330 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
were recorded at Wisley, and an hour more at a few favoured spots 
on the southern coast ; and the average daily duration at Wisley for 
the whole month — taking dull days with bright — was rather more 
than one and a half hours, which is nearly 50 per cent, more than the 
average. This simply means that the sun's rays when focussed through 
a special lens had sufficient power to scorch a strip of card for a total of 
fifty-two hours, during the twenty-one days on which it shone at all ; 
and although this may not appear to be a very large amount, it really 
is so for December, especially if it be compared with another December 
record obtained in 1890, also in Surrey (and not very far from Wisley), 
when the total amount for the entire month was only fifteen minutes ! 
But notwithstanding the unusual abundance of sunshine this year, 
out-door plant life at Wisley was by no means vigorous : there were 
no signs at all of flowering on trees, such as Hamamelis ; and only 
one or two flowers appeared on Hellebores ; and, indeed, plant life in 
general was in a more backward state than had been observed in 
December for some years. 
The following table summarizes the results of the climatological 
observations made at Wisley during the month : 
Mean temperature of the air in shade .... 35'3° 
Highest „ „„.... 53 0 on the 1st 
Lowest ,,„.... 16 0 „ 19th 
Lowest on the grass ..... 6° „ 19th 
Number of nights of ground frost . . . . . . .19 
At depth of 
1 ft. 2 ft. 4 ft. 
Mean temperature of the soil at 9 a.m. . . . 39'4° 4 2 *5° 45*7° 
Highest „ „ 48 0 4»° 49° 
Lowest „ „ 36° 39° 42 0 
Mean relative humidity of the air at 9 a.m. (complete saturation being repre- 
sented by 100), 89 per cent. 
Rain fell on 10 days, to the total depth of i*45 in- (equivalent to about 
7 gallons of water to the square yard) . Heaviest fall on any day 0-63 in., on the 
1 6th. 
The prevailing winds were south-westerly till the last week of the month, 
then north-easterly. 
The average velocity of the wind was 5 miles an hour. 
There were 52 hours of bright sunshine, equal to 22 per cent, of the greatest 
possible amount. 
There were 10 days on which no sunshine was recorded. 
