NOKTHTTMBERLAND AND DUKHAM. 



67 



influence on the distribution of its plants, we will content our- 

 selres with quoting here the figures for the various stations as 

 they stand in the last Club report. The stations for which no 

 altitude is given are very little above sea level. 



PLACE. 



Altitude in 

 feet. 



Number of 

 years observed. 



Annual rain- 

 fall in inches. 



Darlington 



Whorlton 



Wallsend 



Wj-lam 



Stamf ordliam 



Bywell 



Alleuheads 



Park End, North Tyne.. 

 Glanton, foot of Cheviot 



Cresswell 



Sunderland 



140 

 450 



96 

 400 



87 



1360 



277 



534 



2 

 2 

 6 



11 

 9 

 9 

 9 



10 



20-7 

 25-3 

 27-0 

 27-7 

 29-1 

 28-0 

 46-9 

 32-3 

 27-6 

 22-4 

 21-4 



This is just as might be expected, the minimum along the 

 coast, and the quantity growing gradually greater inland to the 

 maximum in the vicinity of the western ridges. 



Wind. — "We ought not to pass entirely unnoticed the influ- 

 ence which the force of the wind has upon vegetation. Take a 

 maritime station, like Shields, for instance, and compare it with 

 a sheltered inland locality like Bywell, and it is probable that 

 the force of the wind, as measured by an anemometer, is twice as 

 great on the average of the whole year at the former place ^ at 

 the latter. The consequence is, that along the whole coast, ex- 

 posed as it is to the full force of the cold breezes of the east, 

 trees of any kind can attain to a moderate height and luxuriance 

 only in sheltered situations ; and no doubt, the same reason 

 causes our springs to be later, and our climate to be more unfa- 

 vourable for herbaceous plants that love warmth and shelter, in 

 comparison with Yorkshire and the Midland Counties, than the 

 mere figures of temperature indicate. We shall have occasion, 

 in another part of the work, to point out how rapidly, in ISTorth- 

 umberland and Durham, the characteristically southern plants 

 thin out. 



