22 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



inland, may be called warm temperate, and the nights in winter 

 are cool, so that a fire is needed to sit by in the evenings and 

 sharp frosts are not uncommon. In the lower part of the state 

 the temperature at sunrise, except during northers, is usually from 

 60 to 70 with a midday temperature of from 70 to 78 and 

 the native vegetation is largely tropical. As a general thing 

 the plants of the tropics grow and flourish from year to year, 

 only suffering when an occasional frost occurs. 



The greater part of the rainfall comes during the warm season. 

 Heavy rains are likely to begin in the latter part of May and 

 continue with more or less interruption until about the last of 

 October. It must not be supposed that these so-called rainy 

 seasons are periods of anything like continual rain. Showers 

 sometimes fall every day for awhile ; then there may be a number 

 of rainless days and the showers vary from a few drops to a 

 downpour of several inches. During the dry season there is an 

 average of from two to three inches of rain a month and, as a 

 rule, the fall is fairly well distributed throughout the year. 

 This is conducive to vegetable growth as most of the precipitation 

 occurs during the growing season, while during the period of 

 plant rest enough falls to keep vegetation in good condition. 

 The rainfall varies in different parts of the state from 40 inches 

 on some of the lower keys to 65 in the upper part of the state. 



Hurricanes occur occasionally, usually from August to the 

 end of October. They may visit any part of the state, lasting 

 from a few hours to several days. It is possible for them to come 

 at any season, though we feel practically safe from November first 

 until the beginning of the rainy season. Sometimes they do little 

 damage beyond breaking off limbs and switching young growth 

 and leaves; at other times they are very destructive to buildings 

 and vegetation. In some cases large trees are blown over and 

 nearly all the leaves are stripped from the trees. If such a 

 storm occurs before the first of October and the weather following 

 is mild new leaves are likely to develop, but if a storm comes 

 later than that the trees are most likely to go through the winter 

 more or less naked. Ordinarily there is a very heavy rainfall 

 during these storms but sometimes there is little or none. 

 During such dry hurricanes a large amount of salt is carried 



