THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST. 



clsely with that of the Norfolk sand. South of High Hill 

 at Huntington occurs the Norfolk gravel. It is referred to 

 earliest Pleistocene deposition. Agriculturally, it is useless. 

 Southeast of Cold Spring Station is a small patch of the Sas- 

 safras gravelly loam. It is well drained, and is intensively 

 cultivated for garden crops. This type also occurs at St. 

 James, Long Island. 



III. 



CLIMATE* 



This is maritime in type. The tempering influence of the 

 Atlantic Ocean is modified to a considerable extent by the 

 prevailing westerly winds from the continental interior, giv- 

 ing the region relatively mild winters for the latitude and 

 not excessively warm summers, long growing season and 

 abundance of precipitation well distributed throughout the 

 year, and rather high relative humidity. On Long Island 

 the dryest month is April with a total of 7.3% of the total 

 annual precipitation while the wettest is August with 10.5%. 

 The winter rainfall is generally greater than that of spring 

 or autumn, and only 3% less than of summer. The average 

 length of the growing season between the last killing frost 

 of spring and the frost of the fall is something over 200 

 days for Long Island. For the benefit of botanists desiring 

 the use of the facilities of the Laboratory throughout the 

 year the following records compiled from those of the U. S. 

 Weather Bureau are cited. 



The means of the records of the monthly, annual and 

 average amount of precipitation in inches of the near- 

 est weather stations to Cold Spring Harbor are: 



STATIONS 



Oyster Bay_ 



Elev. No. yrs. Jan. Feb. Mar. 



50 ft. 



12 



3.88 



2.39 



3.72 



Apr. 



May 



June 



July 



Aug. 



4.09 



3.48 



3.61 



4.26 



6.68 



Sept. 



Oct 



Nov. 



Dec. 



Annual 



4.3 



3.68 



2.53 



3.47 



46.09 



* Compiled from reprint of section 104, Eastern New York. Sum- 

 mary of Climatological data for the United States by sections, Weather 

 Bureau, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



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