220 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. XIII. 
change of the monsoons, in May and June, and again in 
September, when the rains fall in torrents, probably 
owing to the stagnation produced in the atmosphere by 
the change in the direction of the winds. 
In the north the rains also fall copiously at the 
change of the monsoons, more particularly in spring, at 
which time they are of the greatest utility to the crops, 
which are sown or planted about that time. Those 
parts of China, however, which are included in the tem- 
perate zone, cannot properly be said to have a wet and 
dry season in the same sense as these terms are generally 
understood in the tropics. The winter months, which 
are dry at Hong-kong, are far from having the same 
character at Shanghae, for example, where heavy and 
continued falls of rain and snow are of frequent occur- 
rence. In fact, the climate of Northern China has 
a greater resemblance to that of the South of England 
or France than it has to that of the southern parts 
of the Chinese empire ; and, although hotter, used 
always to remind me of the beautiful summers we have 
in England once in every ten or twelve years. The sky 
is for days and weeks together without a cloud, and 
in the evening a heavy dew falls and refreshes vege- 
tation. 
These remarks will assist the reader to understand 
more fully the theory and practice of Chinese agricul- 
ture, which form the subject of the following chapter. 
