362  The  Weather  of  the  Past  Agricultural  Year. 
[Continued  from  page  359.] 
went  on.  March  was  upon  the  whole  mild  and  dry,  with  a 
striking  absence  of  night  frosts.  Very  little  rain  fell  in  the 
earlier  half  of  the  month,  and  from  the  middle  until  about 
April  3 an  absolute  drought  prevailed  over  a large  portion  of 
England.  With  the  advance  of  April  the  weather  assumed  a 
typically  showery  character,  and  became  also  very  cold,  with 
occasional  falls  of  hail,  sleet,  or  snow.  In  the  shade  the 
thermometer  in  April  seldom  touched  60°  in  any  part  of  the 
country,  but  on  the  21st  it  rose  to  65°  or  a little  higher  in  the 
south-east  of  England.  The  earlier  half  of  May  was  also  cold 
and  inclement,  with  sharp  frosts  in  many  places  on  the  3rd  and 
between  the  9th  and  11th,  and  frequent  showers  of  hail  or 
sleet.  After  the  middle  of  the  month  the  conditions  became 
more  seasonable,  the  thermometer  rising  between  the  20th  and 
24th  to  75°  and  upwards  in  many  places,  and  to  80°  or  a trifle 
above  it  in  some  parts  of  Norfolk  and  Lincolnshire.  Over  the 
country  generally  the  mean  temperature  of  the  spring  differed 
but  little  from  the  average,  but  in  the  north-east  of  England 
the  season  was  warmer  than  usual.  Rainfall  was  below  the 
normal  in  all  the  western  and  central  districts,  but  above  it  in 
the  eastern  and  south-eastern  counties.  The  total  amount  of 
bright  sunshine  was  generally  in  excess  of  the  average. 
The  Summer  of  1910  varied  greatly  in  character  in  different 
parts  of  the  country.  Over  eastern,  central,  and  southern 
England  it  was  mainly  cool  and  very  cloudy,  but  in  the  west 
and  north  the  conditions  were  much  finer,  and  in  the  northern 
parts  of  Ireland  and  Scotland  the  amount  of  bright  sunshine 
was  in  excess  of  the  average.  June  was  not  without  season- 
able warmth,  the  thermometer  rising  above  80°  in  many 
English  districts  between  the  7th  and  9th,  and  again  on  the 
19th  and  20th.  The  month  was,  however,  characterised  by 
numerous  thunderstorms,  accompanied  in  many  instances  by 
very  heavy  falls  of  rain.  Between  the  5th  and  9th  tremendous 
downpours  occurred  in  several  parts  of  southern  England, 
West  Salisbury  experiencing  as  much  as  three  and  a half 
inches  of  rain  on  the  night  of  the  5th,  and  Reading  and 
Wheatley,  Oxford,  no  less  than  five  and  a half  inches  on  the 
9th.  Over  the  entire  south-eastern  quarter  of  England  July 
was  almost  continuously  cloudy  and  cool,  the  rainfall  being, 
however,  less  heavy  than  in  June.  In  the  west  and  north  a 
heavy  downpour  on  the  5th  was  succeeded  by  nearly  a fort- 
night of  fine  sunny  weather,  but  after  the  19th  the  conditions 
became  unsettled  over  the  whole  country,  with  heavy  rain  on 
the  20th  in  Wales  and  the  north-west  of  England.  August 
was  characterised  by  an  almost  complete  absence  of  seasonable 
warmth,  the  thermometer  seldom  rising  as  high  as  75°  in  any 
part  of  England.  Heavy  falls  of  rain  were  experienced  on  the 
