OBSERVED IN HERTFORDSHIRE IN 1901. 
141 
it was some time before autumn tillage operations could be com¬ 
menced, so bard had the ground become owing to the summer and 
early autumn drought. When sufficiently moistened, however, the 
tilth was all that could be wished, as is invariably the case at this 
season after a long spell of dry weather. 
Seldom have the gardens of Hertfordshire been as gay with 
flowers at this time of year as they were during the first two 
months of this autumn. My single dahlias, when still in full 
flower, were killed by frost on October 27, which is nine days 
earlier than usual, and earlier than in any year for six years. 
Mrs. G. E. Eishop reports that on the same night her dahlias 
were killed at Watford. 
The winter supply of green vegetables in the kitchen-garden 
improved, but the change to wet weather took place too late to be 
of any material service to them. 
The yield of the principal farm crops, taking the county as 
a whole, was, according to the returns sent in to the ‘ Agricultural 
Gazette,’ as follows :—Wheat was the best grain crop of the year, but 
even this was, if anything, rather below the average than otherwise. 
Earley and oats were both deficient crops, and the same may be said 
of hay, beans, peas, potatoes, and turnips. On the other hand, 
mangolds yielded well. 
The fruit crops.were also equally disappointing. According to 
the returns sent in to the ‘ Gardeners’ Chronicle,’ apples, pears, and 
plums were all below average, especially apples. Mr. W. E. Morle, 
writing from Frythesden Gardens, Eerkhamsted, says: “We have 
seven acres of apple-trees, and not a bushel of fruit.” 
There were, as usual, good crops of all the small fruits. 
The ivy was four days in advance of its average date in coming 
into flower. 
The swallow took its departure twelve days earlier than its mean 
date for the previous ten years. 
