314 EXOTICS IN CORNWALL, 



by the Cornish climate, meteorological statistics obtained from 

 different parts of the county by such careful observers as the late 

 Mr. Nicholas Whitley, C.E., Dr. Barham, and Mr. T. Q. Couch, 

 M.E.C.S., but more particularly in later times by Mr. Kitto, at 

 Falmouth, and Mr. J. Branwell, Jun., at Penzance, have made 

 it clear for all time that within our somewhat insular county we 

 have climatic conditions not enjoyed by places of such world- 

 wide repute as Nice, Montpellier, and Algiers. 



It is claimed, and not without reliable data, that the Cornish 

 winters are the mildest in Great Britain ; that the mean range 

 of temperature at Falmouth for the winter months is about 5*^ 

 below that at Cannes and Mentone, 6° below Pau, 7° below 

 Nice, and 8° below Montpellier; and that ''the month of 

 January at Penzance is as warm as at Madrid, Florence, and 

 Constantinople." Owing to proximity with the warm waters of 

 the English Channel, which give a mean temperature for Feb- 

 ruary, the coldest month of the year, of 47*5°, the mean 

 temperature of the air at Falmouth Observatory for the same 

 period is 43-3°, which is about the same as that enjoyed by 

 Montpellier, and! nearly 2° above that of Pau. From 1871 to 

 1895 there were five years during which the thermometer never 

 once fell to freezing point at Falmouth ; and it is deserving 

 consideration that the average difference of day and night 

 temperature at that place for the four coldest months of the year 

 — November to February — is less than 7°. 



In point of bright sunshine Cornwall can also furnish some 

 remarkable figures. Seven years ago the Meteorological 

 Council published statistics of bright sunshine from forty-six 

 stations in the British Isles, extending over the years 1881 to 

 1890, and in this respect Falmouth stood in a proud position, 

 being second only to Jersy. Taking the years 1881 to 1895, it 

 has been found that the daily average of bright sunshine for 

 this portion of Cornwall amounts to five hours. 



However slow invalids may have been to take advantage of 

 the recuperative qualities of this natural sanatorium, it cannot be 

 laid to the charge of our gentry that they have been blind to the 

 situation. For at least a half-a-century they have been quietly 

 voicing the mildness of the Cornish winter by embellishing their 



