VII. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT THROCKING, 
HERTS, DURING THE YEAR 1885. 
By the Eev. C. W. Harvey, M.A., E.R.Met.Soc. 
Read at Hertford , 29 th April , 1886. 
Position of Station. —Lat. 51° 57' N., Long. 0° 3' "W. ; River 
District of the Rib, a small tributary of the Lea, and consequently 
in the Thames basin, but at no great distance from the watershed 
of the Thames and Ouse. Height of Station, 484 feet above sea- 
level. Thermometers, max. and min. in a Stevenson’s screen with 
their bulbs 4 feet above the ground; solar and terrestrial radiation, 
4 feet, and 6 inches, respectively, above the ground. Rain-gauge , 
5 inches in diameter, and 1 foot above the ground. Time of observing , 
9 a.m., the max. temperature, and the amount of rain being entered 
to the previous day. 
My wet-bulb thermometer not having been in thorough working 
order, I have been compelled to omit from my tables the usual 
deductions of the humidity of the air, and in place of these I have 
given what to many may perhaps be more interesting, namely, the 
accumulated temperature above and below 42° from the 1st of 
January. This table gives the combined amount of the excess or 
defect of the air-temperature above or below a fixed standard, or 
base temperature', the base adopted being 42°, which is the critical 
value, the temperature above it being mainly effectual in starting 
and maintaining the growth, and in completing the ripening of 
agricultural crops in an European climate. It has been deduced 
from the mean max. and mean min. temperature for each month. 
The year 1885 may be considered in the three chief meteoro¬ 
logical features of Pressure, Temperature, and Rainfall, as a very 
average year, as will be seen by the following table. 
Months. 
Pressure. 
Temperature. 
Rainfall. 
Mean 
1880-85. 
DifE.' 
1885. 
Mean 
1880-85. 
Diff. 
1885. 
Mean 
1880-85. 
DifE. 
1885. 
January . 
30’15 
—0*18 
38*8 
-6*4 
i*43 
4-0*24 
February . 
29*87 
—0*27 
39*9 
+i*8 
2*26 
— 0*11 
March .. 
29*97 
4-0*14 
41*1 
—i*5 
1*01 
—0*20 
April .. 
29*88 
—0*06 
45*3 
+o-5 
1*83 
4-0*70 
May . 
30*01 
—0*16 
50*6 
—2*9 
1*17 
4-i*54 
June. 
29*95 
4-o*o8 
5 6*7 
4-0*2 
1*96 
4-0*04 
July .. 
29*91 
+0*24 
60 *6 
4-0*4 
2*74 
—2*36 
August. 
29*98 
-|-o*oi 
59*4 
—2*2 
210 
—0*83 
September . 
29*92 
—0*04 
55*7 
—i*5 
2*71 
-f-o* 80 
October... 
29*91 
—0*21 
46*8 
—2*5 
3*45 
4-1*46 
November. 
29*95 
4-o*o8 
4i*9 
—o*6 
2*60 
4-o*86 
December. 
29*96 
-j-O* 12 
38*1 
—1*2 
2*26 
—i*44 
Year. 
29*96 
—0*03 
47*9 
”i*3 
25*52 
4 - 0*70 
VOL. iv. —PART III. 
5 
