XXV. 



Ill CLIMATE. 



II 11 HE vegetation of a country is necessarily dependent on its climate. 

 The climate in like manner depends on its geographical position ; 

 that is to say, on its latitude and longitude ; on its nearness to or 

 distance from the sea ; on its natural elevation above the sea- 

 level ; on the prevailing winds ; on the average rainfall ; and on the 

 variation of the temperature in the seasons of the year. There are, 

 however, circumstances connected with the cultivation of a country, 

 such as the presence or absence of woods, the drainage of its fens and 

 marshes which influence the rainfall the evaporation, and even the 

 amount of sunshine. It is not necessary to enter upon a special con- 

 sideration of each of the above-mentioned elements of climate in 

 reference to Suffolk. Its temperature is affected by its nearness to the 

 sea, which would lower it in summer and raise it in winter ; also by its 

 slight elevation above the sea level, and likely by its small rainfall. 

 The natural conditions are such as would tend to give a moderately 

 equable temperature. The highest ground in the County is in the parish 

 of Lawshall, and its elevation 349 feet. Very little of the surface rises 

 above 200 feet. As a consequence trie rivers are very sluggish, with an 

 average fall of about two feet in a mile, and the drainage of the soil is 

 necessarily slow. The mean temperature of the year is 48.4 Fahrenheit. 

 The extreme variation from year to year since 1859 is 5.9 : the warmest 

 year was 1884, 50.7 ; and the coldest 1887, 44.8. 



Mr. P. Grieve, of Bury St. Edmunds, in his article in the ' West 

 Suffolk Advertiser ' on the Meteorology of the year 1887, gives the 

 following table of Temperature for the preceding 29 years, as observed 

 by him at or near Bury. We gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness 

 to him for this and the table of Rainfall, inserted further on. The 

 heat of 1888 has been taken from Mr. Grieve's Meteorogical Notes for 

 1888. 



