60 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



710.7 530.4 630.9 



60°-7 59°-8 57°-8 

 (complete saturation being 



63 % 



1-25 in. 



of an inch; but over the whole of England and Wales, with the 

 exception of a few places where thunderstorms were experienced, the 

 fall was less than half an inch, and over eastern Scotland less than 

 2 inches. Over the western half of Scotland and the whole of 

 Ireland the drought was less severe. There were some severe local 

 thunderstorms, chiefly over south-eastern England, in the last week 

 of the month, accompanied by torrential rains ; at Wisley 0*94 fell 

 between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. on the 26th, and in London on the after- 

 noon of the 28th I'l inch fell in a quarter of an hour. The weather 

 of the month was excellent for haymaking, and by the close the 

 harvest had begun all over the country. 

 The results from Wisley are as follows : 



Mean temperature of the air in shade 66°-5 



Highest „ „ „ 91°-1 on the 22nd 



Lowest „ „ „ 45°-2 „ 16th 



Lowest „ on the grass ... 36°-0 „ llth 



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

 deep. deep. deep. 



Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m ... 67°-0 64°-5 60°-7 



Highest „ „ ,, ... 



Lowest „ ,, ,, ... , 



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



represented by 100) 

 Rain fell on 6 days to the total depth of ... 



(Equivalent to about 5| gallons of water to the square yard.) 



Heaviest fall on any day ... 0*94 in. on the 25th 



The prevailing winds were between south-west and north-west. 

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



There were 344 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 70 per cent, of the greatest 



possible amount. 

 There were no days on which no sunshine was recorded. 



August. — The heat and drought which were such notable features 

 of the weather of July continued to prevail throughout August also, 

 and in an even more marked degree, the thermometer in the screen 

 at Wisley rising to above 90° on three occasions, and to 96° on 

 the 9th. On that day, however, such readings were general over 

 the Midland counties and south-eastern England, and at Greenwich 

 Observatory the record reading of 100° was recorded ! The 

 mean temperature for the month was therefore very high, and the 

 daily range of temperature was also large, whilst the temperature 

 of the soil at the depth of 1 foot greatly exceeded the average. 

 Eainfall was again very slight — less than an inch over the southern 

 two-thirds of England, except at a few isolated places, where local 

 showers swelled the total, and less than 2 inches over the greater 

 portion of the rest of the kingdom. Eastern Scotland and some portions 

 of Ireland also had less than an inch during the month. The amount 

 of sunshine was large, exceeding 60 per cent, of the total possible 

 amount over the southern counties ; at Wisley there was but one sunless 

 day, and the daily amount averaged 8' 2 hours. There was rather more 

 wind than in July, but the force was never strong. The drought caused 

 a very parched condition of the soil, and grass became quite burnt up. 



