The Weather o/lSOO. 
193 
fully executed, and, like all true works of art, they are true to 
nature. Each j^late is faced by a technical description of the species, 
accompanied by an analytical table showing the chemical compo- 
sition of the plant. Woodcuts representing front and side views of 
the " seeds " of the grasses, natural size and magnified, will be found 
of great assistance to cultivators who wish to avoid sowing adul- 
terated samples of seed. 
Readers who are familiar with the modern litei'ature of this 
subject, whether French, German, or American, will find it difficult 
to name any foreign work worthy of being ranked side by side with 
this admirable volume. The secret of its high quality is perhaps to 
be found in the circumstance that it has been a work of slow growth, 
based upon the accumulated experience of many years. More than 
a quarter of a century has elapsed since Mr. Martin Hope Sutton, 
the father of the author, contributed to this Journal a paper on 
the same subject, Avhich has been expanded into the valuable 
manual now under notice. That it should have been the good 
fortune of an Englishman to write a work that has taken a front 
place in the " grass literature " of the world is a circumstance that 
must prove as gratifying to the author as it must be satisfactory to 
his brother agriculturists. 
THE WEATHER OF 1890.1 
First Quarter. — The weather in January was very cold for the first 
three days, the temperature on the 1st being as much as 9°-7 below 
its average ; then from the 4th to the end of the month it was re- 
markably warm, being above its average on the 6th, 7th, 12th, 13th, 
15th, 16th, and 25th days, by 13°-4, 12°*3, 10°-6, 10°, 10°-4, 10°-3, 
and 10°-7 respectively, and on several other days it was as much as 
7° and 8° above. The atmospheric pressure was below its average 
from the 18th to the 28th, being as much as three-quarters of an 
inch below on the 22nd, and nearly 1-2 inch below on the 23rd, and 
it was generally above on other days. The fall of rain was sliglitly 
above its average at all stations, and the S.W. wind was prevalent. 
The weather in Fehrnanj was, warm for the first two days, and then 
generally cold, dry, and v/ith frequent frost for the rest of the month. 
The temperature of the air was above its average on the first two 
days, then below till the end of the month, with the exception of the 
16th, 17th, and 18th days, when it was 3°-4, O'^-O, and 0°-7 respect- 
ively above. The atmospheric pressure was above its average from 
the 1st to the 11th, and from the 18th to the end of the month, 
being nearly three-quarters of an inch above on the 23rd. The fall 
' Abstracted from the particulars supplied to the Eegistrar-Qeneral 
James Glaisher, Esq., F.R.S., &c. 
VOL. II, T. S. — 5 O 
