376 Weather at Florence 
east or east, and the upper, as indicated by the course of the 
clouds, directly west. The highest wind was on Jan. 2., 
when, from five to eight p.m., it blew almost a hurricane. 
Dryness of Air. — The superior dryness of the air in Italy 
in summer, compared with that of England and many parts 
of the north of Europe, is well known: but I was not aware 
that the difference is equally striking even in the rainy part 
of winter, judging, for want of a Wetter hygrometer, from the 
condensation of moisture on the inside of windows in rooms 
without a fire ; which I have always observed to be very con- 
siderable in inte both in England, and also at Brussels 
during a three years’ residence fire, whenever a cold night 
succeeds a rainy or warm day, the condensed moisture often 
even running down to the floor: whereas at Flor ence, under 
precisely similar circumstances, I have never but once observed 
more than a slight condensation in the middle of the panes, as 
if breathed on, even in rooms with a north aspect; and only 
once during the fr ost, any appearance, and that but slight, of 
that thick crust of ice formed on the inside of the panes in 
England and at Brussels whenever a hard frost sets in. Among 
many other proofs of the greater dryness of the air in winter, 
one is afforded by the profusion i in which grapes are to be had, 
at less than twopence a pound, at the corners of every street, 
up to the end of March, quite free from all mouldiness, though 
cut full four months, and kept merely by being hung at the 
top of rooms without a fire. 
Progress of Vegetation, §c.—The effect of shade, in prevent- 
ing, or rather neutralising, terrestrial radiation, was very strik- 
ingly exhibited in the Casene (or park) at Florence, Jan. oo. 
after the second and longest frost. While all the rest of the 
surrounding exposed grass looked bare and withered, that 
under a group of old evergreen oaks had made a shoot of 
from 1 to 2 in., and was of a fine vivid green, distinguishable 
at a great distance. Groundsel, the daisy, shepherd's purse, 
Veronica arvénsis, Caléndula arvénsis, &c., in flower the whole 
winter, their blossoms expanding, during the frost, on bright 
warm days.— Leaves half-~ex wonded, of elder and weeping 
willow, March 7.; hawthorn, March 12.; ; Crataegus Pyra- 
cantha Lin. (which, with blackthorn and Palitrus “australis, 
chiefly forms the hedges round Florence), March 25.; elms 
(the lower branches), and Liriodéndron Tulipifera, March 27. ; 
Palitrus australis, March 30.— Wild plants in flower, as 
under : — O’xalis corniculata, January 28.; Crocus biflorus ? 
(which covered a grass field of six or eight acres as profusely 
as Colchicum autumnale does some English meadows), Feb. 
