CLIMATE OF NEW-YORK. 205 



CLIMATE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 



One of the most important problems to be solved in deter- 

 mining the agricultural capabilities of any country, is its cli- 

 mate. Common observation and experience is perhaps sufficiently 

 exact to establish the truth of the proposition in a general way. 

 A hasty examination, for example, of the natural productions of a 

 valley and of the adjacent mountain, of a marshy or an arid dis- 

 trict, of the shores of a sea, lake, or large river, of a warm and a 

 cold region, and of an inland position, will show that they differ 

 materially in their products ; a difference which, without doubt, 

 will be attributed to what is termed climate. The word is here 

 ised in its widest sense, and may be defined the character of a 

 ilace, as determined by observations on latitude, height above the 

 ;ea, vicinity to water, prevalent winds, position and slope of lands, 

 lature of the rocks and soil, and degree of cultivation. If cli- 

 natc, then, is determined by these conditions, it will be well to 

 ccupy a few moments on each of them, taken singly. 1st. Cli- 

 Qate does not depend wholly upon latitude, for observation proves 

 hat two places upon the same parallel neither agree in tempera- 

 ure, nor in any two of the other conditions which determine its 

 haracter. If they agree in the mean temperature for the year, 

 ley may not agree in the temperature of their seasons. One, for 

 istance, may enjoy cool summers, the other may be hot and com- 

 aratively dry. So, one may have a mild winter, while at the 

 ither it is severe and rigid. Under these characters Paris and 

 ituebec have often been contrasted. Again, two places in the same 

 Ititutle, but of different heights above the level of the sea, 

 ill differ in climate. If, for example, one is five or six hundred 

 jet higher than the other, it will be from one to two degrees 

 plder than the other. 



The other conditions which modify climate are not of equal con- 

 :jquence with the two preceding ones. Vicinity, however, to 

 rge bodies of water, may be, perhaps, of equal consequence, 

 'he winds also exert a perceptible influence. In this country 

 te northwest winds are cold, and where from the shape and con- 

 'tur of the surface they prevail, the temperature will from thia 



