NEW ENGLAND CLIMATE. 155 



the same, or about 56° Falircnlicit, Li the summer months 

 the excess of heat is on the side of New England, and that 

 to a higher degree than may be generally supposed. Thus, 

 in the summer of the year 1827, which I have selected as an 

 unusually warm one in England, the average height of the 

 thermometer at Chiswick was in June, 61.7, July, 67.7, August, 

 63.3, while, according to Dr. Hale, the average temperature of 

 these months at Salem for forty-three years was, by Dr. IIol- 

 yoke's Observations, June, 67.19, July, 72.49, August, 70.53. 

 In September the excess of heat continued to be on the side of 

 our own climate, and the thermometer generally stands on an 

 average about 5° higher with us than at London, and in Octo- 

 ber the temperature of the environs of Boston and London 

 is very nearly on a level, or at about 52° of Fahrenheit. 

 In November the balance again inclines in favor of London, 

 the average temperature there being about 43°, and that of 

 our own November about 40°. 



Thus it would seem that our autumnal temperature approxi- 

 mates much more nearly to that of England, than our vernal, 

 since at the autumnal equinox, our temperature is probably a 

 little the higher of the two, while the average, heat of the month 

 of March, at Salem, is about 35°, and that of London may be 

 safely estimated as between ten and twelve degrees higher. 

 From the greater intenseness of our summer's heat and winter's 

 cold, the earth, and consequently the atmosphere, recovers more 

 slowly — so to speak — both from the one and the other, than in 

 England. From this excess of heat in summer, and deficiency 

 of it in winter in our climate over that of London, it may 

 naturally be conjectured that the one is nearly a counterpoise 

 to the other, and that the average heat of the whole year at 

 London and Boston, and in their respective vicinities, is not very 

 different. Such seems to be the fact, as nearly as such a fact can 

 be ascertained ; the average heat of the year at London being 

 estimated at about 49° Fahrenheit, and that of Boston very near- 

 ly the same. It results from the greater coldness of our winters, 

 that our spring begins, on an average, three or four weeks later 

 than in the neighborhood of London, and those who quit Eng- 

 land in March or April, and arrive in Boston after a passage of 

 a month, sometimes find the vegetation in the one country, pre- 



