18 “O the Long and. Dreary Winter!”

served, Nov. 20, 1921; on this day, Pansies, Stocks, Pineapple Weed (Matricaria,) and Bluebells (lCampanula) in bloom.

Hollyhock, Daisy and Nasturtium still making a show, Nov. 22, 1923. The pleasant day tempted out a few ‘tame” bees, Nov. 22, 1925. Buttercup (R. repens) still in bloom, Nov. 24, 1913. High wind N.W. by N. Nov. 26, 1918; occasional drift, and ground frozen hard by nightfall. Temperature 8 deg. above at 9 a. m., landscape snowclad November 26th, 1929, A clear sunny day, ground white, wind N.W.: light, November 28, 1930. In Nov. 1934, the orchards retained their leaves till the freeze-up, and hundreds of trees perished.

DECEMBER

Winter, so say the astronomers, begins on Dec. ZISt or 22nd, which is also the shortest day. But to the ordinary observer win- ter commences not later than the first of the month, and wild sn-owstorrns, .gale's, or sometimes rainstorms, will lend point to this belief. The barometer, foretelling these and other disturbances, is equally erratic, and sometimes falls an inch and. a half before a “blizzard.” ‘Of late years however December has been milder, and “a good old—fashioned Christmas” is not so common now, and is not relished when it does come. The naturalist now studies his specimens, (if he has collected any) in the vicinity of the stove, where it is more comfortable than in the great open spaces!

The Wild Geese are still going south, and the birds of the Northland begin to appear as storms drive them down. Otherwise Nature is sleeping a long sleep till Spring wakes all the earth

again. The observations for December are therefore mostly weather records.

Dec, 1, 1915, wind 5., and a rainy day. A great fall of snow on the night of Dec. 2, 1927. Snowing but mild, Dec. 2, 1913; mild, open weather all that month.

Wild geese going south, Dec. 3, 1919: on this date l—lills-

boro River still open in the middle. ‘M-ild, Dec. 6, 1916; maxnnum , 48 degrees in the shade. About 9 a. m. on Dec. 6, 1917, the Imo,

a Norwegian grain ship, coming down the Narrows at Halifax,

collided: with the munition ship Mont Blanc carrying four thous-

and tons of TNT. The resulting explosion laid the north side of

the town in ruins, killing 2,000 and injuring 20,000 persons. The

shock was felt in Charlottetown, 125 miles away, and in Sydney,

200 miles away.

(Earthquake shocks along Pacific coast from S_ America to Victoria, B. C., Dec. 6, 1918. Many quakes and auroras that year of maximum sunspots). Fields bare, Dec. 6, 1920; roads boggy like Spring. Electric storms Dec. 6th. and 9th. 1924.

English Daisy (Bellis) still in bloom, Dec. 7, 1923; up to this date the weather was mild. Wind N. W., Dec. 11, 1915; drift,