HISTORY OF VERMONT. 53 



CHAPTER IV. 



Climate. A?i account of the Temperature, 

 Winds ^ Rain, Snow and Weather. The change 

 of Climate which has attended the Cultivation 

 of the Country. 



THE temperature of any particular 

 place, depends chiefly upon the latitude, the 

 cultivation of the country, the elevation of the 

 place above the adjacent lands, and its proxim- 

 ity to the ocean. The latitude of Vermont is 

 between 42 degrees 44 minutes, and 45 degrees 

 north. Much the largest part of the state has 

 never been cultivated. A large part of the land, 

 is a range of mountains, much higher than the 

 adjacent parts of the country : And the state is 

 from eighty to one hundred and sixty miles 

 from the ocean. 



The most common method of determining 

 the mean degree of heat w^hich prevails in any 

 part of the earth, is by thermometrical observa- 

 tions. In the years 1789, 90, 91, I made a 

 course of meteorological observations at Rut- 

 land, about the latitude of 43 degrees, 36 min- 

 utes. The greatest height of Farenheit's 

 thermometer during that period, was 93 and a 

 half degrees, on July 13, 1791. The least 

 height was 27 below 0, on December 19, 1790. 

 These may be esteemed as near the extremes of 

 heat and cold, in this climate. The mean heat^ 

 deduced from the whole number of observations^ 

 was 43 and a half degres. 



The temperature of the climate may also b^ 

 G 



