( XXVIII ) 
winds were easterly and northerly, but generally light, and very 
little rain fell. From the 18th to the 30th the air was mostly dry 
and frequently very cold, the average deficiency of daily temperature 
being 5°. At the beginning of February there was a marked change, 
frosts disappeared, and till the 8th day the weather was mild, with 
an average excess of temperature of 4° daily. On the 9th, however, 
a complete change took place ; and for five or six days the cold was 
excessively severe ; this period of low temperature prevailed to 
the 25th, during which time the average deficiency of daily tempe- 
rature was as large as 7j°. Six warm days now followed with an 
average excess of daily temperature to the amount of 8^°. From 
the 4th of March, with the exception of the three days, March 16th, 
17th, and 18th, the temperature was low, and the weather very cold 
for the season ; the deficiency of temperature daily from March 4th 
to 15th was 3i° ; the excess for the three days, 16th, 17th, and 18th, 
was 6J°, and the deficiency to the end of the quarter from the 19th 
was 5J° daily. Upon the whole quarter of 90 days the deficiency 
of temperature averaged 1° daily. The frequent alternations in the 
temperature from mild to cold, — the periods of low temperature 
being longer than those of high, — together with the bleak east and 
north-east winds, and very harsh weather generally, have been un- 
favourable to the progress of agricultural work, and vegetation has 
been arrested and kept very backward. 
At Greenwich the mean temperature of January was 38°'3, being 
2°-0 higher than the average of 99 years, lower than the correspond- 
ing temperature of 1 869 by 2°-8. In February the mean tempera- 
ture was 36°-2, being 2°-3 lower than the average of 99 years, and 
lo wer than the corresponding temperatures in any year since 1864. 
The mean temperature of March was 39°-6, being l°-3 lower than 
the average of 99 years, and higher than in 1869 by 2°-l. The fall 
of rain was 0-4 inch and 1-1 inch respectively in defect in January 
and February, and 0-5 inch in excess in March. 
Wheat first appeared above ground on February 15, at CuUoden. 
Second Quarter (April, May, June). — The bleak and cold weather 
at the end of March continued to the 5th day of April. On the 6th 
the weather underwent a favourable change, and the temperature 
of the air till the 26th was high. The avei-age excess was 5J° 
daily. On two of these days, the 20th and 21st, the excess was as 
large as 16° and 13° respectively. On the 27th the weather became 
changeable ; the wind was mostly north-westerly. Eain fell in 
small quantities in different pai'ts of the country, and this con- 
tinued till May 11th. The average deficiency of tempeiature in 
this interval was 5° daily. This cloudy, cold, and harsh weather, 
changed on the I2th May to very fine and warm with an abundance 
