LETTER LXIV. 



'To the same. 



S the effects of heat are seldom very remarkable in 

 the northerly climate of England, where the 

 summers are often so defective in warmth and 

 sunshine as not to ripen the fruits of the earth so 

 well as might be wished, I shall be more concise 

 in my account of the severity of a summer season, 

 and so make a little amends for the prolix account 

 of the degrees of cold, and the inconveniences that we suffered from 

 some late rigorous winters. 



The summers of 1781 and 1783 were unusually hot and dry ; to 

 them therefore I shall turn back in my journals, without recurring 

 to any more distant period. In the former of these years my peach 

 and nectarine trees suffered so much from the heat that the rind on 

 the bodies was scalded and came off; since which the trees have 

 been in a decaying state. This may prove a hint to assiduous 

 gardeners to fence and shelter their wall-trees with mats or boards, 

 as they may easily do, because such annoyance is seldom of long 

 continuance. During that summer also, I observed that my apples 



