The Weather of the Past Agricultural Year. 431 
late spring and early summer were fairly fine, an abundant 
hay harvest was secured in nearly all districts. The succeeding 
months were exceptionally dry, and favourable for all but the 
root crops which, towards the end of the season, presented a 
stunted and sickly appearance. At the time of the cereal 
harvest the weather was, upon the whole, very favourable, and 
in spite of the untoward influences of the winter and spring 
seasons the crops proved, upon the whole, about equal to the 
average, the only material deficiency being in the yield of oats. 
Good falls of rain in September helped to save the roots and 
proved also of great value to the grass lands, the promise of 
keep for the winter months being in the end exceptionally 
good. The weather contrasts presented by the various seasons 
of 1913 were indeed striking, and a long search through the 
meteorological annals would scarcely reveal another year in 
which the winter and spring months were at once so stormy 
and wet, the summer so exceptionally dry, and the autumn so 
unusually mild. 
The Winter of 1912-13. 
The winter of 1912-13, which was, upon the whole, an 
unusually open one, was marked at the outset by a frost which 
attained considerable severity in all the more northern districts. 
Cold weather set in towards the close of November, and 
between the 30th of that month and the 2nd of December the 
sheltered thermometer fell below 10° in many parts of North 
Britain, the lowest readings reported being 1° at West Linton 
(Peeblesshire), 2° at Balmoral, and 3° at Scaleby, near Carlisle, 
and Allan’s Green, in Northumberland. On the surface of the 
ground the thermometer touched zero in several places, and at 
Worksop it fell 4° below that point. Over our southern counties 
the cold was far less severe, few places reporting a shade 
temperature much below 25°. Snow fell at about the same time 
in many parts of the country, heavily in the north, where the 
depth amounted in some places to between six and seven inches. 
A more severe snowstorm was experienced over the northern 
and central districts on January 9 and 10, and was accompanied 
by a heavy gale from the South-Eastward. At Rauceby, in 
Lincolnshire, the snow lay on this occasion in level places to 
a depth of fourteen inches, at Morpeth to eighteen inches, and 
in some parts of Scotland to a depth of more than twenty 
inches. In addition to that already mentioned the only winter 
frosts worthy of , note were those of January 13 — 14, 
February 14 and February 23. In the first instance the 
sheltered thermometer fell to 8° at Mayfield, in Staffordshire, 
and to 10° at Newton Rigg, in Cumberland ; on February 14 it 
reached 19° at Llangammarch Wells ; and on February 23 it 
