618 MR. F. LONG ON THE BOUGHS AND TRUNKS OF FOREST TREES. 
of foliage on the Oaks and Elms ; and yet if he were asked whether 
he noticed any difference in their appearance compared with eight 
or nine years ago, he would probably say that he saw no difference 
except that they looked very leafy, a condition that was probably 
due to the great amount of wet that we had had. The fact is, there 
is a vast difference, and what will be the effect in another eight 
or ten years fancy may easily depict. The change has come about 
so gradually that the majority of people have not noticed the steady 
growth of small branches on the trunks and boughs. I have taken 
great interest in the matter from the first and have watched very 
carefully each year the increase of growth. On looking up into 
an Oak one sees a whole forest of small branches on the upper 
side of the boughs. In the case of the Elms the growth almost 
encircles the boughs. For the true cause of this state of things 
we must go back to the spring of 1895. Most here will remem- 
ber the very remarkable cold blast that swept over the country 
on the 15th May of that year, and I have thought it might be 
interesting to bring before the Society a note of the permanent 
effects, for good or for evil, which have been left behind on 
most of our forest trees as a consequence of that storm. 
Mr. Arthur Preston has kindly furnished me with a few details 
of the weather about that period. On the 15th of May, a gale 
blew from the N.N.W., accompanied by sleet and hail. The 
maximum temperature was 44'2 degrees and the minimum 39 2 
degrees. On the grass it fell to 37 degrees, and the following 
night to 33 degrees. This sudden change, as he says, was the 
more remarkable as it followed upon a previous very warm 
period, the thermometer having exceeded 70 degrees during the 
previous five days. In a day or so after the cold snap had 
passed the temperature quickly recovered again. 
The Oaks and Elms previous to the cold snap had all burst 
into leaf, but whether the Ash had, I do not remember, pro- 
bably not, as they are not affected, although I have seen a few 
about here in the same condition, notably some trees on the 
other side of Earlham bridge. The leaves being small and tender 
could not resist the icy blast, and the result was the complete 
destruction of all the foliage, so that in a few days the trees 
presented the appearance of winter again. It was not that the 
trees simply suffered on the side from which the blast blew but 
