as affecting Agriculture in Ireland. 
379 
been registered. It is certain that there is a dampness in the 
atmosphere, as shown in the effect on household goods, clothes, 
&c., and an absence of hot, dry weather in summer, especially 
in the Soutli, much beyond anything usual in most parts of the 
West of England, even where the rainfall is the same. Arthur 
Young said, long ago, " The worst of the climate of Ireland is 
the constant moisture without rain." I am inclined to think it 
might be said more truly. The best of the climate is the 
constant moisture. But, either way, whether for good or bad, 
such is the climate. My experience has been chiefly in the 
West Riding, Co. Cork, and there, beyond a few warm days in 
summer, sometimes not more than half-a-dozen, we know very 
little of what hot weather means. In spite of this dampness of 
atmosphere, the soil being generally rather thin, and so drying 
Tery quickly, it is a charming climate, mild in winter and cool 
in summer, of a refreshing softness after the heat of English 
summer weather, that causes a sense of actual enjoyment from 
mere passing through the air, like that from a drive in the cool 
■evening of a roasting day. 
The one drawback is the force of the south-west winds, which 
are, however, the cause of our other advantages. 
Facts from the garden confirm this opinion. Pears against a 
•wall seldom ripen to their right flavour. Peaches, except in 
especially warm and sheltered places, will not do well. Peach- 
trees continue growing throughout the autumn. 1 have often 
seen them as full of leaves at Christmas as at Midsummer. Of 
course the wood does not ripen, and any frost kills this green 
wood, and often reduces the tree in the following summer to 
bare branches, with a tuft of green leaves at the end of each. 
Apricots hardly ever bear fruit. 
Such a climate as this plainly must have a very great influence 
on farming ; a greater influence probably than any other natural 
cause. 
Mr. Buchan, President of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, 
in his Address to the Society, November 9, 1871, thus speaks on 
the subject of the effects of climate on the distribution of plants : — 
Bousingaulfc examined the distribution of wheat on the continent of 
Europe, and arrived at tlie conclusion that it required 8248° Fahr., from the 
time it begins to grow in spring, for the proper ripening of the seed ; and, 
moreover, that this heat must be partitioned so as to secure a mean summer 
temperature of 58° during the development and maturation of the seed. This 
m-inimum amount of heat required for the maturing of the seeds is a vital 
consideration.* We have proved in Scotland that a mean temperature of 56° 
during the critical period, with the average sunshine and rainfall of the 
* This subject has been alluded to in reference to Belgium in my report on the 
agriculture of that countr)-, see ' Journal Koyal Agricultural Society,' second 
series, vol. vi., Part I., No. xi. p. 4. — Ed. 
