26 The Effect of Climate on Agriculture 



At all seasons of the year our prevalent winds 

 come from between the south and west, and when 

 they reach our shores they are laden with moisture. 

 The western mountainous portions of our islands have 

 a heavy rainfall, but on the other side of the mountains 

 the air becomes drier, and thus as we travel east the 

 plains are clear and dry. Of course this has a great 

 effect on the nature of the plants grown. In the west 

 the plants are those requiring dull, rainy conditions, 

 while in the east are those which thrive in a clear, dry 

 climate. In the former regions plants run to leaf; 

 while in the eastern regions their fruits develop under 

 drier and sunnier conditions of climate. In other 

 words, the west and the upland regions are the grass- 

 lands of our country, while the plains and the eastern 

 regions produce the grain and fruit that we require. 



It is important to remember that, in winter, the 

 temperature of the British Isles varies little from north 

 to south, but decreases from west to east. This 

 explains the fact that while grass grows at all times of 

 the year in the western portion, the cold winters stop its 

 growth in the east and in the uplands. In the summer, 

 however, the east is warmer than the west, because the 

 cooling action of the sea is not so active ; and at the 

 same season the south-east of England is the warmest 

 part of the British Isles, and the north-west of Britain 

 is the coolest. 



Thus it comes about that the counties in the south- 

 east of England are those most favourable to the 

 ripening of cereals. Above a certain altitude, even 

 where the rainfall is sufficient, the summers are too 

 cold for cereals to ripen, and the highest parts of the 

 British Isles are either bare or covered with poor 



