EFFECTS OF SEASONS ON VEGETATION. 359 



Seasons arrive and pass away, the general fea- 

 tures alone remaining impressed upon our minds ; 

 but they often produce consequences not commonly 

 expected ; and a departed summer or winter has 

 frequently been the cause of some event which we 

 consider as exclusively occasioned by atmospheric 

 changes or present temperature. A warm, dry 

 summer generally occasions a healthy spring-blossom 

 the ensuing year, the bearing wood being ripened 

 and matured to produce in its most perfect state. 

 A wet, damp one usually effects the reverse, by 

 occasioning an abundant flow of sap, producing 

 wood and foliage rather than blossom ; and the 

 following spring, in such cases, from the floral 

 vigour being diverted, has generally its blossom 

 weak, and, though perhaps not defective, incom- 

 petent to mature the germen. This is mere rea- 

 soning upon general consequences ; but so imper- 

 fect are our theories, and so many circumstances 

 counteract the calculations, the predictions of human 

 wisdom, which can rarely even " discern the face 

 of the sky," that results must more often be looked 

 for than known. The recording of events is the 

 province of the naturalist ; and, perhaps, occasion- 

 ally by comparing existing circumstances with past 

 events, something approximating to probability 

 may be obtained. The two burning summers of 

 1825 and 1826 are remembered by all ; but it was 

 in the succeeding year only that the result of this 

 heat and drought was manifested to us, by effects 

 upon our pasture lands which we did not expect. 



