( XIX ) 
temperature was about the average value. The period from the 
2nd to the 8th of June — with the exception of the 4th day — was 
warm ; on the 7th it was excessively warm, for, throughout the 
whole twenty-four hours, the excess of temperature was as much as 
15°; but on the 10th of June a remarkable period of severe cold 
weather set in which lasted to the end of the month, some days 
being marked by exceedingly low temperatures. The average 
temperature of the month of April was 4°'3 in excess ; only four 
instances of warmer Aprils are recorded, viz., in 1779, 1821, 1844, 
and 1865. The average temperature of the cold months of May and 
June was 52°-9, or 7° less than that of the same period in 1868. 
From 1770 to the present time there were only ten instances of 
lower temperature in these two months. These instances were in 
the years 1773, 1792, 1795, 1799, 1805, 1812, 1814, 1816, 1821, and 
1824. In the year 1855 the mean temperature of May and June 
was the same as in this year. 
The mean temperature of April was 50°'3, being 4°-3 higher than 
the average of 98 years ; higher than the corresponding tempera- 
tures in 1866, 1867, and 1868, when 47°-9, 49^-0, and 48°-l, respec- 
tively, were recorded ; but lower than in 1865 by 2°-0. 
The mean temperature of May was 50°-5, or 2°-l lower than the 
average of 98 years, and lower than the corresponding values in 
1868 by 6°-8, but higher than in 1866, when 50°-l was recorded. 
The mean temperature of June was 55°'3, or 2°-9 lower than the 
average of 98 years, and lower than any corresponding value since 
1824, with the sole exceptions of 1830 and 1860, in the first of 
which years the same value was registered, and in the second 54°-8. 
The mean temperature of June. in the year 1868 was 62°'0, or 6°"7 
higher than in 1869. 
The wintry character of the month of March, with a temperature 
of 37°-5, checked the progress of vegetation, but the genial weather 
of April caused vegetation to progress very rapidly, so that by the 
end of the month the prospects of the harvest were very good. 
The cold period of May and June was most unfavourable, and by 
the end of the quarter all cereal crops were backward, and great 
uncertainty prevailed as to the yield. 
Only the early kinds of corn were in ear, and blossomed by the 
end of J une ; but this was confined to the Southern counties, so 
there was every probability that the harvest would be late. The 
mean temperature of the entire quarter was 52°-0, or 0°-2 below 
the average. The mean temperature of the air in the three months 
ending May was 4i)°-l, or 0°-4 lower than the average of 98 years. 
The rainfall of the three months was 5*5 inches, 3-4 inches of 
