

 docks for the purpose of repairing the damages occasioned by 

 storms and casualties at sea.' " 



In order to enable the reader to judge of the basis on which 

 rules for forecasting the weather likely to occur is founded, 

 some explanations are given, as the method is new in its combi- 

 nations, although depending on old or well-known principles. 

 For these the work itself ought to be perused ; but as many of 

 our readers will be curious to know from what circumstances 

 these rules are mainly deduced, we shall endeavour to point out 

 a few of the principal. 



Air-currents, we are told, sometimes flow side by side, though 

 in opposite directions, as parallel streams for hundreds or even 

 thousands of miles. Sometimes they are mora or less super- 

 posed ; occasionally, indeed frequently, crossing at various 

 angles, sometimes so antagonistic in their angular collision as tr> 

 cause those large circular eddies, or rotatory storms, called 

 cyclones. 



" Whenever a polar current prevails at any place, or is 

 approaching, the air becomes heavier, and the barometer is high, 

 or rising. When the opposite, tropical, prevails or approaches, 

 the mercury is low, or falls, because the air is, or is besoming, 

 specifically lighter." The north-east and south-west are reckoned 

 by meteorologists the "wind-poles;" and all varieties of winds 

 m»y be traced to operations of the two principal currents, polar 

 and tropical, our north-east and south-west points. 



Great and important changes of weather and wind are inva- 

 riably preceded, as well as accompanied by notable alterations 

 in the state of the atmosphere. It has frequently been asked, 

 " how much rise or fall of the glasses may foretel remarkable 

 change, or a dangerous storm ? " To which can now be replied,, 

 " Great changes or storms are usually Bhown by falls of the baro- 

 meter exceeding half an inch, and by differences of temperature 

 exceeding about 15°. Nearly one-tenth of an inch an hour is a 

 fall presaging a storm or very heavy rain. The more rapidly such 

 changes occur the more risk there is of dangerous atmospheric 

 commotion." 



The barometer often, if not usually, shows what may be ex- 

 pected a day or even days in advance rather than the weather 

 of the present or next few hours. By means of telegraphic com- 

 munication warning can be sent of such changes all round the 

 coasts. 



Extensive changes, showing differences of pressure above or 

 below the mean height of the mercury in the barometer, amount- 

 ing to nearly an inch, or thereabouts, are certain to be followed 

 by marked commotion of the elements in a few days. If the 

 fall has been sudden, or the rise very rapid, swift but brief will 

 be the resulting elementary movement. If an extensive fall or 

 rise take place slowly, the chauge in the weather will likewise be 

 gradual, but will last longer, whether for better or for worse. 



At the Board of Trade, we are informed, from thirty to forty 

 weather telegrams are received daily (except Sundays), and fore- 

 casts or premonitions of weather are drawn up for publication in 

 the newspapers as speedily as possible. Those received at ten A.M- 

 are examined and sent out at eleven a.m. for publication in the 

 second edition of the Times,' and soon afterwards to other 

 afternoon papers. Suppose that on a given morning the baro- 

 metrical readings are nearly alike, it may be not differing more 

 than a few hundredths of an inch from Nairn to Jersey, from. 

 Valentia to Heligoland ; temperature, evaporation, nearly similar, 

 as well as the direction and force of the wind — such statical 

 data would show at once a settled state of the air; and as 

 statical alteration must precede dynamic motion, a continuance 

 of settled weather is probable. Under such circumstances no 

 general change of importance can occur during a day. 



Mr. Glaisher's balloon ascent on the 5th of. last September is 

 noticed. He and his companion attained a height, it is said, of 

 more than 6 miles, and they probably exceeded 7 miles, which is 

 higher than Deodunga, the loftiest summit of the Himalayas, about 

 29,000 feet— miles being 31,680. The last registration of the 

 barometer, before Mr. Glaisher lost consciousness, was 10 inches,, 

 and this was in the extreme cold of 57° below freezing, and in 

 an air so rarified that the pigeons which were liberated fell like 



