CLIMATE WINDS. 43 



There is nothing in the climate to interfere with vegetation or 

 agriculture. Flowering plants and ferns grow in great variety, and 

 wild grasses and clover luxuriantly. Garden vegetables and berries 

 are abundant. 



On the west coast the climate is much more genial than on the south 

 and east coasts, and the vegetation is more abundant. In the interior 

 the summer temperature is higher than that on the coasts. The aver- 

 age rainfall is 58.3 inches. 



Labrador. — The climate ranges from cold temperate on the south- 

 ern coasts to Arctic at Hudson strait, and. is generally so rigorous 

 that it is very doubtful if the country is fit for agriculture northward 

 of latitude 51° north, except on low grounds near the coast. There 

 arc two seasons in the interior: winter begins early in October, with 

 the freezing of the small lakes, and lasts till the middle of June, when 

 the ice on rivers and lakes melts and summer comes on suddenly. The 

 loAver temperature of the interior appears to range from 50° to 60° 

 below zero; it is slightlj^ higher on the coast. The mean summer tem- 

 perature in the interior is about 55°, with frosts every month in the 

 northern portion. On the Atlantic coast the climate is extremely 

 severe, the mean temperature of the year being beloAv freezing point. 

 At Chateau bay on the i^Sth of July, 1836, the earliest phmts were 

 springing up, and the grass was only just beginning to give a shade 

 of green in sheltered spots between the hills. The temperature of the 

 sea outside the bay was 32° and the air 43° in the warmest part of 

 the day. 



On the outer coast vegetables only are raised with great difficulty, 

 and rarely reach maturity, but at the heads of the deep inlets, vege- 

 tables, floAvers, and even cereals are groAvn. Snow fell in Indian 

 harbor in July, August, and September, 1875. When the wind is 

 from seaward the temperature falls considerably during summer. 

 Large patches of snoAv, about 5 feet deep, were lying in the valleys 

 along the whole coast in the middle of July, 1875, and some of them 

 had not disappeared when the first large fall of snow occurred in 

 September. The mean temperature of the air for the coast between 

 cape Porcupine and Nain was about 46° in July, 50° in August, and 

 44° in September. 



See meteorological table, page 49. 



Winds — Newfoundland coast. — Westerly winds prevail through- 

 out the year, but frequent and rapid changes, both in direction and 

 force, are experienced on all parts of the Newfoundland coast. West- 

 erly winds generally decrease in force at sunset, but when they con- 

 tinue steadily until midnight the wind often changes to north- 

 northeast the following morning. Winds between west and north 

 are generally accompanied by cleaj- Aveather. 



