1698 – 1720: Detailed Reports

            To finish off the 1500-year survey of the Agricultural Records, the last 22 years are a period beyond the initial rain records to very detailed reports.  Historically, England is on the verge of the Industrial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution is maturing.  It is not surprising to see the available records increase and, in turn, the detail contained in the records.  This period is evidence of the changing scope of intellectual necessity to record climate information in England.

            Commodity listings are at 35 in the 22 year period and bad harvests and bad livestock reports monopolize the agricultural master category, but climate is becoming the most frequently recorded category (Figure 2.6).  The Little Ice Age probably has increased the cold code to 128 times in 22 years.  Conversely, hot is recorded 39 out of 22 years.  The climate is not necessarily skewed, but individual months and periods are being recorded.  This is also evident in records of rainfall and moist periods (50 records in the 22-year period).  The period is concerned with detail of individual climate events, not general summaries of the entire year as a single category.