FRUITS AND FLOWERS OF NORTHERN JAPAN. 43 



The climate of Yesso is in many respects not unlike that of 

 New England ; but it is more equable — a little cooler in summer 

 and warmer in winter ; and the air is more humid ; the percentage 

 of sunshine somewhat less. The yearly means of temperature at 

 Sapporo, the capital of Yesso, in degrees Fahrenheit, from the 

 year 1877 to 1886, inclusive, were as follows : 47.53, 44.79, 45.13, 

 45.51, 44.82, 45.19, 44.27, 42.69, 44.14, and 46.63. On two or 

 three nights every winter the mercuiy registers from four to 

 twelve degrees below zero ; the really hot weather of the summer 

 is limited to one month, setting in about the middle of July. The 

 autumn frosts are late in coming, seldom destroying even the 

 most tender plants before the middle of October. The yearly 

 precipitation — a large part in the form of snow — varied during 

 the years of my residence between about thirty-three and fifty- 

 five inches. The springs and early summers are dry ; the late 

 summers and autumns are rainy. The snow fall is large ; the 

 smallest in any winter of the twelve I spent there was nine feet ; 

 the largest eighteen feet ; the average being about twelve feet. 

 An important point, doubtless as affecting both the indigenous 

 and introduced plants is this : the snow usually falls upon unfrozen 

 ground, or at least the amount of frost is so slight that by the 

 middle of January' the ground, even in open fields, is free from it. 

 Carrots, turnips, and potatoes are often left in the ground over 

 winter and come out in the spring uninjured. The soil in the 

 forests can scarcel}' at any time feel the effects of frost. 



Another important climatic peculiarity as affecting vegetation 

 is the comparatively warm and wet autumn, succeeded at last 

 rather suddenly by a heavy fall of snow and colder weather. 

 8uch a change usually finds the leaves still green on introduced 

 apple, peach, and cherry trees as well as on raspberry and black- 

 berry bushes. 



Those among you who are fruit culturists are familiar with the 

 fact that such a state of affairs indicates wood still comparatively 

 soft and immature and unfitted to withstand the rigors of winter. 

 You will not be surprised then to learn that certain fruit trees, 

 usually' hardy here, are there in most cases winter-killed. This 

 fact, viewed in connection with certain peculiarities of the native 

 flora, at first thought appears exceedingly puzzling. In the 

 vicinity of Sapporo were large numbers of two species of magno- 

 lia ; the one Magnolia Kobus, chiefly in the low moist lands ; the 



