44 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



have a peculiarity all their owu, iu the fact that the heat 

 rising from the vast bodies of water lying on either side, 

 tempers and modifies every cold current of air that passes 

 over their surface. This during the winter season. Iu 

 the summer time the same force is at work; the cooler 

 waters absorb a portion of the heat contained in the warm 

 air sweeping across their bosom and store it up for their 

 genial winter service to their landward neighbor. 



For these reasons the climate of a peninsula varies 

 greatly from that of inland countries, even in the same 

 section and same latitude. 



We have already noted the fact that Florida now con- 

 fessedly holds the front rank before all other peninsulas or 

 seaside countries. There are very good reasons for this. 

 Not one of them all has the same latitude, the same 

 slope to the winter sun, the same topography, and the same 

 features. 



The Apennine Mountains, with their lofty snow-capped 

 summits, chill the air that circulates over the Mediterra- 

 nean and Atlantic seas. In Mexico, in Southern Cali- 

 fornia, in Spain, in France, every where, save in our bon- 

 nie Florida, Ave find mountain ranges tow^ering aloft, their 

 white peaks covered with snow, their hollows with ice, cool- 

 ing off the air faster than the sun can warm it, obstructing 

 the pressure of the winds in summer and in winter, keeping 

 the kindly breezes in check during the one season, and send- 

 ing down cold, cutting winds during the other. 



Now, Florida has nothing like this, so far as such expe- 

 riences go. Her surface is comparatively level, having 

 only a gentle rise between the ocean on one side and the 

 gulf on the other, so that the breezes, warmed by her out- 

 lying waters in the winter season and cooled by them dur- 

 ing the summer, are ever free to play back and forth over 

 her beautiful bosom. And when we say that her surface 



