EXPLANATION OF THE TABLES. 
19 
In examining the climate of the different sections of the State, I have arranged it for 
convenience in six divisions, as follows : 
1. Long Island; 
2. The valley of the Hudson; 
3. The valley of the Mohawk; 
4. The region north and northwest of the valley of the Mohawk, extending from the east line of 
the State to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence; 
5. The region southwest of the valley of the Mohawk, extending from the valley of the Hudson 
to the vicinity of the smaller lakes; 
6. All that part of the State that lies west of the preceding divisions. 
EXPLANATION OF THE TABLES. 
In each division, I have arranged the facts selected to indicate the character of the 
climate in three tables. The first is intended to show how the mean temperature of those 
places where observations have been taken compares with that which is due to their latitude 
and elevation, that we may see how much it is affected by other causes. 
In the second table, the mean temperature and annual extremes of heat and cold at 
each place are compared with the average of the State during the same years. The sign 
+ denotes that the temperature of the place is higher, or the range of the thermometer 
greater than the average of the State, by the number of degrees to which it is prefixed ; 
and the sign —, the reverse. I have adopted this course, rather than to give the actual 
mean and extreme temperatures, because I thought it would render the comparison more 
striking; since now the signs -f- and — show by a mere glance of the eye, without any 
labor of computation, whether the temperature is higher or lower than the average of the 
State. If, however, the actual temperatures are required, they can easily be found by 
applying the numbers in this table to those in the standard table which I have mentioned 
above, according to their signs. Thus, if the minimum temperature of a place is marked 
+ 2° in this table, it shows that it is higher by 2° than the average of the State; and the 
latter is found, by referring to the standard table, to be — 12°. Hence the minimum 
temperature at the place in question is — 10°. 
Table III. shows the forwardness of the seasons at each place, as compared with the 
average of the State during the same years. The sign + denotes that the time is later 
than the average of the State, by the number of days to which it is prefixed; and the sign 
—, that it is earlier. The actual time may be found, as in the second table, by applying 
the number of days given in this table to the dates in the standard table. 
