MILDNESS OF AUTUMN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19959, 30 May 1928, Page 10

MILDNESS OF AUTUMN.

HOW NATURE IS MISLED. SPARROWS START NESTING. So mild has been the autumn that some birds, insects and plants are under the impression that spring is here. Sparrows, in several localities, have started building nests, and black and white butterflies have been fluttering about many gardens in very large numbers. One very early apple tree in the Remuera district lias been completely misled. A second crop of apples formed, but it fell off while still in the marble stage. Not content with this, the tree succeeded in blossoming a third time. Extraordinary efforts have been made by French beans to conform to the weather conditions, and in some gardens scarlet runners, which had been cut off at the roots, have sent up new shoots, some being now 3ft. high. There is a weeping willow on the I'onsonby waterfront which stifl carries its leaves except at the top of the highest shoots, at the tips of which a few bright green leaves are showing. As far as one can judge from tJie ground these are new leaves. A comparison of this month's temperatures with those of last May does not show any great difference, and it would seem that the warmth # of the soil following the long dry summer, and the rains,v is mainly responsible for those phenomena.