400 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
and on to near the close of November, when there came a change of 
wind to north, and with it a spell of cold which soon developed so 
much intensity and also in the area covered, that before long low 
night temperatures of between io° and 20 ° Fahr. were being experi- 
enced in most parts of the British Isles. At the very end of the year 
there came a brief interval of south-westerly winds and with them a 
general increase of temperature, the thermometer rising in the early 
days of January to an exceptionally high point for the season ; but 
vegetation was then in a very backward state, and at Wisley it was 
estimated to be quite a month later than in normal years. 
" The milder weather with which the New Year began did not, 
however, continue very long. The wind soon got back again into a 
northern quadrant, and severe frosts presently became once more 
general, the thermometer falling as low in some parts of Ireland and 
England as in the north of Scotland. At Wisley on the 30th a tempera- 
ture of 7 0 Fahr. was recorded on the grass, and a week later when this 
renewed spell of cold had attained its culmination it fell still lower to 
— 4° on the grass. But all over the kingdom it was phenomenally low 
in these early days of February, and grass temperature readings of 
zero Fahr. were recorded in Surrey, Kent, Worcestershire, Radnor, 
Lancashire, as well as at places further north across the Border. At 
Wisley there had been up to this period thirty-seven consecutive days 
of frost ; at Gatton Park their duration was six weeks ; Sherborne, 
Dorset, thirty-four days ; Tortworth, Glos., thirty-five days ; Mon- 
mouth, thirty-two days ; and even at St. Keverne (on the Cornish 
coast just west of Falmouth) ' there was a grass frost every night from 
January 14 to February 14.' 
" For a similarly cold spell one must go back for at least twenty- 
two years to 1895, which year is named in most of the schedules as 
the most recent for comparison with 1917, and is confirmed as such 
by a reference to official instrumental records. The intensity of the 
frost in that year was perhaps even greater than in the more recent 
year with which we are now dealing, but not its duration, and probably 
the area over which it was felt was less extensive. It is a fact of some 
importance to note that the total amount of precipitation, either as 
rain or, and more especially, as snow, during this cold spell was less 
than the average, and as a result the protection which might have 
been afforded to vegetation by snow was largely wanting. 
"Towards the close of February temperature had again become 
nearly normal all over the kingdom, but the usual seasonal increase 
of warmth looked for in March did not occur, and, instead, frosts 
again became of frequent occurrence, and were at times very severe, 
the worst occurring in the second week, when the thermometer fell 
in several districts to below io° Fahr. in the screen, and at Wisley 
to 9 0 Fahr. upon the grass. Again this extreme cold occurred con- 
currently with a strong north-easterly wind, which locally did great 
damage in gardens, even to hardy things. At Wisley it was noted 
that whilst all vegetables suffered very much, ' many kinds looked 
