Forest of Rossendale. 233 



amidst the air of the Rossendale hills, but for persons of delicate 

 frame there are doubtless more desirable places of abode. 



In its abundant rains, however, Rossendale possesses advantages 

 which it would be unfair to overlook — they fill its wells to over- 

 flowing, providing copious supplies of water for domestic and 

 sanitary purposes ; and they cleanse the streets of its villages and 

 towns from accumulations of impure matter. " 



From a record of observations which has been kept, it appears 

 that the average rain-fall in Rossendale is 40 inches; and that 

 the days on which rain falls amount in number to 165. 

 According to the best authorities, the average annual rain-fall in 

 England ranges from 29 to 31 inches. It would appear, therefore, 

 that in this particular Rossendale is 10 inches, or 33 per cent, 

 above the average, {a) 



Taking the rain-fall at 40 inches, no less a quantity than 

 2,592,844 tons of water is thus deposited annually on every square 

 mile of surface in Rossendale : or for its entire area, the enormous 

 total of 79,003,956 tons ! 



The mean temperature of the district, according to the observa- 

 tions before referred to, is 45 degrees Fahr., being 4 degrees below 

 that of Greenwich, {b) 



The valley of Rossendale is essentially a manufacturing district. 

 Its agricultural capabilities are not such as to attract the husband- 

 man, or adequately to repay him for his toil. Its prevailing 

 formation being an unkindly rock, and its soil of an uncongenial 

 clayey character— damp and cold — it possesses but few of those 

 features of beneficent vegetation, so grateful to the eye, which 

 distinguish the limestone and some other districts of England. 



(a) In order that readers may be enabled to compare Rossendale with other 

 districts, the number of rainy days, and the average annual deposit of rain, in 

 inches, at the following places is given : — Edinburgh : Average number of 

 days on which rain falls, 149; depth of rain, 22 inches. Glasgow, 166; 33. 

 Manchester, 161; 35. Liverpool, 154; 34. Hull, 153 ; 23. Kendal, 146; 60. 

 Keswick, 128; 67. Borrowdale, Cumberland, 180; 125. 



(6) The mean temperature of Greenwich is 49°, Dublin, 48-6°, Edinburgh, 

 46-8°. 



