224 REMARKS RELATING TO CLIMATE. 



mometer. To the farmer it is important that he should have regard to the direction of the 

 prevalent winds, and those especially which prevail in the spring : he will be governed by 

 the winds in part in selecting sites for his buildings, and in planting his fruit trees ; in the 

 kind of fences and in their direction ; and where it will be expedient to plant trees, and erect 

 means for shelter and protection. 



Another modifying influence is the vicinage of water. Two effects follow from water ; first, 

 a damp or vaporous atmosphere ; second, equalization of the temperature of the seasons. The 

 temperature is rendered cooler in summer, and warmer in winter, than it would be if land oc- 

 cupied the place of water. There is a very great advantage in this modification ; frosts are 

 not so sharp and destructive, neither the early or late ; hence there are some vegetables which 

 may be cultivated with success under these circumstances. This state of things favors a pe- 

 culiar flora, and generally a rank vegetation. But it is not simply to a proximity to the sea that 

 the whole influence is due ; the waters are subject to movements, independent of the tides, 

 which modify to a greater degree than can arise from proximity alone. These currents carry 

 with them more caloric than that of the adjacent sea, but sometimes less. The effect of those 

 warm or cold currents need not be described particularly. The warm current of the Gulf 

 sets off from the Atlantic coast towards Europe, and as the prevailing winds are westerly they 

 carry off the caloric to the east and northeast. Inside of this warm current a cold one comes 

 down from the north, which is supposed to temper the heat of our southern coast, especially 

 that of the Carolinas and Georgia. T^ocal influences, both favorable and unfavorable to vege- 

 tation, arise from the shape and contour of land : but next to latitude, height is the most 

 powerful agent in controlling the heat and cold, or rather the temperature of a place. A 

 height of 350 feet is regarded as equivalent to a degree of latitude ; of course this must itself 

 vary with the latitude. In New-York it has been deduced by Prof. Coffin ; yet it seems, 

 from his observations as well as remarks, that it is variable. There are one or two facts de- 

 duced from Prof. Coffin's observations on the temperature of the State of New-York, which 

 I have omitted to notice. It appears that central and western New-York enjoy a more 

 equable climate than eastern or northern. The annual range of the thermometer is but 96°, 

 while the range for the State is 104°, and that of the northern counties 120°. The greatest 

 cold at Rochester, Lewlston and Fredonia, but little exceeds that of Long-Island ; and vegeta- 

 tion in the spring is a few days earlier than the average of the State : it is about the same as at 

 Albany. In central and western New-York we have an illustration of what a change of cir- 

 cumstances will produce in climate. Here there is a basin of water, though of but a limited 

 extent, which is found quite influential on the climate of a large moiety of the State : a more 

 humid state of the atmosphere is one of those changes ; the immediate tendency of this state is 

 perceptible in the spring, especially in creating a chilliness in the atmosphere, which retards 

 vegetation a few days. But in addition to the changes which have been noticed, it has been 

 found that the winds have about 11° a more southerly direction than for the average of the State. 

 This is no doubt quite influential in modifying the temperature of this region : there is a higher 

 elevation of temperature than is due to latitude or height ; while in the eastern part of the 



