44 
tions ” would be much less interesting without them. After Mr. 
Et. Marsham’s death in 1797, the observations were continued to 
the year 1810 by his son Eobert, but there is no Journal 
of the weather such as the first Mr. Marsham kept, nor is there 
any such record with the second set of observations from 1836 
to 1874. 
It is often said that our “ old-fashioned winters ” have departed, 
and that the springs have become later ; the “ Indications,” as they 
extend over such a lengthened period, and have been kept so 
nearly in the same spot, offer a good opportunity of testing if such 
be the case. For this purpose I took the average days of the 
occurrence of twenty-five of the phenomena mentioned in the 
“ Indications,” (omitting two which were not so fully observed as 
the others,) over the ten years ending 1774, and ascertained the 
mean of these averages. I then did the same with the ten years 
ending 1874, and found the mean of the former April the 7th, 
and of the latter March 29th, showing that the springs aro nine 
days earlier now than one hundred years ago. The calculation in 
the first period is based upon 196 observations, and in the second 
181 ; and Mr. Marsham tells me the method of observing followed 
by him is precisely the same as that pursued by his father, grand- 
father, and great-grandfather. It is not probable, therefore, that 
the difference is owing to any fault in observing, but is possibly 
due to drainage or cultivation ; upon this point, however, I do 
not feel that I am sufficiently informed to give an opinion, but 
shall be glad to hear those of the members present. The soil in the 
parish of Stratton is for the most part very light and sandy, the 
subsoil gravel or brick earth. The west end of the parish is heath 
land, which it pays better to plant than to cultivate. At the 
commencement of the present century this heath land stretched 
away to the westward for miles. 
Some of the “ Indications ” are of no scientific value, such 
as the flowering of the turnip and snowdrop, the commence- 
ment of the thrush’s song, and appearance of the yellow butterfly, 
(a hibernating species, which makes a fitful appearance any sunny 
winter’s day,) nor is there much to be learned from a bare date of 
the arrival of the spring migrants ; to be of really scientific value, 
a much more complete register must be kept, but extending over 
such a lengthened period, and taken in connection with the more 
