THE COUNTIES OF FORFAR AND KINCARDINE. 65 



side of the Dee are generally steeper and colder, being ex- 

 posed, excepting in the lower verges, to the full blast of 

 the north winds. The soil in general being of a sandy nature, 

 the land on Deeside frequently suffers considerably from 

 drought in summer, a drawback from which, with this excep- 

 tion, these two counties are comparatively free. The pre- 

 vailing winds are from the south-west. These winds sometime3 

 sweep along the valley of Strathmore with great violence, 

 there bein(:( no eminence sufficient to check them. Coming 

 from a warmer climate, however, they are not as a rule 

 unfavourable to vegetation. Westerly winds, which are noi 

 unfrequent, spend upon the Grampians the moisture they absorb 

 in crossing the Atlantic, and thus they are invariably pretty dry 

 before they reach the east coast. The easterly winds are the 

 most damaging, alike to vegetable and animal life. They occa- 

 sionally sweep the seaboard, especially of Kincardine, with great 

 violence, doing no little damage to crops, and also pressing 

 somewhat hardly on the health of man and beast. A chilly 

 easterly haze, which sometimes sets in in the summer evenings, 

 is also a slight drawback ; while in the lower and damper 

 parts of the valley of Strathmore some damage is occasionally 

 sustained from hoar-frost or mildew. Notwithstanding these 

 slightly untoward influences, the climate of Forfar and Kid car- 

 dine is on the whole healthy. Spring sowing of grain generally 

 commences in the earlier parts in the third week of March, and 

 harvesting between the beginning of the third' week of August and 

 the 5th of September. In the later disti'icts little is sown till 

 the last week of March or first week of April, and reaping 

 seldom commences before the 1st of September, often not before 

 the second week of September, and sometimes, such as in 1879, 

 even later than that. The mean annual heat of the two counties 

 is stated at 46° — that of summer at 58° ; and that of winter, in 

 Forfar at 36°, and in Kincardine at 37°. In Forfarshire rain or 

 snow, it is stated, falls on an average on 195 days, the mean 

 depth in inches being — at Kettins, 33 ; Monikie, 34 ; Arbroath, 

 27 ; Dundee, 29. In Kincardine rain or snow falls on an 

 average 190 days, the mean depth in inches being reckoned at 

 32i. At Drum it is 34; Nether Banchory, 30; Fettercairn, 32; 

 and The Burn, 33. 



Through the kindness of Mr James Proctor, Barry Village, 

 Forfarshire, we are able to give tlie following interesting tabJe 

 as to the rainfall, evaporation, and temperature at Barry, from 

 1870 to 1879, both inclusive. 



Barry Village is within about one mile of the sea, and about 

 35 feet above sea-level. 



