CHAPTER V. 
CLIMATE. 
From the information communicated in regard to the 
distribution of different herbs and trees, indigenous and 
introduced, some general idea may be formed of the 
climate of different zones of the country; but more explicit 
information on this subject may be desired. While I was 
Lecturer on Botany in the University of King’s College, 
Aberdeen, I was visited on one occasion by an old friend, 
a man of science, from Poland, Dr Bielioblotsky, who had 
applied to me for information in regard to the climate of 
Aberdeenshire. In stating in conversation what he was 
desirous of knowing, he said: ‘I have already seen that 
Ulex Europaeus (the furze or whin) flowers and fruits, and I 
know from this that the temperature must seldom if ever 
fall below such and such a degree of Fahrenheit ; and I 
have seen that the walnut produces only abortive flowers, 
from which I know that the aggregate heat of summer 
cannot amount to such and such a measure, but that is all 
I know. I desire to know a great deal more.” So may 
the traveller through Finland learn not a little in regard 
to the climate of the country from the state of the vegeta- 
tion, but desire to learn much more. 
The following information was supplied by observers in 
Finland who have given attention to the subject. The 
climate is somewhat severe, but healthy. In a land of so 
great an extent—the southern part in winter has five 
hours of daylight, and in the north there is only a slight 
twilight—the temperature must vary greatly. In the 
southern country the winter begins in the middle of 
November—often not till later—and it ends in April; but 
