84 Di* Forry on the Climate of the United States. 



for excellent pasture. * * * Though the latitude is neai'ly 

 that of Montreal, mowing and curing hay are unnecessary, 

 for cattle graze on fresh-growing grass through the win- 

 ter. * * * Winters on the Columbia River are remarkably 

 mild, there being no snow, and the river being obstruct- 

 ed by ice but a few days during the first part of January. 

 Grass remained in sufl&cient perfection to aflFord good food ; 

 and garden vegetables, such as turnips and carrots, were not 

 destroyed, but no trees blossomed till March, except willow, 

 alders," &c. 



2. Middle Division. — This division comprises two genei'al 

 systems of climates, which bear, in some degree, the same 

 meteorological relation to each other as the modified climate 

 of the great lakes and the coast of New England does to that 

 of the third class of the same division. The posts furnish- 

 ing the meteorological data of the Middle Division are the 

 following: — Fort Mifflin, near Philadelphia, Washington 

 City, Jeff"erson Barracks, near St Louis, Fort Monroe or Old 

 Point Comfort in Virginia, Fort Gibson in Arkansas, Fort 

 Johnston on the coast of North Carolina, Augusta Arsenal, 

 Georgia, Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbour, and Fort Jesup, 

 near Sabine River, Louisiana. The laws of climate deve- 

 loped in the preceding division, do not find so happy an illus- 

 tration in this one ; for as the physical causes act less pro- 

 minently, the effects are less marked. These posts cannot 

 be happily arranged into the two classes of uniform and ex- 

 cessive climes, as the majority of them are of a mixed cha- 

 racter. Fort Mifflin and Washington City do not properly 

 pertain to either class, being in a measure under the influ- 

 ence of the Atlantic, while the south-western stations expe- 

 rience the powerful agency of the Gulf of Mexico. As we 

 proceed south, the seasons become, as a general rule, more 

 uniform in proportion as the mean annual temperature in- 

 creases. Although the thermometrical results given at 

 Washington City fairly place it in the class of excessive cli- 

 mates, yet on following the same parallel westward, a 

 still greater contrast in the seasons is exhibited. Thus the 

 difference between the mean temperature of winter and sum- 

 mer at Jefferson Barracks, notwithstanding it is about half 



