150 NATURAL HISTORY" 



LETTER LXIV. 



TO THE SAME. 



As the effects of heat are seldom very 

 remarkable in the northerly climate of 

 England, where the Summers are often so 

 defective in warmth and sun-shine as not 

 to ripen the fruits of the earth so well as 

 might be wished, I shall be more concise 

 in my account of the severity of a Summer 

 season, and so make a little amends for 

 the prolix account of the degrees of cold, 

 and the inconveniences that we suffered 

 from some late rigorous Winters. 



The Summers of 1781 and 1783 were 

 unusually hot and dry ; to them therefore 

 I shall turn back in my journals, without 

 recurring to any more distant period. In 

 the former of these years my peach and 

 nectarine-trees suffered so much from the 

 heat that the rind on the bodies was scalded 

 and came off; since which the trees have 



