THE FLORIST S JOURNAL, 
9*2 
a=V Am 
from the season of highest temperature in 1839, to the commencement of the 
season of growth in 1840, By those rains the soil was kept constantly satu¬ 
rated with humidity, and humidity at a uniform and not very low temperature. 
This state of the earth must have been highly favourable to the development of 
the rootlets of plants, the parts of them which come first into action for the 
seasonal growth, and upon the vigour of which the value of the seasonal pro¬ 
duct above ground, whether in leaves, in flowers, or in fruit, in a great mea¬ 
sure depends. The long "continued rains thus laid the foundation for an 
abundant and a vigorous production during the present year; and there were 
also circumstances arising out of the same rain, which tended greatly to pre¬ 
vent this underground preparation from being wasted by untimely growths, to 
be put forth one day and withered the next. 
The mode in which the rain operated was this: the extreme moisture of 
the ground kept up a much greater uniformity of temperature in that lower 
atmosphere which comes in contact with vegetation than if the ground had 
been more dry; for, in proportion as the beams of the sun, a current of air 
from a warmer district, or any other cause, tended to heat and stimulate the 
plants, an evaporation arose from the moist soil, counteracting this heat, and 
keeping the buds which had to expand in security within their hybernacula; at 
the same time that the winter grasses, the winter crops, and the evergreens, 
were not overworked by vicissitudes of temperature, as they are in variable 
early springs, when the earth is comparatively dry. Taking all these circum¬ 
stances together, it is quite apparent that the rain of the former season has 
contributed not a little to the securing of a safe and plentiful crop of all kinds 
of produce, and a healthy increase of vegetation during the present one ; and 
the uniform mild temperature which has been carried so far forward into the 
year, leaves comparatively little to be apprehended from the blight-winds of 
the east, or the chilling blasts from the north, during the usually perilous 
month of May ; for the influence of the sun is now so great, that northern 
Europe, and our own mountains and hills, must now be considerably dried, 
and raised to nearly a uniformity of temperature with those rich and cultivated 
districts upon which the winds from the places alluded to have so baneful an 
influence, as long as those places continue humid, or otherwise have a low tem¬ 
perature, as compared with the districts over which the destroying winds blow. 
There is only one other point connected with the peculiarity of the season 
which we shall notice in the mean time, and that is, the vigorous growth which 
has come on after the change of the wind to the west without any fall of rain. 
This is easily accounted for, from the advanced and vigorous state of the roots 
and the humidity of the soil. The latter sends up, along with the nocturnal 
radiation of heat, a very considerable portion of the vapour of water; and though 
this is what may be considered an invisible watering to the buds and leaves, it 
is a kindly and effectual one—more so, indeed, than a watering by heavy 
showers of rain; for it moistens and nourishes the tender parts of the plants 
without doing them any injury. Taking it altogether, the season seems highly 
favourable for every description of plant, and as such, it cannot fail in being 
profitable to cultivators of all denominations. We shall continue to notice 
the causes and effects of the peculiarities of weather in the different months, 
rather than to give a mere register, which can be strictly true only at the place 
