326 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
At depth of 
I ft. 2 ft. 4 ft 
Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. . . . 62-8° 61-5° 58-2° 
Highest „ »,„... 67 0 65 0 6i° 
Lowest „ 58 0 59 0 57 0 
Mean relative humidity of the air at 9 a.m. (complete saturation being repre- 
sented by 100), 77 per cent. 
Rain fell on 13 days, to the total depth of 4-75 in. (equivalent to about 22 
gallons of water to the square yard) . Heaviest fall on any day 1 -75 in., on the 30th. 
The prevailing winds were at first from north-east, then from south-west. 
The average velocity of the wind was 4 miles an hour. 
There were 215 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 44 per cent, of the greatest 
possible amount. 
There were 4 days on which no sunshine was recorded. 
August. — It is not unusual for the weather during August to 
exhibit some feature not generally associated with that of a mid- 
summer month, but fortunately it is not often that it combines at once 
so many peculiarities as it did in the month now under review. It 
may be summarized as disturbed and unsettled, very windy and 
dull ; with a marked deficiency of sunshine and warmth ; and, as 
regards the greater part of the kingdom, an excessive rainfall. The 
month opened with squally, rainy weather, and a continuance of the 
heavy rain-storms which had been so conspicuous a feature of the 
weather over the south-eastern counties since June. As a result, 
the total rainfall amounted in many districts to double, and in some 
to treble, the usual amount ; and in parts of Surrey, Kent, and Essex, 
where the rain-storms were especially severe, there fell during the 
first week amounts which were from ten to twenty times greater than 
the normal. With such conditions there was, as might have been 
expected, but little bright sunshine ; and as a further result the days 
were very cool ; although, since the screen of cloud which cut off 
the direct rays of the sun by day served also to prevent the radiation 
of heat from the earth by night, these were followed by unusually 
warm nights, resulting in a higher average temperature than would 
otherwise have been the case. But these conditions were not alto- 
gether unfavourable to the horticulturist. The extremely heavy, but 
fortunately not very prolonged, "downpours" were not welcomed ; 
but the abundance of moisture and the unusual warmth at night 
more than compensated for the loss of sunshine and hdat by day, 
with the result that at Wisley, and in most other districts, extra- 
ordinary progress was made in plant-growth right through the month. 
The observations made at Wisley are summarized in the following 
table : 
Mean temperature of the air in shade . . . . 6i*i° 
Highest „ „ „ 7 6 ° on the 7th 
Lowest ,, „,,.... 48 0 ,, 20th 
Lowest ,, on the grass . . . .38° ,, 20th 
Number of nights of ground frost . . . . . . . .nil 
At depth of 
1 ft. 2 ft. 4 ft. 
Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. . . . 62-2° 61 -8° 59*7° 
Highest „ „ 65 0 64* 6o° 
Lowest „ „ 6o° 6o° £0° 
