362 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



This request met with a ready response, and a large number of 

 forms were returned containing a vast amount of information. A 

 partial list of these returns is given at pp. 364-366, but this includes 

 only those containing the larger numbers of records. We desire here to 

 tender our thanks to all the compilers of returns, whether mentioned 

 in that list or not, who have thus enabled us to put the informa- 

 tion contained in the following account before the Fellows of our 

 Society. 



The amount of damage recorded in many of the returns is greater 

 than that experienced in any winter since 1894-5, though this is true 

 chiefly of the South-E astern counties. In those more westerly a greater 

 amount of damage had been suffered in the previous winter. 



The nature of the weather generally will be gathered from the 

 following note drawn up by Mr. E. H. Curtis, P.E.Met.Soc. : — 



The weather of the four days December 27-30 was very in- 

 clement over the whole of Great Britain, but not so to any unusual 

 degree in Ireland. The cold was accompanied by a good deal of snow, 

 which in many districts became swept by the strong winds which pre- 

 vailed into deep drifts, and as such, may have had a considerable 

 influence upon vegetation." The cold snap followed very suddenly upon 

 the uniformly mild weather, which had been the noticeable feature of 

 the preceding days of the month, and during most of the interval the 

 temperature did not rise in many districts much above 20 degrees. 

 The cold was most severe over the Midland and South-E astern counties 

 of England, the lowest temperatures occurring as a rule on the 29th 

 or 30th. In Scotland the cold was less severe, and, except in a very 

 few instances, the screen minimum did not fall below 20 degrees, 

 while in the English Midland, Eastern, and South-Eastern counties \ 

 readings only a few degrees above zero Fahrenheit were observed in 

 many places, and even at Jersey the minimum in the screen fell to 

 27 degrees. 



" The second spell of exceptional cold occurred during the opening 

 days of March, and was more widely felt, but was again accompanied 

 by cold rain, snow^ and hail, the falls of snow being deep in some 

 parts of the country. The greatest cold v/as, however, again felt over ; 

 the South-Eastern counties of England, where screen minima at, or j 

 not many degrees above, zero w^ere registered at several places. In 

 the Eastern portion of Scotland it was low, except near the coast; 

 but minimum temperatures ranging at a few degrees above or below 

 20 degrees were recorded nearly everywhere south of the Highlands, | 

 the patch of more severe cold being, roughly speaking, confined to the 

 South and South-east Midlands. 



* * In both of these cold periods it is important to note that not j 

 only were the minima low, but the low temperatures were persistent, 

 and at many places throughout the periods the temperature remained 

 below the freezing-point." *• 



