The Drought and Heat of 1893

Abstract

The results of an unusual occurrence like the present season show as clearly as instrumental observations the exceptional character. We have a very near copy of the drought of 1868–1870; i.e. Monmouthshire is repeating what in 1868–70 occurred in Nottinghamshire. Flowers and fruit have been a month earlier than usual, their period has been of short duration, and insect pests have been very great. There has been an extraordinary abundance of apples, pears, plums, cherries, gooseberries, currants, field mushrooms, butterflies, moths, flies, caterpillars, cuckoo-spit aphis, slugs, and wasps. The tree-wasp, which is rare, has had many nests, and, as the structure is not generally known, my son has taken the enclosed photograph, which clearly shows it. The tree-wasp's nest is built much earlier than that of the ordinary wasp, and equally large, a low bush being the situation usually selected. Nightingales and cuckoos have been very numerous. Grass is now being mown for hay, and four to five acres will only yield a ton, whilst the straw of corn is shorter than ever before known. Trees are also very bare of leaves. Water is scarce, as many springs have been dry for some weeks. In June the trees and shrubs were as if varnished from extensive honeydew, which the thunderstorm cleared away. Strawberries are blooming a second time, and there are many plants seeding that do not usually seed here.