Abstract of a Register of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Rain, at Lyndon in Rutland; By Thomas Barker, Esq.; With the Rain in Surrey and Hampshire; For the Year 1790. Communicated by Thomas White, Esq. F.R.S.

XVIII. Abstract of a Register of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Rain, at Lyndon in Rutland; by Thomas Barker, Esq.; with the Rain in Surrey and Hampshire; for the Year 1790. Communicated by Thomas White, Esq. F.R.S. Read June 2, 1791. | | Barometer | Thermometer | Rain | |-------|-----------|-------------|------| | | Highest | Lowest | Mean | In the House | Abroad | Lyndon | Surrey | Hampshire | | | Inches | Inches | Inches | High | Low | Mean | High | Low | Mean | Inch | Inch | Inch | Inch | | Jan. | Morn. | 29,97 | 28,48 | 29,55 | 49 | 36 | 41 | 50½ | 26½ | 37 | 1,871 | 1,49 | 1,99 | 1,72 | | | Aftern. | | | | 49 | 36 | 41½ | 52½ | 34½ | 41 | 0,236 | 0,20 | 0,49 | 0,43 | | Feb. | Morn. | 30,05 | 29,20 | 29,71 | 48 | 40 | 43½ | 48 | 30 | 38½ | 0,259 | 0,24 | 0,45 | 0,38 | | | Aftern. | | | | 49½ | 41 | 44½ | 57 | 40½ | 47 | | | | | | Mar. | Morn. | 30,13 | 29,31 | 29,77 | 50½ | 42½ | 46 | 48½ | 31 | 39½ | 0,676 | 2,54 | 3,64 | 1,27 | | | Aftern. | | | | 51 | 44 | 47 | 60 | 42½ | 50 | 2,911 | 3,70 | 4,38 | 3,66 | | Apr. | Morn. | 29,85 | 29,01 | 29,42 | 51 | 40 | 44 | 49½ | 32 | 38½ | 0,64 | 0,13 | 0,55 | | | | Aftern. | | | | 52½ | 41 | 45 | 61 | 38 | 49 | | | | | | May | Morn. | 29,80 | 28,93 | 29,45 | 58 | 50½ | 54 | 57 | 43½ | 49½ | 1,735 | 2,26 | 2,30 | 1,97 | | | Aftern. | | | | 59½ | 51 | 55 | 72 | 52½ | 61 | 1,566 | 0,52 | 0,66 | 0,62 | | June | Morn. | 29,86 | 28,98 | 29,56 | 71 | 54½ | 59 | 65½ | 48½ | 55½ | 0,991 | 1,72 | 2,10 | 1,25 | | | Aftern. | | | | 75½ | 55½ | 60½ | 85 | 56 | 67½ | | | | | | July | Morn. | 29,73 | 29,90 | 29,35 | 64 | 57 | 60 | 62 | 49½ | 57 | 3,145 | 3,40 | 6,95 | 5,11 | | | Aftern. | | | | 66 | 58 | 61 | 78½ | 62 | 69 | | | | | | Aug. | Morn. | 29,68 | 29,17 | 29,49 | 66 | 56 | 60½ | 62½ | 49 | 56 | 3,608 | 3,18 | 5,94 | 3,38 | | | Aftern. | | | | 67½ | 57 | 62 | 80 | 57 | 69 | | | | | | Sept. | Morn. | 29,95 | 28,88 | 29,53 | 62 | 52 | 55½ | 59½ | 42 | 49½ | 3,227 | 3,27 | 3,27 | 3,27 | | | Aftern. | | | | 61 | 53 | 57 | 72½ | 55½ | 61 | | | | | | Oct. | Morn. | 29,81 | 28,89 | 29,43 | 57 | 45½ | 52 | 55 | 30 | 45½ | 2,210 | 2,10 | 1,25 | | | | Aftern. | | | | 59 | 45½ | 53 | 65 | 46 | 55 | | | | | | Nov. | Morn. | 29,88 | 28,49 | 29,35 | 49½ | 37½ | 44 | 48 | 30 | 40 | 3,145 | 3,40 | 6,95 | 5,11 | | | Aftern. | | | | 49½ | 38 | 45 | 51½ | 32 | 44½ | | | | | | Dec. | Morn. | 29,87 | 28,32 | 29,33 | 46 | 36 | 40 | 48 | 25½ | 38½ | 3,608 | 3,18 | 5,94 | 3,38 | | | Aftern. | | | | 47 | 36 | 40½ | 49 | 31 | 43 | | | | | Inches 21,629 22,31 32,27 22,05 The thermometer abroad being broken in December, that month is defective in that article. THE winter proved a remarkably open one; no frost of two whole days together, nor any snow; so that there were young artichokes in the garden all winter, where they were short and among the leaves; and the second crop of figs, which are generally killed in winter, escaped this year, and ripened in the summer, but did not grow large. It was said there were young hares in winter, and birds' eggs laid, some of which were perhaps hatched. Several people said they saw a covey of young partridges near Oakham in February; but I cannot affirm it, for others suspected some mistake. January was showery and mild, but often windy; as the days grew longer, it became dryer, finer, and forward. A swarm of bees rose and settled at Tixover, March 2.; but it was rather a shifting of their hive for want, than a regular swarm, which could not have been bred so early. The owner, having a deserted hive with combs and honey in it, put them into that, where they lived, and grew strong in the summer. The forwardness of the season continued till the N.E. winds of March made it colder and more frosty; the growth of all things was then stopped, and the first fortnight in April was severer than any part of the winter, with the only snow this season. The seed time was dry, and in general good; but, for want of frost in