COUNTRY LIFE
IT is often—and accurately—forecast that fogs will prevail especially near large towns ; and, of course, the " London particular " has been long notorious. The reason doubtless is that the moisture in the air finds something material to adhere to. This material air, as we may call it, may extend to some distance ; and it has recently become so persistent at Greenwich that Greenwich, in regard to its chief activities, has now ceased to be. The astronomers could not see the stars, and sulphur was pitting their lenses. The removal—most laborious and complicated—to Hurstmonceaux is a magnificent feather in the cap of Sussex. The spot has been chosen, I understand, in part for its sunlight record. There is great competition among the country and town propagandists for the reputation of being the sunniest place in Britain ; and those on the south coast are the most emphatic claimants. It is, however, generally believed by our commercial botanists, whose chief business it is to ripen seed, that a comparatively small circle of land in Essex, in the neighbourhood of Coggeshall, has precedence over any other district. The rainfall is certainly less than elsewhere. However, Essex has no fifteenth-century manor so well fitted for astronomic apparatus as Hurstmonceaux. Shall we eventually have to speak of Hurstmonceaux mean time?
Previous page
