SOUTHERN DISTRICT. 
317 
TABLE VIII. General Summary. 
PLACES. 
Mean temperature. 
Prevailin 
g winds. 
Ay. quantity of rain. 
Pompey . 
17 
years. 
42*84 
17 years, 
NW 
15 years, 
29*46 
Cherryvalley . 
16 
16 
44*15 
15 “ 
W 
14 “ 
40*83 
Oxford . 
16 
(( 
44*74 
17 “ 
w 
17 
36*05 
Fredonia. 
15 
(( 
48*27 
15 “ 
w 
14 “ 
36*76 
Ithaca. 
14 
(( 
48*02 
13 “ 
NW 
Cortland. 
13 
“ 
44*32 
13 “ 
NW 
Hartwick .... 
12 
CC 
45*93 
12 “ 
S 
12 “ 
37*52 
Franklin. 
. 
12 “ 
NW 
The foregoing tables express the average temperatures and the average quantity of rain 
with great accuracy, as the records were generally made by good observers. Many of the 
differences in temperature which appear in the tables, are due to differences in height. 
Many of the places are situated in vallies, and are surrounded by elevated land : some near 
large bodies of water, which temper the atmosphere both winter and summer ; and hence, 
in either case, they can not be compared with other places whose position is relatively 
different. The same place exhibits some anomalies in temperature. Pompey, for example, 
gives an average temperature of 44° *06 for ten successive years, beginning with 1826 and 
ending in 1835 ; for the next ten years, beginning with 1836 and ending with 1845, it is 
only 41°‘45, a difference which is rather remarkable, considering the time during which 
the observations were made. Differences equal to this are rarely found to prevail in other 
places : for example, at Cherry valley the average temperature for the same periods re¬ 
spectively are found to have been, for the first, 44°’83 ; for the second, 43°‘28. If we 
compare the several years with each other, we shall discover that at Pompey there is less 
constancy or evenness of temperature than in most places. In 1826, the average was 
45°-97; in 1836, 40° -18; in 1827, 43° -50; in 1837, 40° ■ 02 ; in 1828, 47°-33; and in 
1838, only 40°'27. Something of the same fitfulness may be observed as it regards the 
quantity of rain. The average for 1836 was 23*84 inches; in 1837, 30*30 inches; in 
1838, 23*21 inches; in 1840, 33*79 inches. The variation, according to these tables, 
amounts to about ten inches of rain. The temperature of a large extent of inhabited ter¬ 
ritory, however, is not represented. The high grounds of Allegany, and the country 
situated upon the ridge dividing the waters of the Genesee and the Susquehannah and 
Allegany rivers, must be considerably colder than Pompey. If the supposition is true, it 
would reduce the temperature of the district. 
The vegetation of the high grounds consists of pine and hemlock, and hard wood inter¬ 
mixed, as represented in the woodcut on page 306. In the vallies, the hard timbers, 
maple, beech, oak, ash, hickory, etc. abound. The vallies are narrow, but pleasant, and 
furnish some fine scenery. In the cultivated vallies, the spreading branches and depressed 
heads of the trees indicate a greater tendency to a lateral extension ; and long branches, 
