152 The Great World's Farm 



hand, where moisture is abundant, and the chmate genial, 

 groups of trees may be seen growing on a spur of the 

 great sandstone mountains, wherever there is just sand 

 enough to afford them a foothold. The sand is, of 

 course, not mere sand, though it may look like it; but the 

 soil is undeniably poor and shallow. Yet, helped by the 

 climate, the trees thrive, as they could not possibly do 

 without that help. 



We are naturally accustomed to look upon the sun as 

 the source of light and heat to our planet; but tempera- 

 ture does not depend solely upon the sun; for if it did, 

 the same temperature would prevail all along the same 

 parallel of latitude, which it certainly does not. 



Rhine grapes, for instance, will not ripen in England; 

 laurels and cameUias flourish all the year round on the 

 coast of Cornwall, while in the same latitude on the con- 

 tinent, only the hardiest trees can stand the winter. The 

 vine can hardly flourish at the mouth of the Loire; yet it 

 comes to perfection in Tokay, which lies a degree further 

 to the north; and Astrakhan, in nearly the same latitude, 

 has summer heat enough to ripen the southern fruits of 

 Italy, and even of the Canary Islands, though its winters 

 are so severe that no vine-stock would be able to live 

 through them without being buried several feet deep in 

 earth. 



It is evident, therefore, that the climate of a country 

 does not depend solely upon its position with regard to the 

 equator. Indeed, the great characteristic of the equatorial 

 climate is not so much its heat as its wonderful uniform- 

 ity. Hot it is, of course, though not as hot as the plains 

 of north India; but there is nothing to be called change 

 of season, and there is seldom more than 16' or 17° of 



