CLIMATE OF CHANNEL ISLANDS. 405 



and Jersey, this influence is most remarkable : 

 frosts are of rare occurrence there, and of the 

 shortest duration, and the extreme of heat is 

 seldom experienced there. In the quarter end- 

 ing December 31, 1849, the mean temperature 

 of Guernsey was 49 2', while that of Green- 

 wich was 44 8' a difference of about five de- 

 grees. Thus summer and winter are not 

 separated by the chasm which divides them 

 in the climate of great continents, and the 

 excessive degrees of temperature are almost 

 unknown on either side of the thermometric 

 scale. The influence of such a climate upon 

 the floriculture and horticulture of these islands 

 can scarcely be believed. The most delicate 

 and beautiful plants which in England must 

 be carefully kept, during the winter, in our 

 conservatories, and cherished with artificial 

 warmth, are there exposed without injury all 

 through that part of the year ; and the markets 

 in summer exhibit an appearance of exuberant 

 fertility of soil scarcely to be expected even in 

 districts much farther south than is their posi- 

 tion. In all probability the equalizing influence 

 of the ocean is felt universally, through every 

 region of our globe, to a greater or less extent. 

 The waters heated in warmer regions are di- 

 rected by the various currents of the ocean to 

 others, where the solar influence is far more 



