THE WEATHER FOR MAY. 
43 
In consequence of this, ordinary vegetation came on as well as if the season 
had been one of occasional showers. Indeed, it came on better ; for the plants 
whose roots were in the moisture had, so to speak, “ nothing to do but to 
grow;” whereas, in ordinary seasons, they have to contend with the storms, 
must pause till these are over, and the pause is often so long, as not only to 
retard, but in a great measure to impair the growth of the year. 
With the out-door florist, the case was not so favourable. Those annuals 
which require the seeds to be buried at a less depth than that to which the 
drought had penetrated, failed in many instances, partly by the seeds being 
parched just as they germinated, and partly from the length of time that they 
were exposed to the ravages of birds; and where they have come up after the 
showers, they are in general very unequal, and in patches. Thus the annual 
ornaments of the bed and the border will be thrown later in the season than 
usual, and their beauty will be impaired. 
The same cause is unfavourable to many of the perennial herbaceous 
flowers ;—to the anemone and ranunculus, for instance, especially the latter, 
of which the blooms, even in the best-conducted collections, promise to be 
but few in number, and small in size. Speaking theoretically, we should be 
inclined to say, that a uniform growth, without any checks, is unfavourable to 
the flowering of all plants which are natives, or naturalized invariable climates. 
Flowering is the result of a sort of check upon what may be termed the 
“personal” vegetation of the plant, being the final effort of that part upon 
which the flower of a perennial plant grows, and of the whole plant in the case 
of an annual,—it being understood of course, that flowering includes the per¬ 
fecting of seeds, which is the purpose of nature in the production of every 
flower. But the relations between seasons and flowering have not been inves¬ 
tigated with that care which they deserve. 
May set in with the same cloudless atmosphere which had been so prevalent 
in April, and the first days were particularly hot and dry, under the direct rays 
of the sun, although the cool and soft air, under the shade, especially of trees, 
showed that there was still much humidity rising in vapour from the earth ; and 
this was further confirmed by the perfect freshness of the leaves, even when 
the influence of the sun was greatest. 
This moistness of the earth, and dispersion of moisture through the lower 
atmosphere, preserved the electric equilibrium (as it is called) between the 
two, and showed that, if the coming of the rain was not protracted for a 
considerable time longer, it would come mildly, and be accompanied by very 
little lightning and thunder. 
It was new moon at twelve at night on the 1st, and so, if there was to be a 
change in the weather, the time of it, according to expectation, in ordinary 
cases, would have been about the 3d or 4th. There were some indications 
even earlier than that, in the appearance of light flocculent cirri, ranging 
from south-west to north-east; but these were so lofty as to be above much 
influence of the reflected and radiated heat of the earth, and as they attempted 
to descend, they melted away. Meanwhile the surface wind was “ trying for 
a point,” and the upper current from south-west blew very gently ; so that, 
altogether, there were none of the elements of a storm in the atmosphere, and 
the signs of rain were few and faint; the most continuous being increased 
