58 
E. MAWLEY—PHENOLOGICAL PHENOMENA 
hindrances from rain. For the turnips and swedes the season was 
by no means a favourable one, owing at first to the dryness of the 
ground and afterwards to the great heat and dry atmosphere. The 
same adverse conditions caused the keep in the pastures to become 
bare and parched. 
In the gardens the dry and almost tropical weather in July 
was keenly felt, and very little growth was made. Even the one 
or two heavy thunderstorms of that month afforded but little 
relief, for the lawns soon became as brown as before. But in 
August, notwithstanding the low temperature, vegetation made 
rapid growth, owing to the great warmth of the soil and subsoil. 
Indeed, for the first time since the winter the soil had become 
completely saturated. 
Mrs. G. E. Bishop writes as follows from The Platts, Watford, 
on July 20th : “ Ho rain, garden burnt up, and vegetables 
parched,” and again on August 13th : “ Wild flowers very scarce.” 
At Wealdstone the first wheat was cut on July 30th, and the first 
ripe blackberry gathered on August 18th. At Berkhamsted the 
westerly gales in the first week in August did considerable damage 
in the garden among the dahlias and other plants insufficiently 
staked. At Harpenden Mr. Willis states that the first wheat-ear 
was observed out of its sheath on June 13th, or five days later 
than its average date in the previous eight years. 
The summer plants, notwithstanding the great heat in July, 
were all late in flowering. The dog-rose was four days late, the 
black knapweed thirteen days late, the harebell eight days late, 
and the greater bindweed six days late. 
The Autumn. 
This was a remarkably warm autumn, and on no night did the 
exposed thermometer show more than 12 degrees of frost. The 
rainfall was very light, and especially was this the case in the first 
two months of the quarter. The record of clear sunshine at 
Berkhamsted exceeded the autumn average by about half an hour 
a day. 
Scarcely a drop of rain fell during the first three weeks in 
September, so that the harvest operations were completed under 
the most favourable circumstances. The turnips, which had 
greatly benefited by the August rains, again passed through 
a trying ordeal during the dry weather in September. October 
and November, however, proved so propitious, both as regards 
temperature and rainfall, that, considering the time of year, the 
roots materially improved. The mangolds once more showed 
their power of resisting dry seasons and yielded an excellent crop. 
The pastures, however, suffered in the same way as the turnips 
and swedes through the autumn drought, but by the end of 
October the grass had greatly recovered, and it remained green 
throughout the rest of the season—in fact, made better growth 
than at any time since the hay harvest. In the early part of this 
autumn the ground was exceptionally dry for the time of year. 
