58 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The prevaiUng winds were from north-east and from south-west. 

 The average velocity of the wind was 9 miles an hour. 



There were 155 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 38 per cent, of the greatest 



possible amount. 

 There were only 2 days on which no sunshine was recorded. 



May. — This was a warm and dry month, but with a considerable 

 range in temperature between day and night, the screened thermometer 

 at Wisley rising on one occasion to 75° in the day and falhng to 46° 

 at night, and on anolher to 66"^ and 36° respectively, and to 28° on 

 the grass. But there were many bright, warm- days, and the mean 

 temperature for the month was generally high, and in some districts 

 higher than any preceding May for many years. A meteorological 

 feature of th© month which is generally experienced is a cold period 

 occurring somewhere near the middle, but on this occasion there was 

 very little evidence of it anywhere. There was a veiy general excess 

 of sunshine, the southern parts of England having an average of from 

 seven to nine hours a day. Eainfall, on the other hand, was generally 

 below the average, only a few parts of England receiving more than 

 just over an inch. There were, however, some severe thunderstorms, 

 the most severe being those which occurred over parts of the southern 

 counties on the last day of the month, when falls of between 3 and 4 

 inches occurred in a few hours over portions of the North Downs 

 between Dorking and Banstead. These were accompanied by elec- 

 trical phenomena of quite unusual severity. At Wisley, however, the 

 fall of rain on that day was slight, and for the entire month it barely 

 exceeded 0'8 of an inch. 



The results from Wisley are as follows : 



Mean temperature of the air in shade 



55°-9 



Highest „ „ „ ... . 



77°-2 on the 29th 



Lowest „ „ „ ... . 



35°-8 „ 22nd 



Lowest ,, on the grass 



27°-7 „ 7th 



Number of nights of ground frost ... 



3 



At 1 ft. At 2 ft. At 4 ft. 

 deep. deep. deep. 



Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m 



56°-4 52°-9 50°-5 



Highest ,, ,, ,, ... . 



60°-6 57°-7 53°-9 



Lowest „ ,, . ... . 



49°-0 48'^-6 47°-7 



Mean relative humidity of the air at 9 a.m. 



(complete saturation being 



represented by 100) 



74% 



Rain fell on 8 days to the total depth of ... 



...0-83 in. 



(Equivalent to about 3f gallons of water to the square yard.) 



Heaviest fall on any day 0*34 in. on the 14th 



The prevailing winds were westerly, but on a good many days north-easterly winds 



blew. 



The average velocity of the wind was 4^ miles an hour. 



There were 205 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 43 per cent, of the greatest possib 

 amount. 



There were 4 days on which no sunshine was recorded. 



June. — The first week of this month was fine and warm, the 

 temperature at Wisley rising on the 4th to 83° ; but after the 9th the 

 weather became cooler, and at night the thermometer on the grass fell 



