296 SUMMER FROSTS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SWEDES 



crop of the former in Northumberland is actually less than 

 that of the latter. 



The following figures give the average amounts of dry 

 matter in the two crops for a succession of years, grown at 



Cockle Park (Northumberland) : — 



1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 

 Dry matter in mangels (^) 9-98 ... ii'gG io'57 ii'9i 

 ,, swedes ,, 11 "43 iO"32 ii"93 11 '67 I4'96 



These figures show that mangels have actually on the 

 average less dry matter than swedes when grown at Cockle 

 Park, and on the average the results from the county of 

 Durham are of a similar character. These amounts of dry 

 matter in mangels do not show any distinct relation to the 

 summer frosts, nor to the amounts of bright sunshine during 

 these summers (^). They rather indicate that the summers 

 of the north-east of England are neither prolonged nor warm 

 enough to permit of the proper ripening of this crop. At 

 Cockle Park the average crop of mangels is quite one-fourth 

 less than that of swedes, and this crop is never anything like 

 mature at this centre before late autumn frosts necessitate its 

 harvesting and storage. In the Midlands, and especially in 

 the southern counties, the maturation of this crop is of a much 

 more complete character. 



SUMMER FROSTS IN NORTH-WEST AND NORTH-EAST OF 

 ENGLAND. 



By the courtesy of Principal Smith Hill, of the Aspatria 

 Agricultural College, Cumberland, I am able to give the 

 summer frosts on grass for 1 901-4 at that station : — 

 Frosts on grass (degrees Fahrenheit) 251 feet above sea level. 





1901 



1902 



1903 



1904 



June ... 



None 



None 



14th o-6° 



None 



July 



None 



None 



None 



None 



August 



.. None 



None 



None 



None 



September 



None 



13th 1-8° 

 19th 3-2° 



13th 1-4° 

 14th 17° 

 15th 2-8° 

 1 6th 0-4° 



17th 0-2° 



None 



{^) The numbers of hours sunshine for June-September (inclusive) at 

 Cockle Park were : — 



19CX) 1901 1902 1903 1904 



658 851 523 675 680 hours. 



