150 NATURAL IIISTOKY 



LETTER LXIV. 



TO THE SAME. 



As the effects of heat are seldom very re- 

 markable in the northerly climate of Eng- 

 land, where the Summers are often so de^ 

 fective in warmth and sun-shine 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 in- 

 conveniences 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 



