38  On  the  Climate  of  the  British  Islands 
that  the  legitimate  inferences  from  the  tables  will  justify  this 
conclusion. 
84.  It  is  desirable  that  the  agriculturist  should  know  the  tem- 
perature of  the  air  on  his  estate,  especially  the  summer  heat,  that 
he  may  have  a correct  estimate  of  its  corn-ripening  qualities. 
This  may  be  approximately  found  by  referring  to  Table  No.  1, 
and  by  taking  the  temperature  of  the  nearest  place  therein  given, 
applying  the  correction  for  difference  of  altitude  (16).  The 
thermometer  is,  however,  the  best  method  of  obtaining  accurate 
results.  The  observations  continued  through  one  year  will  in 
general  be  sufficient,  as  the  nearest  station  where  the  observations 
have  been  recorded  for  many  years,  will  furnish  the  corrections  of 
excess  or  defect  to  obtain  the  mean  of  a series  of  years.  This 
temperature  taken  in  connexion  with  local  peculiarities,  and  com- 
pared with  the  minimum  summer  heat  which  wheat  requires,  will 
show  the  capabilities  of  the  climate  in  respect  to  this  grain. 
85.  The  other  cultivated  grains,  barley,  oats,  and  rye,  resist 
the  cold  much  better  than  wheat,  and  are  the  only  cereals  which 
can  be  grown  in  high  latitudes  or  on  elevated  districts. 
The  finer  sorts  of  malting  barley  are  a delicate  plant,  requiring 
a warm,  moist  climate  and  a friable  soil.  The  low  lands  of  the 
coast  with  an  open  soil,  and  a summer  temperature  not  in 
excess,  afford  the  climate  best  adapted.  A dry  spring  is  severely 
felt,  especially  if  the  land  has  not  been  worked  between  the  wet 
and  dry  to  a good  state  of  tilth  ; but  a moist,  mild  spring,  fol- 
lowed by  a good  season  at  July  and  at  harvest,  is  peculiarly  fa- 
vourable. Most  abundant  crops  of  superior  barley  are  then 
produced  in  the  eastern  counties,  on  the  barley-soils  in  the  south 
and  west  of  England,  in  Hereford,  &c.  The  superior  kinds  of 
barley  require  a summer  temperature  little  inferior  to  wheat,  but 
coarse  sorts  will  grow  and  ripen  at.  the  upper  limit  of  ordinary 
cultivation  in  these  islands. 
The  Scotch  bere  will  endure  a severe  climate,  and  grows  in 
Aberdeenshire  at  1000  feet  above  the  sea,  where  the  summer 
temperature  is  53°.  The  farmers  of  the  Orkney  Isles  aver  that 
white  oats  and  barley  do  not  suit  the  climate,  but  most  abundant 
crops  of  black  oats  and  bere  are  grown,  the  summer  temperature 
being  54J°.  In  Johnston’s  Physical  Atlas  barley  is  said  to  ripen 
on  the  Continent  in  a summer  temperature  of  460-4 ; but  this  is 
not  probable  : it  does  not  ripen  in  Iceland  with  a summer  tempera- 
ture of  494°,  and  at  its  northern  limit  in  Norway  at  Kafiord,  in 
latitude  70°,  the  mean  heat  of  the  summer  months  is  53°*4.* 
86.  Oats  will  not  bear  heat,  and  prefer  a cold,  late  climate.  A 
summer  temperature  of  from  54°  to  59°  includes  the  degree  of 
* Dove’s  Tables  of  Temperature. 
