CLIMATE, &C., SOUTH SHORE LAKE ERIE. 169 



Cool North winds begin to prevail about the middle of 

 October. The emanations from the Lake then begin to 

 condense and pass off to the South, in the form of thick 

 clouds, without discharging, at first, much rain. About the 

 20th of October the cold from the North seems to gain the 

 ascendency; squalls of rain, hail and rounded snow appear 

 alternately, with intervals of clear and warm weather. 

 These squalls always precede the autumnal frosts. Our 

 gardeners feel no apprehension for their tender vegetables 

 till these premonitions have appeared. 



Common observations, as well as the more sure test, the 

 rain gauge, show that larger amounts of vapor from the 

 Lake are carr-ied South, condensed in the form of rain and 

 snow than fall in this vicinity. 



Daring Winter comparatively little snow falls, and still 

 less accumulates here, though it may be abundant on the 

 higher grounds, thirty or forty miles in the interior. 



This region is also not so frequently favored with showers 

 in Summer as the central portion of the State. Long and 

 severe drouths often prevail, but they are in part counter- 

 acted by moisture in the atmosphere. This quality sustains 

 vegetation, and also imparts a blandness and freshness to 

 the atmosphere during the hottest days of Summer, very 

 observable on approaching the Lake from the interior. 

 During'that Season it is peculiarly pleasant and invigor- 

 ating to invalids, and equally harrassing to them during the 

 Spring season. 



The indigenous vegetation of this vicinity is of rather a 

 Southern type — shown by the absence, in a great measure, 

 of evergreens, and the occurrence of more Southern genera, 

 as the Cercis, Ilex, yEsculus, Nelumbium, Gleditscliia, Mag- 

 nolia, &c. Eliotfs Botany of South Carolina and Georgia 

 has been found to be a convenient hand-book for investi- 

 gating our flora. On the other hand, strange hyperborean 

 plants are frequently found, which have been washed down 



