THE WEATHER OF 1815. 
87 
repeat that there is extensive forgery and fraud 
in this matter, or a wonderful discovery ; and 
the open, straightforward manner in which 
Mr. Bickes enters upon the trial, with a 
certainty that failure would ruin his hopes 
before he can have profited a shilling, disarms 
one of all desire to attribute unjust motives. 
We have seen the certified samples of many 
kinds of plants and grain, and certainly they 
bear out, in all respects, the explanations of Mr. 
Bickes himself, who is intelligent and commu- 
nicative without any appearance of reserve. 
His invention is worth buying, even as a 
national matter ; and, as is usual with all 
successful men, he is menaced by pretenders 
■who assert they have found out the grand 
secret, and are now endeavouring to supplant 
him, and take in the public. We ought to 
have observed that the cost of Mr. Bickes' 
process is about 3*. per acre. 
THE WEATHER OF 1845, AS IT AFFECTED 
THE GARDEN. 
It appears to me that the gardener is so 
dependent upon the weather for the complete 
success of his operations, that it should form 
ii part of his education to make such observa- 
tions upon the changes of this fickle climate 
as would enable him to foresee the proper 
time for covering up his frames ; and I have 
no doubt that, not only many a valuable plant 
would then be saved, but many a hundred- 
weight of coals also, which are uselessly con- 
sumed in the fires of the green-house on nights 
when a fire is not only totally unnecessary, 
but absolutely prejudicial. A really useful 
knowledge of the weather can only be obtained 
by constant observations, continued for many 
years ; and therefore I think every one who 
keeps a gardener, and every one who professes 
to instruct young men in the art of gardening, 
should make it a part of the gardener's duty 
to keep a regular series of observations, as 
these would soon enable him to know when 
protection is absolutely necessary, and when 
it may be dispensed with, to the advantage of 
the plants under his care. The Russian gar- 
deners sleep in the garden, under a mat, having 
their feet exposed to the weather, so that as 
soon as the frost attacks their toes they are 
warned that it is likely to be attacking their 
plants also. Such a rude method of making 
observations is not necessary in a country 
where the gardener receives a good education : 
but unless he uses that education to a good 
purpose, the poor plants would be better off 
under the care of the ignorant Russian serf, 
than under that of the half-educated, free-born 
Englishman. A thermometer and a barome- 
ter, therefore, should be considered as neces- 
sary for a gardener as any other of his tools. 
The changes of the barometer need not be 
recorded, for they are nearly identical all over 
the country. The main use of such an instru- 
ment is that of corroborating or contradicting 
the probability of the changes which the clouds 
or the direction of the wind would seem to 
portend ; for we may have starlight nights 
without frost, and cloudy nights which may 
end with a frosty morning, each of which 
indications are likely to be wrongly acted upon, 
unless the gardener is possessed of instru- 
ments which can point out to him the real 
state of the atmosphere. As to the thermo- 
meter, I have already, elsewhere, so fully in- 
sisted upon the advantages of observations of 
that instrument, that I need not here say more 
concerning it, but will at once proceed to 
carry out the intention of this communication, 
and put on record my observations on the 
weather as it affected the garden in the past 
year ; and in doing so, I will attend more to 
the dates of the remarkable parts of the 
weather, than to the mere technicality of nu- 
merical results. And first, as to the tempera- 
ture of 1845, the following table will throw 
some light upon this important feature of the 
weather : — 
Lowest. Highest. 
Deg. Deg. 
Jan. 3 on the 31st 51.0 on the 25th 
Feb. 11.4 „ 1st 51.0 „ 2Gth 
March 14.0 „ 20th 54.0 „ 22d & 23d 
April 22.0 „ 12th 64.5 „ 21st 
May 26.5 „ 6th 61.5 „ 16ih & 31st 
June 39.5 „ 26th 73.5 „ 12th & 14th 
July 40.0 „ 15th 70.0 „ 21st 
Aug. 41.0 „ 21st 68.0 „ 30th 
Sept. 24.0 „ 23d 71.0 „ 1st 
Oct. 28.0 „ 5th 59.5 „ 13th 
Nov. 19.0 „ 23d 56.0 „ 6th 
Dec. 16.0 „ 13th 50.S „ 29th 
It will be seen that the lowest point to which 
the mercury in the thermometer fell during 
the past year was 3 degrees, or 29 degrees 
below freezing point. This is lower than the 
lowest point in 1844, which was 9 degrees, 
and lower than any of the preceding ten years, 
except 1841, when the temperature fell to 2 
degrees. In 1838, the lowest point was 6 
degrees. But notwithstanding the lowness of 
the temperature on this particular night in 
January, the mean temperature of the whole 
month is above that of both February and 
March, as may be seen on reference to the 
Table of Mean Temperature, given hereafter. 
It will be seen also that the highest degree, of 
heat occurred on the 12th and 14th of June, 
and that 73 degrees is the highest point to 
which the mercury in the thermometer rose 
during the past year. This is remarkable, as 
being a lower maximum than has occurred in 
any of the ten preceding years, and as having 
occurred in June ; for during the ten preceding 
years the maximum of the year bus occurred 
