18 



(2). Lecture on " Botanizing in Warwickshire" by (he 

 Rev. Canon Young. 



The average temperature of the county partook, he said, 

 of that of the whole of Eugland; and Enghmd differed 

 from the continent of Europe in the mildness and equability 

 of its climate. Not only the olive vs^ould not flourish, nor 

 the vine which was so productive over the middle zones of 

 France and Germany, would not come to maturity in ordi- 

 nary seasons in our own country, the summer heat was not 

 sufficiently great: but the cold at the same time was not so 

 intense in winter. Thus a thermometer which the Lecturer 

 had registered in Tours during the winter of 1838 — 39, 

 marked 2^° greater cold throughout the whole season than 

 that of the Royal Society in London : and laurels and other 

 evergreens, which form the glory of our gai'dens and subur- 

 ban villas cannot flourish round Paris and other capitals of 

 Northern Europe; indeed, there is ouly one spot in the 

 Avhole of Switzerland — Montreux, on the Lake of Geneva — 

 where laurels can stand the winter. And this continental 

 summer heat and winter cold is shared to some extent by 

 Kent, and soiue of the eastern counties nearest to the conti- 

 nent in situation: Warwickshire, being in the middle of 

 England participates in the general equability of temperature. 



One peculiarity of this county, which would seem at first 

 glance to militate against its being a good district for 

 Botanizing, was its very high state of cultivation. With 

 the exception of some enclosed woods, (the remains of ancient 

 forests,) and a few narrow and circumscribed commons, 

 heaths, and pastures, there was very little land which had 

 remained unfilled from aboriginal times: the Botanist was 

 therefore obliged to search out the rarer plants in secluded 



