54 



Miscellaneous Notes. 



[APRIL, 



For meteorological purposes the winter, which began on December 2nd, 1906, was 

 concluded on March 2nd, 1907. It was characterised, as far as England is concerned, 

 by an excess in the number of weeks of * ' abundant " 

 sunshine, and an excess in the number of weeks of 

 Notes 011 the Weatner. < cdeficient » warmt h, as compared with the previous 

 winter. There were also more weeks of "light" rain- 

 fall. These remarks are true also for the East of Scotland, but the reverse occurred 

 in the West. The North Eastern District of England recorded 10 weeks out of 13 

 with " abundant " sunshine, and only one with "scanty," but only 3 weeks with 

 "unusual" warmth and 6 weeks with "deficient" warmth, while 6 weeks were 

 recorded with " light " rainfall. 



With the opening of spring the records more nearly approached normal. At the 

 end of the first week heavy rain was experienced in the North West of England, and 

 considerable quantities of snow fell in Scotland and the North and North- East of 

 England, but the week's record for the North- East was nevertheless "abundant" sunshine 

 and "deficient" warmth. Other districts were mostly "moderate" in all respects. 

 During the second week considerable intervals of clear sky were experienced in most 

 districts, but the general character of the weather was unsettled with more or less rain 

 or snow on almost every day. The North- East District, however, again recorded 

 " abundant " sunshine. During the third week every district in England recorded 

 " abundant " or " very abundant " sunshine and " unusual" warmth. In the South 

 of England the percentage of the possible duration of sunshine was as high as 70, in 

 England E. and N.E. 67, and in the Midlands 64. In every district, however, a 

 temperature of 30 degrees or less on the grass was recorded in the night : on three 

 days at Hull, four at Cambridge, three at Dunmow, two at Harrogate and Sheffield, 

 three at Birmingham and Nottingham, four at Kew, and two at Canterbury and 

 Portsmouth. The last week of the month was accompanied by a change in the 

 weather, which became extremely fine over the greater part of the Kingdom. The 

 warmth recorded was " very unusual " in every district of Great Britain, except 

 England E., where it was " unusual." The sunshine was " very abundant " in every 

 district of England, and "abundant" in Scotland E. During the last seventeen 

 weeks the sunshine in England N.E. has been " abundant " for fourteen weeks. During 

 the last week of March the temperature on the grass fell to 30 degrees or less, seven 

 times at Cambridge, Dunmow, Nottingham, and Kew, six times at Birmingham, and 

 five times at Canterbury and Portsmouth. 



Very few observations have as yet been made by the Board's correspondents. 

 Reports are general as to the lateness of the leafage of trees and plants. Spring 

 cabbages very brown and seared from succession of frosts in Middlesex. Plantings of 

 lettuce and cauliflowers suffering from frost and drought. Sowings of onions normal. 

 Reports from W. Kent give sowings as normal, as the ground is generally in such 

 good tilth. Fruit buds generally late. Reports from West Scotland (Argyll) state 

 ploughing delayed by inclement weather in winter, mixed with mild rain, but sheep 

 wintered fairly well. Reports from Derbyshire favourable. Corn well sown, and 

 pasturage in good condition, with every indication of an abundant fruit year. 



Varieties of Potatoes.— As the results of some experiments, conducted by the Agri- 

 cultural Department of the University of Leeds (Bulletin No. 63), the following varieties 



are regarded as being well suited to cultivation in York- 

 MiSCellaneOUS Notes. shire \-Earlies : Recorder, Midlothian Early. Second 



Earlies : British O ueen, British Queen II, Dalmeny 

 Radium. Main Crop Varieties: Duchess of Cornwall, Factor, Dalmeny Beauty, 

 Dalmeny Regent, Wonder, Up-to-date. All these are of the Up-to-date type. 

 \ leld, cooking quality and power of resisting disease were all taken into account in 

 making this selection. 



