WEST TE ET EN EES EC RR 
VEGETATION OF HONG KONG. 479 
bed of onions. A few other vegetables may occasionally be 
met with. Fruits are apparently considered unworthy of the 
close attention of this thrifty population, and they are 
rarely to be seen ; the Chinese have a bad opinion of trees in 
the vicinity of cultivation, and do not regard the fruit they 
yield as a sufficient compensation for their hurtful in- 
fluence, 
The vegetation of China is influenced by a climate with 
many peculiarities. For the latitude the annual range of 
temperature is very great; and this is rendered more con- 
Spicuous by comparing it with other localities in a similar 
parallel, as the Philippines, San Blas in Mexico, and Calcutta. 
À series of observations made at Canton gives 70.4 as the 
mean temperature, which is below the average. The annual 
Tange is from 29° to 94°, and the daily range is also conside- 
rable. June, J uly and August are the hottest months, and 
their mean temperature is respectively 89°, 94°, and 90°; 
December, January and February are the coldest, and the 
. mean is 575.5, 519, and 519.5. 
The condition of the climate with respect to humidity is 
as variable as that of temperature. The atmosphere, as a 
Seneral rule, is usually saturated above the average of the 
latitude; but this is also liable to much fluctuation. The 
northerly winds will sometimes occasion excessive aridity ; 
while the southerly winds of the spring months, on the con- 
trary, give rise to long-continued damp fogs, and a close moist 
State of the atmosphere. Rain is registered in all the months ; 
but the least in December and January, according to some 
Protracted observations. The greatest amount falls in May 
and the four following months, the excess, according to an 
average of sixteen years, occurring in this month. These ob- 
Servations give an annual average fall of 70.6 inches, but 
it has been known to attain 90 inches. The great irre- 
Sularity in the fall of rain is conspicuous on a comparison 
of the deposit in 1840 with the above. In this year 
the amount was 61.1 inches, and September was considerably 
* wettest month, whilst December, which in the long 
