CHAPTER V. 



CLIMATE. 



FROM the information communicated in regard to the 

 distribution of different herbs and trees, indigenous and 

 introduced, some general idea may be formed of the 

 climate of different zones of the country ; but more explicit 

 information on this subject may be desired. While I was 

 Lecturer on Botany in the University of King's College, 

 Aberdeen, I was visited on one occasion by an old friend, 

 a man of science, from Poland, Dr Bielioblotsky, who had 

 applied to me for information in regard to the climate of 

 Aberdeenshire. In stating in conversation what he was 

 desirous of knowing, he said : ' I have already seen that 

 Ulex Europaeus (the furze or whin) flowers and fruits, and I 

 know from this that the temperature must seldom if ever 

 fall below such and such a degree of Fahrenheit ; and I 

 have seen that the walnut produces only abortive flowers, 

 from which I know that the aggregate heat of summer 

 cannot amount to such and such a measure, but that is all 

 I know. I desire to know a great deal more/ So may 

 the traveller through Finland learn not a little in regard 

 to the climate of the country from the state of the vegeta- 

 tion, but desire to learn much more. 



The following information was supplied by observers in 

 Finland who have given attention to the subject. The 

 climate is somewhat severe, but healthy. In a land of so 

 great an extent the southern part in winter has five 

 hours of daylight, and in the north there is only a slight 

 twilight the temperature must vary greatly. In the 

 southern country the winter begins in the middle of 

 November often not till later and it ends in April; but 



