1883.] 
Analyses of Books. 
237 
respeCt a serious blunder. We endorse the recently-expressed 
opinion of an American contemporary that if we leave one-fourth 
of a country covered with wood, the remaining three -fourths will 
produce more food for man and beast than would the whole, if 
entirely stripped. Could we regulate the climate at will we 
should fix for the velocity of the wind from the appearance of 
the blossoms to the ingathering of the harvest a maximum of 
5 m les per hour. Last year the hourly mean for the three 
summer months was above 12 miles. In compensation we had 
a calm in January, when it could merely serve for the production 
of fog. The most remarkable meteorological event of the year 
was the destructive gale of April 29th, which in a few short hours 
undid the work of what had up to that date been a most pro- 
pitious spring. The mischief, too, was effected, not by our old 
enemy, the north-east, but by a south-westerly current. Nothing 
can prove more clearly the necessity of having the country inter- 
sected by belts of timber, preferably conifers. 
The mean amount of cloud during the critical time, from the 
beginning of June to the middle of October, was above the 
average. Thus the sun was shut off to an unusual extent, and 
the ripening and gathering of corn, &c., were greatly interfered 
with. There is one point which we think meteorologists 
generally overlook, i.e ., the comparative cloudiness of the sky 
during the day and during the night. It can scarcely be denied 
by any one at all versed in physics that were the heavens during 
the spring and summer always overcast at night and always 
clear in the day, spring frosts would become exceedingly rare, 
and our summer temperature would be markedly improved. 
But, as far as can be decided by mere observation, in all our bad 
seasons the very reverse holds good. The sky clears up at 
nightfall, and the warmth of the earth is allowed to radiate freely 
into space. Soon after sun-rise the clouds colled again, and 
the soil and the atmosphere are hence deprived of the necessary 
supply of heat. 
Mr. Mawley notices the general failure of hops, apples, pears, 
and plums, and the absence of flavour in bush-fruits and straw- 
berries. 
Bee-keeping proved unsuccessful, wasps were rare, the cater- 
pillar of the gooseberry moth ( Abraxas grossulariata ) did very 
little damage, but Aphides and indeed all kinds of blight were 
unusually destructive. 
Mr. Mawley’s records of the weather taken in connection with 
their effects upon animal and vegetable life will be very valuable, 
not merely to scientific men, but to the practical farmer and 
gardener. We hope the author will receive due encouragement 
to persevere with his laborious task. 
