AND MANGELS IN THE NORTH OF ENGLAND. 297 



From the foregoing it will be seen that summer frosts are 

 much less common at Aspatria than at Cockle Park. These 

 frosts at the two centres may be taken as indicating the 

 general occurrence of these in Durham and Northumberland 

 represented by Cockle Park, a north-eastern station; and in 

 Cumberland and Westmoreland represented by Aspatria, a 

 north-western station. The following table, abstracted from 

 the returns of the Board of Agriculture, shows how much 

 more favourable the north-west is than the north-east for the 

 growth of roots, which, although there are other conditions, 

 such as more rainfall, must be largely due to the com- 

 parative absence of summer frosts in the north-west : — 



Swedes and Tm-nips. Mangels. 



Average crop Average crop 



Acreage per acre Acreage per acre 



1904. 1894-1903. 1904. 1894-1903. 



England 1,091,344 11 -96 tons 385,646 18-36 tons 



Durham (N.E.) ... 19,876 13-02 ,, 994 I4"64 ,, 



Northumberland (N.E.) 35,014 15-63 ,, 680 15-21 ,, 



Cumberland (N.W.) ... 28,422 15-57 ,, 2,614 20-47 ,, 



Westmoreland (N.W.)... 5,811 18-51 ,, 764 21-93 >> 



These figures show that, whereas in England more than 

 one acre of mangels is grown for every three acres of turnips, 

 the proportion of mangels to turnips is about one to twenty in 

 Durham, one to fifty in Northumberland, one to eleven in 

 Cumberland, and one to eight in Westmoreland. The greater 

 proportion of mangels in the two latter counties is un- 

 doubtedly chiefly because of the rarity of summer frosts. To 

 the same cause must be mainly attributed the better average 

 crops of roots in these counties as well as the more susceptible 

 root crop — the mangel — being influenced to the greatest extent 

 by the better conditions. 



There must of course be very varied local climatic con- 

 ditions, but the results from Aspatria and Cockle Park give a 

 general idea of the likely occurrence of summer frosts in the 

 north-west and in the north-east of England. 



There can be no doubt that the north-east of England 

 suffers to the greatest extent from spring and summer frosts, 



