THE JOURNAL 



11 APR. 1907 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



A NEW METHOD OF TREATING METEOROLOGICAL 



STATISTICS. 



Some additional matter introduced into the Weekly Weather 

 Report of the Meteorological Office at the commencement of the 

 current year promises to be of considerable assistance in the 

 comparison of agricultural and meteorological phenomena and 

 in the tracing out of any connections which may be found to exist 

 between them. 



The statistical matter which the report has hitherto contained 

 gives a summary of the week's weather in each of the twelve 

 districts into which the British Isles are divided for meteoro- 

 logical purposes, under the separate headings temperature, rain- 

 fall, and sunshine. From the agricultural point of view the 

 selection of the week as the unit of time has many advantages. 

 The more usual unit of the month is found to be so long that 

 many important details become obliterated. For instance, a 

 month of average rainfall may be made up of one week of heavy 

 i a in fall and three weeks of absolute drought, and to the agri- 

 culturist such a month would be very different from one in which 

 an equal rainfall is distributed evenly over the whole period. 

 On the other hand, if daily values be made the basis of computa- 

 tion, the mass of figures becomes so large that it is difficult to 

 deal with it in a comprehensive manner. By the adoption of the 

 week as the working unit of time the figures are maintained 

 within a reasonable compass, while, at the same time, the larger 

 variations in the character of the weather find adequate expres- 

 sion. 



The arrangement of the statistics in districts is intended to 

 give values which shall be independent of purelv local eircum- 



Vol. XIV. No. i. 



APRIL, 1907. 



A 