the winter, the ground ploughed stiff, and required a great deal of working; and the season continued dry and backward till after the middle of May, when rain and warmer weather made every thing grow as fast as they were slow before. The summer was chiefly cloudy and windy, and after the middle of May very showery and cool, except some few violent hot days; and a very growing season, so that grounds laid at the end of May had good crops of hay on them, which in general was well got, for the rains in this country were not great, though frequent; and so much land was laid late, and so much over-eaten grass cut, that there was hardly ever more good hay made than there was this year. The harvest also was showery, yet not so much but that those who were not too hasty got it well, and it was plentiful, though very rank, and pretty much laid, yielding well to the acre, though not to the flail. The autumn was dryer, fine, and pleasant, so that the ground began to burn. The wheat seed time was remarkably good; for it was dry at first for sowing the clay land; then rain came in good time to bring it up, and that made the ground moist for sowing the dry fields. There was a good deal of rain at times in November, yet so much fine weather between, that it was pleasant and not dirty; but most part of December and January was uncommonly stormy and uncertain weather, changing sometimes two or three times a day; severe storms, much rain, great floods, and remarkable thunder, on several different days, and in many different places. Near a fortnight's frost at Christmas, with clear weather at first, but afterward one great rain, and several lesser, which yet did not take away the frost till January the 6th. Chalk found in a new place. There is a great deal of chalky ground in the southern part of England; I think it begins at the sea in Devonshire, and one vein of it runs all along the southern counties to Dover. Another vein parts off from that about Reading in Berkshire, goes by Dunstable, Baldock, and Gogmagog Hills, and so on to the sea in Norfolk; the whole crossing the kingdom in a Y. Along these two districts it is almost all chalk to a great depth in the ground; but out of them chalk is seldom found. I believe it may be met with in many places in the countries between these two districts, and sometimes deep in the ground, where it does not come up to the surface; but beyond the northern limits of them, which are at Wantage in Berkshire, and over the river from Shillingford in Oxfordshire, and at Maddingley by Cambridge, chalk is hardly anywhere to be found; nowhere in any considerable quantity, unless it be much farther north, in the wolds of Yorkshire, beyond Pocklington toward Scarborough. I did not know till lately that we had any chalk nearer us than Maddingley; but several years ago, the people of Riddington in Rutland, digging for stone to mend the roads, met with a bed of chalk; at which they were much surprized, and did not know what it was, having never seen a chalk pit before. After I had heard of it, I went to examine the place, and found it a regular chalk pit, with rows of flints lying in it as is usual in the south of England. The chalk is not soft like that they write with, but very much like that they dig about Baldock; nor are the flints so black as those in the south of England, but veined, of a light-coloured flint, and white, some parts much mixed with chalk; and are broken, not whole ones. They may have dug the pit six yards long and two deep; but how far the chalk reaches I do not know. The ground about it has plainly been formerly dug, perhaps thirty yards square, but completely turfed over again, with the same strong turf as the rest of the close, which is rich pasture land, and feeds oxen for Smithfield market, not like the short grass on the chalky downs. Riding last autumn along the turnpike road near Stukeley in Huntingdonshire, I saw a little patch of chalk, a few yards long, in a bank which had been dug away by the road side; so that though we did not know there was any chalk at all in this country, and there certainly is very little, yet here are now two places where it has been met with.