4 SANDUSKY FLORA. 



water in winter as it freezes, modifies the climate of the 

 adjacent land. It would seem that an equal amount 

 of heat should be absorbed by the ice in melting, and 

 thus the winter prolonged into spring, but for the 

 region about the western end of the lake this is not 

 true, because a great part of the ice is blown away 

 toward the east end of the lake, whose period of cold 

 is prolonged thereby. And so it comes that the climate 

 on the south side of Lake Erie is not only milder than 

 that on the north side but much milder than that at 

 the east end, and, if we reckon the length of summer 

 from the average date of the last killing frost in 

 spring to the average date of the first killing frost in 

 autumn, we find the summer at Sandusky to last 192 

 days and at Buffalo only 138 days. 



The counties of Ohio lying to the east of Erie 

 county and bordering on the lake have a climate some- 

 what less mild than that of the Sandusky region for 

 their land rises more abruptly from the water, and the 

 prevailing winds pass over more of the lake before 

 reaching them. In Erie county the land within a few 

 miles of the lake is mostly much less than a hundred 

 feet in elevation. The temperature at Sandusky in 

 spring and summer averages about one and a half 

 degrees higher than at Cleveland, and one degree higher 

 than in the eastern part of Erie county, four miles back 

 from the lake shore where Mr. W. H. Todd has recorded 

 observations for the government for many years. 



It is interesting to observe that the protection from 

 frost afforded by Lake Erie scarcely extends beyond the 

 counties that border upon it and, as a result we have 

 many plants in these that have not been reported from 

 any other county north of the middle of the state, and 

 quite a number that have been found nowhere else in 

 Ohio except in the southern part, within forty miles of 

 the Ohio River. Even so far south as Columbus, the 



