RECENT thunderstorms, some of an eccentric nature, have brought out
some old local beliefs. One is that there is no place so dangerous as half-way up an open slope. It seems unlikely that there is truth in this ; but it so happens that my only ocular experience of the deadliness of lightning was the sight of -two cattle killed stone dead in the open just half-way up an open grass slope. The vulnerability of the oak has been again emphasised. In my neighbourhood I know only of one other tree that has been struck, and that was a tall solitary elm. Has anyone ever found a reason for this attraction ? Some country folk say tilt the reason is to be found in the deep roots ; but how or why deep roots should come into the picture is not easy to see. The phenomenon is common to all countries. except where pines are in great excess. I am told that the safest place of refuge is beneath a spreading tree as far from the trunk as possible, but 1 have seen the ground churned up along the line of surface roots.
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