THE SEASONS IN GUIANA. II 
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three quarters of pure distilled water. Whoever has 
watched an expanse of foliage after a heavy shower 
must have noticed the quivering Slm of vapour produced 
as the sun comes forth, but few have appreciated the 
faét that we have such a grand work in progress as is 
here indicated. Duting the rainy season trees grow 
rapidly, cover every twig with as many leaves as it can 
bear, and extend their branches. This is obviously in- 
tended to provide a larger surface for evaporation, so 
that water shall not stagnate at the roots, and naturally 
means hard work. Fruits swell and attain their full size 
under such conditions, but ripen slowly, so that we might 
naturally expect the summer time to last longer when 
the rain-fall is heavy ; than when on the contrary there 
isa drought. Extremes, either wet or dry, are of course 
injurious, the former tending to produce large fruit with 
little flavour and the latter small crops. 
To lay down hard and fast rules in regard to the 
effe€ts of wet and dry seasons would be impossible with- 
out a series of observations extending over a long time. 
However, it appears that the first summer of the year— 
the heavy wet season—retards some trees to a con- 
siderable extent, while others on the contrary enjoy the 
rains more than the drought which follows. It is well 
known that thick leathery leaves are not so well pro- 
vided: with stomata as those that are thin in texture, 
Looking around us we see the guava, mango and hog- 
plum with comparatively thin and the mammee-apple, 
sapodilla and star-apple with thick leaves. Theoretically 
we should say therefore that the guava would ripen 
soonest in wet weather while the mammee-apple would 
be retarded, and this agrees with the fats. The prin- 
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