136 
E. MAWLEY-PHENOLOGICAL PHENOMENA 
in February. Fortunately the previous autumn had been so 
favourable that all seasonable tillage operations were left at the 
end of that season in an unusually forward state. The mild 
weather in the early part of the winter greatly favoured the 
pastures and turnips, which continued in a growing condition 
until about Christmas. The young corn made good progress, but 
never became what is termed “ winter proud,” being kept in check 
by the scanty supply of sunshine and the occasional moderate frosts. 
In order to show the great mildness of the weather in the early 
part of the winter, I may state that the last rose-bloom of the 
year was destroyed by frost in my garden on the 6th of January, 
which is exactly a month later than the average date of its 
destruction in the previous fifteen years, and later than in any but 
the first year of that period, 1885, when precisely the same date 
was recorded. The earliest flowers of the year came into blossom 
in advance of their usual time. For instance, at Berkhamsted the 
winter aconite was out on January 17th, or five days earlier than 
its average date in the preceding twelve years. But the dates 
recorded for plants coming into flower during and after the 
February frost were all more or less late. 
Taking the county as a whole, the first fertile flowers appeared 
on the hazel twelve days later than their average date for the 
previous twenty-five years, and later than in any year since 1895. 
The song-thrush was first heard after the beginning of the year 
seven days later than its mean date. 
The honey-bee was first seen to visit flowers twenty-four days 
behind its usual time. 
The Spring. 
This was a spring of about average temperature, moderately 
warm and moderately cold periods of varying duration succeeding 
each other throughout the season. The most noteworthy feature as 
affecting vegetation was the absence of any unusual cold. On the 
coldest night in March, the exposed thermometer at Berkhamsted 
indicated 16 degrees of frost, on the coldest night in April 
10 degrees of frost, and on the coldest night in May 3 degrees 
of frost—the seasonable extremes for these three months being 
respectively 18 degrees, 12 degrees, and 7 degrees of frost. The 
aggregate rainfall was nearly an inch in excess of the mean for the 
quarter. Although on the whole a wet spring, there occurred during 
the course of it two very dry periods, each lasting about three weeks. 
The sun shone at Berkhamsted for more than half an hour a day 
longer than usual. 
As regards the cultivation of the land, this proved even a more 
trying season than the winter had been. In fact, it was not until 
after the middle of April (an exceptionally late date) that the 
sowing of spring corn could be satisfactorily proceeded with, owing 
to the previous persistent falls of rain and snow. This remark 
refers to the wet half of the season. Fortunately, when the change 
to dry weather did come the ground worked splendidly, and rapid 
