180 Climate 



of what it has. But, where the climate is unfavour- 

 able, no soil, however good and abundant, can make 

 up for it, though it may do something to lessen the 

 evil consequences. 



As we have already seen, the richest soil is unable 

 to supply the place of water ; while in Guiana, on the 

 other hand, where moisture is abundant, and the 

 climate genial, groups of trees may be seen growing on 

 a spur of the great sandstone mountains, wherever 

 there is just sand enough to afford them a foothold. 

 The sand is, of course, not mere sand, though it may 

 look like it ; but the soil is undeniably poor and 

 shallow. Yet, helped by the climate, the trees thrive, 

 as they could not possibly do without that help. 



We are naturally accustomed to look upon the sun 

 as the source of light and heat to our planet; but 

 temperature does not depend solely upon the sun ; for 

 if it did, the same temperature would prevail all along 

 the same parallel of latitude, which it certainly does not. 



Rhine grapes, for instance, will not ripen in England ; 

 laurels and camellias flourish all the year round on the 

 coast of Cornwall, while in the same latitude on the 

 continent, only the hardiest trees can stand the 

 winter. The vine can hardly flourish at the mouth of 

 the Loire ; yet it comes to perfection in Tokay, which 

 lies a degree further to the north ; and Astrakhan, in 

 nearly the same latitude, has summer-heat enough to 

 ripen the southern fruits of Italy, and even of the 

 Canary Islands, though its winters are so severe that 

 no vine-stock would be able to live through them 

 without being buried several feet deep in earth. 



In Germany, where the summers are much hotter 

 than in England, roses, and other trees and shrubs, 



