34 
of the previous December, and had never all disappeared, was 
still visible, and the water had not been free from ice since the 
9th of December, the snow having remained 119, and the ice 117 
days continuously, truly “ a wretched spring,” and yet a glance at 
the table Avill show that the spring of 1785 was by no means a 
late one. 
The phenomena observed are twenty-seven in number, and con- 
sist of the leafing of the hawthorn, sycamore, birch, elm, moun- 
tain ash, oak, beech, horse-chestnut, chestnut, hornbeam, ash, lime, 
and maple ; the flowering of the snowdrop, hawthorn, turnip, and 
wood-anemone ; the commencement of the song of the thrush and 
ringdove ; and the croaking of toads and frogs ; the building of 
the rook, and first appearance of its young ones ; the arrivals of 
the swallow, cuckoo, nightingale, and churn-owl, and the appear- 
ance of the yellow butterfly. 
For the sake of clearness I have here kept distinct the two sets of 
observations, those from 1736 to 1810, and those from 1836 to 
1874; in the summary at the end they will be treated as con- 
tinuous. In the first set (1736 to 1810) the earliest years, repre- 
sented in degree by the figures placed under each, are 1 1 J 50 , 1 y 4 , 
] 9 , and 1 y 0 ; the late years are 1 y 1 , (very late,) 1 y 4 , 1 h 9 °, 
3 7 2 9 5 , *y 2 , 1 y 0 , and 17 5 92 ; in the second set (1836 to 1874) 
the earliest years were 1 8 5 46 , l8 / 9 , l V 9 , 18 3 52 , 9 , and lf y 4 ; 
the late ones, l8 ff 55 , 18 T 58 , 3 \ 61 , I \ 53 , 18 / 7 , and 1 % 5 ‘. The 
figure placed under each year denotes the number of phenomena 
out of the 27 which occurred earliest or latest in that year, during 
the 74 years of the first period, or the 38 years of the second ; 
the media for the whole series will be found in the table at the end. 
I will now notice the features of some of the most remarkable 
springs recorded in the Journal, taking the early years first. The 
year 1750 was a remarkably early one, and I cannot do better than 
copy it in full from the Journal ; it will show how full and careful 
the observations are, and give a very fair specimen of its style. 
The year is taken from Christmas to Christmas, and the dates are 
the old style. 
“ Christmas Day, 1749, and one day after were frost ; and then 
open to y° end of December. 
“ 1750. January. The 4th and 5th of January were frosty; 
and from y° 10th to y 8 17th foggy; all the rest of January uncom- 
