32 
Marsham, father of the Eev. H. P. Marsham, resumed them. 
Prom 1858 to the present time they have been kept at Itippon 
Hall, about two miles north of Stratton. 
The first named Mr. Marsham was an observant naturalist, and 
exceedingly fond of rural pursuits ; the beauty and variety of the 
trees at Stratton, planted and tended by himself, testify to his skill 
and taste in arboriculture, and probably suggested the phenomena 
included in his “ Indications,” which are just those we can imagine 
most interesting to a country gentleman spending much of his time 
upon his own estate, and watching with pleasure the re-awakening to 
fresh beauty of the trees and plants in which he took such interest. 
The first part of the “Journal” kept by Mr. Marsham, and 
from which the table of “ Indications ” is compiled, contains, by 
way of preface, a particular account of the planting which seems 
to have been systematically commenced by the father of the writer 
in 1718; in 1736 the regular notes commence, and from that time, 
to the close of the Journal in 1797, it is replete with the most in- 
teresting particulars as to the progress of planting, and the growth 
and treatment of the trees, with periodic measurements of many of 
them. This J ournal also contains notes of any circumstance which 
interested the writer ; his holiday tours, during which his love for 
woodcraft constantly shows itself in remarks upon the trees seen by 
him in the country through which he is travelling, with measure- 
ments of some of the most interesting ; as well as remarks upon 
men, things, and passing events, full of interest, and often having 
appended to them the more mature opinions which the long life of 
the writer enabled him to form and record. Each year begins by a 
review of tbe weather month by month, compiled from notes, and a 
daily register of the natural history phenomena, interspersed with 
many valuable observations, and a table of the prevailing winds. 
It is to this section, from which I shall make frequent extracts, 
elucidating the results exhibited in the summary before us, that we 
must confine ourselves. In addition to the phenomena tabulated 
in the “ Indications,” there are many others recorded, with more 
or less regularity, one of which drops out in 1775, and is no more 
repeated. I refer to the cry of the bittern ; it is mentioned, I 
think, nineteen times between the years 1739 and 1775, so that 
it does not seem to have been observed with any degree of regu- 
larity. The earliest date on which its note was heard was February 
