192
NOTES ON THE SEASONS OF 1893,
beyond the reach of any drought. It may, however, be safely
implied that the lateral roots require a certain amount of moisture
during the growth of the plant.
We have mentioned that trees did not appear to suffer. In
very many cases there was a decided benefit in that an enormous
crop of fruit was realized. Apple-trees were very prolific—a tree at
Pleshey yielded 36 bushels.
Wild fruit was also exceedingly plentiful, among which acorns
were conspicuous. In all these cases of excessive yield there was
some probable forecasting at the time of bloom.
Oaks and elms adorned the landscape in the spring in a manner
that will not be soon forgotten. The elms so far departed from the
normal as to become conspicuous at a distance. These trees, how-
ever, or at any rate Ulmus campestris, never ripen their fruit in
England. In the uncertainty of our seasons it is interesting to
inquire to what element of constancy we are indebted for the
successful ripening of the other fruits to which we have called
attention. The cause must lie with the atmosphere in the first
event, that is, during the blooming time, for the soil then had not
been appreciably affected. The visits of insects to the flowers I do
not think can be taken into account, because in most years they find
opportunity to pay those visits. The extreme and continued dry-
ness of the atmosphere is, however, with us a unique phenomenon.
There were no dews to spoil the pollen and no moisture to creep
into the delicate mechanism of the flower so as to form a nidus on
which small frosts could act. This was probably helpful in the early
stage, but it is to the genial influence of the sun that we must
attribute the growth of the fruit. It seems to be indeed probable
that the sun's heat penetrated sufficiently deep to stimulate the roots.
Certain it is that the amount of sunshine received by the trees was
far above the average. Some abnormal cases quoted in newspapers
of very large apples and pears and tubers (potatoes) can hardly be
accounted for except by the supposition of increased bottom heat—
in the case of the potatoes in particular.
We pass now to notice the weeds. These did poorly throughout
the summer, and it was not until September that the seeds ger-
minated, and the great army came on. They appeared, however,
too late in many cases to ripen their seeds. We are generally more
concerned with the local origin of the various species of weeds than
with the causes which help local extinction, but it is worth noting