Agricultural Meteorology. 
317 
tcinj)ei;itiire may conduce to the production of very difTercnt 
climates.* 
Tiic annual mean temperature of two different places may be 
50°; in the one case it may result from a summer mean of 62°, 
and a winter one of 3S^; in the other the summer season may be 
70°j and the winter may be 30'. Yet in the first of these, which 
is nearly that of the south of England, while corn would ripen 
well, the myrtle could exist. In the second, vines and even 
maize would succeed, while the severity of the winter would 
entirely forbid many of those plants, such as ilexes, arbutus, and 
bays, which in our northerly islands so agreeably recall the asso- 
ciations of the warmer south. 
In fact, it is the average temperature of each season rather 
than of the whole year which is of importance in regulating the 
agriculture of a country. 
The north of Germany exceeds a little the latitude of Lincoln- 
shire; and, notwithstanding the rigour of its winter, so consider- 
able and certain is the amount of caloric it receives between May 
and August that its harvests are earlier and surer than with us. 
Tiie snow covers the ground for above a quarter of the year, yet 
the intensity of the cold by no means interferes with the grain- 
producing aptitude of the soil, though it necessarily drives into a 
narrow compass all the operations of the husbandman. On the 
other hand, it would seem to interpose an obstacle to the rapid 
multiplication of cattle, since even the better breeds of sheep, not 
to speali of the heavier descriptions of stock, require to be housed 
and fed with roots and forage artificially provided during so large 
a portion of the year. The outlay, therefore, in buildings, no 
* The following are from Mahlmann's tables, originally published in 
Hinnboldfs Climatological Researches, but since printed in Ksemptz' 
Meteorology, translated by Ch. Walker : — 
Latitude. 
Place. 
Mean 
Tempera- 
ture. 
Mean 
Summer 
Tempera- 
ture. 
Mean 
Winter 
Tempcru- 
ture. 
No. of 
Years- 
Observa- 
tions. 
o 
o 
o 
0 
51-31 
London 
50-72 
62-78 
39-56 
40 
48-50 
Piiris . 
51-41 
64-58 
37-94 
33 
50-70 
Peiizaiice . 
51-98 
61-70 
43-88 
21 
48-19 
Miiiiicli 
48-02 
63-32 
31-28 
32 
4S--23 
\ ieiiiia 
50-18 
68-24 
32 36 
21 
39-5t 
Pekin . . 
51 • 8G 
82-58 
26-21 
G 
The annual mean of the five first of these places is not very dissimilar ; 
yet it is obvious at a glance that tliere can be few characters common to 
their respective vegetations, subject to such extremely difterent conditions. 
The summer heat of Pekin exceeds that of Bombay, Batavia, or Trin- 
eomalee ; the cold of the winter surpasses that of Stockholm, or Tilsit, or 
Cracow. 
