eriod II.
1st December 4
1st January 4
1st February 4.5 Period III.
1st March 6
2nd April 23
8th April 43

There are thus three periods: I., Formation; II., Rest; III.,
Development. So much for preliminaries; the really interesting point is
the reaction of the buds to forcing by artificially raising the
temperature. Thus branches put into a warm room at the end of October
showed absolutely no tendency to develop. In December, however, they
could be forced, and as time went on they proved to be more and more
amenable to the effect of a rise in temperature. In other words, the
invisible process of preparing for the spring was automatically
proceeding. The following figures give the number of days of forcing
needed at various dates to make cherry branches flower:--

14th December 27 days
10th January 18 ,,
2nd February 17 ,,
2nd March 12 ,,
11th March 10.5 ,,
23rd March 8 ,,
3rd April 5 ,,

My object in discussing this case is to show that the effect of
temperature on plant-development is not a simple problem. The most
picturesque association with what is known as the science of Phaenology
(_i.e._ the lore of the appearance of flowers) is its practical
connection with ancient agricultural maxims. Blomefield puts the thing
very clearly {235}: "The middle of March may be, in the long run, the
most suitable time for sowing various kinds of grain," but the husbandman
may easily go wrong in this or other operations if he sticks to a fixed
date. But if he knows that the conditions necessary for his purpose are
also necessary for the flowering of some familiar herb, he will be safer
in waiting for his guide to show itself than in going by dates. Wrongly
or rightly, this assumption has been commonly followed.

Stillingfleet quotes from Aristophanes that "the crane points out the
time of sowing" and the kite "when it is time to shear your sheep." An
old Swedish proverb tells us that "when you see the white wagtail you may
turn your sheep into the fields; and when you see the wheatear you may
sow your grain." I have come across an English proverb: "When the sloe
tree is as white as a sheet, you must sow your barley be it dry or wet."
Miss Jekyll in her book _Old West Surrey_, speaking of the wryneck,
quotes: "When we hears that, we very soon thinks about rining (barking)
the oaks."

T